I'm still in the mood of writing.lol.This time I want to share my experienced travelling to the City of York which is located in North Yorkshire. Before I decided to join the trip, organised by International Society of Manchester, I was skeptical about this trip. That was because I don't have any friends to accompany me to go for the trip. I was the only one who had a free time because most of my friends had their own activities. At first, I want to cancel joining the trip but I don't know because I felt that Yorkshire was calling me.Haha.Just kidding. I actually already bought a bus ticket to join the trip and it's difficult for me to sell the ticket to others.
Then, on Saturday morning around 8.00 AM, I went to the International Society's office to wait for the bus. While waiting for the bus, I looked around if there were any people that I might know so that I can joined them and had a good chat but as what I'd expected I was the only Malay and the only Muslim who joined the trip. It's quite challenging because I never joined any occasion or activities without my Muslim's friend. I stand alone near the office to wait for the bus to come until I heard a voice asked me "Are you going for the trip?". I turned around at her, smile and said "Yes, I am". Then, after some conversations I knew that she too was on her own for the trip. Her name was Dana and she was from Russia. Dana was very friendly and she kept talking and chatting while we were on the bus. I like her attitude and her well-mannered. Although we just knew each other but it seemed that I already knew her for a long time.
After 2 hours in the bus, we reached City of York. It is actually a historical city surrounded with many old buildings. William the Conqueror was related with this city in which he had stopped the rebellion of the York people in 1068. William the Conqueror was famous in English history as he was the first Norman King of England (Wikipedia). Yes, I did read about him while I was in school. One of the reason why International Society organised this trip was because there was a festival being held at this city. It is known as Jorvik Viking Festival. Viking is the warriors, merchants and pirates who explored and settled across the Europe (wiki). In 866, Vikings conquered York and from that history, people of York created this special event in order for them to celebrate viking heritage. There were lots of events and activities in this city and we felt that we were actually in the era of vikings. Some people were hanging around in the city with viking costumes and they pretended that they were the real vikings. Sometimes, Dana and I stopped them just for us to snap some photos. (This festival gives me an idea if we can do the same thing in Malaysia by wearing a costume just like in zaman Hang Tuah and walked around in the City of Melaka.Haha.Ada ke orang nak terima my idea?).
Dana and I travelled around the city by our self and we were free to go anywhere and joined any activities. We had been given the map of the city and it was up to us to explore. It's good to know that Dana had a strong interest in culture and heritage and I too love to get to know other culture.
Then, after sometime I noticed that it was time for me to pray. I told Dana that I need to stop at the side of the park near the old building in order for me to perform my prayer. Luckily, I brought along a prayer mat and I can just wear my winter coat to pray. There were a few people passing-by besides me but Alhamdulillah everything was smooth and nobody interrupted while I was praying.
Dana seemed understand with my ritual prayer and she just waited for me. Then, we went to the national gallery before we finished our trip. But, it's already 5 PM and the gallery was closed so we just took some photos in front of the building. Around 7 PM, we waited for the bus as we were ready to go back to Manchester.While in the bus, Dana was never tired of talking and chatting.Haha. There were so many things she want to talk until I was surprised when she asked me this question, " Why Muslim wearing a hijab?" Then, I answered "Because Muslims were told to cover their beauty and only our family is allowed to see the beauty inside of our hijab". Huh? What am I saying? (Betul ke apa yang aku cakap ni?). I just don't prepare this kind of question. Nobody asked me before this type of question. Then, Dana nodded, and said, "I think it's true". Then, she asked me how many times do you pray in a day? When she asked me this question, I realised that she was wondering with my prayer. It seems that it was her first time watching how Muslim perform a prayer.Never in her life got the chance to see what I did just now. She told me she didn't know anything about Islam. Perhaps, she know what Islam is but she didn't know what Muslim does in everyday of life. I just response to all her questions but when I go back to my room, I suddenly remember the khutbah given by the Khatib during Jumaah prayer which I heard in McDougall Prayer Hall in Manchester. He reminded us to mix around with the non-Muslims in order to deliver the messages about Islam. Not everyone know about Islam and we as a Muslim is responsible to let them know what Islam is all about.
No comments:
Post a Comment