Heartland

I agree with Bosco. My DH is living at the family home again. His sister does all the cooking, cleaning etc. It use to make me angry when he would eat popcorn at night and it would be all over... because I would clean it up, or dishes left all over because he couldn't walk them to the kitchen. He is capable of doing these things and has in the past, but this is how he was raised. Trust me at the end of the 7 months we lived together he was even cooking. He just hates to clean... lol so Do I!!!! Can I be rich enough to hire a maid?!?!?!?!

At the same time, when two problems arose, DH took care of it. He said there must be respect for women (and girls) and these college students didn't have any. I never felt endangered while he was there.

Wendy

I think there is a bit of both.

I am aware of grown men who still have their clothes washed for them, meals prepared for them, even those men that pass their days at cafes and are not coming home from a difficult job (and this often means the women washing clothes by heating up pots of water and dragging them up several flights of stairs to dry), as well as men gathering in a home and the women serving them with the men barking orders, even if she is tied up with another task.

On the other hand, I think there is also chivalry as other people have observed.

you can go over by 20 lbs but you pay Extra for it... plus dont forget your carry on... you can stuff some in there...

HAVE FUN!!!!!!

Wendy

yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!!!! Well I labeled all the gifts and put them in one suitcase. You each get 2 suitcases, 50 lbs each. I think you can get it all in one and then some.

In my husband's family, it is traditional that they marry within the family. Cousins etc. His sister said she wanted her son to marry my daughter (Z). My husband said, "come on she is 2! " to me he said, "I want her to marry for love". But you know it is hard to go against how you were raised.

He went against his family in marrying me and his first wife. We were both non Muslim and not Palestinian. He married for love both times. I want nothing less for my girls.

Wendy

I have heard time and time in conversations with people from MENA about 'O my daughter will marry so and so'... meanwhile they are what, 3? My ex had said from even before my daughter was born, who she would marry.

I know many people say this in a joking manner but others are dead serious. What are your thoughts?

Wedding rings traditionally were a symbol that, that person was married or taken. She might not want to wear a ring, but it says to other men, "Hey I'm Available" if she goes ringless. I wanted my DH to wear a ring tho he never wore one before. He didn't want to but I said it is an outward symbol that you are married and we are a couple... He understood and now would not be caught without it as it reminds him of me all the time.

As for name change. it is just easier when kids arrive if everyone has the same last name. I hyphenated at first then gave up because it was easier all the way around to have the same name. Now I have another last name, I get, and who are you to this child????

Wendy

our first furnished apt was off Navine near Univeristy Street by the McDonalds and BK. It cost us 300 for the month. I found two places with pretty good airfare...

they have tickets for me at $857.00 a pc round trip

also email diane and tell her where and when and she does great work with getting me there cheaply, I had friends call and say hey I know wendy who goes to jordan all the time... she gives her discount to them!

I rented a car for 20.00 day. I would have to ask my husband however where it was...I got lost returning it..LOL I am directionally challenged!

Wendy

ps HEY I KNOW UNIVERSITY STREET!!!!!

I want a real falafel sandwich on University Street. And I want to share it with Mohammmed knowing I don't have to leave him behind. I am going to talk to him tonight and explain the reasons to go. A few brothers married in his time away, some babies were born. We need to go.

Thank you so much for your postings. I really loved the intense feelings you all portrayed. It makes me feel that love is alive and well contrary to what you read about all the time.

Thank you so much for sharing!!!!!

Wendy

My first marriage was to an American man, white skin dark hair. After my divorce I went out with a man from Greece, then a man who was half greek half lebanese, a few from India. Living near a major Univeristy there are people from all over the world attending.

When I met my DH I was NOT LOOKING for anything or anyone. I was taking a break from dating, ok from men in general! I adore his accent. How is skin contrasts mine. How he is oldfashioned in many ways. What can I say, no man can compare to him.

Wendy

What about this... my husband would like for his brother to come live here in the USA. He wants to open a contracting business eventually.

What are the odds we can sponsor him too?

His family keeps pressuring him (my BIL ) to marry... but he doesnt want to marry there, he wants to wait to marry for love like my DH.

