Nothing New

Nothing new to talk about really, I am leaving for Bintan Island, Indonesia tomorrow for the weekend with friends. We are staying at a lodge "resort" with a spa at a popular tourist beach, says the brochure. We'll see what we really get! It will be a nice weekend to relax and start reading my new book, From Beirut to Jerusalem.

I found out some interesting news about where we stayed at in KL. There are these two Muslim girls in my Islam class that befriended me. The other day we were talking about KL again, and I mentioned I stayed at Chow Kit, the district where out hostel way. Apparently this is the red light district in the city, explains for all the sketchiness and dirty streets.... We went out to lunch in between our class and tutorial (discussion class) and ended up eating for the whole two hours talking about random stuff. I learned that what I read about different Muslim coverings was wrong, they told me it was just a personal preference. The girls said that in Malaysia, every Muslim is expected to cover their heads, so a lot of them decide that this means they can expose their forearms (wear short sleeves), one of them shivered and said this is just to indecent. She also told me her mom wears a burka, and she doesn't understand why, she's never liked it. So it's a personal/regional thing. Its always interesting to read about a culture then actually experience it. They asked me about Muslims where I am from, and I had an interesting time explaining to them how I have never seen a head-wrapped Muslim on the streets of Daytona Beach. Honestly, I don't think I"ve ever seen one in the US in my life, but look where I have lived.... not in big cities with a variety of people. ON our way to our tutorial, the girls said they had to stop and pray and I was more than welcome to tag along, so I did. There are 4 prayer rooms on campus, 2 for each sex. I wasn't expected to be invited in, as the prayer room at the Nat'l Mosque in KL didn't allow non-believers, but I Took my shoes off and entered when they went in. It was a small janitor's closet room with rugs on the floor, some Arabic scripture, and a clothing line for the prayer clothes. It was kind of neat, being invited to witness something that I would expect to be personal. I think it would be weird if a Christian invited me into a church to watch them pray, but then again Muslims pray more than Christians, so its more common thing to do.

Hopefully I'll get some kind of internet in Bintan so I can update everyone on my weekend, if not look forward to a long blog when I return on Monday!