Blogging Ramadan

100 Ways To Motivate Yourself

2009-05-18T04:09:00.000-07:00

Amazon.com: 100 Ways To Motivate Yourself: Change Your Life Forever: Steve Chandler: Books

In a standard 4 types of personality test, I am the influencer.
In the quirky dove-owl-peacock-eagle personality test, I am the peacock.
In the super complicated 9 types Enneagram test (my favorite), I am type 7: the Enthusiast.

What do they mean? Pretty much that I am a creative, outgoing, happy person. I also happen to be very inconsistent, having outbursts of i-want-it-this-instant things. Always starting, never finishing. (Well not always, but I tend to only deliver the minimum if I really need to finish it).

It's true. I am that person. I have accepted it. So in my day to day living, I have to constantly struggle to identify these bad traits when they come up.

The conversation in my head will be something like this:

"Man I hate mondays, let's see what's on facebook"
"Warning!!"
"Just five minutes"
"five minutes is up!"
"But I have to see what my friend wrote, friendship is beyond work"
"it's been 10 minutes"
"Already 10? Well then another minute wouldn't hurt"
"It's been 30 minutes, I feel guilty"
"Hey... ads on glass blowing course, that sounds cool"
"No I don't need a glass blowing course"
"Maybe not, but live life without regrets rite?? What if I regret this later"

On times where my dark side is winning, I like to pull out one of my favorite book out of the drawer. 100 Ways To Motivate Yourself by Steve Chandler. It does what it says, giving many many tips to jolt myself back to motivation and back to my original task. (This is of course assuming that your original task had some kind of meaning for you, if it doesn't then maybe you need a bigger help!!)

Personally, I like to pick a random page whenever I open Steve's book. So I don't know if I've read them all, but even the old ones are still a good straight-to-the-point advice I could always rely on.

Some samples that have helped me overcome a snag during a dry day:

No. 23 - Kill your televison - Self explanatory and can also be applied to facebook

No. 5 - Push all your own buttons - Making note of simple things that lift you up like a great song and using all those to repeat the feeling when you are down.

No. 99 - Laugh with no reason - Hahaha my favorite tip.

No 38 - Learn to come from behind - Accepting the fact that the natural rhythm of things are sometimes about 1 step up and 2 step down. That's not a problem, just put in sometime to recharge and do it again.

And many others...

Usually after pondering one of Steve's tips which may or may not include a simple exercise, my heads all cleared up and things look better. I find my thoughts going back to:

"Monday's aren't so bad after all"
"You sure??"
"Yeah... let's do this one tiny step at a time. No biggie"

A Belated Eid Mubarak

2007-10-23T06:24:00.000-07:00

Ramadan is Khalas (finished).

It's long overdue for me to get down my thoughts on Ramadan and how it went. I managed to fast for every single day during Ramadan without respite and I'm clearly proud of that, although I must say that sleeping til 4pm on weekends made some of the easiest fasting days ever! (Particularly when compared to some of my more religious friends that got up and prayed during prayer times while I snoozed, feel bad about that one, hehe)

So reflecting on whether I hit my goals for Ramadan and what I learnt, here is what Ramadan is about for me:

- Ramadan is about supporting each other, asking about each other's health and fasting process. It's about a community that shifts as one, to a new schedule, a new outlook on life, a new thought process.

- Ramadan is about thinking about the poor and the needy, remembering how they feel not being able to eat during the day, not having ready access to water. Although we drive expensive cars, have huge dinners after sundown with food they can only dream of, maintain our luxurious lifestyles and all the other contradictions, somehow Ramadan at least gives us that window of opportunity from sun-up to sun-down, to remember those people every time our stomach growls or our parched throat hurts.

- Ramadan is about being able to adjust your earthly lifestyle to something different, more important, more spiritual, more conscientious. The spiritual aspect is about sharing with other people, discussions on how things work and the importance of things. It's about conversations with yourself and what you hold as important, what your philosophical outlook on life is, etc.

- Ramadan is about big communal futoors (meal to break the fast at sundown) and ghabges (big buffet at around 11, as a second meal, usually with lashings of rice and fish).

- Ramadan is about keeping your ear finely tuned to that iftar call from the mosque and about keeping the Ramadan calendar on your desktop so you know exactly how much longer you have to fast today and how much longer you have to eat and drink until the first call to prayer.

