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So a few of you already know... Posted By: stevethepirate On: 08-07-2009 @ 22:45:38 Reply | Edit I was just detained... again! Walking through customs at the airport, seems like having some Arab stamps in my passport is grounds for being pulled aside and interrogated extensively. They wanted to know where everyone in my family was born, how many people I know out of the country, why I study what I do, etc. I was polite and honest the whole time. Explained that I have been considering the military, hence why I am studying Arabic. Then, if that wasn't enough, they felt the need to confiscate my 3 Egyptian water pipes (shisha/hookah). At first they called it "contraband" and would not elaborate. Then when I tried explaining the concept to them, they considered it all drug paraphernalia. Their reasoning was that it is possible to smoke drugs through them. Is not a cigar drug paraphernalia then? What about a bible? People have used pages of bibles to roll joints! I told them to test it all to see if it had ever been used for drugs, they declined and opted to just confiscate it anyways. So I am fighting it... All of the supervisors that I spoke with were extremely uneducated and overall very ignorant, so I am not sure who I can speak with that will understand the case. Terrible end to a great trip. -- 
<3<3<3<3 Posted By: chevytrucker On: 08-07-2009 @ 22:50:15 Reply | Top | Edit Wouldn't have happened at the Jersey shore. Just sayin... -- 96 Chevy S-10 4.3 LITERS OF FURY!!! 
Volant CAI, Sony Xplod cd player, Alpine R12 sub, XM satellite radio, 3.5" Fabtech lift, Cragar 342's, 30" Kumho mud tires, more on the way WARNING: May cause whiplash, loss of bladder control, and chronic feelings of superiority. If you want a Microsoft product that doesn't suck, wait till they start makin vacuum cleaners! Posted By: drauka On: 08-07-2009 @ 22:57:20 Reply | Top | Edit That's pretty exciting, the trip as a whole. I've been following your updates. I just recently purchased the rosetta stone for Arabic and it's been pretty interesting so far. I'm considering the FBI and arabic is a huge plus. I'm also looking into a study abroad in Haifa, Israel in two-three years. It's a fascinating culture. If you have any updates and information dealing with specifics of your career aspirations and education I'd be interested. Best luck with getting your bong back, heh. -- '99 T/A Pewter A4 - SLP Lid, SLP LM, Pacesetter LT's, ORY, Trans-go HD2, !emissions, Tuned by Frost, Custom Floormats! 12.98@108.35  Posted By: stevethepirate On: 08-07-2009 @ 23:09:07 Reply | Top | Edit Drauka- If you have any questions about Arabic or anything, just ask. Make sure you are learning the right dialect for what you want. I got laughed at numerous times in Egypt because I was basically speaking the business language of the Gulf... For now my career aspiration is to get appointed as head of the CBP and get all of these assclowns fired. We are talking about people who lack the ability to think rationally. None of them had any idea how to explain their reasoning for being able to confiscate everything that they did. One of the guys managed to think of the two words "case law," but then had no idea how to explain the relevance. --
<3<3<3<3 Posted By: drauka On: 08-07-2009 @ 23:18:58 Reply | Top | Edit I'm a pre-law major going into my junior year of undergrad. I figure with a law degree I have the option of going into the FBI or work as a traditional attorney of some sort. I'm just trying to keep my options open. I'm not sure how to determine what dialect I'm learning with this program. I'm focusing on speaking/listening right now and not so much about writing/reading. How do you feel you're progressing and how long have you been taking classes? -- '99 T/A Pewter A4 - SLP Lid, SLP LM, Pacesetter LT's, ORY, Trans-go HD2, !emissions, Tuned by Frost, Custom Floormats! 12.98@108.35 Posted By: OneOwner On: 08-07-2009 @ 23:19:36 Reply | Top | Edit Go ahead and fight it Steve. Imagine how long it's gonna take you to get through customs and immigration the NEXT time you fly. Sure these guys were acting stupid but they sure know how to fuck with your profile in a computer if you piss them off. I've ended up becoming quite familiar with certain embassy staff in the passt few years and even they play it cool with those guys at the airport. It makes things a lot easier for everyone. I bet they went through your shit looking to find Christmas lights. -- When we remember we are all mad, the mysteries disappear and life stands explained - Samuel Clemens Go wake up the Gimp. Posted By: stevethepirate On: 08-07-2009 @ 23:26:17 Reply | Top | Edit You are probably learning fushat, or MSA (modern standard arabic). That is known as being the "correct" Arabic, yet is not spoken anywhere really. It would be good to try to learn some of the Shami dialect (Syria, lebanon, jordan, palestine I think) as it is one of the widest understood. If you only want to go into something such as official translating though, I would say Fushat is the way to go... it just won't help you on the streets, so to speak. I have only taken 2 semesters of Arabic. Technically less when you think about it though. 