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| Some old-school baggage! |
A'salaamu alaikum ya'll. Soooo about moving overseas. I realized I forgot a reallllly important thing: what to pack and what NOT to pack.
What did you take that you ended up thinking, daaaang you were a waste of space? What did you NOT bring that you really wished you had of thought to pack? I want to be frugal in what we ship over.
1. I really want to bring alot of Aaminah's books and toys, enough so that I am willing to pay freight. Do ya'll think that's necessary in your experience?
2. What about personal products? Anything you can't get overseas that you miss?
3. Food stuffs? Just your thoughts, again.
4. I am thinking of bringing an e-reader. Any ideas on which ones work overseas (for purchasing books)? Anyone overseas currently using one? If so, which?
Any other information/ideas/what to do or not to do, I would really appreciate it!
Ma salaama...
8 comments:
Tunisia is going to be different than Oman. Here I can get pretty much everything.
I was happy I brought my good quality bedding though. Simply cuz it is too expensive here. They don't have Winners or those outlet stores where all the department sale items go you know? There's low end, and the super expensive. Think about that for everything.
Kids stuff (not electronics though) tend to cost less money here I find though, except for high end stuff, cuz Araba have alot of kids:D
If you like dark chocolate:) they don't sell it alot over here.
I wished I hadn't weighted myself done with Islamic books I could have bought here. I could have brought family photo albums or something.
-OPNO
Thanks OPNO. I am considering buying Aaminah either a Nintendo DSi or an ipod touch (used of course!). Something she can have a little bit o' fun with insha'Allah. My sister brought her gen 1 ipod touch and Aaminah loooved so much watching "Diego" on the "little thing" as she called it.
I dont like to foster a dependence on electronics but sometimes they are just fun, soothing, and a great way to keep kids entertained (long trips, etc). Specially on a transcontinental flight!
I'm not sure how similar Tunisia is to Morocco (they're both in the "Maghreb"...so I'm assuming that they'd be a bit similar as far as what you can/can't find there)
Like OPNO mentioned...I wish I had brought my nice down comforter with me. They don't sell them here at all :(
In Morocco they do import many European items (because hey, it's just accross the Mediterranean!)as far as food goes, so they have AMAZING chocolate here (the home-grown olives and clementines are also to die for!).
As for books for your little Aaminah, I would definitely stock up on them, because let me tell you now, you WILL NOT be able to find children's books in English over there. In Arabic and French yes, but English, no.
I wish I had packed more warm sweaters (and even my winter coat) when I came to Morocco...I just assumed it was going to be warm all year round...boy was I wrong. The winters aren't nearly as bad as New England winters, but it does get cold here, and you will need them, especially as your body adjusts to the new climate.
Anyways, I hope this helped at least a little, and insh'Allah your move will go smoothly!
There is an embargo on Syria, most of the stuff here is made in Syria or imported from Turkey, China, the UK, Saudi or Australia. Everything that is imported is expensive and many things that are made here are of pretty bad quality.
The kids toys here are plentiful, but a lot are cheap, you know the stuff they don't allow into Canada because they don't meet basic standard...I think they send those toys over to Syria. The have good quality toys in the malls, but they are expensive!
Personal products, they have everything here, except extra strength deoderant, I thought I would need this for the summer and brought some with me just in case, I haven't seen it being sold in Syria. I also brought shampoo with me, not because they don't have it, but because I can get it cheaper in Canada.
Food- you can get almost any food product here, it's funny though I had to get baking soda from the pharmacy. I wish I would have packed more food and baking products because you can pretty much bring anything into Syria. I would have brought brown sugar because here it costs $5 for 500 grams! I miss skor bars, they don't have those here.
Syria is really dry, don't know about the area of Tunisia you guys are thinking of moving to, but I would recommend if it's just as dry to bring nasal spray, chap stick and a really good body lotion.
That's all I can think of for now, I'm sure there's more. When I think of other things I'll let you know
Salam :)
Salaam ya'll. A lovely sister named Sarah posted a comment but as it had her contact info, I thought I'd just post it here for her.
Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Moving to Tunisia, Part II":
Assalamualaikum,
I am a southern sister like you.MashaAllah! And i just about jumped out of my chair when i saw that you will be going to Tunisia.InshaAllah.
Well i happen to be going back in July InshaAllah.
Being that Tunisia is one of my favorite places i feel that i could give you my two cents If you like.If you want to call or e-mail feel free.If not i pray that Allah [swt] will make your trip easy and you all will benifit from it Ameen.
Sarah
NJ/Tunis
Ayah, great idea about the warm clothes! I, too, have this idea that it's just warm and balmy all the time. I'll definitely go ahead and bring Aaminah's warm boots and a couple of jackets. Insha'allah I can still get my family and friends to get great deals on clothes and send them post. I think it would be worth it in the long run. I *think*. lol
MC, you also had a good point about the quality of toys. I noticed in UAE and India that the good brands I am accustomed to were triple the price of the cheap-o knock offs. Seems in many places kids toys are kinda an afterthought. I know here in the US we tend to get carried away with buying toys, etc. but when you can get them on craigslist or on clearance, it's affordable. :-)
salam,
i just came back from a month holiday in my husband's hometown, Algiers. that was my first time. i dont know how things in Tunisia but i assume it's similar to Algeria. the weather is good. not too dry and i consider it as the best weather i had experience ( i lived in new zealand for sometimes,spent most of my life in south east asia)
in algeria, to set up an internet connection could be a bit expensive and the wireless broadband is slow.
i could hardly find english books in the bookstore.
things are cheap in algeria, food, clothes, house equipment, electrical goods (mostly from China), clothes etc. so i guess you basically could get anything here.
it will be helpful if you could speak arabic and french...as for me, i dont speak both but still enjoyed my stay :)
As salam alaykum.
I'm a Danish muslimah married to a Tunisian man. We want to make Hijra to Tunisia but at first I think I'll go with the kids for about a year or so, because there's some things here he needs to finish before he can come permanently. So I'm kindda nervous as I've never been there, and I would really like to get in touch with other English talking sisters who live there. Would you be so kind to either add me on Facebook ( Eeman bint Hans ) or email me at : ghareebah2007@live.dk I would really appreciate it inshAllah. BarakAh Allahu feeki
Love Eeman ad Denemarkiye
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