- Ramadan is about that suhoor with a friend, fuul and hummous and conversations about life at 2-3am (Thanks to Simi, my suhoor buddy for fuul, shisha, life and anything in between :))

- Ramadan is about burgers and shawarmas when you need to a quick feed, omlettes (which you can smell cooking but cannot taste) when you wanna conserve cash and eat at home, big grocery shops with housemates when you're salivating in Jazira supermarket at all of the options

- Ramadan is about the best home-made meals ever at your friend's houses, or when they bring food for you, Bahraini food, Sudanese food, Egyptian food, Bedouin food, any kind of damn food you can get your hands on as long as it's dutifully prepared by a friend, friend's mother, friend's maid, etc. (Thank you so much to Slais, Hamdi, Ali Shaikh and Mariam Kamal for making sure I was well fed and not lonely at iftar).

- Ramadan is about the best smokes and glasses of juice ever, the first smoke and glass of juice after your first meal, thinking about contentedness and the night ahead and the last smoke and glass of juice on our wondrous balcony, gazing out over the street, thinking about ramadan, life, sleep and everything else...

- Ramadan is about conversations with your Chinese friend/roommate/intern about Arab culture and life. (Thanks Dingkun!)

- Ramadan is about sleep-working through your day, trying to motivate yourself to get something done while you are tempted by random chats and scrabulous, and sharing that with someone who knows all too well what it's like (Thanks Saba!), while you are tempted by random conversations that flicker and flow from the nothing to the something, but all totally meaningful

- Ramadan is about sharing an office with someone who has experienced the ups + downs of Ramadan for many many years and is part of the very culture you speak of, observing their habits and learning to understand them and to respect them. (Thanks Sahar!)

- Ramadan is about answering questions "Why are you fasting?", "Are you converting to Islam?", "What's Ramadan really like?" and all the questions about Islam and Arab culture that stem from that. Too many people to mention here but I'm sure y'all know who you are, particularly anyone who I said "Read my blog!" to... sorry about that, should've come up with a more personalised reply :P

- Ramadan is about a schedule... about filling yourself to the brim with futoor (not healthy, i Know) but looking forward to that first coffee (best coffee ever) at your favourite places (thanks Veranda, Costa (Adliya + Juffair) and Cinnzeo... and all their staff!) and that conversation you've been needing so badly, about seeing someone's smile on webcam and it making your day.

- Ramadan is about late night msn and google talk chats, whiling away the time towards the end of suhoor, something about those late night chats has a special feeling about them, even if they are totally random or hardcore philosophical/political...

not ur regular online chat (Thanks to Fatima, Annika, Sara, Saaim, Dalia, Shahira and anyone I forgot... sorry!)

- Ramadan is about reading the ramadan blog on nomadlife and being happy whenever there's a posting so you can share and understand other people's thoughts on the Holy month from whatever background or country they come from/are in (too bad it was not very active this year, gotta lift it for next year guys!)

- Most importantly, Ramadan is about connecting with an incredible culture, a rich history, a psyche, a religion, a global community and a lifestyle that are so finely intertwined it is difficult to separate them almost any of the time. I can't pretend I've gone anywhere close to really understanding Arabs, Islam or the Middle Eastern region properly but I can definitely say Ramadan has helped me a great deal to make headway.

Kol3am wa entum bheir!

2007-10-12T06:25:00.000-07:00

Can’t believe it’s passed. The lonely salmon that constituted my long-awaited breakfast today made me think about the religion, the world and me in it. Last night was the first night of Eid, and the last night of Ramadan month.

I had to see the sunrise yesterday! I’ve seen so many of it in the past weeks, but yesterday’s one was special. Not only because it was the last one in the long row of sleepless nights over the past month. It was the last sunrise for which I was woken up to by a friend, first sunrise when I did not have suhoor, the first sunrise, when you could forget about the clock, the urge to stuff yourself with food and water.

And I was insanely happy. I’m not a holiday person. Often the special marked days in the calendar do not make my head twirl with excitement, but yesterday, when sitting on the porch, drinking fresh juice and enjoying the sight of the sky turning from dark colorless, to grey-blue shades, I was so childlishly happy. I felt the holiday.

I loved Ramadan. It’s been tough, and there were days I was talking myself into quitting it all, but it gives me a crazy feeling of pleasure and satisfaction to know that I managed it!

