The Weekend

Another weekend gone...ah well. Next weekend I'll be frantically writing my IR essay. This one I took a bit of a break from essays in general (just focused on coursework reading)...Robbie's away again, in Stirling visiting his girlfriend (He gave me instructions that his parents were not to know. Lovin it.), so I have had the room to myself. Yesterday was mostly taken up with rehearsals--for my show and (finally) for the one I'm in. I'm feeling pretty good about it all. Then Saturday night I went out with people from the main hall who I knew a bit, but had never done anything with before, so that was a good change of pace.

Today has been interesting. The annexe and the main hall sandwich a Scottish Episcopaleal Church, whose yard I go through at least 3 times a day for meals. And, call me crazy, but I thought, "what the hell, I've been to a mosque, I've never been to a regular church service," so I talked to some Christians and went. I'm afraid I'm a bit more culturally familiar with churches so this post won't be as long or full of me being suprised and interested...to be honest, it was a bit dull. Right. You could have told me that. But it was fascinating in a few respects. Numero Uno: Jesus. Poor kid. Is he God's son or God incarnate or what? I listened to a really good lecture on the evolution of Christianity on iTunes U, where the guy said that, originally, Christians were far more "God" centric, and it was later on, through the Renaissance that the focus turned to Jesus. The duality (trinity) of God/Jesus must make sense somehow.

It was really interesting comparing it to my mosque visit. There, everyone sits and stands and prays in a big open area facing Mecca (Well, approximately. Also: the earth being a globe means anywhere you turn is facing Mecca), and the call to prayer and general worship is very communal with everyone facing the same direction, doing the same thing and seemingly united in purpose. Two people stood out--the man who chanted the call to prayer (facing the same direction as everyone) and the guy who gave the 30 minute sermon. In the church, on the other hand, the pews reminded me of a stage. Lots of individuals from the congregation came forward to read--a very Western "spotlight" on the individual. There was a choir onstage who knew the songs and, while everyone "sang", they were really the "performers". I suppose the reason the Mosque surprised me as much as it did is because this is what I expect religion to be. Duh. It's what's in movies, it's what I hear about.

A couple fairly stereotypical elements gave me the sense that the church was certainly an entity designed for community as much as worship. There was some hand-shaking-of-neighbors-and-saying-"God-be-with-you", and coffee afterwards (hall coffee is disgusting, I needed it) with lots of friendly, only slightly creepy people. One question I did ask a few people was, "what is your/British attitude towards fundamentalist Christians in the US? What do you think of Bush talking about God openly?" I think it made them uncomfortable, although of course overriding hatred for Bush won out. But talking to them I just thought..."Some people have Rugby. Some people have music. Some people (me) have theater/debate, etc, etc, some people have religion." Whatever it takes to meet people.

Afterward I went to a playwriting workshop, which focused mainly on character but gave me some interesting ideas to try out in my piece. I cooked myself what ended up being a Korean-looking dinner. Got a pack of "chinese stir fry" fresh veggies and a some chicken, cooked them in a wok with lots of water, some sugar, some honey, and some soy sauce. It was a little bland, so I just ate it with the flavoured water as a soup. Not bad for my first time *really* cooking for myself.

Now I've got callbacks for the schools improv troupe, "Blind Mirth". I doubt I'll get in (not a tradgedy either way...although maybe I should really give imrov a try outside of a CCHS context), but it should be a laugh. And then tommorow is a new week.