I don't consider you narrow minded because you differ with me. I consider you narrow minded because you fail to see the goodness in the MAJORITY of the egyptians that live in the united states. I consider you narrow minded because you say the MAJORITY are bad as if you met nearly all the egyptians in the United states. I consider you narrow minded for every single generalization you make about egyptian americans and egyptian born citizens. I consider you narrow minded for not being able to differentiate between culture/customs and religion. I consider you narrow minded for speaking so ill about the egyptians in the united states, and for questioning their motives of why they came to the united states yet you are here yourself, which perhaps is more hypocritical than narrow minded.... should i go on? And yes the number of years you have been here in the United states SOMETIMES makes a difference, because SOMETIMES it takes other people longer to adjust and to accept and to understand a new culture.. Something called a culture shock. My relatives had to go through it before they came to terms with how life is in the US. It seems you only agree with people that only see your point of view as well or at the very least provide you with support. I wont support over generalized views that is a personal attack on us. I'm sure if i made a similar comment on the MAJORITY of egyptians born in egypt you would be quick to come to their defence as you have been, saying how they are mostly great people blah blah blah. So yes, my conclusion is that you are narrow minded... is there anything else you would like to add to this absolutely useless conversation?

Ummm, he didn't refuse to accept that there aren't any good egyptian living in the states, he simply stated they are not in the majority, which he clarified, as saying, that could be 99% or 51%. Unfortunately, Gigo's experiences have been with Egyptians who perhaps aren't very represeantitive, although it is no one's place to judge, he for whatever reason couldn't relate to them. And what does it matter why he came here??? He's here, ahlan wa sahlan. Egypt contains sin just as America (perhaps more), mafeesh rahma from sin until were 6 ft. under. He didn't come here to meet Egyptians..but those he met gave him a bad impression, which is believable. To simply be Egyptian, doesn't inheritly make you good (although I wish that was true). Inshallah I hope however, Gigo that you take the advice of Himalaya53 and Pfunkie and make more of an honest effort to realize not all aspects of our culture are Islamic. Jazak Allah Khair.

Gigo- I'm curious as to why you came to the United States from Egypt? (I take it you were not raised here)... I dont mean this to be rude, by why are you here and not there if you are so disappointed with things in this "land of sin"?

nah..he was being completly narrow minded to say the very least. He refuses to accept that there are any good egyptians living in america, no matter how much any of us tried to explain it to him politely. He was not being honest or dishonest he was merely stating his narrow minded opinion, thats all there really is to it

wow...I don't think Gigo was being narrow minded, he was honest with his opinion, and I appreciate his honesty. Right or wrong, in this counrty he has the right to express it and entitled to. Inshallah Gigo, I hope you meet more Egyptians who are more represeantitive of our culture, because trust me when I say, alhamdullah there are a lot. But, I would reccommend you make a clear distinction between culture and religion, although yes both do reflect upon one another, they are 2 separate things and should be treated different, one can be religious and not cultural and vice versa. Inshallah I hope no one takes offense to my views.

