anxious

Its awful. Me and hubby have family there, and they are all ok thank goodness.

I just told them to stay away from there and all tourist areas as of now.

Those types of mentality usually attack tourists for whatever reason.

So senseless.

Interesting. My husband now checks the box marked "other" or describes his race as arab.

I dont see why one would check white/black when you are arab, so neither applies.

The sad part is if one was compelled to think those are the only choices, and cant seem to check the "other" box,

I definitely believe the caucasian box will be checked more than the black one.

There are very strong perceptions of skin color in Morocco. The lighter vs the darker arab. And its not some secret

either.. I have heard the jokes of dark moroccans, seen with my own eyes...a family turn down a male who

was interested in marrying their daughter because his skin was dark/black.

But hey, its everywhere...the idea that lighter skin is more attractive is percieved in India, Mexico...you name it.

Skin bleaching cremes are seen in homes with no running water.smh.

Thats a reality, sad is an understatement.

My husband said he was raised with the same perceptions of lighter vs darker skin..until he came to America

Until he witnessed a white man making a racist remark to him...thinking he was a african american with a light complexion.

He said to me " I used to think this country saw me as white until this man called me a #######." But now I see he

hates me just as much as he would hate a moroccan with darker skin.

I said yes dear....dont get confused. You are arab, and racist people see you in categories..and obviously you didnt

meet the white criteria lol. So now he checks the "other" box...because he had a piece of american reality.

I know I barely pop in but from time to time but here's my lil updates

Well, my kids and mom have all relocated to Morocco for a minimum of a year. This was a

joint decision as to help me save money for a house this year, and for my kids to get

some multi-cultural experiences, and learn the language, then my mom joined the bandwagon. She's a

teacher, so will keep them home schooled.

So far so good. I miss them dearly but will be seeing them every 3-4 months. I have siblings,

dad, mom, and all of hubby's family there. They actually have more family there now

than here in the states. And my 3 year old, who i thought would take it the hardest...barely asks about me

lol.. kids are so easy to adjust to life.

He has in the past 3 months picked up a world of arabic. he understands the arabic, and will reply in english.

so thats that.

Now they have to fly out every three months so they are booked on easy jet.

my ? is has anyone ever used the service? Are they reliable...run on time etc. Is there any

special documents they need besides passports, and notarized letters from me and hubby giving my

mom permission to travel as needed to spain with them? Do they have agents at airport? or only qiosks to check in?

any help will be appreciated!

thanks mena

hmmnm interesting,

My father has been doing this for like decades. Why wont he just

apply for a residency card lol.

I researched this too and found a speed boat called "Tangier to Tarifa" it looks

like a big yacht, and online info says there is a passport service that stamps

your passport on the boat and the time is like 45min each way. Alot of expats rave

about this method. I never heard of having to stay in Spain with this option.

Also has anyone ever used Ryanair? They are supposed to be cheap too, like ~50$, but

i dont know how their service is. I hear they nickel and dime you to death and in the

end it comes to around 90 bucks but still not a bad price.

To all;

My Son is in the competition for the Gerber Babies Generation Photo contest. There is a scholarship for the winner, which will probably only pay for a semester of college when he is old enough, although it is 25K.

Please vote for him if you have the time, There can only be one entry per IP, so if you would be so kind, forward it to your external mail address if you are using a corporate IP address or it won’t count. You can vote once per day for the next month. The link is found below.

Also, please forward it to everyone you know who would like to help us out. Thanks in advance, and thanks for your support. I will owe you all a big favor and thank you for the help.

Sincerely yours,

Todd and Shiela

here's the link

http://www.gerber.com/photo/?entryid=123214&%2F#/detail/

MY SON is James Martin Lowman, ID for GERBER #123214

Contest starts on OCTOBER 3, 2010 and continues until OCTOBER 31, 2010

1 vote per day, you can vote everyday :-) please vote for him.

Ohhh he is sooo cute! I voted for baby James. It would be nice to

have a vj baby multicultural baby hold the gerber crown!

Im surprised no one else commented. he looks TOO cute. I wish I had

taken the time to enter my lil man in some contests... he sure had his

share of oohs and ahhhs.

good luck!

Hellooo all the new and expecting mommies,

haven't been on this board in a minute.

