What the eff am I doing?

It's just been brought to my attention that I have yet to explain what it is I'm doing here in France. Well, that's a great question but I'm afraid the answer requires some explaining. How about I start with explaining what I'd ideally like to accomplish while I'm here and then follow that up with what realistically might happen? Cool?

I'm here doing a field study through BYU on Muslims in France and how certain aspects of their religious beliefs affect their integration (or lack of integration) into French society. Islam has always fascinated me as well as Muslims in diaspora so I'm really excited.

What I'd ideally like to see happen is that I will produce, through observing and interviewing members of the community here in Clermont Ferrand, a great piece of academic research that will provide some insightful information about Islam in contemporary European society and hopefully contribute something to the already highly researched topic of Islam in France, Europe and the West.

What realistically might happen is that I'll suck. I've never done a project like this before. I really don't know what I'm doing or how to do it and I really don't have anyone to help me. I'm fully prepared for this to not turn out ideally. But you know what? I think that's okay. I don't need this research project to go well to graduate or get a good grade in a class. It's more for the experience of trying something new and seeing what comes out of it. As long as I try my best and work my hardest I'll be happy with what comes from it. Honestly.

But things are going a lot better already than I could have ever imagined. I've been here for less than a week so far and I've already located and visited every mosque in the city, made several friends within the Muslim community here and weaseled my way into being able to volunteer and help in the construction of the new enormous mosque their building that should be done around the end of august. I'm super pumped about how things are turning out. I'll make sure to keep everyone up to date with what's going on as things happen. Cool? C'est bon? طيب؟

monkeys love shiny things... like ipods

In a state of shock, kneeling on the library floor next to my chair, I picked up the remnants of that extremely meaningful piece of machinery and held it in my hands, rhythmically smoothing over the cracks in the "nearly" indestructible glass with my thumb and index finger, hoping somehow that my caring touch would restore it to its former beauty. But all was lost. The damage was done.
I broke my ipod today. A brief moments of carelessness, a panicked juggle, a two foot drop, the corner of a wooden chair and it was all over. That poor little $300 concoction of tin, genius and glass never stood a chance.

As a defeated man and only to the silence of the crunching snow beneath my feet, I weaved my way home through campus, then down the steps and out onto the street. I felt like a part of me had just died.

Have you ever watched people in an electronic store become absolute fools when they come face to face with a fancy new phone or, almost instinctively, migrate to the biggest brightest TV and gaze at it, mindlessly basking in its iridescent glory? Not only have I seen it, I've done it, many times. Why is it that we humans can become so enthralled with things that don't serve ANY role in our overall survival as species or satisfy ANY of our fundamental needs? When was the last time my ipod fed me, kept me warm at night, protected me from my enemies or provided me with offspring? Moreover, when has my ipod ever told me I was smart or I looked good, made me soup when I was sick, corrected me when I was being dumb, tucked me in at night when I was scared or picked me up from school when it was snowing and I forgot to bring a jacket? Maybe it's because we feel like all of our needs are already taken care or that certain things aren't as important as they use to be. Or maybe its apart of us, like in our DNA or something.

My friend Sean once said that human beings are nothing more than monkeys that like shiny things. Although I disagreed with him at the time, maybe there's more truth to that than I had originally thought. Or maybe we need to reevaluate our priorities. In any case, does any one want to sell me their ipod?