Batta

I don't think it is worth of arguing on this board about VSC. My husband told me several times not to worry about the time it takes for Green card cause he is like Martyshk feels this is a process and as long as he can work, travel and live here, let it takes as long as it can. If you let this process be your main worry, then it can drag you down. When I sent his paper, I was excited but when I started seeing the dates on VS of how long it takes VSC I was depressed. I stopped logging on till last month when I decided to see how things are going with timelines of May filers

Botton line, enjoy your day, your approval will come soon

Batta,

Did you go to your bio appointment earlier than it was scheduled or was it actually scheduled on July 22?

Thank you,

Sorry meant to say 23 rd

Hi all,

I just wanted to drop by and tell you that my husband was approved for his green card on Feb 15th at 7:32 AM CT , it was a nice Valentine gift

Later that day I got another email that card is ordered. I know I have not put our timeline on this site " Call me lazy" but we sent our papers back in June 18th, and his Bio was July 22nd. On 14th of Feb I checked the website want his file was not touched since June 28th!

I see VSC count is still low but may be some people are not coming up here to share news, so I thought to let you know, I had hope in VSC less than 8 months, and time did fly off so well, cause hubs told me not to check on case EVER

Good luck all

Batta

Hello June folks

I posted a question on this board about changing of address due to relocation to another state. I did not get any response or advise

Can anyone help

Please advise

Thanks

Hi,

I have accepted a job in another state and will be moving with 3 weeks. I am the US citizen, and my Husband and I filed for ROC in June.

He already completed his biometic on 7/22 ( filed in 06/19/2012). I checked status and still says in review.

I am confused if I should move the case into Arizona or keep it in Texas. I still going to have my house in Texas and I have one of my family member living at the house, or should I do the change of address and risk having the case to take longer and possible loss of information

Please advise

Thanks

I hear Donald Trump wants to see Bin Laden's death certificate

I might have an opportunity to be our HR assistant at work. Im tossing and turning in my mind about it bcz I hate change but its so tempting and its completely different than what I've spent 11 yrs of Walmart doing (which is all up front and management) It would be every Sat 8-5, every Sunday off which I would love, and I pick my other day off, then 2 days 8-5 and 2 days 12-9. Same pay, same level but a completely different thing and a new change within work. Anyone worked HR before??? Adam thinks I'd be crazy if I dont take it, but Im so having a hard time in my mind.

Well, I started 18 years ago as a checker at a grocery store because that was the only job I can find when I arrived to USA. 1 year later, I was assitant manager and I started to help with payroll which was an opportunity to be away from the face of other people

Once I became a customer service manager within 2 years from working, I started to engage more with HR assitant, and I can say you might like it.

HR will be involved into applying company processes, explaining benifits, insuring hiring is according to standared, follow up on changing of union policies, and after all, you will be able to attend meetings with other HR folks, and possibility of moving up the ladder.

I would agree with Adam, try to take a break from the front and work more with people since this will put additional experience on your resume

I don't think it is a custom. This money bash is what we call a " Show off".

Now what is custom paying for the bride before leaving her house.

The Groom family will come to the birde's house. They will bring music and flowers with them, and with a group of ladies and men.

Then they will be taking the bride out of the house, but before she can step out, they will be closing the door and someone a family trusted person will be asking to be paid for allowing the birde to exit. This depends on the family, some will but a 100 or more like 1000 and up.

Once he take the money and show the father of bride, then they will open the door for her to exit and walk to the car.

LOL thanks for the heads up, we considered doing a money tree because I'm not really interested in the whole "money dance" that is sometimes done at weddings. Not sure if asking for money at the wedding is tacky now though so maybe we'll just put a card box out and if people want to drop $$$ in there they can.

I'll have to look into this money shower a little more...

Hello Wendi,

There is not much tradition to Iraqi Christians that does not match any american wedding.

