In one or two of the past posts I mentioned that our neighborhood is heavily ethnic and heavily Muslim. To get to the metro in fact we walk right by the local mosque where there are usually 10-20 men in traditional garb milling about. This past Friday morning though, when I set out for work, there were a few THOUSAND milling about. About 10 meters from our front door I made the turn off our little sidestreet onto the larger rue and was presented with 2000 men praying in the middle of the street and chanting "Allah akbar!"
WHOA!!!!!!!
Being the idiot that I am, I sort of just kept wandering towards it, both impressed and a little in shock. After I was about 100 meters further into the throng, I suddenly realized the mob kept going and going and going on down the street, but by this point it was too late... I had passed the point of no return. It was easier to push on through then to turn back. To be clear, there was still some sidewalk available so I wasn't stomping their prayer mats or anything, but the "Damn infidel!" looks I was getting were a little disconcerting. On the upside, while I doubt I could tell you which way is North while standing at my front door, I can certainly now tell you in which direction Mecca is. But I think next time the Eid al-Adha festival rolls around, I'll take a different route to the metro.
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