As I walked back towards the market from the cafe, a couple of things happened. I walked into a bakery where a woman was standing behind the counter. She spoke very little English asking a man to come and translate. I asked them if they could point me in the direction of where I could find more Muslim women shopping. The man said he didn't really know where to direct me, but suggested that heading to Zeeberg might be a good start.
I headed out the store, still heading back for the market. I stepped into another shop, Modehuis Rafia Maatleding. It looked a men's clothing store but had lots of loose fabrics in the back. The woman that was attending to the store provided me with the same advice, to head towards Zeeberg.
While I sat on a piece on concrete outside of the clothing store, I approached 2 girls (one was wearing a headscarf and the other not) and asked them if they would be interested in being interviewing. They said that they didn't think their English was good enough and that they were in a hurry to get somewhere (uh huh right). I noticed a couple of things about the girl wearing the headscarf. It seemed as though she had thoughtfully put together her outfit that day. She was wearing black pants, and a black jacket. Underneath the jacket was a tan plaid shirt. Her headscarf was a thin orange material decorated in sequences. Yet she wore no makeup. I make no conclusions about her intentions just commenting on how I felt that her headscarf was the brightest part of her attire.
Anyways, I walked into the first half of the market. All of the shops were cheap (sorry no other way to put it). I saw lots of stands selling to women wearing headscarves, but I saw very few women actually doing the selling. It was mostly ethnic men. As I walked around, I saw a lot of older women. Many of them wearing a more traditional headscarf, one that flows to the shoulders while the few younger women I saw tended to wear them only wrapped around their hair, with a fabric "tail" on the shoulder. I tried to approach a few of the vendors and they seemed very unfriendly, so I moved on to the shops behind the maket.
As I strolled around, I didn't see anyone that seemed approachable, until I walked into a general store. I walked into the store and saw a young Muslim woman sitting behind the counter talking on a cell phone, I strolled around the store and hoped that she was going to get off the phone soon. As soon as she was off the phone I approached her. I told her my name and why I was approaching her. She said that yes she is Muslim and that she would allow me to interview her. I scheduled an interview with her for tomorrow (Wednesday) at 10:00a at the shop that she works at. She told me that she is there 6 days a week. Yea Day 1---A SUCCESS!!!!