Iraqi Christian is referred to in Iraq as the modern folks. I am saying this since I am Iraqi Chaldean and my Husband is Iraqi Assyrian.

Usually the food is more traditional but again living this country for the past 18 years all of the weddings I attended people either use a Arabic catering or just depend on a nice dinner “steak, fish.." Most of the parties are hosted in banquet halls and you just have to use the food that the place offers.

The Chaldean speaks the Aramaic language which is altered between Assyrian and Chaldean. They hold a Henna party either few days or a night before the wedding. It is custom to give the bride lots of gold. There is also tradition of inviting the older ladies to view the bedroom, the sheets, and towels, anything that is new that is going to be used for that home.

During the wedding day, only thing is different is we have sweets served right after wedding " Like Keelache, candy" as a sign of happiness. There is a tradition to wear a ribbon on the side of arm which has few crosses on it.

Remember marrying at a Catholic Church means if you ever get divorce none of you will be able to marry again only if you get an official divorce from the highest church and that can take ages.

During the wedding party, there is a precision for the bride and groom. This means they will be calling out the names of the couple starting with flower girl, ring boy, the bride maids couples, and finally the groom and bride. They will enter on a traditional " Khiga" music with lots of colored scarves that have coins attached to their end. This might take up to 45 minutes.

The groom family might also during the party give the bride some gold and they will be showing it to people by dressing her up.

There are traditional dance and you can view these wedding if you go on Youtube and search Chaldean weddings or Assyrian weddings.

I am not sure where your wedding going to be is, and who is from your fiancé family is going to attend, but just having a nice American wedding should be more than enough.

Now some people might bring a belly dancer to the party, or cut the cake using a sword but again at these days it is all about being simple.

PM me if you need more information, sorry for writing un-organized but I am in rush and just had to put my thoughts.

And it did not make any sense to what happen to Iraqi Christians just weeks ago...that time I did not lose one person but many people...whenever I turned my head I heard of another loss...My dad's cousin lost her brother in law and his son..One of our family friend lost her mom and brother.. and my other friend lost his cousin, his wife and un-born child...

It is Sad to see what life had turned into these days.. Blood shed does not seem to matter to anyone no more.

Just a Sad start for 2011...

And_Sam... Just send your hubby here I will tour him in DT Chicago, with some chill winds, he will never complain again about Florida anymore.

It reminds me of hubby, he used to tell me he likes the cold weather, and he lived in Canada for 6 years, but when he tasted the midwest weather these past few weeks, he asked me to get him a hat and glove which he objected to buy for almost few months since last year.

Now he is loving his hat, and his warm jacket. Ohh and we increased our stock of the longjones from 3 to 12

Batta..

Good evening Mena,

It is Friday night, home alone Husband at his job away traveling along the midwest. Today is his B-day and I been in tears all last night and today. I always thought after 4 years from knowning him that I finally to spend his B-day with him and it did not happen.

He will not be home till next weekend which is depressing.

I am sitting watching sex and the city 1 and 2, waiting for him to call me. I am counting the days to start my vacation in 10 day.. I will be heading to Dallas at least their I can have time with my family and friends.

He asked me what I wanted, I said nothing, just I asked him to see if their is a way he can be home every weekend.

I pray for this!

Have a nice evening all

Batta

Good morning All,

It is time of the year when it is cold, the Xmass lights are going up and shopping starts

Well it is freezing cold here in Chicago, but cannot complain since it is Sunny!

We will be heading to Downtown to see the Magnificent Mile Lights Festival which will include the Mickey Mouse parade and Fire work this evening.

Hubby will not be working this week so I am excited, but also happy that he passed his exams for his job as a truck driver, sad story he will be on road for like 2 weeks with 2 days off each time, so not sure about Xmass being off..Ohh well.. I will just take it day by day!