I keep looking for a single girl early 20's or so to fix him up with... Im a yenta at heart! LOL

Wendy

I wanted to go to Egypt. But my husband couldnt get the time off, he was in the middle of an urgent building crisis. His response to a honeymoon?

NO kids, No phone, No leaving the bedroom... so doesnt matter where we go!

LOL

Wendy

Once I had a conversation with my mom, she implied that I must be crazy to be attracted to a middle eastern man because of the way they treat women. You know, she said, how they delegate them to being less then the men. That somehow I was lessening myself by going out with a man from that area. Or perhaps I was wanting to be abused. Or that I was submissive.

This is funny because I was raised mostly by my grandma. Who was a stay at home mom and then grandma. Her view was that the man is head of the house hold family wise. That a woman should raise her own children and not have anyone do it for her. Don't bother having children if you are going to pawn them off on someone else. Your husband works a full time job and your job is to be his wife. My grandfather was a drunk and worse but she stuck by him.

Now my mom and dad divorced when I was little. My mom went back to work, however she would rather be at work then at home. She wasn't much with affection or very loving. My grandma was all that. She kept marrying drunks and right now is married to a WASP who tells her what to think... With each relationship she becomes what they want, until she herself is lost. Then wants out.

My husband is sooooooooo very family oriented. His family is kind to me. (they did ask me however if there are drug dealers on every corner and if every one has a gun? Thank you TV) He protects me and loves me for who I am. He has never abused me, unless you count the hickey he gave me and I was cheesed about. As for me being submissive, I am very head strong, but I defer to him. Is that submissive??? Then yes, perhaps. He is extremely intelligent and makes very good choices, I mean he picked me didn't he... LOL!

Has anyone else encountered such resistance with family... the absolute conviction that family has even though they are wrong?

What made you attracted to your mate?

What was different about them that made you take a second and third look ect...?

What stereo types did you have to break down for your family to accept your mate...?

allot of questions here... LOL

sooooo curios!

Wendy

when teens, or adults insert the word LIKE into a sentence that does not need it. She was LIKE so mean to me... either she was or wasnt.

Raise up the flag... ok what were you thinking of doing, raising it down??

I turned around and I go.... did you really turn around? Where did you go???

MEN WHO THINK THEY BECOME INVISIBLE WHEN PICKING THEIR NOSES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Dear God go wash your hands!

wendy

I loved this one...

Your foreplay is lousy

Your technique not too grand

Happy Birthday to you

From a tired right hand

heheheh Wendy

I worked in special needs facilites. More then not with advanced alzheimers people. It is very sad to see the downward slope of these people. My question is.... why is there more americans with this disease? Is it the chemicals in our every day life? Alzheimers patients have increased over the years...why???

Some have suggested it is the aluminum in our every day products, deodorat.. ect (not sure where I read this however)

It is why I cannot work in this setting any more. To see someone die slowly, transforming, when you get to know them before hand as bright people with just a hint of a problem. The saddest thing is when they have a break though... when they have a lucid moment where they KNOW where they are and why they are there and cant understand why this has happened. They understand the horror of it all... It is sometimes better if they dont have those days...

Wendy

WASHINGTON (Jan. 14) - Scientists said on Sunday they have pinpointed a new gene linked to Alzheimer's disease, the incurable brain disorder that is the top cause of dementia in the elderly.

Abnormalities in a gene called SORL1 increased the risk for the disease, and this finding could help scientists develop new treatments, the researchers reported in the journal Nature Genetics.

The researchers looked at DNA samples from 6,000 people from four ethnic groups: Caribbean-Hispanics, North Europeans, black Americans and Israeli-Arabs. They found certain variations of SORL1 more often in people with late-onset Alzheimer's disease than in healthy people.

The late-onset form, affecting people age 65 and up, represents about 90 percent of Alzheimer's cases. The rarer early-onset form affects people from about age 30 to 65.

Only one other gene, called ApoE4, has been identified as a risk factor for late-onset Alzheimer's. It was identified in 1993.