@Kelly, How cute! LOL Zaid was putting his toddler foot down.

Poor Nasim sees anyone in scrubs and says " I dont want a shot Mommy".. Kids are soso smart.

@ Twila, I would def get that tested with a pediatric allergist. Nasim is deathly allergic

to milk, and bc I breast fed I didn't know... all of a sudden he kept getting bronchitis and then pnuemonia

at like 6 mos. Got referred to asthma clinic for wheezing and they said he had asthma and was getting

triggered to bronchiolitis. Sent across the hall the allergist and found out it was strong allergic reaction to milk protein. And

my consumption of milk was most likely getting into the breastmilk, and causing out of control wheezing

that led up to pnuemonia. Twice LOL.

All that to say, it took some detective work but I immediately stopped b.feeding and

put him on soy formula. All that constant wheezing ceased. But have to constantly read labels. I use

olive oil instead of butter, marg./& breads, cakes all that with milk are a no go. He has Epi pen Jr, and

benadryl stocked at daycare, home, even aunts houses lol.

Go with your gut, if u think its a trigger response get it checked out. I cant imagine

if Nasim would have actually had a cup of cows milk.

On a side note, the iphone has this cool app my friend showed me that has capability to type in food

allergic to, and allows you to choose a restaurant, pulls up the menu, and tells you what

you can order or not order based on the food you type in to avoid. It even allows you to take pic of

sku bar code in grocery store and pulls up the food item, and lets you know if its a safe food.

Im switching to at&t from verizon based on that one app

wow 4 months lol!

That does sound about right. Well I guess we shall go to NY

cuz we cant wait that long.

squeaky580, can I ask when you were in Morocco did you have

to leave every 90 days? If so, what was the easiest way for you?

I've heard about a ferry... the Tanger to Tarifa ferry and also

looked online and saw cheap tickets from Marrakech thru spain

thru ryanair.com but I don't know how easy/ difficult I can expect things to be..

any insight is appreciatttted

OP, sorry you are going through this, it does appear like

abusive behavior that will worsen if some kind of intervention does not happen.

To Amal, hanging in there, and doodlebug: Im glad that you didn't feel the

need to acknowledge sardinistas ignorant responses.

I know of many women with low self esteem, or grew up in abusive situations

that failed to see abuse. Whether its mental, physical etc... there are alot

of women who think such behavior is normal on some level, justifying it.

To think there are still people that find a way to pin the abuse on

the victim in any way is sickening. Pointing fingers when all one has to

do is reach out and ask if the person needs help is more productive than

posting trifling "i told you so" toned messages. Ugh!

Oh wow. Thats another unwanted errand. So all Moroccans have to

make their way to NY for it. Ugh! Nothing can just be simple lol.

On the website it says only for lost CNIE cards are fingerprints needed.

well let me start researching ticket and hotel fare for a one hour task.

thanks for responding, its just the inconvenience of it all that has me like ugh

Awwww how terribly cute!

I second and third Staashi's comments. My first was overdue, dont know why they let me go to 42.5 weeks, I was

young and left all the decisions up to good ole doc. So determined to have a natural birth, but lil did I know

my son was 8lb 13oz, hairy like a werewolf

16 hrs of labor for a section. I was thrilled he was healthy and thats the best feeling.

Oh yeah, I decided to go VBAC with my daughter, born ontime, and as painful as the labor was

the delivery/ postpartum period was a breeeeeeeezzzzeeee compared to that c-sect, and 8wks of pain.

So having done both, i prefer natural.

Eid Mabrouk Mena!

Well hubsta has to get his passport renewed, he has the old one. I ve searched everywhere on the consulate page

to see if he has to come in for the fingerprint part but I dont see it. I ve read a post about having to

actually go to NY (i hope NOT).

So has anyone got the biometric new passport thru Moroccan consulate?

It says to basically send it the req'd documents which we have... and tried calling them but yeah right!

they never answer.

any help would be much appreciated. thanks.

The fact that you feel bad for not being able to fast says alot about your

heart and intentions. You are doing Great!

Feeding a hungry person will help keep you in Ramadan mode.

Ramadan Mabrouk Venusfire

added to say: to the OP- its a clash of religious views not cultures

and to anxious- christians fast at different times and at anytime throughout the year usually without letting others know its being done. So to only be doing it around ramadan is like a flag to a christian family.

mk,i think they know she is fasting for Ramadan.

