July 12, 2002

A visit to Chicago’s Muslim Community Center.

Our evening session last night was on interfaith dialogue, prepping us for today. We broke into groups, visiting Buddhist, Sikh, Hindu, and Muslim communities in Chicago. Elizabeth went to the American Islamic College (where we had studied Arabic prior to departing to Zababdeh) for Friday worship, while Marthame did the same at the Muslim Community Center. The two experiences were quite different. Our evening session had been fruitful, setting out guidelines for interfaith conversation that could prove helpful - but, as we learned, only if both partners are willing to accept the guidelines.

We went with a group of the orienters up to the North Side, eating Ethiopian food, and spending the evening at the ImprovOlympic (kind of a feeder club for Second City). Most of the group went to the improv section, where the improv team builds a skit around somebody in the audience's day. One of our group volunteered, highlighting their day: Missionary training! Bible Study! Visiting a mosque! De-briefing! Rich comedy fodder. The skit was her nightmare - she woke up with the clock blinking "3:16" over and over again. Very funny.

The two of us, meanwhile, went upstairs to see Cannibal! The Musical, an irreverent comedy based on the story of Alferd Packer. Very surreal.