jimyea-the mosque

i know that's not how it's spelled even in English but that'll have to do for now.  i had a little problem with my connection yest that's why i didn't blog but i think todays can make up for that!  last night, mon at about 5pm-good timing all around, nargis and i went to the mosque, or jimeya.  it was good she was with me b/c in addition to doing some translating for me she's also muslim.  it was soooo cool and one of those "pinch me" moments.  the picture i posted on my blog of the mosque all lit up at night?  yeah, we got to go up there and see all G!  anyway, we had to wait right when we first got there b/c the men were inside doing their Ha Mas, prayers.  after that nargis and i got to talk with the Imam, kinda like the pastor, and he took us inside and showed us around.  now mind you that in addition to speaking in B some of this conversation was also in Turkish so i was double thankful nargis was with me!  of course i think you all are aware of the 5 times a day prayers.  what i wasn't aware of was they do not always face east, they face in the direction of Saudi Arabia where Muhammad came from.  you enter the jimeya with the right foot, b/c that's the good side, and exit with the left foot first, b/c that's not the good side.  i asked nargis if it would be very rude and inappropriate of me to ask to see his do the Ha Mas, b/c i'm a woman and i'll get into that later, but she said no and i got to see him do a little bit of the Ha Mas!  how utterly cool is that!  nargis asked me when we first left my apt where my camera was and i told her i'm not taking a picture of that; i think that would be inappropriate.  the first time a muslim "bows" down it is standing and without the kneeling motion.  all times after that it is with the kneeling motion.  one of the things he told us is that for the 5 prayers a day there are 40 stand/kneel times!   talk about your thighs getting a workout!!  there are necklaces with beads they use while doing the Ha Mas and there are 33 beads, then a bigger bead, then 33 more and so on.  each of these beads has a prayer kinda like in the Catholic church they have certain prayers for certain things.  muslims go through all the beads but i forgot, they do their Ha Mas, stand/kneel,  first.  on fridays the Imam does a special "reading" for muslims who want to hear.  these "stories" come from Sofia (the capital).  also, i think i got this right, the call to prayer is at different times depending on where you're located.  the times are according to Istanbul and then the distance from Sofia is taken into consideration.  then he got out the Quran.  for you mennonites out there, it has 606 pages.  isn't that a funny coincidence??  there are also 6666 periods, "fullstop"s in B, in the Quran.   i also got to hear him read in Arabic!  he said he didn't understand but it was interesting to hear him!  he also said the Jimeya was from the 1700's!  oh i forgot!  before all this, before a muslim enters the jimeya they have to do a special washing ritual to be "clean" when entering and going before Allah.  the ritual starts from head to toes and includes washing face, behing the ears. arms up to the elbows, and your feet including btwn the toes.  i think that's it but it's quite possible i've forgotten some body parts.  i was also lucky enough to get to see this!  there is a special balcony for women and it is curtained off so the men can't see the women and vise versa.  of course shoes are taken off.  i'm not quite sure about women.  i think they can go "upstairs" whenever and can go into the lower man's part when men are not in there or if they can only go in the lower part during Ramazan.  there is also a special little house type building behind the jimeya that can be used by women too.  before going into the jimeya i noticed some things outside.  they have a cemetary on the grounds and along with a headstone they also have a foot stone.  there is a small table outside and narg said in that case is told me this is to wash the body before it is buried b/c it has to be "clean".  like i told you all before we got to go up top and looking out all over G was a beautiful sight and again one of those "pinch me" moments!  one of my favorite parts of the night, it's hard to choose but this kinda stood out, is when the Imam asked if nargis and i wanted a small pear from the pear tree.  so we went over and got 2 and i took a bite of mine...and then remembered where i was andthat even thought i don't participate in Ramazan i was at a jimeya and should be sensative to muslim customs, and there ware other muslim Dyados, muslim gpas, who had come for the next Ha Mass so we were in company of several Muslim persons.  i said "that was stupid" and spit out my bite in my hand.  nargis, whose muslim but not practicing, asked me why i did that and told me we could eat, it was time.  i said "well in that case" and took several more bites of my pear and was almost done with it when she looked at me and said"actually we can't."  it figures while i'm trying to be sensative of the MUSLIM traditions a MUSLIM gets me in trouble!!  a little while later one of the dyados gave us a date, used to open and close the days during Ramazan, and we were patiently waiting to eat until we left when margis looked at me and told me we could eat.  i asked her if she as sure this time and she said "he said so and i trust him."  this is wicked long i know and i have to quit but let me just tell you those men look so cute!  little old men, one was 85, hunched over from the yrs of very hard work, wearing their little black hats.  babies are cute but this was a sight!  the Imam gave me an idea i'm going to work on too!  i have been asking people if they ant to go to America and he said "very much so" so i'm going to make a little America here since they might not be able to make it to America.  i know a perfect time to do this is for American holidays and with tradditions but i want to do something other that that!  i'm just not sure what yet!!  if anyone has any ideas let me know!  or if something really stands out to yo uabout being American" tell me!  this is one of those things i get in my head and it won't leave b/c i'm set on it; kinda like my hair!!  ok, enough for today!  the school yr starts tom for teachers, the kids come on the 15th.  i've been working on translating some things i did at my childcare job, games, into B.  love and many kudos and nazdrave! to my family