I did it. I fasted. Together with my Muslim friends. I started on the day 3 of Ramadan, aiming to try for a week, and on day 4 I already knew that I had to go on until the end. Some decisions in life do not come well planned or thought through. Some choices are made in an instance, in an impulse, that can hardly be explained. When leaning against the door in Mohammad’s kitchen, and listening to my Muslim friends sharing the reasons for fasting, it hit me right there – I need to do it. Exactly, not only want to do it, but I actually felt the urge, the inner need to spend this month fasting, testing my limits, and thinking about bigger picture.

The beauty of Ramadan for me came in few precious moments.

The conversation I had with my team mates that started off the whole fasting journey for me

The minute when I told my Muslim friend that I am fasting, and the excitement and support I felt from him

The suhoor – 4:30 am breakfast – that I shared with Saba, my Pakistani friend, who cooked the food, dragged me out of the bed, and made sure I drink enough water

The invitations to the families of my friends where I could have a family iftar or, even better, suhoor

This one day when I felt helpless, worn out, weak, and so willing to break the fast; the messages I received that day from my beloved friends, for their inspiration, kind words and belief in my indurance

Those evening moments when you have the food lined up in front of you on the table, impatiently waiting with dates in your hand, and your body focused on the second when ‘adan’ or call for prayer let you graciously thank to God for one more day of fasting and have the first sip of the most delicious water

The feeling of community, belonging and bigger cause, with all those who fasted and broke the fast together with me

The nights that I spent staying up, cruising in Amman, singing on the hill top, taking pictures with my friends, watching movies and smoking arguilah

The longing for tea, water, fruits, and restraining from it, and realizing that I CAN, I HAVE the will power to tackle the toughest days of my life, knowing that once I already spent almost 30 productive, full of work & stress days fasting, and still reaching my goals.

Ramadan for me became the month of re-discovering the splendor of community and friendship, the month of I Choose, and I Can, the month of setting free.

How to behave during RAMADAN!!

2007-10-02T00:57:00.000-07:00

Hear no evil!

This is all what I can say about it!

One has to stop chatting and talking evil things!

Ramadan learnings..

2007-09-22T12:24:00.000-07:00

One of my biggest learnings this Ramadan: the art of patience.

Since this is my first Ramadan living abroad - I feel Ramadan has been trying in not being able to voice a large part of the frustrations of not being able to comprehend the language completely, or just being exhausted from the 180 degree turn my schedule has taken because of Ramadan timings and not being able to function during the day. Today was one such day - and while I searched for any excuse to be able to break my fast and just yell out or curse or run home and drink a gallon of Diet Coke, simultaneously asking my Dad online whether anger was an excuse to break a fast..I realized this was what I have truly grasped from Ramadan. The art of patience.

:)

Tax free shopping

2007-09-22T00:25:00.000-07:00

A few days ago, I discovered that this is a month when I can shop extensively. Its said that Allah doesnt ask for any tax for whatever I buy. Allah allows us to buy only 4 pairs of clothes in a year . So, its time for shopping in next days.

All I'm looking forward to, is lot of hunting for those 'different' things for myself. As it is, I'm a shopoholic as all women are....
So, cheers (just) to shopping.....!!!

A different kind of Ramadan

2007-09-20T14:22:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow at sundown, about 1.4 billion people around the world will count down the seconds until feasting on the tasty relief of iftar/buka puasa. As the sun dips below the horizon, 14 million other people will begin a 24 hour period of fasting, prayer, introspection, and pseudo-luddism as cars, TV, electricity and everything else is haram. Yom Kippur is kind of like the Jewish Ramadan except with one hundredth of the people observing for one thirtieth of the time. I’m sure there are a lot of Jews and a lot of Muslims who would take issue with that last statement, for a wide variety of reasons, but they’re all wrong. The holidays are both of the somber/introspective sort with the goal of spiritual cleansing and abstaining from all that is bad. The origin of Yom Kippur comes from the day Moses descended from Mt. Sinai (by the way, if you find yourself in Dahab and someone in your group tries to convince you to do the Mt. Sinai sunrise hike, the answer should be no. Just chill on your pile of cushions, light up a shisha and maximize your Dahab time. Seriously.) to see the Israelites praying to a darn golden calf. To make up for this honest mistake the Israelites spent the day repenting and made it an annual thing.

