Mosque

I keep meaning to post about this, and just not doing it.

This past week, I took one of my students to visit the Islamic Society of Vermont's offices and mosque. My student and I have been learning about Islam, and doing some work with 9/11, terrorism, and Al-Qaeda and how it all fits together, and I was thinking that meeting someone who was Muslim and having a chance to see where they worshiped would be a good experience for him.

The mosque was a small building, and you could tell it served many purposes -- community gathering place, school of sorts, as well as having prayer space. But the gentleman who guided us ad gave us information was just phenomenal -- very down to earth and normal, which was a good experience for my student, to see that Muslims are very much like everyone else. We asked our guide about Ramandan, and about what it means to be Islam, and how he feels about Al-Qaeda and the war in Iraq (which is "I can't judge whether they are Muslim or not, but I can say that they are doing very bad actions" and "I don't really know -- that's a bunch of political stuff."). It was a really great visit.

On the way home, I was talking to my student, and he was telling me about what he thought. "You know," he said, "Before this class, I really thought that the war was us against the Muslims. But now I know that it isn't, really. They're just normal, and Al-Qaeda is just a small group of people who have extreme beliefs." In my head I was pumping my fist into the air and saying, "Yesssssssssss," while aloud I was responding, "You're right. And that's what he was talking about when he mentioned the media blowing things out of proportion and Al-Qaeda giving Muslims a bad name..." All in all, it was a really awesome experience.

Another student and I went out into the Winooski River this week. I put her in a pair of waders, which were about 10 sizes too big for her, but the look on her face when she realized she could walk freely through the water without getting wet, and when she caught a crayfish for our terrarium...priceless.

I cannot get over how much awesomer my job is than my last teaching experience. I hope that we can either stay here in Burlington for a few more years so I can milk as much out of this as possible, or that there are (please Lord) other schools and other places where teaching is not a torturous task. Because really, it shouldn't be...