I still miss Qatar. There are a lot of women who cover in my area of Northern Virginia, and I keep having to suppress the impulse to ask them if they speak Arabic, so I can practice. To stave off this sort of embarrassing out-burst, I have been following news in the Arab and Muslim worlds. This week I found two pieces showing the fascinating intersection between faith, tradition, technology, culture and modernity:
- A preview of architect’s sketches for some of Qatar’s new football stadiums (Americans read: soccer). These buildings are incredible–one looks like an Easter-basket in primary colors. I would say they look outlandish and in person they will be much tamer, but having lived in Qatar, I truly believe they can live up to their wow-potential.
- An article about “Young Imam”, a contestant show where young religious men compete for a scholarship and a post leading prayer’s in Malaysia’s capital city. It looks like great fun.
I really have to dig through Meetup to find a good Arabic-speaking group, or I will keep struggling not to embarrass random women on my commute.
Inspirational Quote:
“Music washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life.”–Berthold Auerbach
