Mosque!

Today I joined the Muslims in the West class on a field study to the DIT Mosque in Norrebro. I'm not in the Muslims in the West class, but the Migration and Identity Program opened up all of the field studies to everyone in the program- I jumped at the opportunity. I decided that this was a once in a lifetime opportunity. I could skip out on that paper... And it was totally worth it.

The mosque was just a couple of run-down looking buildings on a street corner. I would have never guessed it was there. They were just plain, brick buildings (minarets are banned in Copenhagen.) We went inside, and were welcomed with sodas and cookies and a beautiful room filled with volumes and volumes and hardbound books. (Numbered from right to left, of course.) The man giving the lecture was SO nice. He made jokes the entire time (starting with one about how the technology not working wasn't Shari'ah Law, but Murphy's Law.) He gave a lecture on Islam & Teaching, which was really interesting. He hit on the main points of Islam, such as the believe that all people are basically good. He also cleared up a bunch of misconceptions about how women CHOOSE to wear the hijab- its not forced on them in most versions of Islam (basically, any non-fundamentalist versions. Fundamentalist being the extreme branch.) He talked about how Islam rules say you must follow the rules of the place you're at and then Islamic law and discussed how children are not forced to fast during Ramadaan- its their decision until they hit puberty. He was just a nice guy. At the end he asked us to ask questions, please! And went on like that for a while. He was SO glad that we were there and that we were learning about Islam and not just accepting the stereotypes. We ended by going on a tour of the mosque. It was in the building on the other side of the courtyard. It used to be a wine storage warehouse, but they bought it and did all the construction on it themselves- and on the inside its beautiful with nice rugs and carved wood. It was simple, but very nice considering they had done it all themselves. He also demonstrated how you have you wash yourself before prayer- which was complicated and intricate, but interesting. At the end he invited us all to come and watch a service- there were chairs in the back for that reason. I think it would be SO interesting. But... Its on Fridays at 12:30. I have a class until 1... and another one at 1:15. So I'd miss both. So, that probably won't happen.

Afterward, we hopped back on the bus to school, but since the tour was officially over and school was in the exact opposite direction of home... I got off a few stops later and went to the bus to my house. I didn't find the one by Norrebro Station since there are a whole BUNCH of bus stops there, but it was a beautiful day and I knew where the stop by the Norrebro Bycenter was, so I just walked down there. I've kind of grown attached to just walking, alone and listening to the world. Its nice. It reminds me how how independent I am :) I just walked and enjoyed looking around. Thought again about how I'd miss this place. Its not even anything I can put my finger on... Sure I can name some little things I'll miss about here, but theres the one big thing that I just can't name. The feeling always hits me when I'm walking somewhere by myself and I know exactly where I'm going. I'll be happy to go home too. Looking forward to it. And looking forward to seeing that guy I know... But, for now, I'm just going to enjoy my time here. And hope that in the future I can come back.