Dress, rugs and mosques

Thought some of you might be wondering about the dress situation for me (this is Christine). Each time I leave the apartment, I make sure to wear something that covers me to below my knees and something to at least my elbow. This means 3/4 length shirts are great, most of my skirts are fine and my numerous cardigans are coming in very useful. Wearing short sleeve shirts (much less tank tops) and at the knee skirts makes me feel uncovered and unintentionally provocative.

I went to a 4-hour oriental rug design study class with my teaching mate Leanne this past Saturday. The Thompson classification system organized oriental rugs into 4 main categories (tribal, village, town and court) based on considerations such as the rug's intended purpose, division of labor, weaving plan, etc. We also identified the parts of a rug and studied "corner solutions," which are quite telling of the weaver. I came with zero knowledge and now would actually feel confident enough to buy one. Next week: carpet structure.

We have a mosque directly behind our building. (Abu Dhabi claims a mosque every 400 m.) The call to prayer beckons 5 times a day: 5 am-ish, twice while we're gone to school, shortly after we get home, and around dusk. This past Friday I happened to be out for the noon call-out which seems to be equivalent to Sunday morning mass. Men were facing Mecca on prayer mats all around the mosque- in alleys, outside the main entrance, under the few trees if they were lucky. I had been running some errands and really felt like I had walked in on something. I tried to be as invisible as possible. I have been considering doing something every time I hear the call- pausing to be thankful, sending up a little prayer, having my own moment of silence. But nothing has felt right yet. I'll keep you posted...