Nothing left for my 3 weeks vacation time.. going home to Texas to spend Xmass there

All in All it is a Good year.. Happy Holidays

we are over. we have been over a little over 2 weeks I guess. I am not good at remembering recent dates. anyway guys, I wish you all the best with your marriages and relationships. Me i am done with this matter. For me i've been burnt twice dealing with Moroccans. Not to say all are bad. I am just saying I do not believe they are for me. Wishing you all the love and happiness in the world.

MM

I just cannot understand why American women are running after MENA men!! I can understand why I married my husband, since we both are from the same MENA country, share same religion and culture. This did not mean we had it easy but was a little bit comforting.

I see a lot of women here trying to find love in overseas relationship which to me the percentage of survival is very limited. The same issue over and over again. I know how MENA men think about the American women, they just want to marry them to come to the state. The US VISA is like gold in the street. I swear if you print million visas and throw it in middle of any Arabic country it will disappear in the blink of an eye.

Arab men are dying to come to the state, they marry just to get a green card, later they will go back home and find a woman from their own culture to have children with. I am NOT saying all MENA are like that but a HIGH percentage is.

I think it is better to find someone locally rather than wasting resources going there and at the end take a stab in your own heart.

There are plenty of Good American men that are by far better than MENA men, just remember that.

I just love these genius topics that pops out from time to time on this form and plus I like how the topic steer away in different directions.

Waiting anxiously for the new “Great" Topic

Jax,

Biryani is not a Yemeni dish. It started from Iran (Persian) and it moved to different countries. My mom’s family who lived in Basra, Iraq used to do the best biryani full of hot spices and curry because we were close neighbor to Iran. Also not to mention we had an Iranian maid who was a pro with Persian food.

Now my dad’s families are from north of Iraq and the biryani there takes on different route that is not much spicy like the one in south. I had biryani at different countries and best who master it well are, Persian, Indian and Iraqis, others are just imitation of a biryani.

I make it almost every other week, and husband like it cause I make it like the southern part of my country, hot/ Spicy.

Happy voting day!

Batta

Hello Mena..

It is a cold night in Chicago. I was happy Friday night when hubby came home for his 1st week at work. He was dead tired but I welcomed him with a cooked “Okra Stew" and his favorite bean salad. It was nice to have him home this weekend since last week seems to be a tough one with him being away for 8 days.

Well things does not last for long since he will be leaving tomorrow at 5 AM to go back to WI for another 8 days working with another team leader which means I will be all alone he will be back on 8th of Nov. Therefore, Olivia don't feel bad, at least yours is for sometime mine will be like this for LONG time only if he decide to quit this job and we move to Texas so he can work with my Bro at his auto shop.

I cooked " Chicken Curry" today and tonight he is having " Beef Liver" which I master cooking it since I used to see my mom's doing it all times back home. I put lots of curry, cumin, Arabic allspice, black pepper, onion and most important oil.

I am thinking to start opening an Arabic cooking school since it seems I have time at my hand, because working 16 hours at work will not change anything since I am on a salary..

Have a wonderful week all..

Batta

Hello Mena,

Been a while since postd here, although I try to make the time to read all posts

Well, I spend today helping out on the Job fair and holding interviews for graduates. Hubby now has a job and went to Green Bay for 1 week for orientation and training, so I am all alone.. It was Sad when he pull away from the parking lot and tears in my eyes. He reminded me that he is only 3 hours away and he will be home soon. This job will put him on the road a lot for more than 5 days a week, so not sure how it going to work.

This is when I kill myself at work and try to go to GYM to lose the weight i put on because of stress and the no focus diet.

I am happy things are in order as hubby work will ease things on him as he was starting to lose it and fight with little things. He started to be a change man just when he knew he was accepted and i could sense it.

I cannot wait for teh holidays to come so I can visit my family in Texas and have some quality time with them..

Pray for us and especially for my husband to change his mind and accept us to move to Dallas because I will be so happy there

Have a great evening.

Batta

The reason I asked this question was for her to look back and see what are the good things to which it made them to come together and possible try to work from that point!