Several genes are linked with early Alzheimer's, and study of both types might lead to better understanding of how the disease begins and how to tackle it.

Many scientists think Alzheimer's begins with the buildup in the brain of a gooey material called amyloid that clumps together to form plaques. That material stems from a protein called amyloid precursor protein, or APP.

SORL1 controls the distribution of APP inside nerve cells of the brain. When working normally, the gene prevents APP from being degraded into a toxic byproduct called amyloid beta peptide. When SORL1 is deficient, it allows more of the bad amyloid beta peptide to accumulate, fostering amyloid plaques.

Alzheimer's is a complex disease that gradually destroys a person's memory and ability to learn, reason, make judgments, communicate and carry out daily activities. Scientists have struggled to understand the biology of the disease and its genetic and environmental causes.

'PIECE OF THE PUZZLE'

"It's another clue to the way in which this disease comes about, another piece of the puzzle," Dr. Peter St. George-Hyslop, director of the Center for Research in Neurodegenerative Diseases at the University of Toronto and one of the key researchers, said in a telephone interview.

"Every time you get a piece of the puzzle and you can relate it to something else in the puzzle, you're that much closer to knowing what the picture on the puzzle is," he added.

St. George-Hyslop said it is premature to say what percentage of cases of late-onset Alzheimer's disease can be attributed to SORL1. ApoE4, which also may be involved in the production of amyloid plaques, has been linked to about 20 percent of late-onset Alzheimer's cases.

"This appears to be the fifth Alzheimer's disease gene, and there are likely to be other important genetic variants that need to be identified before the entire picture is complete," Dr. Richard Mayeux of Columbia University Medical Center in New York, also involved in the research, said in a statement.

The disease first affects parts of the brain controlling memory and thinking, but as it advances it kills cells elsewhere in the brain. Eventually, if the patient has no other serious illness, the loss of brain function will prove fatal.

Researchers from Boston University and the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine in Jacksonville, Florida, also took part in the five-year study.

I had heard of this before, about 5 years ago when I belonged to a food co-op. We lived in rural Michigan with plenty of farms. I knew lots of women who had heard of this hormone given to cows for increase in milk production. They told me not to even buy cheese that wasnt labled RGBH free... So I use to order my dairy products with the lable RGBH free... Now if we can only get all the ####### out of the meats!!!!

Wendy

Steven,

Can you find me a link with similar information from a mainstream website people have actually heard of?

Thanks.

Sojourners...

http://www.sojo.net/index.cfm?action=sojom...mp;issue=031029

Wikipedia...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bovine_somatotropin

Scientific American...

http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?articleID...CC583414B7F0000

WOW ok I for one thought the pyramids were in the middle of the desert! How very strange to have that as your view from your house...who would have ever thunked it? LOL

Wendy

The pyramids at Giza. I think most people have the impression that they're off in the middle of the desert, and you have to ride camels to get to them, but Giza (suburb/twin city of Cairo) butts up right next to them. Giza is the place we stayed the first time I was in Cairo, 2 miles from the pyramids. I love it and miss it.

Minaret at Al Azhar, beautiful masjid.

I have met some women who live in neighboring states but... Michigan? Any near Lansing???

Wendy

I don't know about meet-ups, but we have a few Jordanian friends in Michigan.

Jackie

The solution is easy... there is a little X in the upper right corner....

realize ppl are gonna bash Bush...and that's fine...but this is just really poor taste and rather smutty.

YES!!! SNOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Michigan is suppose to be covered in snow at this time of year. We have had 50's weather all along. This is a NICE change... Ice however...as long as I dont lose power,,, dont care

You have to admitt ice on trees looks soooooooo beautiful. Tinsle from God.

Wendy

How do you find them?? Are there any meet ups in Michigan?

Wendy

I'd love to find a Moroccan Arabic tutor or class in NYC.......any ideas on where to look besides craigslist?

Try the meetups. I know there is a big one in NYC and the organizers might be able to point you to a tutor/class. Here's a link for the NYC Arabic Language and Culture Club: NYC Arabic Language and Culture Club

Not sure how to say it or spell it I guess.....lol when DH says it to me it sounds like allah-ah my girls can say it and try to get me to say it over and over and over till I am blue in the face.

