journeys into the unknown

Our family spent Mother’s day at the Blue Mosque in Shah Alam, the state capital of Selangor, which is a 25 minute drive from the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur. We arranged for a taxi driver to take us there, wait for us, and return us home when we were finished all for $40 (about 2 1/2hrs). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sultan_Salahuddin_Abdul_Aziz_Mosque.

Our arrival at the mosque coincided with the ending of the noon prayers at the hottest time of the day (about 2pm). As a result, Madeline was very unhappy when she learned that her modest appearance was not modest enough :(((. Her arms were only 3/4 covered by her blouse instead of entirely covered, thus necessitating her wearing a long, heavy robe like outer garment over her clothing as well as a scarf to cover her hair. Not a happy camper! The boys got by with short sleeved shirts and long pants. I was able to borrow a *stylish* scarf to cover my head.

We took an hour tour in the stifling heat, took lots of pictures, and then took a short walk along the nearby lake. A very different mother's day for me...

fence around mosque

Muslim design (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_geometric_patterns)

Muslim men chatting outside the mosque after noon prayers

shop stalls around the outside of mosque

Muslim family outside mosque

unhappy daughter in heavy clothing

me in beautiful mosque architecture

more wonderful architectural features

one of the mosque entryways

inside mosque

almost empty mosque

entry person

vacuuming the carpets after noon prayers

Muslim headgear for men

shopping at the mosque

Blue Mosque from outside

Madeline took her first school dance class this year at Mont’ Kiara International School (MKIS). The class covered African and Modern dances as well as other dances from around the world. One class requirement was to choreograph and teach her own group of middle and high school students a cultural dance. Madeline chose hula as the dance she would choreograph and teach since she has been hula dancing for more than 6 years and loves it.

All the dancers have been working very hard for the past few months, putting in numerous hours of practice each week choreographing, teaching, and learning many new dances in preparation for the spring concert. This past Friday, Madeline’s hula dancers were the opening number at the World Dance Concert at MKIS. In addition to her hula dancers, Madeline included her brother, Gabriel, in the show. At the beginning of Madeline's dance, Gabe blew the conch shell while Madeline chanted in Hawaiian. Joe and I were both wet eyed seeing her success in this newest endeavor.

The entire show consisted of 16 numbers encompassing American folk dances, hula, Modern dances, African, Bollywood, and K-Pop (Korean Pop). It was splendid and I ended up taking over 400 pictures! I couldn’t believe it when I got home. I’ve now edited the pictures to about 200 and will include 66 of my favorite pictures below. Unfortunately, the combination of a dark auditorium, a dark stage with bright spotlights, and me, a beginning photographer with a standard DSLR camera, the pictures didn’t meet up to my expectations, but hopefully, you will get the “picture”. And now I know what additional photography lens I need for future photography in dark theaters.

Oh, and as an aside, I sewed the 16 skirts and headpieces for the African dances, so pay close attention to those ; ).