Cairene & NYer considering a move (Seattle, Vancouver: houses, job market, college)

[NY2Cairo]

Hello,

My husband is from Cairo and a year ago I dragged the poor guy from one of the biggest cities in the world to Tucson AZ while I finished up college. Now Im almost finished and Im definitely seeing that he (we) need to move to a bigger city.

I too would appreciate going someplace more metropolitan than Tucson but at the same time Im from Rochester, NY and NYC scares me. I want a place to raise kids but still diverse, preferably with a decent Muslim presence. Also, having a good job market that would cater to people with overseas and bilingual skills would be a plus.

So tell me about your city! Thank you.

[sean98125]

Seattle has a decent-sized Muslim population, at least enough to support a couple of Mosques, some Halal markets and a good Iranian bakery. It seems like there is a good sized community clustered around the traditional Sunni Mosque at Northgate Way and 15th Ave NE (Idris Mosque Home Page) . (That's close to a Halal market at Roosevelt & 125th and the Iranian bakery on Lake City Way.) Housing in that area is fairly reasonable by Seattle standards, but most of the houses are modest post-war homes in the 1500-1800 square foot range.

Seattle has a lot of businesses that focus on a truly global reach. Boeing, Microsoft, Starbucks... and a ton of companies that support those businesses. There are also a few shipping companies and smaller businesses involved in international trade where multilingual skills might be an advantage.

After 9/11, there were some vandalism incidents at the Idriss Mosque, but local non-Muslims helped out by sitting in front of the building around the clock for a couple of months. The Mosque is also part of Seattle's Interfaith Alliance, a local group of Christian, Muslim and Jewish leaders who work on issues of social justice.

Plus, Vancouver is a few hours away and they have a huge Muslim community.