September 14, 2007

Ryan Taylor
Professor Ludlow

Class Journal Entry Today is a very rare day indeed. Ramadan, the Islamic holiday consisting primarily of a month long fast, started yesterday. Their main worship services are every Friday and so today is a very special day to them, as it is the first holy day of Ramadan. As for the Jews, we are in the middle of one of their holidays as well, and the Rosh Hoshanna Sabbath starts tonight. The reason that this occurrence is so rare is that the two religions use different calendars, with Islam based on a lunar calendar while the Jews use a luni-solar calendar. Therefore, Ramadan is at a different time every year (according to the Gregorian calendar) while Rosh Hoshanna is usually in September. As a result, the holy sites in Jerusalem are extremely populated. The Al-Aska Mosque is expecting hundreds of thousands of visitors for the Friday prayers. Similarly, the West Wall will undoubtedly see more activity as it is a Jewish high holiday. Add on top of that the tensions and problems already in the air between the Palestinians and the Jews; it makes for quite a day. Over the city we could see the police blimps equipped with cameras to monitor the crowds. Fortunately, there were no major incidents.
The down side to the great cultural experience and excitement is that we had to view it all from the balcony seats. The center was on complete shutdown for the day, thus students were not allowed to go anywhere. Luckily, we have some very creative students that took the initiative to prepare an activity: an improv-talent show. Now, nobody knew exactly what that meant, and rumors abounded about what we would be expected to do, many of them quite dramatic and even fearful. Regardless, the majority of the students were brave enough to show their faces, and the event was quite fun. We broke into groups, each required to perform some sort of improvised skit. We were entertained by an interpretive dance “featuring” professor Kearl and his instructive orientation. The crowd was delighted by a human puppet show of our trip from Utah to the Holy Land. One group showed their impressive acting skills by performing various interpretations of our flight over the Atlantic, ranging from underwater acting to gangster passengers. The entire forum was rocked by an “opera” musical of Joseph in Egypt. Turning to a different style of music, we were enlightened by a rap song about our headphone fanny packs and their incredible utility. Last, but certainly not least, we were all smitten by a romantic poetry reading concerning forbidden love here at the center. Everyone had a great time, both performing and laughing. However, I am concerned that the professors and service couples were there to enjoy all the fun, yet they were never given the opportunity to embarrass themselves as well. This will have to be corrected in the future. In the end, it was a great way to break up a day that would have otherwise been spent in study and inevitable boredom during the lockdown.