3 months while studying in Oman (just shy of the semester) which was the first time I even looked at it. Then I took a semester off, just listened to music and tried reading the Quran and stuff. Then I went to George Washington for a summer course and jumped to Arabic 4 basically. It was a dumb move, seeing as I skipped a lot of intermediate stuff and it was difficult for me, but I learned much more that way. So overall I have had what you could say is 2 semesters of class, and then on top of that about 5 months of immersion. I have the ability to speak about most things. My spoken vocabulary is still slightly limited, but I can understand quite a bit. --
<3<3<3<3 Posted By: stevethepirate On: 08-07-2009 @ 23:27:37 Reply | Top | Edit Nick- They asked if I had ever been arrested before. I just started laughing and asked if they wanted to hear a funny story. They seemed to find it slightly amusing. --
<3<3<3<3 Posted By: raven97 On: 08-08-2009 @ 04:49:42 Reply | Top | Edit Thats crazy man you sure know how to stir up trouble! -- John 
Posted By: stevethepirate On: 08-08-2009 @ 11:35:40 Reply | Top | Edit The thing is, I am an extremely respectful person. I was wearing nice Banana Republic shorts and a dress shirt. I was calling them all sir, ma'am, or officer. I mean, I told them all to have a good evening as I left and thanked them for their time. I even apologized to one of the guys because I knew because of me he didn't get to leave early! --
<3<3<3<3 Posted By: blackcamaro On: 08-08-2009 @ 12:24:53 Reply | Top | Edit Sorry to hear that. Try having a Arab last name flying through New York or DC. They are very ignorant. the funny thing is one side of my family has Native American roots before this country existed! The next time they stop you just start yelling: allah wakba! -- 
BOOSH thats all you will hear, as I fly through the air. ICE FLOW! Posted By: cmerc On: 08-08-2009 @ 12:32:54 Reply | Top | Edit mudda sic pirate, you are a trouble magnet. -- 
Posted By: stevethepirate On: 08-08-2009 @ 12:50:10 Reply | Top | Edit blackcamaro- You mean "Allahu Akbar"? I can actually recite parts of the Quran. I wonder what would have happened if I started doing that! --
<3<3<3<3 Posted By: stevethepirate On: 08-08-2009 @ 16:30:42 Reply | Top | Edit Here is what was taken 
The 3 of them, with some very decorative hoses and stuff. The one that is all stainless rotates on its base so that if you're smoking it in a group, you don't have to deal with it getting tangled and stuff. --
<3<3<3<3 Posted By: stevethepirate On: 08-10-2009 @ 18:23:00 Reply | Top | Edit So there IS hope left in this world.... 
Went and had a nice chat with their boss  --
<3<3<3<3 Posted By: crunkmaro On: 08-11-2009 @ 00:21:24 Reply | Top | Edit very nice!! -- Posted By: 2piececrank On: 08-01-2009 @ 00:00:56 Reply | Top | Edit Sarav, how hard is it to follow Nietzsche? I read Machiavelli's The Prince earlier this year, and the only thing that was clear was to not trust mercenary infantry while fighting on the peninsula. Posted By: mpellafbody On: 08-11-2009 @ 12:40:08 Reply | Top | Edit fuckin nice! damn that blue one is badass! I'm glad everything worked out! I was hurting for you man -- 98 z28 m6 blue/green 
lss shifter, skip shift delete, tsp rumbler,competition engineering sfc's,3.90 gears 93 z71 4x4 m5 tbi 350 stepside 
Posted By: GOATS2QUICK On: 08-11-2009 @ 15:39:50 Reply | Top | Edit load em up. --  Posted By: stevethepirate On: 08-11-2009 @ 17:30:34 Reply | Top | Edit I actually have one more from the last time I was in Egypt. I've been smoking that one a lot. I have to get these cleaned and all before I fire them up. Also have to figure out where to buy enough coal. The best charcoal for shisha (hookah) is the natural stuff, not those little quick lighting discs. Unfortunately the only wood that you can use is from fruit trees (from what I understood with my limited Arabic). Not too much of that around Philly... and I am assuming that most of it is soaked with pesticides here anyways. thats just asking for cancer. --
<3<3<3<3 Posted By: HBHRacing On: 08-16-2009 @ 12:10:02 Reply | Top | Edit The shit coal makes it taste funny... but thats about all you can find. Posted By: stevethepirate On: 08-16-2009 @ 12:42:52 Reply | Top | Edit WOAH. My caps lock button just said WOAH --
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