My fiance's sister's name is Alyaa. Or that's how he spells it anyways. I still mispronouce it every now and then. Though I've never called her Allah. I'm not exactly sure how to spell her name so that you could pronounce it right.

Although I am 41, I would never allow what my mother thinks or feels to interfere with my life. My mom was happy that I had met my husband at first. Then she met HER husband who changed her mind. Last time I went and actually married, my mom tried to take me to court to get custody of my two under age children. When she couldnt do that, she called my bipolar unstable ex husband to try to get him to get custody... he didnt want them he has his own life. Needless to say when I returned for my oldest daughters wedding, my mom stole my daughters passports so they could go back with me. Without my oldest daughters help getting them back, they would not have gone back with me. SHe no longer calls herself my mom. Which is ok by me, her loss not mine.

My grandma calls me the wanderer and is happy for me. She thinks my mom daft. She prays every day that I will get pregnant again and have another baby..I keep tellin her, "Mom! We have to be together for that to happen..lol!"

I have to live for me not for anyone else. My life, my mistakes. My life to lead.

My children love my husband. He treats them great. He wanted us to stay there to live. If it wasnt for the fact my girls were so miserable we might have stayed and lived there. But they missed the USA too much. So he didnt marry me for a green card. He married me for me... in fact he asked me why I married him, a man with really no money, when I could have married a Doctor two years ago... I said simply, because I wasnt in love with him. I love you....

Wendy

When I was in Highschool I wanted to learn German because my family is part Austrian. I tried and tried to get it. My teacher seeing how hard I tried told me, "Wendy, if you promice not to take german 2. I will pass you! " LOL!!! My daughters picked up on the arabic when we lived in Jordan. I on the other hand.... get things confused, I call my sister in law Allah, her name sounds like it I cant hear the differernce. They are super sweet and just laugh....

What would be good for me to learn the language as I said I am HORRIBLE!!! I do wish to try however!!!

Wendy

I thought that you had to support that person for more then 6 months out of the year and they live with you durring that time to consider them a deduction?????

wendy

Well I spent 1 1/2 hours on the phone to the IRS yesterday. I was told that I could file head of household since my husband doesn't meet the physical presence or the greencard test. He also checked and said he saw no reason I could not claim him as a deduction while filing as head of household.

Just wondering if anyone has filed this way? If so did they run into any problems

thanks,

Vicky

You will file Head of Household, if you do not want to claim your spouses worldwide income as US based income or you can opt for a special election to file Married Filing Joint, if you claim all worldwide income as US based income.

Yeah I know that part of it. I was just trying to find out if anyone had trouble filing head of household and using their husband as a deduction. It's not usually allowed if filing head of household but the IRS person said he saw no reason that I couldn't.

thanks,

Vicky

I think both people change, especially if you are living in the other persons country. When I lived in Jordan, I dressed way more conservatively then I did before. I use to wear low cut tops and tops with thin straps. Now I dress a Little more demure. Not only was this because my DH asked me to do it but it even makes my children happier as they were always trying to redress me.

I expect when my DH is here he will change with a few things... it is more like, when in rome....

However.... when I was married the first time, I had to change a Little to live with him as well as him me. I think marriage is a blend of two people. So there is give and take with both

I hated even the thought of lamb till I had it UNKNOWINGLY there... and now I love it... but still cant see it on the bone.

Wendy

I left Jordan because I was pregnant. I wanted that child to have USA citizenship, which opens most doors. My DH agreed after I stated my reasons. Tho he said he had the right to name the child. Which is what we argued about. I wanted names that were the norm in both places. We had settled on Summer for a girl but for a boy, he wanted a family name. In his family you have five or six names to choose from... and all the men are named those. UGH!

As for birthcontrol, It was the first time I had been on any in my life. It was the sixth month on it and I got pregnant. We called the baby the antibiotic baby. We wont use birthcontrol again as I dont like it and wish for God to choose like I had done before. Just like God choose for me not to carry that baby full term. There is a reason for everything I believe.

Wendy