Category: General

The big mosque next door to us got a new loudspeaker this week.  This means that instead of loud, the calls to prayer and general announcements are deafening, especially at four in the morning.  It is loud enough that it’s hard to watch TV; even with the sound turned way up, it just sounds like cacophony.  On the other hand, now we can tell what they are talking about when they make announcements.  For instance, the morning announcements (at 4:00 AM) start with "Bapak-bapak…ibu-ibu…sekarang waktu bangun…Bangun…Lebih baik bangun daripada tidur…Bangun…BANGUN…"  Which translates as "fathers…mothers…now it’s time to wake up…wake up…it’s better to wake up than to sleep…wake up…WAKE UP…"  After that there’s usually some sort of announcement about what’s going on that day.  Then the muezzin follows this with a very simple verse, sort of sung, sort of chanted, which he repeats for approximately six months.  OK, maybe only about 10 minutes.  This sounds like it’s in Arabic.  Then they do a prayer, which is also in Arabic, which they repeat a lot.  At which time we’ve had enough time to go to the bathroom, walk around, stare at the ceiling, and think about we hope it’s quieter in Malaysia.

We did not see the State of the Union address, but JM has reported that she read in the news that Bush is not ready to pull out of Iraq yet, or even to make any plans yet.  This, I (TP) believe, is the right thing to do.  We have invaded a sovereign nation and imposed a new political system, and we had better make sure that we do this right.  It’s sad, because we want everyone we know in Iraq to come home, but this mission must be done completely.  Now, as for the plans for when to pull out, which Bush does not want to make yet, I would offer two general guidelines.  (1) When Iraqi security forces can safely and effectively police the nation, or when (2) the coalition occupation has made things so bad that more Iraqis are dying because of it that are being saved.  Lest I be accused of not loving freedom, I really hope we have (1).

On a totally unrelated note, you like tofu?  Well, would you eat this?