I’m writing from the windswept Sonoran desert in the city of Tucson (no AIESEC here :-( ) in the southwestern corner of the US, about 60 miles from Nogales, Mexico. Not exactly Mecca, I know, but here I’m running a youth program involving recently arrived refugee high school students. Most of my students are Somali Bantu, Iraqi or Sudanese and most of them are Muslims celebrating their first Ramadan in the US. So far, Ramadan’s been rough on the students. Imagine trying to explain why the plural of ‘life’ is not ‘lifes’ to a group of homesick and highly hormonal high schoolers with parched mouths and grumbling stomachs. And imagine that the majority of your students (the Somali Bantu) have grown up without a written language. All of these students live in the same few apartment complexes around Tucson so I hope to stop by and take up one of their iftar invitations sometime next week.

Simultaneously I am doing the whole Yom Kippur thing, cause I’m a somewhat observant Jew and all. But this is Blogging Ramadan, not Blogging Yom Kippur (which would be a complete failure as computers are off-limits), so I'll do my best to stay on topic. Expect updates later with more perspectives of Ramadan as a refugee in America and then my perspective as a Yom Kippur-celebrating Jewish-American running a predominantly Muslim youth program during the month of Ramadan. Whew… Ramadan Kareem and L’Shanah Tovah to everyone reading!

Coca-Cola - Proud Sponsor of the Holy Month

2007-09-18T02:46:00.000-07:00

Running late for meeting a friend for Iftar, I jumped in a cab as the call to prayer was starting. A little way down the road, we slowed down next to two young men in red shirts, standing next to some decent-sized red sacks. They produce two red pouches from their bag and hand one to the cab driver and one to me.

A bottle of Dasani drinking water and a handful of figs, perfect for the taxi driver on the go. Interesting bit of sponsorship from Coke during Ramadan...

Experience of second Ramadan

2007-09-17T00:37:00.000-07:00

'So why do you fast?', I asked my team mates few days ago, as they were preparing for their second iftar - the team one. 'Well...it's just so much more than not eating or not drinking..it is more of being a better person...more of spiritual experience...more of unity with each other and the whole Muslim world', both of them were mentioning almost identical things.

Last year I fasted one day. Last year I had Ramadan when all of our Jordanian MC were foreigners, we have not had members, and I barely knew maybe 2-3 people who were fasting.

This year I'm surrounded by almost 70 members, and I am the only foreigner in my MC team who is not fasting. Or was not.

After this long and exciting conversation with my team in the kitchen over iftar preparation, I decided to fully engage in the Ramadan experience this year: partially because I want to be a better person, and I find Ramadan as a perfect opportunity for me to work on the weaknesses I so want to get rid of; partially because I want to have the experience that the whole country is having, the experience that seems to be so empowering only once you are actually in it.

So far - it's been more than I was asking for!

Yesterday I septn my iftar with a family member and since I stayed over night there, I had my suhoor with them and it was a totally incredible experience with having the whole family waking up at 4 am, sitting around the kitchen, talking, joking around and eating - I've never enjoyed my food that much as today at 4 am.

Feeling of unity with my team, with my members, understanding EXACTLY what they are going through; sitting with them at the Hashem's tables and waiting for that 6: 57 pm to happen; getting a call from a team mate so excited that I am fasting and so anxious to break fast together with me!

Incredible experience, joyful and fulfilling. I am so happy I decided to go through it

Ramadan Kareem from Jordan!

Suhoor + The First Call to Prayer

2007-09-15T18:53:00.000-07:00

One of my favourite parts of Ramadan is the first call to prayer.

My apartment has two balconies facing the street and they are generally good places to chill. One of my favourite parts of the night is to eat something light for suhoor and to go out onto the balcony right before the first call. At this time, the street is pretty quiet, only the occasional car, definitely no traffic so when it's time for the first call, I can hear 3 different calls to prayer from 3 different mosques simultaneously.

The result is really amazing as the calls to prayer emanate from seemingly everywhere around my little balcony. To call it 'atmospheric' doesn't even begin to describe it. For those of us that aren't muslims, that aren't used to something so innately spiritual being around us every day of our lives, it really feels like something different. It puts my mind in a different state, a relaxed but contemplative state. There's something about it that makes me feel at peace with the world, and I love it.