okay just so you know... i dont have any family here other than my parents, so we do not have family gatherings. The people I have dealt with are people i have met either at school, at work, or most of the time just people I have met in the street. Secondly, if you think people in masr dont try to cheat you, then you are greatly mistaken. They especially try to cheat you if they know you are not born and raised in egypt. If you are dealing with a professional egyptian american and not perhaps some gas station attendant who would do anything for a quick buck, then i am pretty sure that person would want to maintain their level of professionalism and not cheat you. And FYI.. Hosni is from you neck of the woods so maybe he is a bad example for you to use to strengthen your point. I dont know how long you have been here in the United states, but from the things you say, you clearly havent been here long enough because you are very narrow minded. Let me just tell you gigo, that it is very hard for the egyptians born here to balance both egyptian and american culture at the same time. The american culture is what we are born into, it is all we know. Then we have to integrate it with our egyptian culture that we pick up from our family when we are around them. These are two very contrasting cultures, and you have no idea how hard it is to balance the two of them. To balance what your family expects from you and what the society you live in expects from you is not an easy thing to do.. but you know what, alhamdulillah MOST of us manage to balance it to the best of our abilities. We have to pick and choose which american ideology is not conflicting with our egyptian ideologies and integrate it in a world that is usually not accepting of who we are. Yet despite all the adversaries we defy it and do our best to hold on to our real original roots. You on the other hand were exposed only to one culture most of your life, to one language, to one religion, and virtually no diversity. You did not have to deal with different types of people and beliefs, so of course you will be close minded. My uncle was that way when he first came to the US, and in a matter of time he told me I am so sorry for being 7omar, because he realized that certain things here are acceptable and sometimes neccessary whereas in egypt they may not be.. like for example taking late night classes. You have no idea what its like to try to balance these two worlds together, absolutely none, its really one of the hardest things to do and sometimes it can take its toll on you. For you to critisize our achievements and hard work and efforts in trying to maintain our egyptian identity is just a slap in the face and of course no one here will accept it. We live in a land where not only we are the minority, but we are stereotyped and degraded day in and day out. Sometimes we are not even seen as being american by other americans.. and now for an egyptian to tell us we aren't really egyptian??? i mean come on then what the hell are we. You're words are not fair. You have not met every single egyptian there is in the United states and you just need to admit you have had bad experiences. Not everyone is good, and not everyone is bad.. You could have even said half of the egyptians are bad, but no you said the majority.. thats not very fair or truthful. Furthermore, this is a useless conversation because you are a very narrow minded person and none of us have anything to prove to you. So you can just go ahead and add this to your list of bad experiences with egyptian americans, which incidentally you incited. and btw.. maybe you think your mother and aunts dont bellydance, but if you ever been to a segregated wedding, i gaurantee you that they are shaking that thing like noones business. Peace

Culture: The system of shared beliefs, values, customs, behaviours, and artifacts that the members of society use to cope with their world and with one another, and that are transmitted from generation to generation through learning.

Hey, I appreciate the passionate debate.....but people please, can we be more succinct??

It's funny how this question was intended to address the differences between East Coast and West Coast Egyptians in the United States. I didn't realize someone would decide to interpret the question as differences b/w world geographical eastern and western hemispheres, but since it has taken that turn I suppose we will stick to it. Himalaya and Shareen thank you for your great comments. I personally will not speak on behalf or against EAAY because I do not know anything about the organization, but from your comments it sounds like they are doing an amazing job and I hope it only gets better insha'allah. Now, Gigo.. I am not trying to attack you but I want you to realize that your statements are completly unwarranted, judgemental, and wrong in respects to what you say about american egyptians and especially of what you say about Native born egyptians. Is it too much for me to assume that when you lived in egypt you never left the house, watched tv, listened to the radio, or read a newspaper? Because everything you say egypt does not have is exactly what egypt does have... I'm sorry but the belly dancing, the music, the mixed gatherings, the parties and concerts, all that is