On our first day of school and after lunch, much to my horror I heard the loudspeakers ask that all 4th and 5th graders perform their ablutions and prepare for prayers. I was well aware of the religious nature of the school and so confessing that I didn’t know how to pray was out of the question. I hunted Hooman down and still weary of with how much I could trust him, I only confessed to not knowing how to do ablutions. After getting over his initial shock, he advised me to just go to the faucets and start splashing water on my face and hands and hope that no one took too much notice.

The prayers themselves were group prayers done silently which meant that I could simply copy whatever everyone else was doing around me. But even that would have its challenges. After we finished our first prayer, the 5th grader sitting next to me, Shahrestani, turned to me and asked, “Did you not pray?”

“Of course I did,” I lied.

“I just noticed you were looking around a lot so I assumed you didn’t. Try to stay focused on your prayer rock.”

I made a mental note to look straight ahead to avoid any suspicions. Also in order not to have to perform possibly incorrectly ablutions in front of everyone, I would state that my ablutions from my morning prayers were still valid. From time to time I would get the odd stare about the manner of my prayers but after seeing the rituals every day, it gradually became easier to fake it.

I later picked up another method from Alireza who at times would simply skip going to the prayer room all together and would remain in the schoolyard. While I had a few initial success stories, I ultimately abandoned this plan after being called to the office and being demanded an explanation for my absences (which I blamed on not hearing the loudspeaker announcement).
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