"Is she a devout Muslima who covers her head with a scarf? Will you live with her in a more urban setting or a more rural setting? How familiar is she with life in the west and western customs?
Also, you can read this thread discussion here about couples who married outside their culture."
-- Thank yopu for the reply. Yes, she is quite religious wearing the hijjab. We will be living in a more urban setting with a reasonably sized Muslim population. She is fairly familiar with the west and western customs. She's never travelled outside of Egypt but has met many western tourists and watches a lot of American television programming.
Thank you very much for the thread, I'm sure it will prove very useful for us.
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"I currently live in Egypt. I can tell you that it really depends on where your wife is from in Egypt as to how well she would adjust to living in the UK. I am living in Egypt right now with my husband, who is Egyptian, but I am an American and have lived abroad in several countries. If your wife was from one of the major cities like Cairo, more than likely her transition would not be overly difficult. The hardest part would be her separation from her family. I know I miss my family terribly sometimes, but my husband is really supportive and I skype with them regularly which makes it much easier.
If your wife is from the south of Egypt, this transition would be even harder. You really have to consider who you are marrying and how she would cope with moving to the UK. I could help you more if I knew more about her. The family issue is the only thing I can tell you for certain she would struggle with. "
--- Thank you for the reply. Yes, she is from the Cairo area so I am glad to here the transition should be easier for her. Your husband is very caring. I'll make sure to give her lots of support then and ensure she can Skype with them often.
That's great. Well she's graduated from University and will be starting work soon. She's the oldest child and very close to her parents. They are supportive helping talk through her concerns about moving abroad and they are reassuring her that it will be okay. She has a few younger teenage siblings and she's not attached much to the culture there because she see's many bad sides to it. What else would you like to know?
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" My uncle married a woman from China, with whom he'd been corresponding after he took some college courses in Chinese over 25 years ago. He went there a couple of times before they made the decision. They are still together and doing well, and well-suited to each other.
Most cultural differences aren't that hard to overcome, IMO. Religious differences are much harder, I think. Mostly, it's about the two of you and how well you know each other and how compatible you are. Then, it's about language, and how she'll be able to integrate into the community if she doesn't speak English - very difficult if she does not. "
--- Thank you for the reply. I'm very happy for your uncle and glad to here they found each other and are still together. I plan to do the same, make sure I visit there a couple of times before we marry.
I totally agree. We are getting to know each other more and more, we seem like a good match. She speaks good English so I don't antipate the language to be a problem.