straight from the mother land (egypt). Us AMERICANS got all that from egypt except perhaps not to the great degree as it is found in masr. Lets just talk about bellydancing a lone, which btw I really dont approve of as it is one of the most sexually provacative dances there is in the world, and this straight up stems from egyptian culture. I never knew what a cabaret was until I watched Egyptian films from the 1940's. I mean comeon. Look at the egyptian music videos, its nothing but girls dancing all over the place.. this is what is portrayed as the egyptian culture. Since the invention of Televesion, or even before that with live theatre egyptian culture always portrayed people drinking, belly dancing, falling in love, mini skirts and cleavage. This is what I have seen of the egyptian culture. And till this very day this is what i see of the egyptian culture back in egypt, especially among the younger generation. I see disco's/clubs popping up all over egypt, now there are bars as well, Movie theaters showing nudity where at one point in time that was completly banned in egypt. Muhajabat wearing mini skirts, or skirts with slits in them and tight tight shirts, or sleaveless shirts, and fake tattoos, and they walk around with their boyfriends, and hang out late at night with each other. The guys sleep around because they cant afford to get married (b/c of strict egyptian culture requiring him to buy an apartment first) and because the economy sucks, they smoke hasheesh, date girls, and chill at clubs and drink, and then you are right there is 7aya 3al salah wa 7aya 3al fala7, and then its back to the booze and girls. Thats what i saw in masr. Am i over generalizing? of course I am. Is it fair for me to say this was the MAJORITY of the people in egypt that do this? Of course its not. Lets just get things straight one more time. EGYPTIAN CULTURE AND ISLAM are TWO DIFFERENT THINGS. ISLAM is not a culture, nor should it be part of a culture, this is how religions become corrupt and filled with wrong information due to cultural influences. Islam is a religion that belongs to the world. It has nothing to do with being egyptian. It is not exclusive to being egyptian. It is not exclusive to northern africa and the middle east and those that speak arabic. It is for MANKIND. Egyptian culture IS NOT for mankind, it is a culture adopted by EGYPTIANS.. does that make some sense? BTW you talk about where is the egyptian hospitality, kindness and generosity.. I dont know about anyone else, but for me personally, here in america, the SECOND I meet someone egyptian or even arab, it is an instant family and friendship that is born subhanallah. It is the most beautiful thing i have experienced here. Egyptians here really stick together and Love meeting other egyptians and we treat each other as family not even as friends. I dont really see that in egypt because lets be realistic everyone there is egyptian so whocares, you've seen one you've seen them all no big deal. Its not like that in the US. We cherish each others company and we have trust in each other. And if you want to discuss Islam.. When i walk in egypt i dont have strangers telling me asalamu alaykum, but i do have people in the US telling me salam. And they make a point of saying salam, and that comes from any muslim from any ethnicity. We have a closeness to each other because we have something in common and we appreciate one another even more since we live in a land where we are the minority. Face it, egypt over the past ten years or so has been adopting the western worlds culture. I go to masr and i see a mini wanabe america and that just disgusts me. How are us american egyptians suppose to learn about our culture if it is being infiltrated by another culture willingly. It's sad how instead of egyptians taking the GOOD qualities of other people they decide to take the BAD and think that will improve their situation. Am i over generalizing now about egyptians? You have really wronged us in a great way with your statement. Obviously, us americans here are a part of this "village" because we are proud to be egyptian and want to unite with other egyptians and communicate with them no matter where they are. You have not met a great majority of egyptians in the united states, even if you met one thousand egyptians here or 5 thousand egyptians in the US and they ALL exhibited the characterstics of which you speak, believe it or not.. this is NOT THE MAJORITY that live in the US, and you probably just have really bad luck meeting people. Maybe its as himalaya said to you before, if you are meeting egyptians like this then you are more than likely looking in the wrong place. So please Gigo, again I really dont want to attack you, I know your main point is that you love islam dearly as i am sure we all do, and akeed islam has to dictate our lives and we should always strive towards that, but to relate islam with culture is not realistic and it is not islam. And you will find good and bad muslims all over the world, here and in egypt and you will find good muslims as well. So please do not over generalize or even say Majority, because it is not the majority regardless of what you may think unless you personally did a statistical study on every single egyptian in the US (btw you missed my house).

