Re: "Seeking your views moving from a Muslim Country to a Non-Muslim Country"
I kind of made a reverse move. I was 19 years old the first time I went to Morocco. At that time I was still calling myself a Christian and was a Devout Catholic. Belonged to the Knights of Columbus and the whole 9 yards. I had been thinking of becoming a priest. In fact my undergrad years in College, a little later on were in a Seminary.
Morocco was my first exposure to Islam. To be quite Honest except for the climate I did not see much difference in the people then I had seen in Connecticut. I was a farm boy in Connecticut and most of the Moroccans I met were farmers. I guess farmers are much the same world wide. Of course there was the language difference. However I was fairly able to use colloquial Arabic so that was no big problem, plus many Moroccans are tri-Lingual speaking Spanish, French and Arabic. I was very impressed with how many people there were Multi-linguistic.While I was there I spent some time in Tanja (Tangiers) which at that time was a truly international city. Different areas spoke different languages. I remember even going into Swedish and German sections of the city. Tanja was a city much like the US, very multi Cultural and nobody seems out of place. In Morocco I began to pursue the Arabic language more. I managed to get an Arabic copy of the Qur'an. At that time I did not realise that many if not most Muslims believe that a pure Arabic Qur'an should only be touched by Muslims.I really did not see much difference in Muslims and Catholics. At that time many Catholic practices were very similar to the practices of Muslims. Catholics then prayed a minimum of 5 times daily, we did a ritual washing with holy water upon entering a church and our blessing before prayer was vitually Identical with the Muslim "Bismillahi" of Muslims we also had the 40 day fast of lent, which was very similar to Ramadahn. Frankly except for the language I saw no differences between Moroccans and Connecticut, Yankees.
After many years when I finaly did settle down in one country it was back in the US but in Louisiana. There I lived in a large city. Actually the first time I had actually lived in a large city. I hated it. I hated having neighbors so close I could smell what they were cooking. I hated going outside and being able to walk into a neighbors yard almost immediatly. Most of all I missed the forest and the sound of animals at night. Later I moved to Mexico for a couple of years. I was up in the Northern Section not far from Reynosa. I enjoyed that, but money didn't last and I had to return to the work environment. So moved to Texas. Eventialy became a farmer had a fair sized place. Things were going well but things happen. Now, I am in Austin and have to live with my daughter. I've been here almost a year now, and I would say this is an adjustment problem. Here I am back in a city, trying again to adapt to city life. Fortunatly I am somewhat disabled now and can not get out and around on my own anymore, so it is the best option. At least I have the company of my grand children and get to spend much time talking to them about the "Olden" days.
