Today was very interesting as we explored a multi-cultural aspect of Britain with the British Culture class. Apparently Britain prides itself as being very multi-cultural. However our instructor stated that Britain has not always welcomed its diversity. However there is now a huge contingency of Asian culture here. Asian here does not mean Japanese or Chinese. It means Indian, Pakistani and Bangledeshi. The temple we visited today is the largest and newest Sikh (prounced "seek") temple outside India. The town of Southall is often described as 'Little India'. We were welcomed to the temple with much hospitality and we conformed to their religious rituals by removing our shoes and covering our heads before entering. We were given a guided tour of their temple and it was very impressive. Sikhism is a progressive, monotheistic religion founded over 500 years ago. It ranks fifth among the main religions of the world. They believe in one God, hope, optimism and respect for all living beings. It encourages normal family life, equal status for women and denounces idol worship, fasting and the caste system.
At the end of our tour, we were invited in for lunch where they feed about 2000-3000 people a day. It is the largest single religious outreach on a daily basis. We all sampled the food but were not certain as to what exactly we were eating! Definitely some melon (honeydew perhaps) and yogurt, something that was similar to rice pudding, and a vegetable with a lot of curry. They are vegetarians. We all commented that it was good....but there were some tummy rumblings later in class!
A few students are headed for Paris tomorrow for the weekend. I'm not sure what I'll be doing but I'm sure something will come up. Going out to dinner tonight for my birthday with my flatmates to a Thai place down the street. There are worse places to celebrate a birthday!! Thanks to everyone who sent me birthday wishes. It has been a good day!
Here are some pics from the temple. Everyone has their heads covered with scarves.
Try to get to Harrod's Departent store and the free museums...Elvis,Beatles and Sherlock Holmes(all right next door to each other)..these musems have everything to sell to the euthiasts(sp) here at home(key chains, talk about the folks, glasses...you name it)...and not expensive. You'll also see Abbey Lane
ReplyDeleteI can't believe that it finally worked. No telling what I was doing wrong. Oh...you are probably visiting with your family...tell them I said 'cheers'. You are 'old hat' in London now with all of your experience. I am meeting with Kimberly Kuhn to renew the program and prepare for next year. I think we might change locations each year...After Anita goes we may be going to Warsaw Poland, Rio Janiero Brazil and some others. Gotcha on the list Sue.
ReplyDeleteRegards
Charisse