I am aware Christians fast.

Hi everyone,

Im muslim so it's natural thinking for me to support Shariah law. I just find it a bit

hypocritical to enforce one aspect like fasting but serve alchohol to tourists. hmmm.

btw, pregnancy, menstruating women, nursing women, sick, elderly, children, mentally incapable are all excused from fasting

in Islam, you just have to make up the days or feed a hungry person depending on which reason it is.

Wow thats alot to deal with during a fast. I can understand your hesitation just to answer the phone.

I understand the reaction to just wanna smooth things over, but it doesn't look like

that will work. Maybe you can send an email...something non confrontational to your mom and cc

the rest of the family. Tell them how you feel, tell them there are even Christians that

fast sometimes its not a form of devil worship lol. Be clear that this is a

choice that you have made for your life and not all the scallops and incentives in the world

are deterring your decision. Let them know that it hurts your feelings, and by acting this way

it is pushing you away from them.

My grandmother said when my mom converted it just took time. She was very respectful

of the religion when I was young, but dont know how things were before.

Ramadan Mubarak! And i pray your family accepts your decisions more.

Awwww she looks sooo precious and alert. What beautiful eyes!

Look at all the cute new additions. I have been MIA, just with

the same working, fam stuff. I never have time to go online thats not

work or family stuff.

I remember when alot of us were filing. Now kids!!

We wanted another but right now our lil guy has us BEAT.

I wish I had a quarter of his energy. lol.

Wowzer, lol

I haven't been to this site in like a year. Time just passes I guess.

Have a great saturday every one!!!

Amanda have bread~fruit~ ful~ all his favorites for the 4am feast.

Encourage him in the day and know he will be tired and might even be a little grumpy around 7pm. He might even stay up VERY late..like 4am..then go to sleep.

I agree with Melly about not fasting for the month. It takes years to build up to that. You can help him in other ways, helping him prepare to eat and being patient with him in the first days.

Jackie

Years indeed!!

And I still have to get my self in the mode mentally each year.

I remember fasting as a child/teen in those HOT long summer Ramadans.... U get

to a point where you just have to sleep the rest of the hours away and now they have

come back again....

I'm so glad to be a female and get my days off.

Daylight savings time and Ramadan are not a good mix for me.

Congratulations!

But......................

Doesn't he want to file for Naturalization?

Then you're almost done! :crying: :crying:

Hmmm.... we prob will in future. But the hard part is over rather.

But its a great relief not to worry about his status, and what happens if we

arent approved etc.

This next step will be a choice rather than a requirement. And the

sight of expiration yr 2019 is beeyutiful!!

So I know I shouldve updated couple months ago...

but I didn't.... master procrastinator.

Anyways, hubby's conditional card was set to expire and they were past their processing times

and we couldn't get a infopass online... someone here advised us to go to the USCIS

office and get a infopass at the qiosk........and it worked!!

So on June 1st we found out that our case had been approved!!!

The lady told us it could take 6 mos for a greencard..#######?!?!?! but gave us a

tempcard so he could work/drive.

Thennnn 6 days later on June 7th arrived the card!!

So we are D O N E WITH USCIS!!! The fees, the #######, the waiting....DONE!!!

I guess we will be making a lobby appmt on Monday.

I am just tired of the hassle they put you through on top of

their outrageous fees!!

Thanks for the advice.

Hi,

What is there to be done if there are no infopasses given at this time in Atlanta,

his extension paper is to expire in 3 weeks,

Annnd the case online says our Receipt number is invalid so I cant get info that way eitherrrr.

I am so thru with uscis, the cust. serv. rep said I can't just walk in the office with

no appmt.....but they aren't giving any now....

any advice anyone?

So what are the options for those who filed in May 2008,annd there the I-797 will be outdated for us

in June... like 3 weeks from now....

I can't seem to get the I-551 stamp because my dumb field office in Atlanta is NOT taking

appointments for the Infopass which is typical USCIS #######.

any ideas are appreciated...

I did ask the phone rep. if I can just show up at the office with no apptmt

and they said there is no guarantee to be seen with no apptmt.....but they aren't taking any now

Awww congrats ladies on the new bundles.. they are so precious!