Author: Carly Collins

For this session, we talked about the virtual museum exhibit Take Me There China at the Children’s Museum. We each talked about what we liked in the exhibit and Kwan also added his thoughts and details behind each topic. I talked about the Beijing Opera, which said that the opera has been performing for 200… Continue reading 11/17 ICR Reflection

For today’s ICR, we observed a private Chinese language lesson taught by instructor Tian Tan. She began the class with a Chinese poem that Elon Musk had posted and captioned “Humankind.” The poem was about how beans are cooked in the same pot and all come from the same roots. Yet, they attack each other… Continue reading 11/14 ICR Reflection

Rumi’s poem excerpts were a little confusing to understand, but I found a unique kind of beauty in the words. I like #12, which basically reveals how the important things in life do not cost anything. Their turban and robe cost almost nothing while their self cost less than nothing. This shows how you can’t… Continue reading Rumi Blog Post

For this ICR session with the IACA, we learned self-defense techniques and Tai Chi with Master Ling at his Oriental Martial Arts studio in Noblesville. The studio had a huge mat with a long mirror on one of the walls. We took off our shoes right when we came in since most martial arts are… Continue reading 11/04 ICR Reflection

I found some interesting points made in both of these readings’ excerpts. For the Hadith passages, most of the guidelines were strict but made sense for Islam followers. The first passage explains that Islam is an easy religion, which I made a point in class about since there’s many rules, it is clear and straightforward… Continue reading Hadith & Fiqh Akbar I Blog Post

Prior to this class, I didn’t know about the Five Pillars of Islam. The first is shahada (profession of faith), which is a declaration of belief in God (Allah) and Muhammad’s role as the messenger of God. The second pillar is salat (prayer), which Muslims pray five times a day, at dawn, noon, mid-afternoon, sunset,… Continue reading Five Pillars and Hajj Documentary Blog Post

For our IACA session this week, we met Kwan for dinner at Lucky Lou’s. I have never heard of or eaten at this restaurant before, but it was a great experience because I’ve never eaten at an authentic Chinese restaurant. Before dinner, Kwan explained that there is authentic Chinese food and Americanized Chinese food. Lucky… Continue reading 10/28 ICR Reflection

While I read the assigned sura passages, I noticed more similarities between Islam and Christianity that I originally knew of. First off, the style and prose of the passages is very similar to the Bible. I thought of the Book of Psalms in the Bible because of the way the passages praise God and using… Continue reading Sura Readings Post

For today’s session, we went to the Global Village to learn about the Lion Dance and look around the center. It first started off with a presentation, by Kwan, about the origins and history of the Lion Dance. It is celebrated in several parts of Asia, not just China, and means different things to everyone.… Continue reading 9/18 ICR Reflection

The Cairo House and documentary show a lot of the values that the Islamic faith has. In Cairo House, we learn that there are certain gender roles regarding holiday celebrations. When the Gigi sees a sacrifice during the Feast of Sacrifice, she is shamed because a girl cannot be in the presence of the ritual.… Continue reading Cairo House 1-26 & Islam Documentary