Respect of the culture.

The quote I am choosing to write about takes place before Mortenson and Abdul go out to begin their bargaining for the materials to build the school. Mortenson was changing his clothes when he heard his shalwar rip and when he looked at the shalwar he realized he ripped a hole across the entire back of it. He and Abdul then went to the tailor's to get another shalwar made for him. Mortenson gets measured for his shalwar and shortly after paying the tailor, he pulled out a prayer mat. Mortenson quickly said, "Will you show me how to pray?" the tailor responded to him, "Are you a Muslim?" and Mortenson's response was "I respect Islam". The tailor then invited Mortenson to learn how to pray with him. I believe this quote is important because it shows that Mortenson is very eager and willing to learn the culture and the way of life of the people he is living amongst. For the Pakistani people this shows a great amount of respect that Mortenson wants to learn their way of life and it will make them respect him much more which is very important for Mortenson being in a country he is not from.