Southall

Can I just tell you that I love London. Today I have had one of the most amazing experiences ever! This week Brother Shuler, our director, arranged for us to visit the Sikh and Hindu temples in Southhall. Brother Shuler had studied the Sikhs and Hindu religions and cultures in India. He taught us a lot proper greetings and how Sikhs, Hindu and Muslims are different. I have to admit that I was so scared that I would say the wrong greeting to somebody and offend them but I did pretty good and actually talked to a lot of Hindu and Sikh women while I was walking through the market.

The day began rather dramatically. After visiting Bath and Stourhead I broke out into really bad hives and heat rashes. When I got up this morning the hives had spread all over my stomach and back. It really freaked me out because I dont ever remember having hives before and I didnt know what to do because I have been taking my allergie medicine. We the Shulers had me go over to their flat and take a freezing cold bath to try and stop the spreading and then I had to cover myself in cream to make them go away. By this point I only has ten minutes to be ready to go and I was no where close. Some how I got ready in time and made it down for the final lecture on how we need to behave and when we needed to cover our heads.

Our first stop was the Sikh temple. The temple we visited is the largest Sikh temple outside of India and it was amazing. When we got there we had to take out shoes off and cover our heads with scarfs. When we entered the hall we went and sat down on the left side because the boys sit on the right side. We sat for about 10 minutes and listened to them read out of 'The Book' that holds all the wisdom and teachings of the Guru's. There are 9 or 10 Guru's or prophets that they get all of there teachings from. After we left the hall we went down stairs and shared a meal with the people in the temple. It was my first encounter with Indian food and some of it was really good and other not so yummy. After we finished eating we went into the back of the kitchen and helped wash dished to show our respect. The people were really nice and were really grateful that we had come and helped them.

After that we had a few minutes before we had to be at the small Hindu temple. We walked around the market for a little while and I got some amazing earrings! They are huge, purple and silver earrings and I love them, but they are a little bit heavier then what I am used to and so I can only wear them for a few hours at a time. After that we headed to the first Hindu temple. I didnt get to sit up in the ceremony though because I had started to break out in hives again and needed to cool down, so I had to sit on a bench and drink a ton of water. We then went to a much bigger Hindu temple and a priest came and talked to us a lot about the what the Hindus believe. It was a great experience and we learned a lot.

The Shulers then had organized a dinner for us at a Pakistani Muslim restaurant. We had a few minutes and so we got to shop some more in the markets. It was great and when I was in looking at some shoes a lady and daughter approached me and Rebecca because they had noticed that my favorite color was purple and that was the daughters favorite color too. They were so nice and they told us where all the best shops were and were I could find more purple jewelry! We shopped around quite a bit but then we noticed that we were running late had to book it to the restaurant.

Because it is Friday we were going to a Muslim restaurant on their Sabbath. They had expressed concern about the fact that such a large group was coming and it was predominately American women. But we did a good job and were very respectful and kept our voives low. The food was the best stuff that I think that I have ever tasted. Naan bread is the greatest food that was ever invented.

After dinner I had to come back to the center with Ilarene because she was meeting her cousin and I didnt want her to come back by herself. I played chess for a while with Professor Hawkins son Nathan because he was bored. It was fun and I beat him the first time and then he killed me the second time. At this point I came out and noticed that Alison was looking very sad and I asked her what was up. She told me that she had bought an India suit and it had ended up not fitting her and she didnt know what to do! I was so excited though because I had wanted one so bad but couldn't shop for one cause I came home early with Ilarene. She let me try it on and it fit so she let me buy it from her and it is so cute!

That was the extent of my day but it was wonderful and the most educational by far in the local cultures!