Little India

Today we were given the assignment of experiencing a culture. We were handed directions to get to a neighborhood and told to spend the day there, along with answering some basic questions about the culture. We needed to find out what culture we were being put in, what do these people do for fun, what is important to them, and things like that. On our journey to the location we were debating what culture we could possibly be going in. We discussed whether it could be a British influenced community, but soon figured out that we were going into a India/ Pakistani part of Chicago. It was officially named, Little Italy and was located at Devon and Western. In Bradford, England where my team is going, many immigrants from Pakistan make up the majority of the population, so we were introduced to the culture.
The first thing that we noticed when we got there was that none of the shops were open yet and it was 10:30! That is a late start in my opinion... We walked to the park to use up some time until they finally opened at 11:00. Immediately, I was wanting to collect some Indian fabric to add to my collection so we did go into many shops looking for the right bargain. Most of the stuff was very expensive and it took a lot of persuading to find any types of remnants or small pieces of fabric. At times during the day, it made me wonder whether we were getting the same price as other people because things were not marked. Seemed a little fishy in my opinion! We stopped by a salon and saw a sign for henna tattoos and once we researched a bit they seemed ridiculously awesomely priced! you could get your whole hand covered for $10. To get the full experience of henna tattoos, Team England decided to get them! We picked out design and the process started. The young girl (who looked 13 but was actually 20) did not speak much English. She had been in the States for 2 years she said. At times, we had no idea what we were getting on our hand/arms.  Leigh went first and we had this great idea that we wanted to write Team England on some part of our design.  Our artist did not know who to spell England, so when we were saying the letters out loud we got to the "G" and hesitated for a few seconds before writing a lower-case "j", ending with the result of "Enjland". Personally it was one of the best things and although this will stay on Leigh's hand for a few weeks it is a fun story for us. Also our designs kept getting bigger, with more detail and we didn't know if this was because of the language gap or the fact that once it was done they could really charge whatever they wanted. Needless to say, all of ours went up in price to  $15 and $20. But still worth it in out eyes. 
We ate lunch at a place called Usmania, a Pakistani restaurant. It was not busy because of it being Ramadan, which is when people of the Muslim faith fast during the daytime. It was obvious that us three girls were not of the Muslim faith. Luckily, some places were still open. We found a very helpful man, who we could actually understand who talked with us about the community life and the importance of mixing the different cultures and working together as one. He informed us that the community has Indians, Pakistani, and Jewish people all in a short distance. They have 2 parades a year. One for India's and Pakistan's independence day. To eat, Leigh got the chicken biryani and Bethany and I shared another chicken dish that was suppose to be the most mild one on the menu. We all each got a mango shake that was surprisingly warm. Yum..... the funny part was that every place we went to today we ended up getting more than we were trying to get, but then also having to pay for it. We got an extra mango shake and we also got a large plate of food we might not have ordered. This also might have been because of the fact that our waiter, Baboo was VERY hard to understand. He asked where we were from and he was very excited that Leigh was from Florida. Apparently he wants to visit there because even though, we could barely understand him, he asked Leigh for her phone number and address in Florida to come visit. :) Later he did come back and ask Bethany and me for our phone numbers JUST IN CASE he would happen to want to come to Kansas or Iowa! ha! Leigh was nice enough to give her phone number, but managed to come up with an excuse not to give her address. Oh! and the food by the way, was not mild- it was so spicy that Bethany and I were dying of heat and Leigh was just fine and laughing at us! We got the last laugh though when we were waiting to cross the street and Leigh starting screaming and freaking out because a bee was bothering her. She was screeching and people were staring at us, while Bethany and I just laughed. (Of course while trying to help her!)
During the afternoon, Bethany and I found a nice piece of fabric that we liked and we found a place to find some sweets. They were interesting to say the least. The kind that were the most popular according to the girl working tasted like syrup soaked pancakes. We have not acquired a taste for them yet...

Overall the day was so very interesting and a lot of fun!