picture perfect

A week between posts. Not good enough.

Just wanted to share a nice little intercultural experience. The other day I was outside with the kids at work, it had recently snowed (again...:/ ) and everything was covered in white again. The sun was shining, it was a very idyllic, Norwegian moment. It runs a small river by the kindergarten, which gets quite big when the snow starts melting in the spring. A small bridge crosses the river, but because of the kindergarten, a big fence has been built, and you cant get to the other side if you walk over the bridge cos the fence is right in front of it. Get the picture?

Well, anyway, this day a guy came walking and went down to the bridge. I said to my colleague: "He wont get far", thinking he thought he had found a smart short cut. He never returned, and I started wondering where he had gone to. I hope he hadnt decided to jump, the river gets quite big but not big enough for a grown man to drown very easily, and if he wanted to end his life there, he'd probably look quite pathetic. I walked closer to the fence, trying to find out what he was doing. And there he was, spreading his winter coat over the snowy planks on the old bridge, getting down on his knees, and he started praying. In that idyllic space, under some trees, on a cute white bridge, the sound of birds and water, and the sun shining on him, it seemed like a perfect place to pray. What a lovely picture on how multicultural even a small town in Norway has become.

After that we had to start discussing which is Mecca. Of course.