Ihavequestions

I didnt't reschedule.. i'm going tomorrow

One last bit of advice for your interview: Whatever you do, don't refer to your fiancee as "my queen."

Good luck!

Oh wow, I never thought of that. wow...omg

Have you thought of pictures that you have in facebook that he doesn't have access to any other way? He could be - and I admit we don't know - be trying to build the history and proof of relationship, etc., he'll need later, when he adjusts his status, however he goes about doing that.

Not only pictures, but conversation histories, any of those things could be the motive.

Learn to use the privacy settings.

What kind of work is available there? Is it teaching or what kind of consulting exactly?

Most legitimate work falls into one of two categories: 1.) working for a multi-national company (did you know AT&T has a call center here?) and 2.) teaching.

The problem is, again, work permits. It used to be that anyone who spoke the language (whatever the language may have been) could easily get a job in either area, and the authorities would not notice the lack of work permits. However, with the revolution, that has changed. Now, a foreigner can only be employed if there is no Egyptian qualified to do the work (and lots of Egyptians are multi-lingual), and if a foreigner is hired, they have to train an Egyptian to do their job.

The work I do is education-related. I am working on a distance education program to dual enroll high school students who are enrolled in American schools, so they can graduate from high school with an Associate's degree, fast track into American universities, and skip the dreaded SATs altogether.

Thats really amazing.. thank you for telling us about it. I still have a young child at home but someday it would be fun to work and live overseas again.. sounds so wonderful

I have a blessed life.

What kind of work do you do there I HAVE QUESTIONS and what is the job market like there for EXPATS?

Me? Well, I do lots of work here, primarily consulting.

The job market for EXPATS is, actually, quite good. The problem is to find an employer willing to jump through the hoops necessary to obtain a work visa.

LOL, I know, I'm from Orygun. Only we have better mountains, better green, more huggable trees, better beach towns, better coffee, and our volcano you can ski on! Portland is certifiably at least 75-80% weirder than Seattle could ever hope to be too.

Oh, and you have totally better DONUTS!

I agree that there are problems in the educational systems. I'm still pretty sure that there are lots of Egyptians who can handle high school math - in fact I know some of them. You can PM me the job description, salary & contact info and I will put the word out.

Update: My boss hired two today, and he's going to give each of them "a try" and see if one works out. If that changes, I will certainly let you know. Thanks for the offer.

meh. after the apple harvests there's really not all that much going on in the state.

Oh, but it's the most beautiful green - the most beautiful blue-green.

The mountains.

The ocean.

And, yes, a volcano.

It's one of the most beautiful (can't stop with that word!) areas I've ever seen.

BUT, it's wet. Very wet. So wet, I call it "The Land of the Wet Pant Legs."

Off the topic .... During my visits to morocco, I will never forget seeing small children in the middle of the night selling Kleenex or gum. My heart never felt so much pain seeing a child of 7 or 8 trying to make a small amount of change for their family. One night, which I am sure many will disagree with, I gave out more 500 MAD to a group of children that I became friends with eventually. Each night, they would wait for me and I would go to the local grocery store and buy bags of goodies and visit them and have a picnic. Most of the children had never had some of the goodies I brought to them. Though they didn't go to school, I was surprised how easily they picked up on English very quickly. I would sit with them and speak English to them and they eventually could say simple words like hello and my name and how are you lol. On my last night, I bought dinner for me and my new little friends from pizza hut and about 20 blow up soccer balls that you find in those little stores on the street. They were sooooo happy. Actually, I bought many of those soccer balls lol in Mohammed's neighborhood and gave them to children. I was sad to leave my new little friends, but we would always reunite on each of my visits and they always greeted me with singing and smiles. I hope they will remember me when we go back next year.

I have goose bumps.

What's even more interesting is why people go nuts and murder over a movie. That's even more interesting than any people or motivation behind said movie. What kind of people riot and commit murder over a movie and/or a cartoon?

Has anyone actually seen the full length movie? I read that it was played one time, in Hollywood, to an audience of twelve. I believe all anyone has ever seen is the 12 minute trailer.

Regardless, the movie was made by two Arabs and left to die an anonymous death until another Arab, a talk show host in Egypt, played the trailer (with Arabic subtitles) on a station owned by yet another Arab (a Saudi).

Just who exactly was it inciting anyone?

I have to give President Morsi credit.

I'm sure no Egyptian child grows up wishing to be President, simply before the revolution it simply wasn't an option. However, Morsi is willing to do the job and walked into a red hot, smoldering mess with very little support. He didn't even have time to warm his office chair and people were protesting because he wasn't fixing their problems fast enough.

And now this.

He will have to mend and maintain the relationship with the west. There isn't much of a choice. Egypt needs cash:

http://www.egyptindependent.com/news/public-debt-swelled-imf-loan-pivotal-says-finance-minister

Finance Minister Momtaz al-Saeed told the Shura Council on Wednesday that Egypt is in desperate need of the International Monetary Fund loan, and that the public debt has swelled.

ETA: I have no idea what his degree is in. I've never been interested enough to care.

