Khadija

Abdo is already disgusted and embarassed by some of the western media he's seen on our two trips outside Egypt. When he sees half naked women he usually turns the dial. Believe it or not we saw CSI in Bucharest with Arabic & Hebrew subtitles. While he loved the drama, he did ask if women really wear such low cut tops to work! We also saw Law & Order on the same station and he wanted to know why men sleep around so much - so at least he recognizes both sexes can be at fault for poor behavior.

He asks me what I think of all the sex on TV and I usually don't know what to say. I try to explain how we're numb to such stuff since it's everywhere. I try to tell him most people are like us and don't wantonly sleep around and try to live good lives.

He asks if I'd let our daughter (if and when we have one) behave and dress like what he sees on TV and I say no, of course not. But, then I try to qualify the statement by saying hopefully her value system will be such that she won't want to. However, I add, if she was in love with someone but not married, we'd have to listen to her (when discussing premarital sex) and be open to the prospect she might have sex before marriage.

I'm hoping when he's here he'll see how we manage to strike a balance between the profane, ridiculous against all the wonderful programming on TV and that he'll also see there's a huge difference between what is portrayed on the tube an everyday life.

P

Leslie

I'm glad that Khalid has always watched American movies, even though I think by the time he gets them a lot of the overt sexual content has been edited out. At least he has an idea of what is "standard viewing" here but doesn't expect it to be "real life". I did warn him of what some people wear in public and he didn't seem to really care. I actually think, due to his upbringing, he is a little less judgemental about it than some other Moroccans I've met. But that doesn't mean he isn't going to get embarassed the first time some half naked hoochie-mama is in front of us in line at the grocery store.

darljl

I think that now with the net being available everywhere that even in countries where they have tight censorship with TV and movies that if a person wants to view inappropriate matter as considered by some that there is easy access. My Egyptian husband and his family and extended family seem to have little if any interest in watching anything that is racy or suggestive. Even when we would go to places that had belly dancing it seemed as if they would see the dancing for dancing sake not for the risque sensationalism. Maybe I am being a bit Pollyanna about this, but if I would rather err on the conservative side and think that they are not attracted to things like the Super Bowl controversy. I am also trying not to be but it has taken up quite a bit of newsprint and electronic media attention. It is hard to get away from it. One can only try.

Leslie

We watched "Friends" every day in English with Arabic subtitles.

Khadija

My husband and his family come from a very small village in Egypt and now live in a working class suburb of Cairo (when they're not commuting to/from their village). They have no access to the internet or a computer for that matter nor do they have satellite TV as these are expensive luxuries my family just can't afford. The only TV they see is what is broadcast by the Egyptian government; so you can imagine how cloistered my husband's upbringing has been.

If it weren't for the fact that he worked in a major hotel in Cairo which exposed him a little to western tourists (and their skimpy dress), customs, food and a TV show on satellite here and there, he would have had no exposure whatsoever to our ways. It sounds like for you and Leslie your husbands hail from wealthier more urbane & cosmopolitan backgrounds. This is good as they'll be able to put our culture into some perspective.

That's one of the reasons I took Abdo on the two trips I did these past two years. I wanted him to have a chance to "dip his toe" in "my world" before absolutely committing. It wasn't always smooth but there wasn't anything we couldn't discuss or work through. Inshaallah it'll always be that way!

Leslie

No, I actually think you're right it is just less interesting to them. I was telling him about the Michael Jackson brouhaha being all over the news. He had already heard about it on international news. All he said was, "Surely, nobody really cares about that?" My response was in the line of how terrible child molestation is and what if MJ really is the perv he's starting to appear to be. He said, "Yes that behaviour is terrible. If it is true he must go to prison." The point I'm making is that he didn't feel compelled to dwell on it, essentially it was not "entertaining" to him.

NKA418

Greetings everyone,

I asked my dh about the general timeline. He's terrible with dates, but this is what he gave me. Man...I didn't realize how unorganized we were until I saw the detailed timelines here on this NG :-|

Sorry it's so general but here's what he told me:

Yes the embassy sent me back all the photos and the video tape without giving me the visa or any letter of explanation, which was quite disappointing. But later on, after about a month from the date I recieved the photos back, they phoned me again to have my finger prints. A week after they took my finger prints they sent me the visa, still with no explanations !!!

Here's the timeline I complied from the emails we sent to each other: His interview was September 29th, but he forgot to bring some documentation that he needed. We mailed it to them on October 6th and they called him October 13th stating they would return his passport and all the documentation until further approval was received (AP). They returned it to him on or about October 15th. He received a call Nov 6th from the embassy asking him to come and get fingerprinted. He was electronically fingerprinted on Nov 13th. He received his visa by mail on Nov 20th.

So I'm thinking it took about 2 months from interview until he received his visa???