I wonder what made you marry him in the 1st place? If you both are different!

Hello,

This is a very sensitive topic to discuss around all cultures. Many of us who had been raised in a 3rd world country understand what it means to support other family members who are in need.

Growing up, I saw my parents struggle to make ends needs, and when dad finally opened his own clinic he was doing well, and to be honest many of extend family members were living off my dad medical help and his willing to support them although they had enough of asset to make it on their own. My mom was a super mom who helped her nephews and nieces throughout their childhood time.

Yet when the war started in Iraq and we had to leave, my family lost almost everything and when my mom was diagnosed with cancer and called her family for her to pay for medication, we got the deaf ear. Then we finally were able to sell the gold we have to pay for her medication, and after arriving into the US back in 1993 she did not even got the support of her brother here, we all had to start looking for jobs just a week from arriving in USA. I remember I started working after 20 days and my brother started after 10 days.

My mom passed away in 1995, and when my other family members in Iraq, Lebanon and Jordan needed money I used to send and help, taking it away from my mouth and helping them, but my dad was upset because he always remembers when we needed help but no one offered.

Today, I help some family but not a whole lot, because I discovered some people say they need support but they go spend it on luxury items which I could prohibit myself from them. I don’t send the 5K like I used to do, but now I send 200 to 500 Max.

When I met my husband, we talked about helping family only closest ones, nothing like cousins and others outside the close circle. Yet he also understands that we need to pay our 2 homes and also save for the future. Once he starts working we agreed that his paycheck will go to pay off the 2 mortgages and I will still support the house bills, and any other stuff. We agreed we will help family but after we discuss how much we can help them with.

It is part of our love to our parents and family to support them, but also we need to look at our self. We are not putting our family in homeless homes but also we are not promising them mansions to live in.

I have many friends who sent loads of money to their family in Iraq because they felt bad for them not able to work, yet these families were spending left of right close to 1000 dollars a month on stupid things while the folks over here working 2 jobs to help them.. Isn’t this a classic case of being run by so called “love your family!!”

//Batta

Our green card hasn't arrived yet like I thought it would. We did get the Welcome to America letter but it did tell us it could take up to three week for the GC to arrive. By the latest that could be by the 15th of October. Oh well, we're not in any hurry right now but everyday we're eagerly checking our mail.

The funny part Olivia, My husband got his appproval for green card last week, then I told him it might take 2 o 3 weeks, we got the email of card production on Thursday and Sat the card in the mail box!!

I told him the Green Card office seems to be hidden next door

It was a very smooth ride for us, no RFE and less than 3 months of getting EAD an GC.. time to help him find a job ..

This is just getting better...

Good morning Mena,

Jackie congrats!

Hubby for the 2 years green card on Saturday. He also passed the CDL test and is going to start looking for a job now.. feeling that things are getting in order.

Cannot believe it that today is 74 degree and Sunday going to be 56 Winter is coming to Chicago time to put the summer shoes and clothes away.. or pack and hit to home to Texas or as hubby say to Arizona only if I can find a job there

I will leave you with this amazing song for Majda Al roumi and Lara Fabian " Habibi"

//Batta

Your post reminded me of the time a few months ago that I was grocery shopping and saw a niqabi shopping with her husband who was dressed in shorts, a Hawaiian shirt (gag) and mandals. It was a very hot day that day. Now I don't know if the woman wore niqab out of her own personal choice or if her husband expected it of her or whatever but I felt kinda weird seeing her all bundled up on a sweltering day whilst her husband was ready for the beach. Not really anything to do with the subject but I felt like sharing.

And if you go to the arab gulf countries and walk during June till Sep when it is actually hot and humid you can possibly see that most of the women dress in shorts or underwear below the “ Abbaya” ( saw many of them when the wind comes flying )because it is simply hot, others poses this “Dirty Sweaty Smell’ that kills you no wonder they use a lot of perfume or “ bokhoor”