Here There and Everywhere

Expat wanderer

For Me, Two Special Offers, Money Money Money

To me, it’s just amazing; they don’t know me and yet I am a winner. They want to give me lots of money. Big Whoop.

Attention Winner

Greetings of the day, Hoping that this mail meets you in a perfect condition.

(UN Information Service) — The United Nations Compensation Commission (UNCC) has made available today a total of $595,044,579.38 to six governments for distribution to 8,303 successful claimants.

Payment is being made in respect of 2,946 claims in category (A-(claims of individuals for damages up to $100,000).

Claims in category (B-(claims of corporations, other private legal entities and public sector enterprises), that were approved for payment by the Governing Council at its fifty-fifth session, held from 8 to 10 March 2005.

Today’s payment are being made in accordance with the Governing Council’s decision 227, which extended the temporary payment mechanism set out by the Governing Council in its decision 197, under which up to $200 million from the Compensation Fund will be made available for the payment of claims every quarter. In the present round of payment, all newly approved claims, i.e. claims approved for payment at the fifty-fifth session, will receive $500,000 or the principal amount of the award, if less, and some claims will receive up to $300,000.

The present payment brings the overall amount of compensation made available to date by the United Nations Compensation Commission to $500,000.00.

Participants for the online version were selected randomly from World Wide Web sites through computer draw system and extracted from over 100,000 unions, associations, and corporate bodies that are listed online. We are using this opportunity to thank you for using the internet daily.

We do hereby Congratulates you, as your e-mail appears among one of the list extracted from this websites.

The card center will send you an ATM DEBIT CARD, which you will use to withdraw your money in any ATM machine, Banks and Union Pay Credit outlets in the world; you are hereby selected as an honour for this payment approval, which you are to acknowledge the receipt of this mail to the Logistic Department by email listed below.

Contact Mr. Peter Nick with below e-mail;

Mr. Peter Nick
Manager Foreign Operation
E-mail: mrpeternick@yahoo.co.jp

Good luck and kind regards,
Making the world a better place

Adam Shamir
Personal Assistant To
Dr. Ban Ki-Moon
{Send copy of email to: mrpeternick@yahoo.co.jp}
In respect to the delivery of this ATM Debit card, you are to bear the cost

And on the same day, this one in from Ouagadougou – don’t you just love that name? People in the state department used that as a threat, like if you aren’t good, you go to Ouagadougou:

From the desk of Mr. Hassan Ahmed.

Auditing and Accounting section of

Bank of Africa (B.O.A)

Ouagadougou, Burkina-Faso

West Africa

Good day,

I wish to know if we can work together because i would like you to stand as the
beneficiary to a deceased client Mr. Emmanuel Etukudo who made some deposit sum
of_ ($15.5million) fifteen million five hundred thousand united states dollars
in my department in the Bank of Africa Burkina-Faso, West Africa before his
death.

He died on the 2nd may 2007 without any registered next of kin and as such the
funds now have an open beneficiary mandate. Upon your reply i will give you
details on how the transaction will be executed, and I’ am assuring you that it
is 100% risk free hence you co-operate with me.

Best regards and expecting your response.

Mr. Hassan Ahmed.

May 17, 2011 Posted by | Scams | Leave a comment

Expat Workforce

I received this e-mail asking for publicity and participation in a new website. Maybe you would like to help?

Hi Expat Blogger !

My name is Melanie, I’m the Community Manager for a new site called Expat Workforce. I thought you might be interested in the site since we hope it’ll allow more people to pursue their expat dreams. I’m writing to ask for your help.

Expat Workforce is the only site of its kind. We connect expats with Western businesses who want to outsource jobs to talented expats around the world. Whether it’s copywriting, telesales, customer service, or bookkeeping – because of technology it’s possible for businesses to save money by hiring expats to do these jobs.

We just launched last week and are still in “beta mode” and recruiting expats. We plan to begin promoting aggressively to businesses in approximately 1 month.

I’m writing with two requests:

In order for businesses to see the site as the “go to” place for finding expats, we need a critical mass of expats. Could you take a minute to build your profile at: http://expatworkforce.com/ ?

If you are intrigued by the idea of Expat Workforce, would you be willing to write a short blog post or mention us in a Twitter message? We greatly rely on support from the expat community to help us spread the word about the site.