Just one of the things that I love so much about this part of the world.

Ramadan: Day One from Amman, Jordan!

2007-09-13T16:55:00.000-07:00

Having had a fantastic first fast today - I feel so super excited about the next 29 days! :)

Being the only person in my house who was fasting, I made suhoor myself and realized just how good it was being at home in Pakistan when I wasn't the one who had to cook it or wake everyone up. I spent Iftar with the family of an AIESEC Jordan LC member; which was probably exactly what I needed after being bummed out, standing alone at 4 AM in the kitchen this morning. They served a superb iftar comprising of soups, every conceivable traditional Jordanian food item, typical Jordanian sweets which are only prepared during Ramadan and Turkish coffee.

What made it so special was just being able to be with a family and have conversations about Jordanian culture and Ramadan traditions, sharing recipes and anecdotes, and being completely at home with the environment. It was a tradition at home to have the first fast with your family, and it was great to spend it in Jordan with one. If you're a foreigner living in a Muslim country, do attend an iftar with a Muslim friend's family - will give you a totally different perspective on Ramadan altogether!

Came home and went out with my teammates to a cafe downtown for arguileh and tea - the atmosphere was amazing - people just chilling out, smoking and clapping and singing along to the oriental Arabic songs being sung by the singer there.

Hope everyone's first fast went well, and here's to a great Ramadan :)

Day 1

2007-09-13T16:53:00.000-07:00

So a few people have been asking me the reasons behind my decision to fast this Ramadan and basically there are a lot of reasons:

- I'm in the Gulf, in a very Muslim part of the world. Ramadan here isn't just a decision to not do certain things during certain hours of the day, it's an absolute way of life. The entire country adjusts itself completely. Working hours are shifted, all restaurants/cafes are closed during the day and then open far later. It's illegal to smoke, drink or eat in public. Life revolves around different meal times like iftar and suhoor, it's all that people talk about, decorations are different around the city, Coke has special Ramadan cans, the list goes on... It makes sense to be an active part of this way of life rather than having to work around it by sneaking cigarrettes in the toilet or going home to make lunch from stocked up foodstuffs.

- One of my main goals for coming here was to understand the mentality of the people and to understand the "culture", which is not just eating cool food and wearing fancy clothes, but to really understand why people do things here the way they do them.

- It is a good opportunity to get in touch with a different side of my spirituality, ask myself different questions about who I am, what I believe, what I need from life and what keeps me going day to day.

- It is a good opportunity to take myself to a different limit, challenge myself in a different way.

- The concept behind putting yourself in the shoes of someone who does not eat more than one meal a day, does not have ready access to water or the luxuries of smoking and loud car stereos (a hell of a lot of people in this world) is definitely an interesting concept. From what I understand, this is one of the main concepts behind Ramadan and it certainly makes sense to me.

- But I have to admit, a big lure is the feeling that you're part of a community. Ramadan brings the community together. People ask about each other's health, habits and wellbeing more during this period. People support each other, they take their meals communally and they reflect together. In that sense, it is a wonderful time.

So Day 1.
Apart from the fact that I had to work 12 hours today, I would say it was pretty good...

I ended up breaking my fast at Iftar over a can of Coke and a cigarette having a meeting with one of our board members... and eventually consumed a nice Turkey sandwich at O'Briens. Not bad for my first iftar I guess...

Following this I chilled out at home for a while and then a bunch of us went to La Maison du Cafe to smoke shisha, have the second meal (the name of which I forget) and listen to some nice Ramadan tunes (very soft songs sung by a guy playing an Arabian guitar thingy). Following this we went back to the apartment to chill out and watched Becker, Seinfeld, Frasier and Friends - a good flash back to 90s sitcoms which were some of the best sitcoms in my opinion. Then we went to Beirouti for some Lebanese food for our suhoor (last meal).

Now am lying in my bed at home contemplating my first day of my first real Ramadan and thinking that it was pretty damn good. :)

Ramadan in the Gulf

2007-09-13T05:45:00.000-07:00

Ramadan Kareem everyone!

Just wanted to do a quick post on Day 1 of Ramadan introducing myself. My name is Alex and I'm an Australian working for AIESEC in Bahrain. This is my first experience of Ramadan in the muslim world and I'm very much looking forward to it. I've made the decision to attempt fasting for as long as I can this month and we'll see how long I last.

