And your point Cindy is?

The most important thing I've learned from travel, especially travel in a foreign country, is the value of improvisation. <BR> <BR>I remember for my first European trip, I learned all the basic Italian phrases I thought I would need before we left. We flew into Munich, got the rent-a-car, stormed down the autobahn, and finally arrived in Murano by mid-day. The first "foreign" person I spoke to was the parking lot attendant. I proudly trotted out my new-found Italian prowess and asked how long I could park there. He didn't speak a word of Italian...everyone in Merano speaks German! My pantomime/charades skills were truly put to the test. <BR> <BR>Two days later, we were making time to get to Portovenere by nightfall. Had a tire blow out in Santa Marguerita...on a Sunday. Fortunately, we were right next to lovely 4-star hotel. Oh well, change of plans. And it was far-and-away the best hotel experience of our 2-week trip! <BR> <BR>No matter how much you research and plan, the world is making other plans for you. Go with it, play the cards you're dealt, make lemonade out of lemons, and above all, keep an open mind. Order the broiled pumpkin in garlic-mint-yogurt sauce appetizer if it's the house special...I'm telling you, you won't regret it!

Just that travel is a wonderful, eye-opening experience. When the trip is over, nothing feels better than swinging open the front door of my own home and appreciating all of the things I take for granted. Not all of them are material things, either. <BR> <BR>The statement is universal, I think. People who live entirely different lives in entirely different places probably feel the same way about their homes as I do about mine. <BR> <BR>I don't do the poetry thing as well as everyone else on this thread, so I thought quoting Judy Garland might make the point better than I could.

Ha Ha! Just 3 days after I made a fuss about how spelling mistakes usually don't matter...I confused Murano and Merano. To be clear, my above post was about the cute little Tyrolian village, NOT the glass-blowing Venetian island! <BR> <BR>Another lesson to learn: correct your mistakes where and when you can!

See what I mean, you fashion your opinion after what you have SEEN and believe to be true. I have never seen a child strike his mother, and I have lived in the middle east. I have seen a family escort their mother to a fine seat, (at the airport), run around to get her a cold drink, get her a stool for her feet, and jump up every time she spoke to assist her. I have seen men karting their old mother's about in wheel barrows, if they are that poor, one arab family I know meets every friday (after prayers) to finishe the house they are building for their mother, another fine man get's up early to take the children to school, while his wife rests. I have had conversations with arab lady friends and we all agree that our family and children come first. People are just about alike, aren't they?

The child striking comment comes after an extensive cross section of reading on the condition of women in Turkey, Iraq, Egypt and Morocco. I knew adding a personal comment would weaken my point. But since I have already gone down this route I also have seen women begging in Cairo. I also remember being in a remote area of Egypt where it is not enough to cover most of the face the women there cover all of the face and only open the veil exposing one eye to walk around corners. Wait, I remember those women being carted around also. That was not so bad what am I thinking? <BR> <BR> Do you recall any women being stoned to death in the town square each week on trumped up infidelity charges while in Saudi Arabia? I met a very traumatized businessman who was said this happened weekly in his town square. He left a very lucrative position and was trying to emotionally recover from what he witnessed and termed “complete madness”. I also wonder how many women you spoke with still have an intact clitoris. What does it matter anyway if someone is willing to roll them around in a wheel barrel or fetch them a drink. Life just does not get any better than that. <BR> <BR>I know the situations you spoke about exist but they come at a cost for those women. I would never suggest that women couldn’t be happy in the middle east. I just think it’s nieve to draw the conclusions you have. I also think your assumptions hurt the women that struggle so hard in those countries. It is not about feeling sorry for them it is about acknowledging them. It has only been a few years now that the United Nations has even acknowledged rituals like cliterectomies as being a violation of a human right instead of just a “women’s issue”. Surprising to me that you actually lived in the middle east yet never did any reading on the social structure. Having said this you did mention Saudi Arabia and many of the scholarly works accepted and recognized in the Arab world (with Arab authors) would be banned there… Just something to think about. <BR> <BR>