If you have any questions, just hit “reply” and I’d be happy to tell you more. Also, you can check out FAQ here: http://bit.ly/expatFAQ to learn more.

Thank you for your consideration.

Warm regards,

Melanie
Community Manager
Expat Workforce

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/expatworkforce
Twitter: @expatwork

Empowering entrepreneurs and expats to realize their dreams

May 17, 2011 Posted by | Blogging, ExPat Life, Work Related Issues | Leave a comment

Start of Ramadan 2011

The calendars are proclaiming that the first day of Ramadan will be August 1st this year, and the Eid al Fitr will be August 30th.

I cannot imagine Ramadan in August, especially in Kuwait and Qatar. It will be a brutal test of self-denial.

May 16, 2011 Posted by | Ramadan, Spiritual | 3 Comments

Saudi Women: “I Will Drive Myself Starting June 17th”

Thank you, Hayfa, for sharing this about a movement from some very brave women. In the USA, remember, when women started asking for the vote, they were beaten and put into insane asylums. Such women would be considered abnormal, at the very least. It hasn’t been that long, sisters. Many of these Saudi women have been driving for years – just not in Saudi Arabia, their own country.


5 May 12 2011
by Jadaliyya Reports

[The following announcement was originally released in Arabic, and can be found here. Translation by Ziad Abu-Rish and Khuloud.]

Us women in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia are the ones who will lead this society towards change. While we failed to deliver through our voices, we will not fail to deliver through our actions. We have been silent and under the mercy of our guardian (muhram) or foreign driver for too long. Some of us barely make ends meet and cannot even afford cab fare. Some of us are the heads of households yet have no source of income except for a few hard-earned [Saudi] Riyals that are used to pay drivers.

Then there are those of us who do not have a muhram to look after our affairs and are forced to ask strangers for help. We are even deprived of public transportation, our only salvation from being under the mercy of others. We are your daughters, wives, sisters, and mothers. We are half of society and give birth to [the other] half, yet we have been made invisible and our demands have been marginalized. We have been deliberately excluded from your plans! Therefore, the time has come to take the initiative. We will deliver a letter of complaint to our father the King of Humanity and the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques calling on him to support the Women of June 17.

We have searched for laws that prohibit women in Saudi Arabia from exercising their right to drive their own vehicle but have not found anything that points to such [a prohibition] in Saudi traffic laws. Therefore, what we will do cannot be considered a violation of the law. We therefore have decided that beginning on Friday the 15th of Rajab, 1432, which corresponds to the 17th of June, 2011:

Every women in possession of an international driver’s license or one from another country will begin driving her car herself whether to reach her place of work, drop her children off at school, or attend to her daily needs.

We will take photographs and videotapes of ourselves driving our cars and post them to our Facebook page in order to support our cause: I will drive starting June 17

We will adhere to the dress code (hijab) while driving.

We will obey the traffic laws and will not challenge the authorities if we are stopped for questioning.
If we are pulled over we will firmly demand to be informed of which laws have been violated. Until now there is not one traffic law that prohibits a woman from driving her own vehicle herself.

We do not have destructive goals and will not congregate or protest, nor will we raise slogans. We have no leaders or foreign conspirators. We are patriots and we love this country and will not accept that which encroaches on its security and safety. All that is involved [in this matter] is that we will begin to exercise our legitimate right.

We will not stop exercising this right until you find us a solution. We have spoken out on too many occasions and no one has listened to us. The time for solutions has come. We want women’s driving schools. We want Saudi drivers’ licenses [for women] like all other countries in the world. We want to live a complete form of citizenship without the humiliation and degradation that we are [currently] subjected to everyday because of our dependence on a driver.

We will launch volunteer campaigns to offer free driving lessons for women beginning on the date that this announcement is issued and we wish for everyone to support us.