Khadija

THANKS!!!

Hebapotamus42

I think TV has gone completely insane. FOX had a wonderful show last year called John Doe. I absolutely loved it and would go nuts if I missed an episode. It was actually intelligent. Then FOX decided to axe the show and let the series end with a cliffhanger. Now they got more rubbish in place this year than they did last year. I'm so sick of "reality" shows. If this is what they consider reality, I'm outa here! I feel like I'm being force-fed feces when I flip through the channels and see semi-humans in their underwear behaving like sub-semi-humans. I can't imagine what my husband's reaction would be when he sees all this crap. My favorite shows now are Seinfeld, Star Trek TNG, Monk, and JAG.

Noorah101

Hi All,

I love "Friends". My sister teasingly (hopefully...lol) calls me Monica. The only reality show I follow is The Bachelor. Somehow I got hooked on it and can't seem to miss an episode :-) Other than that, I tend to watch Discovery Health channel (blood and guts don't bother me), the Travel channel, and some of the "makeover" shows whether it be home, fashion, or plastic surgery.

In Turkey, Sadegh didn't get very much TV reception at all, but he watched it anyway (ick...lol) He loves movies of any kind, in any language, especially action movies. He liked the Turkish variety shows and one sitcom, which even I began to follow after 3 weeks :-) Some of those shows are pretty racey, and Turkish female performers wear just as little (or less!) than American ones, so he's been properly exposed to half-naked woman on TV. LOL

As for his views on western life, not much seems to bother him except the open display of affection. When he saw people in a movie kissing passionately in public, he snorted and said "oh, right...like that REALLY happens there!" I told him it did, especially on high-school campuses. LOL So I know he will be turning his head to stare at those kinds of things when he first gets here, till he gets de-sensitized. When we were together in Turkey, we held hands and put an arm around the shoulders in public, but never, never, kiss on the lips. A kiss on the cheek is acceptable if it's your spouse or your relative.

I, for one, like it that way. I feel uncomfortable when I see people being too lovey-dovey in public. :-)

Best Wishes,
Rene

Hypertweeky

I am so sorry to hear that Patty.
When Mark came out here got embarassed too and he is not from a small village, I have got used to all these freak shows, it doesnt affect me anymore, When they are on I switched to cable and watch an interesting movie,music on VH1, MTV or a show I enjoy
Have you ever seen "Jack ass"?, a few months ago, a guy locked himself up in a portable restroom, another guy driving a tow truck tipped the portable restroom over, when the guy came out of the portable, he was covered by poop:scared:

Khadija

Hmmmmm...PDA??? I'm a little torn on that one. I think there's nothing more romantic than sitting along the Seine and kissing your honey. On the other hand, some people do take it way too far.

Abdo isn't big on PDA either. I usually don't mind since I'm OK with hand-holding and arms around each other. However, it does get to me when we have to say good bye at airports. I want/need more than anything a long kiss and that's very difficult for him given his background/culture.

Inshaallah, we won't be saying good bye at airports any longer! If we're as lucky as Na'imah and her husband, it's conceivable we'll hear something by early March and our plan for me going to Egypt in late April to bring him home might just work!! Not that I'm getting my hopes up!! Been there, done that and it's not fun!

P

Hypertweeky

I wish you nothing but the best!!
GOOD LUCK!!

Alicia&Driss

Well I’m late getting this info back, but as always I still don’t know anything. My father called our congressman on Wednesday. He looked up our case in the computer but could not find anything……???????? Who knows why? Then his secretary called me at work and asked me to fax her Driss’ paper with the interview date on it, and also something in writing that I wanted to check the status of our K-3. She told me she didn’t know how I was able to wait so patiently….HAHAHA if she only knew. Well after that I had a bad day. Anyway I woke up late for work the following morning so I forgot to grab the stuff to fax. So I have just faxed it all to her today, Friday. So of coarse I have not heard anything as of yet. But anyway hopefully we will hear something at the first of the week.

As far as how Driss will react to things here……I think this time he is in for it….lol Bless his heart he blushes at the drop of a dime. He really thinks he is prepared for here, but I really don’t think he is. But he does have Show Time and HBO there at his house.
Although when we first meet, the airport in Morocco was closed to anyone except people getting off planes. They had just had the Casablanca bombings. Well I knew that I would be meeting him outside, so when I went through customs there I was standing and waiting for the girl that had sat with me the whole flight. She is Moroccan and had helped me get through the mess after departing. I was standing in the main part of the airport and all of a sudden someone spinned me around and started kissing me. I had no Idea who it was and didn’t even know what to think it all happened so fast. So I pushed his head back and it was my Driss. He had talked the guards into letting him in the airport because he thought I would be lost. We stood for about 5 minutes after that Kissing and hugging. But only policemen were around and a few that had been on