Religious Freedom

There is a lot of talk about religious freedom on Facebook lately and I thought I would share what is happening in our International school that epitomizes what I think religious freedom should look like.  Below are two assignments sent home from school over the last two month. I underlined or circled the parts that struck me the most.  

The first assignment is for my son who is in 7th grade. This is the slip sent home for a field trip.  

The field trip sounded wonderful to me.  The children went to each place of worship and talked to a leader in the religion.  They arrived at the Mosque just before prayers so a Muslim boy went inside for the prayer while the other children patiently waited for the prayers to end to go inside.  The children were each given an English copy of the Quran. N read part of it on the way home and thought it was quite interesting.  I was surprised the church did not give everyone a bible but each religious establishment was allowed to give a book if they wanted.  The project for the unit is each student must research a lesser known religion (not their own) and present it to the class.  N was deciding between Unitarian and Mormon and decided on Unitarian.  This is what I call religious freedom.  Each religion is allowed to be discussed and studied and everyone is given respect.  This unit of study would be denounced in many places in the USA.  

Next is the unit of study for the 5th grade child. 

In this unit they covered Big Bang Theory, Christian, Greek, Hindu, Native American, Norse and more.  They covered them all as creation stories from different cultures.  Then each student made their own creation story.  B's favorite story was the Greek creation story.  I don't know that many places in the USA would allow these discussions to take place. Teachers get sued for even talking about the creation of the universe from different points of view.  I much prefer my child understand opposing views and trust that I have raised them well.   This is one of the things I truly love about the school my children attend. 

Trip to Beijing and Xi'an

Ken is working off and on in China and so we decided to take a week and visit Beijing.

 The first thing to know, is to bring a mask.  The pollution is horrible and a mask is a necessity unless you want to get a respiratory infection.  The second thing you need to know if you are taking this trip is to be sure you have your hotel's name and direction written in Mandarin before you land.  You will need this for the cab driver.

After 12 hours in transit we arrived at the Beijing airport and went to grab a cab.  Along the way we had several people ask if we need a cab.  Do NOT ever go with these people.  They will take you to their car which is technically a limo service.  They will charge you 4-8 times the cost of a regular cab.  If you follow the directions for a taxi you will arrive at an area that has two different lines.  One is the regular taxi line and the other is for "special" cars that you will need to negotiate your price.  Again, this second line will cost you considerably more. Make sure you know which line you are in before hand.  We got to the hotel and went to dinner with a coworker of Ken's.

Saturday we went on a full day tour.  We started the day at the Great Wall where we took a long walk and then went down to the bottom on a toboggan.  After lunch we went to the Forbidden City and an acrobats show.

Part of the toboggan ride

Chairlift to The Great Wall

On the wall with Ken's coworkers

They were filming scenes for a movie.  Rumor is it was for Transformers.  I liked this because there is a Texas longhorns emblem on some of the equipment. 

 When we went to the Forbidden city we stopped out front to take a picture.  EVERYONE got out their cameras to take this picture.  At least 20 people had their camera's out taking pictures of the crazy people.

Sunday was our one pollution free day in Beijing.  We went to the park across from the Forbidden city for a great view of the Forbidden City then we went to Silk Street. Ken and I were in Beijing in 1999 and the silk street market was extremely different.  When we first went to Silk Street is was a bunch of stalls along the street.  This time it was more like a permanent fleamarket inside a 5 story building.  Just not the same feel as before.

 We did some general touring of Beijing and a friend of a friend took me to several places the local expats go.  We found a few items we can not get in India and brought back a suitcase full of goodies.  It was a completely different experience going on a trip to China and knowing someone who is living there versus simply touring the city.  With such a large network of expat friends, I think I will have more trips where I will know a person in the city or at least a friend of a friend, and in expat circles, that makes you a friend.

McDonalds across from the Silk Street Market  

 Ken and I did not see the Terra Cotta Warriors when we toured in 1999 so we decided on Tuesday to book a trip to Xian.  We booked the overnight sleeper train for Thursday evening, toured Xian on Friday and took the overnight sleeper train back Friday night for a flight back to Bangalore on Saturday afternoon.  It was a whirlwind trip that was fantastic.  Ken and the boys all say the Terra Cotta Warriors were the highlight of the entire trip to China.

