Leaving for Rio in the morning

Well, it's finally here - my last night in Scotland before the much-anticipated trip to Rio. I think I'm excited about it now. Some people get excited about things way in advance but I'm quite short-sighted in a sense when it comes to things like this. Once I'm on the plane, I'll be forced to contemplate what's about to happen. I find a change from your normal surroundings tends to prompt the brain to focus on what's about to take place.

We're going to be away for just under two weeks. We'll be doing some physical work on a school/orphanage of sorts in one of the favelas of Rio. I'm excited about getting away from the computer, actually. I have my doubts about being a programmer, as it happens. I just think I like the outdoors and people too much to make a true programmer. I mean, I can do it if I have to but generally it bores me to tears. Now professional snowboarder or longboarder might be a different story...

Longboard

On Monday, I bought myself a longboard.



I've been riding it every day since then. In fact, it's been a bit painful on the right hamstring (my kicking leg) which took me by surprise a bit. I've been trying to learn how to stop properly. It seems the best technique for me to learn at this stage is footbraking. That doesn't mean breaking your foot, incidentally, but using your foot to slow down the board.

Yesterday I was riding through the park and a group of girls whistled and waved at me. It seems I'm drawing attention to myself, although that wasn't my purpose.

Nat and Nick's Wedding

On Friday I had the pleasure of going to Nat and Nick's wedding. It really was a great time.

The wedding was at St Aldates Church in Oxford which is a very nice place indeed, although I did spot a masonic symbol on a wooden panel inside the building. That point aside, the place was very nice.

One amazingly awesome moment was when Nicky, the bride, entered the ceremony. It was the most spectacular entrance of a bride I've ever seen. No, she didn't abseil from the ceiling or ram-raid through the wall (although they would be fun) but she had the most amazing music ever.

In keeping with the North American way of doing weddings, the bridesmaids came down the aisle first. They came one at a time, interspersed with the occasional flower girl distributing petals on the floor and not quite seeing what all the fuss was about. Just as the last bridesmaid reached the front, the music reached its climax and in came the bride and her father, a beautiful sight to behold as the choir sang. The track they used was Benedictus from The Armed Man: A Mass for Peace by Karl Jenkins.

I played bass with the band, since Joel couldn't make it. I've played a few times before although not very much. The church had a bass so I just had to show up and use it. However, when I got there I discovered it was fretless. In case you don't know, playing a fretless bass means you have to get your fingers in EXACTLY the right position or the note will be out of tune. I'm not sure, but I don't think I'd ever played one before. Well, I played at the wedding all right. By the end of the practice I had a blood blister and a regular blister on my two "plucking" fingers. It went ok, though.

One of the other cool things that happened that day (though not as spectactular as Nicky's entrance) was seeing The Queen. Yes, I really did. It turns out that while the wedding was in progress, Her Majesty was visting Christ Church just across the road from St Aldates. After the bridal party left, some of us were fortunate enough to be in the right place at the right time as The Queen's car left Christ Church and drove right past us.

Being the organised sort, I had my camera phone close to hand and made sure to capture the moment as best as I could. The Queen was sitting in the back-right seat, wearing a pink suit and matching hat. She waved to the crowd as she passed but since she was on the far side, I didn't get the best view. Still, for one brief moment I saw her and that was amazing in itself.



I was thinking of how much we lowly people get excited about seeing the rich and famous. I don't tend to be really interested in the private lives of celebrities or any of that sort of thing, but it was special to see The Queen. We waited there for some time but there were those who had waited much longer. I'm sure there were those who waited for hours and their reward was a passing glimpse of the head of The United Kingdom - a genuine royal figure.

Although the experience was so transient, each person's life was changed for ever. I'm sure all of them would have told at least someone that they saw The Queen that day. Something of that magnitude has to be passed on.

Having said all that, consider our response in church when we meet with God. Do we really believe we've met with the creator of the universe? Do we honestly think that we've had a moment where someone more powerful than The Queen has not only passed and waved but stopped and interacted with each and every one of us on a deeply personal level? I think half the time we think we made the whole thing up.

I know I've had experiences of God. I have no doubt about that. However, I don't know if it's the invisible and therefore less tangible nature of God or if it's simply the enemy sowing doubt, but we feel incapable of talking to other people about it sometimes. Maybe we think they just wouldn't believe it. I don't know quite what it is, but I know I was much more of an evangelist for my queen encounter than I've been for any of my God encounters, and that's something that concerns me.

Being Judged

I had an interesting experience on Sunday that I thought was worth mentioning. We were having a curry festival at church to raise money for our Rio Trip and we were all going to dress up in suitable curry-related clothes. Well, since I had lived in Pakistan before, I had my own Shalwar Kameez. I decided to wear that along with my Pakistani waistcoat and Afghani cap.

So, I walked to church dressed like that, not really expecting anyone to make a fuss about it. Well, I hadn't got far when I got a very extreme reaction in Queens Park. I was walking along a fairly wide path (wide enough for a car or two) and there was a middle-aged to elderly Scottish lady walking her dog, heading towards me.

As soon as she saw me, she did a MAJOR body-swerve and walked as far from me as possible, along the opposite side of the path. I think if there was a road in the middle to cross, she would have but given the fact there was only the path, she didn't have the choice.

As if that wasn't bad enough, it got worse when she actually passed me. I was going to smile and say "hello" or something like that if she looked at me but she actually turned her head away as she passed and actually slightly raised her arm towards me as if to protect herself from my obvious evil presence. It was SO bizarre. I've never seen anything like it.

Walking through Govanhill, a Pakistani man congratulated me on being well dressed. I'm not sure if he thought I was a convert to Islam or if he just liked seeing someone wearing traditional Pakistani clothing.

When I was at church, a number of people tried to joke about my appearance by saying things like "I'm surprised you didn't get arrested walking here dressed like that" or "Do you have a bomb vest under there?" It actually really angered me. I don't mind people poking fun at me if they think my hair's ridiculous or if they don't like my taste. I mean, whatever, have your opinion. I think what I reacted to so much about the comments was the ignorance and judgment it demonstrated.

I happen to really care about people from the Middle East - Afghanistan in particular. It's horrible to think that for many people here in Scotland, whenever they see someone dressed in middle eastern clothing they immediately judge them as some kind of scary terrorist. I feel for the innocent people who fled the horrors of war in their homeland only to be judged and treated as wicked here by the people who have offered them refuge.