To review the traffic law in Saudi Arabia: http://bit.ly/lj60Od

Section Four: Driving License, page 47
List 1-4 of Driving Violations: pages 117-121

نحن النساء في المملكة العربية السعودية من سيقود هذا المجتمع نحو التغيير. وحين فشلنا في ايصال صوتنا، لن نفشل في ايصال أفعالنا. كفانا سكوتاً ومذلة لكل رجل من محرم أو أجنبي عنا. منا من لاتملك أجرة تاكسي وتعيش على الكفاف. ومنا من تعول أسرتها وليس لها عائل غير ريالات بسيطة دفعت فيها جهدها وعرقها لتكون لقمة سائغة للسائقين. ومنا من ليس لها من يقوم بأمرها فتلظت بنار السؤال لكل غريب. محرومين حتى من مواصلات عامة تكفينا شرهم. نحن بناتكم ونساؤكم وأخواتكم وأمهاتكم. نحن نصف المجتمع ونلد نصفه. لكن تم تغييبنا وتهميش مطالبنا. سقطنا من خططكم عمداً! لذلك حان وقت أخذ زمام المبادرة. وسنقوم برفع خطاب تظلم لوالدنا ملك الانسانية خادم الحرمين الشريفين لمسانده نساء ١٧ يونيو

تم البحث عن أي قانون يمنع المرأة في السعودية من ممارسة حقها في قيادة مركبتها بنفسها ولم نجد أي شيء يشير لذلك في نظام المرور السعودي*. لذلك لايعتبر ما سنفعله خرقاً للقانون. لذلك قررنا أنه وبدأً من الجمعه 15 رجب 1432 الموافق 17 يونيو 2011 التالي

كل امرأه تملك رخصة قيادة دولية أو من دولة أخرى ستبدأ بقيادة سيارتها بنفسها لتقضية أي مشوار لها سواء للوصول لمكان عملها، ايصال أطفالها للمدرسة، أو قضاء حوائجها اليومية

on.fb.me/mbWaHq :سنوثق قيادتنا لسياراتنا بأنفسنا بالصوت والصورة ونشرها على صفحتنا بالفيسبوك لدعم قضيتنا

سنلتزم بحشمتنا وحجابنا حين قيادة سياراتنا

سنلتزم بقوانين المرور ولن نتحدى السلطات إذا تم ايقافنا للمساءلة

إذا تم ايقافنا للمساءلة نتمسك بحق المطالبة أن نعرف أي القوانين تم خرقها. لحد الآن لايوجد اي قانون في نظام المرور يمنع المرأة من قيادة مركبتها بنفسها

ليس لدينا أهداف تخريبية. ولن نتجمهر أو نتظاهر أو نرفع شعارات وليس لدينا قادة أو جهات أجنبيه نحن وطنيات ونحب هذا الوطن ولن نرض بما يمس أمنه أو سلامته. كل مافي الأمر أننا سنبدأ بممارسة حق مشروع

لن نتوقف عن ممارسة هذا الحق حتى تجدوا لنا حلاً. تكلمنا كثيراً ولم يسمعنا أحد، جاء وقت الحلول. نريد مدارس نسائيه لتعليم القيادة. نريد رخص قيادة سعودية أسوة بكل دول العالم. نريد أن نعيش مواطنة كاملة بدون الذل والمهانة التي نتعرض لها كل يوم لأننا مربوطين برقبة سائق

سنبدأ باقامة حملات تطوعية لتعليم النساء القيادة مجاناً بدأ من تاريخ نشر هذا الإعلان ونرجو مساندة الجميع

:لمراجعة نظام المرور في السعودية

http://bit.ly/lj60Od

الباب الرابع: رخص القيادة صفحة 47

جداول المخالفات 1-4 صفحة 117 -121

May 14, 2011 Posted by | ExPat Life, Experiment, Law and Order, Living Conditions, Saudi Arabia, Social Issues, Women's Issues, Work Related Issues | 4 Comments

Did you Tell Him We’re Going Dancing?

I was laughing as I heard AdventureMan talking with his Saudi friend, making a time when they could get together. I knew he had called about tonight.

“Did you tell him we were going dancing?” I laughed as I asked him.

“Uhhh . . . no,” he said.

This is new to us. We are taking dancing lessons, ballroom dancing, at the YMCA. We both had those lessons you take in eighth grade, but we’ve forgotten most of what we learned. I don’t care about going dancing, or fancy dresses, or competitions. I don’t even watch dance stuff on TV; I just don’t care that much. These classes are something we’ve wanted to do for a long time, and it really takes us out of our comfort zones.

We really are having fun. The first lesson – not so much. It is hard work! It doesn’t come naturally, it comes with PRACTICE! Lots of PRACTICE! It’s like fencing lessons, or horseback riding, or karate, or gymnastics – After a while, your body knows what to do, but at the beginning, it can be a little excruciating. As for AdventureMan and I, we mess up a lot, but we laugh a lot too. We are getting better, but best of all we are having a lot of fun. These kinds of things rewire your brains; it may not be easy, but it is good for us.