What's even more tantalizing, for me anyway, is the two culprits are Egyptian immigrants.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-filmmaker-20120914,0,6397127.story

One ran a low-profile Christian charity from a sleepy suburb east of Los Angeles. The other was a financially strapped gas station operator just out of federal prison.

In the last year, these men, both Egyptian immigrants, became unlikely collaborators in an endeavor that has shaken the stability of the Middle East.

Joseph Nassralla Abdelmasih, the president of the Duarte-based charity Media for Christ, and Nakoula Basseley Nakoula, a convicted felon from Cerritos, emerged Thursday as forces behind "Innocence of Muslims."

And, to add yet another layer to the turmoil:

http://mideastsoccer.blogspot.com/2012/09/middle-east-protests-ultras-settle.html

The anti-American protests spreading across the Middle East and North Africa may be fuelled by an obscure anti-Muslim American film but are really about domestic score settling and political maneuvering.

I agree that there are problems in the educational systems. I'm still pretty sure that there are lots of Egyptians who can handle high school math - in fact I know some of them. You can PM me the job description, salary & contact info and I will put the word out.

I don't have it with me; it's the weekend and I'm at home. I'll get the scoop and send it to you in a PM tomorrow, when I get home.

Also, as an aside, here's an new news story about the educational system in Egypt:

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/09/15/egypt-as-protests-rage-school-begins.html

What the article fails to mention is the part that really grinds me, that being in order to get into a good engineering or medical program, students have to pay for and score well on SAT exams - in English!

It's not all doom and gloom, though. There is one specialty where Egypt does it right: (are you ready?) dentistry.

Yes, dentistry. World class, top of the line, and super inexpensive compared to the US. One would think the entrepreneurial type would take advantage of a niche market and find a way to make dental tourism happen.

I would guess many Americans (college educated), too, can't do basic high school math. Just saying.

Do they have Chemical Engineering degrees?

Just curious.

You may have to use tax to show US domicile along with bills in your wife's name, rent, lease or mortgage, a job etc. At the appropriate stage you may also find that they use your wife's travel history to decide if she honestly is living in America based on the info taken at the US airport (when she left, how long she's been out, when she returned, if she returned). As I said I'm no expert but the things I listed may be what you have to work with.

With the age of digital passports and airline passenger manifests going straight to the US federal government, long gone are the days of 'accidently' washing a passport (alone with all of its entry and departure stamps).

The government knows who leaves and how long they've been gone.

Egypt??

Sa7!

I am pretty sure that there are plenty of Egyptians who can handle high school level math.

Really? Find them and send them to me.

The young lady who tested, with a Chemical Engineering degree and a calculator, couldn't do it, and her university graduation party was that evening.

FYI, it is not my opinion and my opinion alone that Egypt's educational system is horrendous. Education reform is one of the conditions the government has to consent to in order to get that IMF money, which is part of a deal that requires Egypt to acquire other, matching funds.

And they're balking.

The country has a wealth of college graduates, but there aren't nearly enough jobs for them.

The university education system is, for the most part, a joke. I've spent the past three months trying to hire someone who could do high school level math. Who applied? Engineering graduates. The best any of them could do was 16% on a high school level math test - basic Algebra and Trigonometry. There's a good reason most of them are unemployed; they're unemployable. I'm certainly not blaming them; what I'm saying is the educational system, as a whole, is woefully inadequate.

From many Egyptians groups on Facebook, they are saying the money never leaves the military. That it does not help the people there, in any shape or form.

Of course it does. "The money" is based on the peace accord with Israel, also known as "food for peace," and it's entirely separate from the fat stack of cash the US sends for military aid.

Meanwhile, the "food for peace" money most surely benefits the people of Egypt. The military operates production facilities (employing Egyptians) that produce a variety of consumable goods, from macaroni products to cooking oil. On that note, every Egyptian family, regardless of their income, is entitled to f-r-e-e rice, tea, sugar, cooking oil. They show their family ID card, grab their heap of food stuff, and go home. No money exchanges hands. Also, that "food for peace" money subsidizes bread at the government bakeries, bread which, by the way, has increased to 20% corn because wheat has become so expensive and in rather short supply.

To bad they don't grow there own food. They still have some of the most fertile soil. I know the river Nile don't food anymore like it use, because of the dam for hydro power. But seems wrong to not too. But that was from the regime, so hopefully that will change, or I pray it does.

The regime had nothing to do with the High Dam in Aswan. That was Nasser's baby.

Almost 10:30 in the morning.

Good morning!

Sabah el kheer!

Wait, what?

I thought we were talking about Arabic?

Back to that hard "h" sound. Frehhhhhhhhhhhk. It hurts. I just want some doggone chicken, I don't like the pain of trying to get the word out, ya know?

hahaha.. hehehe.. hohohoh

laughter is healthy.. not gonna stop anyone to laugh.

And the hard "h" ... the one from deep in the throat ... you know, that sound ... I have such a hard time hoiking that one out.

People giggle when I try, but I still try.

What's my opinion about Arabic?

The fonts! The fonts confuse me! Can't there be just one?