Since when did you get your license to be Egyptian taken away if you did not make a yearly pilgrimage out there? Gigo, why are you criticizing people who haven't been to Egypt in 20 years and still value the culture? Those people shouldn't be criticized but rather commended for being so loyal to a culture that they have been removed from for so long.

Well said Shareen... Gigo- just an informational point, the EAAY is an organization for all Egyptians. It is not a religious organization, so we don't turn folks away if they are Coptic or or Catholic, or varying degrees of Muslim faith. People are involved who carry themselves in different ways... as is the case everywhere- including the streets of Cairo, the clubs of Sharm, and the beaches of Marina, and yes... the streets of NY & LA and everywhere in between.... I'd like to remind you that according to the US Census Bureau's recent report entitled "We of Arab Ancestry in the US" showed that of all arab groups raised in the US- Egyptians were at the top of managerial and professional positions in terms of success rate. Obviously we're doing something right. Yeah lets do turn the tables around on Egypt and discuss it. Why are people leaving? Is it purely for money?- then they're shallow... Is it for blonde western women?- then they're - well lets just leave it at that... Is it for education? Is it for a better way of life where man can choose his own destiny and have freedom of thought relatively speaking? Where he can worship his creator as he pleases? To provide for his or her children and fully give back to the society he came from? Why is it that you can not walk down the street if you're a woman and not be harrassed by armies of "Muslim" boys? Why is it that you can't purchase anything or take a taxi without thinking twice about someone trying to scam you and take more money from you than the transaction necessitates? Why is it that everywhere you go the pride is gone and trash is dumped in the street? For those in the upper crust- where is the culture of philanthropy to give back - but also their "Islamic" duty of holding the policy makers accountable? (they dont give a damn because they're trying to cover their own rear-ends).... And this mentality that- oh we can't change it... whatever! My point is not to trash Egypt. Every country has its faults, this isnt about a US/Egypt comparison. There is a reason things are the way they are... our job is to understand and try to make the positive changes we wish to see... many of us here get frustrated when we go back- but we understand that many of the problems are rooted in things like economics, lack of faith, desparity, etc... so we make sense of them... and doesnt it surprise you that we still go back? ALMOST RELIGIOUSLY! IT TRULY BAFFLES ME WHY SO MANY OF US STILL GO BACK... EVERY DAMN SUMMER!!! but as much as its irritating, we love it. Even if it is two weeks (mind you many of us only get 15 days off work here in the US)... .... you ask why shouldnt you be upset when people say there are alcoholics in Egypt and this and that... OF COURSE YOU SHOULD BE UPSET... THATS WHY IT WAS POINTED OUT- to bring that to your attention that in this "MUSLIM COUNTRY" there seemingly are more problems with the young folks than there are in the US... while it is wrong here or there... here from an early age we're told about the dangers of drugs, pre-marital sex, drinking, etc... the taboo subjects are discussed, whereas in Egypt its swept under the rug unfortunately and not dealt with, so the problem grows. Lets not play with statistics shall we? You're still generalizing. I have not met you, so take me off your statistical analysis. Take my roommate off too who is half egyptian and busts his butt to learn arabic, and goes to Egypt. Take off my brother who was ridiculed in Egypt for his "khawaga" accent. Take off my other friend and her sister who were fondled in the streets of Cairo- and they were muhagabat. Its tough to respond to your comments, because they're somewhat incoherent. You keep referring to conservative Egyptian culture... is belly dancing part of that culture? is Om Kalthoum part of that culture (a woman singing about the troubles of her people?- in your world she would be silent)? is a socialist military revolution part of that culture? the arts? Pharonic culture that used slavery? or constantly making fun of those from upper egypt and nubia? is it the discreet racist tendencies that are conservative about Egypt that you like? or rather the tendency to be so conservative that we worry about what the rest of our community is saying while our kids sneak out the back door? I'm just curious huh?

Gigo, I have been reading your comments over the past few days and I have to say they have angered and offended me some. I think the bottom line is that we are all different. You can't say that all Egyptians are super religious Muslims because not all of them are and some are not even Muslim. So when you start attacking the EAAY and saying that it is portraying American culture and not Islamic values, I feel you are misinformed about the organization. EAAY is not an Islamic organization. It is an Egyptian-American organization, meaning it incorporates both Egyptian culture and American culture and for some, Egyptian-American culture is incorporating Egyptian culture such as Arabic music (which you clearly disapprove of for your own reasons, which is fine, you have a right to your own opinion) and hanging out in American cultural way (dancing or chatting or whatever). It is not based on religion. If you are looking for an organization that is based on Islamic principles then I would suggest ISNA or other religious organizations. I think the whole issue of music is a preference. People in Egypt may like it or they may not. This is the same with the people here. You can?t tell me that people in Egypt do not like Mustafa Amar, etc. because Egyptians are conservative and don?t like music. I beg to differ. Maybe there are some conservative people who don?t like that music but that is not everyone in Egypt. I think the problem lies in the fact that you are making blanket statements. It?s very judgmental and inaccurate. I am sorry for your experience with an Egyptian-American person who did not like Egypt, but that is one person. Not all of us are like that. Obviously, that person is also making a mistake in generalizing and making blanket statements regarding Egypt and the people there. It?s unfortunate that you had an interaction like that one. I think the take home message is that we are all different. Some of us identify more as New Yorkers, Chicagoans, or Californians than being Egyptian, some of us love Egyptian sayings, language, movies, music (culture as we know it) more than our respective places of birth/residence in the U.S. and some of us try to balance both. Who said you had to be one or the other??? We each have certain comfort levels and tend to go with what we can identify with well and feel at ease with and confident in. For each of us, it is something different based on our circumstances such as upbringing, place of upbringing, strong Egyptian communities or lack there of, ability to go to Egypt, the experience in Egypt, affect of religion, etc?.a variety of things that cannot be summed up with blanket statements. Peace.

aih da?...look who';s back!!!!

