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Multicultural families

Here's where to share your experience of raising a child or growing up in a multicultural family.

Original poster

Anyone with Algerian husband?

294 replies

doublemuvver · 05/03/2011 12:17

Curious to know of others married to Algerians and what, if any, cultural differences/issues you have experienced. We've been married 6 years and have 2 kids (twins). Life is a bit of a rollercoaster sometimes.

OP posts:
BeeMyBaby · 07/08/2018 22:10

Zigzag, may I ask why you had a long gap between the nikkah and the legal wedding?
Steph, I'm in Scotland but moving to Algeria at the end of the month.

Ziggzagg · 07/08/2018 22:57

Well we had originally planned 2017 but we got pregnant so put it off until little man arrived Grin wanted to be able to have a couple of glasses of wine at the reception Wink

Stephlaidi · 07/08/2018 23:33

Bemy baby whst part ofalgeria i told my husband 1 day we will go but even he dosnt want to go live there yet we want the kids to get education here.

BeeMyBaby · 08/08/2018 05:49

Does your DH drink zigzagg?

Steph, we are going to a village in the Wilaya of Bejaia. The education seems better there than Scotland, particularly in maths plus they will learn languages to a good level. The only thing which the uk excels at is university education so we would want our children to go to France or the uk for that as it seems univ of Algiers has the equivalent world ranking as a little known polytechnic uni here (around 2000 in the world), compared to a lot of well known uk unis being in the world top 50.

Ziggzagg · 08/08/2018 06:33

No Bee he doesn't. I don't either really, just the odd occasion I'll have a couple of drinks 🍷

Stephlaidi · 08/08/2018 08:41

Oh wow my dh wants to visit bejaia 1 day it looks beautfull. Does your dh fam live in algiers

BeeMyBaby · 08/08/2018 21:03

Zigzag did his family come over for your wedding or are you going to have a wee celebration when you go over in September?

Steph his aunts and uncles live in Algiers so we go there often when we visit. How many children do you have or do you have one but are planning on more?

Ziggzagg · 08/08/2018 21:42

No Bee big party planned for when we go there! His parents are quite old and MIL is in poor health Sad so we filmed the ceremony and sent it to her and got a lovely album made for a gift when we go over (loads of pics of DH and DS in their suitsWink)

Stephlaidi · 09/08/2018 00:10

Just got the 1 sonwe do want more but had a csetion and have to wait it was a trumatic exsperance still in pain now 7 weeks on how many do you have

BeeMyBaby · 09/08/2018 19:46

Zigzag that sounds very exciting - are you buying a few outfits for the party?

Steph I have 3 children so far. It's a shame about your csection, hopefully you can get an elective next time if that's what you want.

Stephlaidi · 09/08/2018 21:51

Thats ok it was elected 1 lol wow 3 thats amazing

Ziggzagg · 10/08/2018 07:35

Obviously Bee! Any excuse for a shopping trip Grin
We have DS who's 8 months and I have DD12 from a previous relationship. Not sure if we want another yet, although I would like DS to have a sibling closer to his age, I'm feeling really old now he's started to move about Confused

BeeMyBaby · 03/09/2018 15:55

Zigzag you getting more excited about your visit? It is the end of September you go? We made the move and the last week or so has been 40c every day, this week is 38-35 and the next week it drops to 28-30c- I can't wait!

Ziggzagg · 03/09/2018 19:15

Supposed to be going on 17.09 but visa hasn't come yet Shock we bought flexible tickets just in case! How are you finding it? MIL said it's boiling hot at the minute Smile

BeeMyBaby · 05/09/2018 13:01

How long ago did you submit the visa application? I'm finding it hot too, but should be high 20s by 17th I think rather than high 30s.

Ziggzagg · 15/09/2018 22:16

It came back because we ticked married but didn't provide the marriage certificate 😩 we have now put our visit back to January after Christmas!! DS will be 1 by then and is most likely to be walking (as he is trying now!) so hopefully it will be a better time (and not too hotWink)

I'm a bit disappointed but at least we have got it to look forward to!

Did you two convert to Islam?

I have decided to take Shahada next week at our local mosque and I'm really excited 😆

How's your move going Bee? Hope you have settled in well xx

BeeMyBaby · 16/09/2018 11:51

Arg, it's very easy to mess up an Algerian visa, I've missed out stuff before for it too. December/ January is a really nice time to come, no flies or mosquitoes (my DS looks like has chicken pox he has been bitten so many times), plus the perfect temperature of about 18c outside in the sun and not too much rain, although it can be very cold at night.

No I never converted. Were you Christian before?

headstone · 01/10/2018 07:42

Hi Beemybaby. How are you finding living in Algeria?

BeeMyBaby · 02/10/2018 12:40

It's ok, today is the first day that it's lower than 30c during the day with a sudden drop to 21c which is lovely and hopefully a lot of the insects will start to die now. It kept promising to get cooler on the weather forecast but it's the first day it actually kept its promise. My husband signed me up to go learn basic arabic with old ladies who only know Berber so I'll see what's that like today...

headstone · 03/10/2018 04:07

So you’re not experiencing the floods? Are they going to teach you Classical Arabic or the dialect? There are some YouTube videos on the dialect. I hope you aren’t feeling too lonely,

BeeMyBaby · 03/10/2018 06:23

I live in the mountains in the kabylie region, quite away from the coast, so there are no floods here, a little bit of mud but that's all (and a hell of a lot of insects).
I'm learning Classical Arabic, but as they speak Berber and French in the village it means that I will understand Algerian Arabic as it's a mix of the three anyway. However after my first lesson I can confirm it's really flipping hard and I was exhausted after 2.5hrs of note taking and struggling to copy write Arabic.

BeeMyBaby · 03/10/2018 06:33

And yes I miss chatting to my friends at work about silly stuff and laughing loads, I have social interactions with DHs family here but it's stressful and I don't really enjoy it so prefer to be just with my children at home.

BeeMyBaby · 20/10/2018 10:28

Update- I can now phonetically spell boobees in Arabic.

Ziggzagg · 23/10/2018 06:14

How are you finding it Bee? Have you any friends out there? It can be quite lonely when you're away from your family and places you know! Is working an option? Maybe teach some English? Are you going to manage to get back home anytime?

BeeMyBaby · 23/10/2018 06:55

Just to say ziggzagg the temperature keeps jumping back to 30c even though we are near the end of October so it seems like good luck that your trip got delayed to January.

I am too nervous to teach. And I'm not really into DHs family at the moment. DHs extreme love for his mother winds me up, I guess it's the same with most Algerian men, he definitely loves her far more than me, she can do no wrong and apparently I should take her as my example. (She is indeed very kind etc). However I don't want to be her and if she had brought up her son to be less demanding and hadn't mollycoddled him then perhaps my life would be easier. Sorry for the outburst.