For this blog, I aim to explore some of the thoughts and discoveries I make during this month, both about myself and the people of this region. I also aim to blog about some of the things that are different here to other places in the region. Everyone knows the Gulf is a little different and the Khaleeji people are unique in their way of life. I want to discover exactly how pronounced that is during this month.

So I hope everyone's had a good day and I hope you all relish the first Iftar like you should :)

Alex

Fasting Times around the world

2007-09-13T05:01:00.000-07:00

Ramazan Mubarak! Sultan of eleven months.

Guys,
Not everyone may be in a country where Ramadan is not celebrated at all and may not be sure of local fasting times. I did small search to find fasting times for Prague, and came through the web-site http://www.islamicity.com/PrayerTimes. It could be useful for others as well.
Also, please let us know of other sources that you know with exact figures.

Have a blessed month!

Ramadan back in a Muslim country

2007-09-13T00:42:00.000-07:00

First off, Ramadan Kareem. It is great to see not only Muslims and Jews celebrating both Ramadan and Yom Kappur on the same day, but also Muslims (Sunni and Shia') both celebrating the commencement of Ramadan on the same day.

As for me, it is wonderful to return to a Muslim Country for Ramadan this year. My first Ramadan was in Tunisia, before I reverted to Islam. I still fasted the entire month, but it was much less meaningful back then. My second Ramadan I was in California undergoing a job hunt. Now, for my third Ramadan I am in Abu Dhabi, UAE and will be able to experience living, working, and engaging myself in all varieties of Ramadan gatherings and activities.

First and foremost though, Ramadan is the month to realign your spiritual self and I always like to make some personal growth promises for this month. I will, as before aim to pray on time, fast, be a progressively better person, give to the needy, be focused and dedicated, etc. In addition, this year I aim to memorize at least 5 new Sura, do Tarawee7 at least 3 times per week, learn the meaning of all of the Sura's I memorized before, to go somewhere "special" for Eid al Fitr, and go for either Hajj or Omrah this year (most likely beyond the month of Ramadan).

Ramadan on AI

2007-09-12T10:14:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow will be the first time ever that I would be fasting Ramadan in a non-muslim environment.

I am both excited and a bit scared.

I am excited to be getting my AI team to get to know a lot more about Islam and Ramadan during the holy month. However, I am freaked out about how I will be managing the longer days here in the Netherlands.

I will be fasting with Ahmet and Anisha will be joining in for many of the days...Ahmet already went out and bought food for Suhur and dried fruits for the Khoshaf (they do call it the same thing in Turkey too).

An interesting Ramadan lies ahead of me...

Ramadam Kareem!

Finally it has started!!!

2007-09-12T00:24:00.000-07:00

Yea, for the Shia community, Ramzaan has already started from today onwards.
A lot has changed for me personally since last Ramzaan. Till last year, I was an atheist - no namaz, nothing. But, in this last year, I talked to a lot of people about Islam and read a lot about it. The best thing that happened to me, was that I started knowing the meaning of the Verses of Holy Quran. I had started following its translation.
And this transformation bought me back to my religion which is The Best in this entire world. So, now, I've started observing fasts, attend Namaz and read Quran.
I believe, religion is all about self awakening. No one should force upon to follow certain caste or creed.
The Government has passed a law to allow the foodshops to be opened throughout the night...wow!!! It would be great fun!

And so it begins..

2007-09-10T14:58:00.000-07:00

As Ramadan is about to begin, the shops in Jordan have started sprouting Ramadan Kareem signs, as well as a number of houses I've driven by have glowing lights in their windows with the crescent and star...

This year, as I blog about Ramadan from Jordan, I feel a deeper sense of spirituality and a stronger resolve to fast this year. Is it the Middle East spirit or just the shift from home? Do any nomads fasting have an answer?

Only two weeks from Ramadan

2007-09-01T14:22:00.000-07:00

How will this Ramadan look like this year?
Will it be the same as last year?
I like to hear your stories from every where??

Happy Ramadan to All of you!!

Eid Celebration

2006-10-29T07:35:00.000-08:00

as we have lost our innocence in being childs, we also lost the spirit in celebrating Eid. In the last 5 years, we barely woke up to visit family members, come home n have lunch!! nothing more to it.

