Anyone From The Middle East?

[wildrose]

We have a guest speaker(s) coming to our church (Central United Methodist Church in Radford, Virginia, USA) next month, and a friend and I will be keeping the children busy while the parents/adults are in listening to this person(s). What we would like to know in advance is:

- what kind of kids' games are popular in that region? (we're guessing soccer - maybe it's called football there?)

- what are some common foods?

- what is your most typical kind of transportation?

- what are your houses like?

- what are schools like? What are popular subjects, for example?

Anything you think kids might like to know about your area of the world, I would REALLY appreciate it. And if you have pictures you'd like to send along, that'd be terrific too. All we are allowed to be told is they are from the Middle East - apparently security is a big issue, and these folks are not even allowed to receive letters from our church!

[StevenSiegel]

We have a guest speaker(s) coming to our church (Central United Methodist Church in Radford, Virginia, USA) next month, and a friend and I will be keeping the children busy while the parents/adults are in listening to this person(s). What we would like to know in advance is:

- what kind of kids' games are popular in that region? (we're guessing soccer - maybe it's called football there?)

- what are some common foods?

- what is your most typical kind of transportation?

- what are your houses like?

- what are schools like? What are popular subjects, for example?

Anything you think kids might like to know about your area of the world, I would REALLY appreciate it. And if you have pictures you'd like to send along, that'd be terrific too. All we are allowed to be told is they are from the Middle East - apparently security is a big issue, and these folks are not even allowed to receive letters from our church!

Hi,

This is really nice.

I live in California, which isn't the Middle East.

I do travel a lot and have had interaction with many different cultures.

I don't know if you are allowed to identify the country, but,,,,,,

Just give them a lot of Love. AND don't talk about politics or religiion. (They may have dietary restrictions for religious reasons which you may want to check out through your Church)

There are probably a lot of people on the board that can give you more concrete ideas.

Best,

Steve

[wildrose]

Thanks Steve :-)

[wildrose]

After re-reading my initial post, I realized that for whatever reason, I wasn't really clear. The person or persons coming to speak are missionaries that our church financially supports. They are not allowed to tell us what country they are living in for their own personal safety, only that it is in the Middle East.

[Chris B]

I have never been to the middle east or well out of north america lol. But can I offer this little suggestion, maybe introduce the children to some of our stuff over here that they have never seen or played. Like maybe baseball or apple pie (hey its all I can think of at this moment haha). Maybe they would like that.

[FatSmitty]

I don't know if this is to late or not, but I have been to Israel, Egypt, Dubai(U.A.E), Bahrain, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia. Saying the "middle east" is very vauge. There are many different religons, races, and countries in this part of the world. Soccer or "football" if you will, is very popular thru out the region. Muslims do not eat pork, and beef is scarice in the area, so chicken and goat are very common staples. Dates are also commonplace. In Israel, they eat humice, eggplant, grape leaves, olives, tomatoes, cucumbers, and lamb. These are not inclusive lists just some general observations. Fanta orange soda seemed to be everywhere, be it the middle east, mediteranian, or southern Europe. Most food is prepared fresh in these areas, very little comes from a box or a can. Maybe you could intoduce them to local cuisene and American foods. If you knew for sure where they were coming from you could reserch this more. For the most part, aside from religous or ethnic constrants, kids are kids all over the world. It seems to be the adults that really mucky things up. Hope this helps, and good luck. Hopefully this exchange is a positive experiance.

Nevada