And I am still laughing, thinking of AdventureMan not telling his friend that he was going dancing with his wife, LOL!

May 11, 2011 Posted by | Adventure, Aging, Arts & Handicrafts, Community, Cross Cultural, Entertainment, Exercise, Family Issues, Friends & Friendship, Humor, Living Conditions, Marriage, Pensacola, Relationships, Saudi Arabia, Values | Leave a comment

The Minority Prayer

I listen to National Public Radio in my car and in my project room. I finally figured out how to stream WUWF, my local station. Until today, unless I wanted to use my wind-up radio, I had to stream KUOW in Seattle, or NPR which I like because it has so much BBC.

I am really delighted to figure out how to stream WUWF, because it has a lot of local news and events I might miss streaming one of the other stations, and I also like hearing who the sponsors are, so I can tell them how much I enjoy National Public Radio.

So today I am listening to Talk of the Nations, a segment on Pakistani-Americans, and this particularly articulate young lawyer mentions ‘the Minority Prayer.

Do you know what that is? I didn’t. But I laughed when he explained it, because we have prayed it so often living overseas . . .

He was talking about when attending a Muslim-American Lawyers National meeting, and how the buzz spread that Osama Bin Laden had been killed, and how they all sent up a quick minority prayer – “Please, Lord, don’t let it be Pakistan where he was found” – and of course, it was Pakistan. He was very wry, and I enjoyed listening to what he had to say. At the same time, I was grinning. I cannot count the number of times we have heard rumors – in Germany, in Kuwait, in Qatar, in Tunisia, in Jordan – and prayed . . . “Please Lord, don’t let it be the USA who did this . . . ”

It’s very much an expat’s prayer.

If you want to listen to the interview yourself, you can find it here.

May 11, 2011 Posted by | Adventure, Biography, Community, Counter-terrorism, Cross Cultural, ExPat Life, Humor, Interconnected, Living Conditions, Political Issues, Relationships | 2 Comments

Yelling For Help

I don’t often have bad dreams, and this one was a doozy. I was in my house – or office – and it was a large, clear white space. I noticed a lot of fine black dust in places on the white carpet, like toner from copy machines, and then it gathered and swirled, but sometimes it was white. Then I saw a man – or something with a skull – sitting on a white slab couch like my Mom used to have in turquoise back a long time ago.

I kept looking – sort of like a cat does when he sees something he is not sure of, looking for motion or some sign of threat, very alert. When the skull creature started to move, I started to yell.

(Lithograph by Munch)

It’s hard to yell when you are scared, but I kept at it. “Help!” It sounded weak and tentative. “HELP!” “HELP!”

AdventureMan was there to help, calling my name, asking if I was OK. “I thought it was the Qatteri Cat,” he told me, “It sounded kind of strangled and yowly.”

I just laughed. I felt good. The skull man didn’t get me, AdventureMan was right here, my trusted knight, and I had broken through my fear – or the sleep barrier – and yelled really loud. I don’t know why, but it made me feel powerful and like I had survived something and that made me feel good. 🙂

(It could also be related to the series I am reading, on which the current HBO series Game of Thrones is based, and maybe it disturbs me on some deep level.)

May 10, 2011 Posted by | Family Issues, Marriage, Pensacola | 3 Comments

Happy Mother’s Day

There is this thing on FaceBook where for Mother’s Day you put a photo of your own mother as your profile photo. I don’t do a lot on FaceBook, but I did this one, and I thought I would share an early photo of my mother with you:

I just love that mischievous little smile that says “Don’t you want to come play with me?”

Happy Mother’s Day, Mom.

May 8, 2011 Posted by | Blogging, Family Issues | 5 Comments

Dear DADDY Intlxpatr

I get the feeling he doesn’t really read my blog . . .

Dear DADDY,

I am Johnson Koroma, from the Ivory Coast (D.R.C) in Africa. I am the first son and the eldest child of my late father, Late Capt. Suleiman Koroma.
My late father was killed by the rebels in my country as he died in the hospital, two days after he was shot on his chest.

I am in Jakarta-Indonesia now; I was smuggled in here with the help of the United Nations (U.N.).