But as this year is the first since almost 2 years for the whole family members to gather, we wanted to bring back the old days:

Every year, we wake up the latest by 8 am when the guys come from the Eid Prayer and after greeting some family members. We gather to have breakfast which is made of the most important two dishes, Egg and tomato & Balalee6 (thin pasta with Egg). In our youth years of celebrating Eid, after the breakfast, we would be watching a cartoon that is played EVERY SINGLE YEAR for eid, called "Saheb el thel el 6aweel" (the guy with the long shadow).

After breakfast, we (girls) left to greet family members and have some fwalla (a table full of fruits, sweets, halwa, etc.) My nieces would be the one to ask for Eideya (money) and would get about 5-50 dhs for their ages. At our childhood, we used to get a maximum of 5 dhs and 50 dhs was counted ALOT;) we would gather the money and by the end of the morning or mid afternoon, we would go to the supermarket and buy SWEETS and CANDY.

Such simple days yet meant alot.

With the end of the morning as lunch time is close, we usually gather at my aunt's house as she is the eldest of my father's family. But this year as my aunts are all away, our family went out for lunch.

Time passes by, with it the old times is appreciated ....

A special Ramadan

2006-10-24T03:40:00.000-07:00

Eid Mubarak for you too Eric and for everybody......and by the way, I like this blog for the same reason too.
Well, this Ramadan was really very unique for me. I don't wanna start saying, ooh gosh, it was the time when I have found my soul and was perfect for self realisation, but actually I've learned a lot during that month. The unique thing about this month, that it's the third time for me to spend Ramadan abroad - outside Egypt - and second time for me to spend it alone......alone??! well, I better say away from my big family and Egy friends, but actually, I wasn't alone at all, as I had fitar for more two third of the month with friends, and had a very perfectly-unique ending of the month with an Egyptian dinner with some of my best friends here in the Netherlands, and despite me being chaotic in the kitchen, but I was so happy, specially for some friends who came from other cities to join the event.
The uniqueness of this month for was that it's the second Ramadan for be being "a true believer", or whatever it should be called, but for me at least not practicing the religion as it's, but practicing with being convinced of what I'm doing, and was my first Ramadan that I start thinking much about life vs. religion, and how religions should be or shouldn't be a part of our lives. I had the most interesting discussions/debates/info sessions about Ramadan, I've ever had that made me recognise a lot more about the religion and the month in specific. Although, Ramadan in Egypt is very different and has a very special taste, but this was one of my best Ramadans ever, and it could have been perfect if I have spent it with old fellows and family IN Egypt!!

Eid Mubarak

2006-10-23T09:35:00.000-07:00

To everyone reading and beyond, Eidkum Embarak. Congrats on completing yet another Ramadan in whatever way you found yourself participating.

I for one really appreciated the nature of this blog, the insights into different people's experiences, and the close friendly feeling of it.

So everyone, time to eat, drink, and sleep well again!

To finish this all off, I would love to hear one thing everyone realized during this month, no matter how simple or unrelated to Ramadan.

For me it was learning how to still be equally religious/sincere without being so strict on myself or others.

What about you?

On the last day of Ramadan I was....at a nude beach?!!

2006-10-22T16:58:00.000-07:00

So for the final day of Ramadan, and one of my last days in San Diego, I figured I would go out to this rather hidden gem of a beach (Black's beach) to watch the surfers and enjoy the vast empty beach. I picked a nice rather remote spot and set up a towel and relaxed for about an hour. Then I sprung up ready to go, looked far off to my right, and saw a guy who looked like he was wearing a very small swimsuit. Without going any further, I saw another guy who was definitely not wearing one at all.

I laughed inside and thought back at the entire month and how much I have lightened up. I mean what can you do? Before long you are bound to see something shocking, especially on the beaches in the US. The important thing was I walked away once I realized what I was into. The funny thing was that I totally didn't even look at the people around me and sat there for nearly an hour with no clue.

What did you do for your last day of Ramadan?