I have to agree with Pfunkie- Gigo- your comments are narrow minded and clearly you've not been exposed to a variety of Egyptians. By your comments I'm assuming that you've met every single Egyptian who lives in the country. You seem to have had a lot of bad experiences. Go see Dr. Phil. YOU ARE COMPLETELY making broad blanket statements... are there Egyptians out there who have neglected their culture? yes... and they're in Egypt too (which is a shame)... are there Egyptians who have not picked up the language? yes... but there are those who also try to fix that. Not because they need to, but because they want to. Because they are out there every day working 8-5, or 6, or 7 or 8 p.m. busting their butts to earn a living so that one day they can support a family or acheive something for their community. How dare you question all the good people out there by saying a majority of them don't act like Egyptians? ... and by saying that they should have stayed in their country if they can't hold on to their faith because of interest and what not... have you lost your mind? When did Allah tap you on the shoulder and say... yo Gigo, I'm gettin tired up here, why dont you judge for me? You've effectively insulted the majority of Egyptian (and Arab) parents that I know that have done a damn fine job of raising their kids properly to have the best of both worlds.

FYI- Egypt's financial system is run on interest as well... I dont know about most everyone else, but when I was in my mom's womb, it wasnt really my choice as to where I was born. Just so happened that I popped out in NYC. Coulda been Egypt, coulda been Canada, coulda been London...
Regarding Egyptian-Americans .... what you need to understand is that we are not just Egyptian, nor are we just American. WE ARE BOTH. Like it or not, in different degrees, we are both. Until you grow up here as a minority among minorities and understand how difficult cultural preservation is, I'd rather hear a constructive argument than blatent narrow minded insults. Again, many have lost their faith, or culture, or language (some never had it and are growing in it because they see the value in it)... show me how Egypt is different. For every "bad" Egyptian you've judged... I'll show you 2 more who are out there... making a difference, understand who they are, and can utilize the best of their both worlds to make a difference and find fulfillment in their faith, culture, heritage, and their future. The thing is, the ones you'll see who have got it together, are probably hanging in a different crowd.

Now regarding the EAAY which you so eloquently insulted. I have been a part of the organization for about a year now. Its a growing group, which aims to re-aquaint young Egyptian Americans with their roots. I didnt see you on the summer trip- you werent there when we met with officials in Egypt, you werent there during any of the public diplomacy activities, you werent there during any of the discussions on how we could help Egypt from the United States. I chaired the EAAY conference this year... I didnt see you there, I didnt see you in any sessions, I didnt get anything from you saying you wanted to help. Were you there to hear the speaches on our civil rights? Were you there to hear the ones on the political situation in Egypt? Were you there to discuss culture, identity, community? Were you among the 140 people who came from all over the country to come together as a community that recognizes its disadvantages and advantages? Were you in there talking about how to make our community better? Where you in the session talking about Muslim-Coptic relations? Were you with the group that took breaks to go pray in the other room during the conference? Or were you in the discussion on How to preserve our culture? I dont remember seeing you there... let me know if you were. Sure there were social events afterwards, how is that different from Egypt? Everyone at the conference was respectful and acted properly and wanted to acheive something. I will certainly say that I was proud of each and every person who had the courage and tenacity to come and defy the stereotypes about our community. We started things on time, we were organized, we had great speakers, and had great dialogue. Have you contributed to the Egyptian Cotton Initiative? Look on the website you trashed... its on there, 3rd link on the left... helping Egypt's economy... helping the farmers, helping Americans understand that Egypt is capable of putting a premium product on the market. Were you there with the associate presidents who lobbied for funds to help schools in Alexandria? Are you part of our discussions to organize a leadership retreat? Are you on the committee working on applying for private funding to send young professionals to Egypt to bridge gaps with youth through public diplomacy? Are you one of the professionals involved in working on outsourcing opportunities to Egypt? I dont remember seeing your name on any of the lists, correct me if I'm wrong. Lots of hours have gone into something you know nothing about. Don't knock it till you try it brother.

lol, ok ok, i couldn't hold out on the joke too long...that's not him, but i thought that was pretty funny that you had that as an important note, i don't blame you though, you don't look like that at alll!

Hahaha, don't lie Tamer....you know that's you in the picture!!