 After seeing the Terra Cotta Warriors, we went to the city center of Xi'an and rode around the top of the original city wall.  It took us just over an hour to complete the circuit without a break.  Ken and I decide to ride a two person bike.

After the day in Xi'an we rode the sleeper train back to Beijing.  The next day the three of us left Beijing leaving Ken for one more week.  It is definitely a place I highly recommend visiting but I don't think I could ever live there with all the pollution. 

Golden Triangle Visit (Taj Mahal and more)

We were invited to a wedding in Agra and decided this would be a great opportunity to visit The Golden Triangle.  The Golden Triangle consist of Delhi, Agra (Taj Mahal) and Jaipur.  We invited our friend Catie to come along with us since she was in India for a community service project that ended just as we started our trip.

On Saturday we started the trip in Delhi and took the express way to Agra.

On Sunday we got up early the next morning and we were at the Taj Mahal for sunrise.  It was a great time to visit.  The crowd level was low and the view was spectacular.  The only down side was the water was drained from the pools.

You can see the reflection even with the water drained

The extra person is a friend from the USA

If you pay the foreign price it includes these to put over your shoes instead of removing your shoes.  I guess after Slumdog Millionaire people did not want to leave their shoes. 

No gas powered cars are allowed near the Taj Mahal so we got to ride this electric vehicle.

After the Taj, we went back to the hotel for breakfast.  Then we went to the Agra Fort and shopping. We have not purchased very many items from India to keep as "forever" souvenirs and this trip we decided to look for some of those types of items.  N really liked a marble chess set so we decided to get that as an item he can keep in his life forever.  B decided he really wanted a rug for his room so we purchased a small handmade rug made of yak's wool.  No, I did not pick out the rug. B was set on this particular rug and loves having it in his room.

I don't have a picture of the rug.  Will try to update it later.

We needed to return to the hotel in time to shower and change for the wedding that evening.  We all dressed in our best Indian outfits to dance in the street for 90 mins as we walked to the wedding venue.  The boys had a great time.  Unfortunately, the wedding was late and by the time we reached the wedding venue B was exhausted and wanted to go back to the hotel.  He was hungry so I stopped by McDonald's, in my sari, to pick up some food.  I am use to being stared at in India but this was a whole new level. Every head turned as I approached and I swear I think I saw a jaw drop.  As I was waiting for the food, two girls in their early 20's came up to me and said that I looked very Indian. It was a very unique experience.  Ken and my other son stayed at the wedding until midnight and had a great time.   I don't have any pictures at this time but I will try to add them later. 

Monday we went to Jaipur, the pink city. We settled in for the night at the Marriott in Jaipur.  We really enjoyed the Marriott, the breakfast and dinner buffets were both excellent.  I highly recommend this hotel.

Tuesday we took an elephant ride to the top of the Red Fort.   It was not a good experience.  One of the elephants was very slow and the handler hit the elephant to the point of bleeding.

I think our guide was not very knowledgable about the Red Fort and the elephant incident was not pleasant.  Others I know have thought the Red Fort was better than the Taj Mahal but not for us.

Afterwards, we stopped to look at the Red Fort from a distance and we had a surprise celebration unfold.  A group of about 20 teenagers got out of a truck and started throwing colored powder, dancing and singing.  After about 5 mins they took and Idol and submerged it in the river.

We also went to an observatory.  It was one of my favorite places on this trip.  It has a working sun dial that is accurate to within 3 minutes.  It was huge.  I don't remember when it was built but well before North America was discovered by Europeans.  

  We also visited an open air Mosque.  Normally women are not allowed inside a Mosque but since it is open air they make an exception sometimes.  They will inspect you to ensure you are properly covered before entering.  Notice the drape over B's legs and our friend is completely covered.  I think I barely made it through with my 3/4 sleeves and capri pants.  This is a group of men from Kashmir who had never seen a white person.

 We then visited Delhi.  We visited many places but it was a let down overall.  I liked the Lotus Temple and the Gandi museum.  Nothing else is a must see in my opinion.  There is plenty that will keep you busy but nothing that I would go out of my way to see.  I do wish we would have been able to make it to Toilet museum.  I know that sounds strange but I was told it is very interesting by many but it is not near anything else we wanted to do so we had to miss it.  If we head back up that way will will have to see it.

Lotus Temple