Bayram in Sarajevo…

2006-10-22T13:54:00.000-07:00

Hmmm, these are my initial thoughts:

Scared to drive to the airport and pick up my friend who is coming from Turkey due to drunk drivers, crazy people celebrating etc…
Worried about not worrying on time what café bar ticket I would book for a party since everything is almost booked
Visiting family
Getting the house in order
Ironing my nicest dress for the party tomorrow night

Explanation :)

I am very sad to say that I have heard a number of fasting people during this Ramadan commenting about the upcoming Bayram and how they will celebrate by “getting themselves drunk like crazy”. Since the values and the point of the entire month have been shook up in the last few years this is only thing to expect. A lot of people don’t get the point of it all and think that fasting is only about not eating, not drinking and not smoking. This has become a social trend during which the bars don’t work and people in this business ‘only loose money’ as I have read in a few articles recently.
Since Ramadan is a month without alcohol people are nervous, anxious for the holidays and have great expectations for the Bayram celebration. This includes partying like crazy, spending all the cash earned during Bayram on alcohol (for kids who get money from their parents for being so good during Ramadan and fasting – tradition in Bosnia I have no idea whether or not it’s like this in other countries).

I start with some friends of mine who fast but don’t pray, swear, lie, cheat on their partners and all of this during Ramadan claiming to be good religious people. As long as they fast all of their sins would be forgiven… Grrrrr.

Anyways, it is quite well known that in Sarajevo it is not safe to drive during Bayram (any local will tell you this). The biggest number of car accidents and other incident happen during the night of the Eid. Ouch!

2. All the places have reservations for the Bayram party. This is not about religion but about making as much money as possible for the bars which have been almost shut down during the Ramadan since they sold no alcohol (well they did sell but no one way buying besides tourists, foreigners working here…) The tickets for entrances vary from 10 EUR to 1000 EUR depending where you are going, who’s party it is, which place, who is singing, how popular the place is…
At this very moment, many bar owners are rubbing their hands… It will be a lucrative night I am sure.

3. This is one of the rare Bayrams I won’t be with my family. Since both my sister and my dad are working and my mum is not celebrating (she is Catholic but goes along with all of our celebrations) and my grandparents live 200km away, and we have guests coming – I will be spending Bayram in Sarajevo… somehow (due to the reasons stated above) I am not really looking forward to it.

4. Bayram is a big thing especially for families. My mum started baking cakes a few days ago since she is away on a business trip and so is everyone else today’s task for me was to clean, dust, Hoover, iron, wash everything in the house. It has to be spotless for guests, friends and family which might come. And there always has to be Baklava (the national cake which was brought by the Turks to Bosnia – very very very sweet cake made of layers of sweet dough and nuts with syrup over it made out of water and sugar – 1 serving approx 10000 calories).

Being seen on a Bayram party is one of the big things in Sarajevo so you have to look nice and wear the nicest clothes you own on the Bayram when men go to pray and women prepare the house for guests. Family comes, people just come and go I used to call it “Eat-Baklava-and-run” race, where people dressed in their fancy clothes, nice make up, hair do’s go to the morning prayer then some go to the cemetery to pay respect to the dead and then go to the house of the oldest man in the family, e.g. since my granddad is the oldest one in the family everyone would go to his house. I brought a special black dress for the occasion. I have almost everything ready, the cakes, the cleaned house, the guests but haven’t decided where to take them yet…

Tell us about Bayram in your countries…

Nevertheless, to all who are celebrating as we say in Bosnia:

Bayram Sherif Mubarek Olsun!

Lets move on from bronze age timekeeping hey?

2006-10-22T06:37:00.000-07:00

So Eid is supposed to begin once the new moon arrives. In some Arab countries it is starting tomorrow, from what I hear. In Egypt, it starts Tuesday. Maybe. We still don't totally know yet because apparently we are waiting for the religious authorities to make a judgement on whether or not they have spotted the new moon. Apparently all will be revealed this evening on prime time television.

This is kind of primitive and embarassing for Muslim countries. There is no subjective interpretation of when the new moon comes. It is a fact, detectable and entirely predictable by the instruments of science - and I'm guessing that it has been for at leat the last 300 years. We know which day the new moon will come for every Eid from now until the heat death of the universe. I can tell you which day the new moon arrives in 2067 if you give me 30 seconds, an internet connection, and google. This is the 21st century, people. Lets advance a little.

Maybe I am kind of grumpy because of the fasting, and kind of pissed because I want to leave for my glorious Sinai days as soon as possible, but I just think its kind of retarded to still use a system of astronomy that involves old men standing on the roof of a mosque looking at the sky.