So basically you are equating being egyptian with being a good muslim.. at least thats what it seems like to me. This is a very sensitive area to talk about, since we do not have the authority to judge anyones level of iman. Even though there are those that clearly go out and commit sins openly for all to see.. Allah yi7deena ajma3een ameen. I for one however have met a great majority of egyptians who are masha'allah very religious and knowledgable in the deen,and know a lot about the egyptian culture and way of life. And I would tend to agree with you that since 95% of egypt is muslim, we need to portray that in our everyday life, but not as something as being part of the "egyptian culture" and thats one thing i hate. I hate when people mix culture and religion, they are two different things. In fact egypt mixes a lot of culture with religion and i will give you one example that confused me for years.. The fact that in egypt a couple is not considered married until the husband has bought and furnished an apartment even though they have done katb kitab, is something not related to islam. This is strictly cultural, however in masr i was told that NO ITS HARAM FOR THEM TO LIVE TOGETHER AS HUSBAND AND WIFE UNTIL THIS IS TAKEN CARE OF FIRST. this is only one example, there has to be a line to draw between culture and religion. And I am sorry, whenever i go to masr, I go there to see my people, my land, my culture, and to be surrounded by islam. Unfortunetly, as of recent years i have been very disgusted and let down at what has happened to egypt. If i really wanted to see the american culture, and clothing, and clubs, and music, and food, etc.. i would have stayed in america and saved my money on purchasing a plane ticket. Masr has changed big time and its not neccessarily for the better. And i have met a lot of people in masr as you have met a lot of people here, that do not uphold to islam. The last thing i want to say is this.. For those of us born and raised in the united states or who came here when they were very young... I give people like us A LOT of credit for doing our best holding on to whatever islamic values we have and knowing about our heritage. I give us a lot of credit for being able to speak arabic, for learning our deen in a place where religion is just something by name and nothing else. Remember, that people growing up here live a completly different life because that is all they have ever known and that is not their fault. Everything is "naseeb", and this world belongs to Allah swt and he made this world a masjid for us.. so we can go wherever we want in this dunya and there is no reason why anyone should say if you cant handle living in such and such society then go back to your original country. There is corruption everywhere. There is something called taqwa and 3aqeeda, and just pure jihad al nafs that every individual possess's to some level and this is what will make a difference in how they live there lives no matter where they are. bas ya3ni 3ashan ahna mish mashyeen fil shara3 bi sandwich fool ow ta3meya wa labseen galabeya, mish ma3naha ahna mish masriyeen wala muslimeen. I mean come on give us some credit. People are fascinated at the fact that i can speak arabic fluently and read it being raised in the US my whole life. And the most important thing about people who immigrate to the US or anywhere for that matter, is that they NEED TO TEACH THEIR CHILDREN ABOUT THEIR RELIGION, LANGUAGE, CULTURE, VALUES. This is a MUST, and for those people coming from EGYPT with their great EGYPTIAN VALUES and then suddenly abandon them and teach their first generation born americans nothing about who they are, where they are from, then that is the fault of those true blue egyptians who decided it wasnt neccessary to teach their children this value, and the result a lot of the times is having a population of the people you are talking about, but just take note this is not always the case. Salam

what exactly do you classify as being egyptian? going to work for 3 hours, coming back home by 2 pm.. eat your lunch and spend the rest of the night at an 2ahwa playing tawla? and complain about how your 3 hour work days suck and how il 7akooma harameya welad kalb? cuz i'm sorry if thats what it is to be egyptian then maybe us east or west coasters arent true egyptians then. However, i dont know about you, but i love um kulsoom, and abdel wahab, abdel halim, karem mahmoud, sayed darweesh, etc etc. I am completly old school when it comes to music. I love egyptian history, language,culture, art etc And stay very much up to date with the current politics and state of affairs in egypt. If anything i think the egyptians in the US want to hold on more to their original roots and find out more about it, whereas this new age group in egypt are trying to become americanized as much as possible. So tell me exactly, what is your definition of being egyptian?

i can agree with that. I don't really think there's any correlation between Egyptian pride and east/west coast pride, as far as I've seen anyway. I'm sure there are correlations between Egyptian pride and other variables though, such as the way one was brought up, etc etc..

wow.. thats kind of a load of Bull (no offence). NY egyptians are very proud to be egyptian and represent all the time. I tend to think its the other way around about the west coasters, they seem to want to integrate themselves way too much into the american culture, whereas NY is so diverse that everyone relics in their cultural pride. I have met so many cali arabs that are severly white washed and hardly know a word of arabic, you dont tend to find that in NY. We also take pride in being NYers because what can I say, NY is such an amazing amazing place, it may not be foreveryone but that doesnt diminish how great of a place it is. HOWEVER, we will always be egyptian first thats just in our blood.