The U.N assisted me to convey my inherited fund($15,500,000.00) to Jakarta-Indonesia, as I told them that, the fund was supposed to be delivered to my late father foreign partner here in Jakarta-Indonesia according to my late father’s instruction before he died.

I did this arrangement, as my late father told me before he died in my country Ivory Coast; to make sure I convey this fund to his foreign partner here in Jakarta-Indonesia for investment purposes since there is instability of power in Africa.

But on my arriving here in Jakarta-Indonesia, I could not find my late father foreign partner as I was told he died in a bomb blast that occurred in J.W Marot hotel here in Jakarta-Indonesia two year ago.

In this regards, I seek your urgent assistance, for you to come down here in Jakarta-Indonesia, so that I will introduce you to the U.N as my late father’s foreign partner for them to release my fund to you. This is because, the U.N said they will not release my fund to me, until they see my late father foreign partner as I told them earlier, as the said fund is too big for only me to handle as the U.N. officials said, since I am just 24 years of age.

Note: You are not expected to make any upfront payment before you make this claim, all you are required to do is just to come down here in Jakarta-Indonesia, and I introduce you to the U.N as my late father’s foreign partner, who will make the claim of my inherited fund and invest it into any lucrative investment according to your directives… Also, 15% of this total sum shall be giving to you for your kind assistant.

The U.N will deduct 10% of the total sum, for their service charges etc after they hand over my inherited fund to you, hence you will not be expected to make any payment for this claim.

Thanks and remain blessed, as I await your urgent response and arrival schedule here in Jakarta-Indonesia.

Yours son,
Johnson Koroma.

May 7, 2011 Posted by | Africa, Financial Issues, Fund Raising, Scams | 2 Comments

AdventureMan’s New Adventure: Cinco de Mayo

When he ‘retired,’ AdventureMan chose Thursdays as his day to cook. It’s worked out well. Recently, he has perfected Naan, baked on our grill. We’ve had it several times – it just tastes so good, fresh off the grill, and he bastes it with either olive oil and garlic, or olive oil and sesame seeds. Oh, yummmmmm.

“I’m feeling stressed,” he admitted yesterday morning. “It’s my day to cook and I don’t have any ideas.”

“It’s also Cinco de Mayo,” I said, and that was all I had to say, he was off and running.

All I can say is BRAVO. BRAVO, AdventureMan, Cinco de Mayo was a taste treat. They were fabulous.

He found his recipe on AllRecipes.com, and made it pretty much just as they said to make it, serving it with a small bowl of home-made pico de gallo and a small bowl of sour cream. Oh YUMMMM. This is the recipe he used:

Pico de Gallo Chicken Quesadillas
By: Tony Cortez

Ingredients

2 tomatoes, diced
1 onion, finely chopped
2 limes, juiced
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and minced
salt and pepper to taste
2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
2 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves – cut into strips
1/2 onion, thinly sliced
1 green bell pepper, thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
4 (12 inch) flour tortillas
1 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese
1/4 cup sour cream, for topping

Directions

In a small bowl, combine tomatoes, onion, lime juice, cilantro, jalapeno, salt and pepper. Set aside. (This is the pico de gallo)

In a large skillet, heat 1 tablespoon olive oil. Add chicken and saute until cooked through and juices run clear. Remove chicken from skillet and set aside.

Put the remaining 1 tablespoon of olive oil in the hot skillet and saute the sliced onion and green pepper until tender. Stir in the minced garlic and saute until the aroma is strong. Mix in half of the pico de gallo and chicken breast meat. Set aside; keep warm.

In a heavy skillet, heat one flour tortilla. Spread 1/4 cup shredded cheese on the tortilla and top with 1/2 the chicken mixture. Sprinkle another 1/4 cup cheese over the chicken and top with another tortilla. When bottom tortilla is lightly brown and cheese has started to melt, flip quesadilla and cook on the opposite side. Remove quesadilla from skillet and cut into quarters.

Repeat with remaining ingredients. Serve quesadillas with sour cream and remaining pico de gallo.

I’ve never seen him so happy as he has been the last couple months.

May 6, 2011 Posted by | Adventure, Aging, Arts & Handicrafts, Cooking, Cross Cultural, ExPat Life, Florida, Food, Living Conditions | 1 Comment