Day 2

It was a clear and bright Sunday morning. We went to the surrounding museums and also visited the house where Martin Luther King Jr. was born. It must have been the vibe from Martin Luther King’s presence that is still felt today because somehow, you just knew it was going to be a great day.

How would I describe a great day? Well, I did go to church today. Some people that I know would be screaming for joy if I’d let them know that I went on that Sunday. The last time I’d gone to church was in High School. Truth be told, I was so anxious the night before, I’d spent quite a time just getting my clothes ready because I wanted to be presentable, ironing even the tiniest wrinkles out of my clothes and buffing my shoes just a little more than usual. I even styled my hair for about 15 minutes too. LoL… I did recieve a few compliments which made me feel happy that I spent all that time into getting ready. Kind of ironic how all this time trying to look good for church is about how long I’d spend getting ready for a date.

Walking around the museums and blooming flower gardens in the in this gorgeous and warm Spring weather made me started perspiring so I took off my suit jacket and rolled up my sleeves. If I could have worn shorts, it would’ve been perfect. But my favorite part of the morning? OUR AWESOME GROUP PICTURE BECAUSE I GOT TO BE IN IT!!!

So how was church since I last attended? Like what I told my friends, the atmosphere was like being at a club or a concert. Everyone was happy, swinging to the rhythm and clapping to the music. The church that I had gone to 10 years ago wasn’t like this. The songs were quite, as if you only sang them because your mother made you to which she did. One interesting fact about me is that I learned how to draw from going to church such a long time ago when I was still little. In contrast, the songs here were so energetic. You felt the music through your bones and the more the choir sang, the more you wanted it to go on. I think it’s because here, going to church Sunday morning has a deeper meaning. The Church was the one piece of unity that brought everyone together to be able to brave those dark days of freedom until true freedom was finally written into law and I think since then, every Sunday has become a joyous celebratory event to remember how they had to overcome discrimination.

My favorite part of the sermon? “The happy preacher is in the house. And where ever room he is in, you will know it!” We left the church before service ended and I was a little sad. I had wanted to take some pictures with Martin Luther King Jr.’s sister as well as the choir and several pastors in attendance. Too bad we weren’t allowed to take pictures inside the church but I heard a certain leader of ours did. I should’ve used my ninja techniques to snap a few good ones… lol!!!

The day ended by having the Womens 222 Class have a discussion. One of the questions was, how would keep the civil rights movement alive? My answer? When I have kids, I would make them go on the Civil Rights Pilgrimage Tour so they could understand not just one aspect of history but the whole history of the Civil Rights moment and realize what it took for them to be able to live as free men without fear and without discrimination.

In the evening, my roommates and I decided to go take a walk around town because we’d had so much fun the night before. We went around in a loop. We had thought about going back to downtown but we would’ve had to take the highway which we seriously thought about. Hahaa!!! Instead we just went in a big loop around town. Taking a couple rights put our selves in the poor section of the city. It was a little nervous walking through the place at night but we had safety in numbers. We passed by a nightclub with so many expensive and exotic cars. I kind of wished we had more courage to go in. LoL!!! We also passed by party that was blaring Mexican music through its speakers in the middle of the night. All the houses were dark and eerily quite except for this one. On the way home, we told supernatural ghost stories as cemeteries lined up to our left every block we walked. I dared everyone to play this one creepy game like Blood Mary. We’d go into the middle of a graveyard, close our eyes, and yell out “come get me” 3 times. At the end of the third one, we would open our eyes, then race all the way back to the hotel. The unfortunate one would of course get unfortunately caught from something out of this world. I was just kidding but I was quite nervous as I hope no one was really going to be up for it. It became a little unsettling as everywhere we walked happened to be graveyard upon graveyard. I became thankful there were people to walk with me like this.

I love these long walks at night. There’s just something about the culture at night that’s so different from the day.