Ramadan Diary: Day 1
Monday, August 24, 2009 Read more → ramadan, ramadan diaries, the australian In the name of God, entirely Compassionate, especially Merciful | Peace be with you
In the name of God, compassionate & merciful بِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمنِ الرَّحِيمِ Peace be with you السلام عليكم
(Original post on the KimDonesia blog here)
Day 1
I've decided that I'm going to start a Ramadan Diary and talk about my experiences during Ramadan. Not that anything that exciting has happened so far, it's still cool to let people know what goes on in the life of this Australian Muslim revert.
I'm writing this blog post a bit late, but insha'Allah I'm going to be writing in this diary late at night when the day is over.
Sooo, what happened on Day 1? I'm a lonely Muslim in my family, and nobody cooks for suhoor because everybody's sound asleep - non-Muslims, what do you expect? Also, I'm a lousy cook so I just had some microwaved canned spaghetti with grated cheese on top, chai tea and two glasses of water. Believe it or not, this filled me up reeeal good... To the point that I was laying on the bed, clutching my stomach before Fajr prayer.
Then I prayed Fajr, and went to sleep. Yeah. I went to sleep. Whaaat!? I have insomnia, so when I go to bed I don't actually sleep for a few hours - not until the early hours of the morning, and then it's too hard for me to wake up for Fajr. So, I've been staying up all day, all night, and going to bed after Fajr then waking at noon for Zuhr prayer. Luckily I'm a lazy bum until TAFE (college) starts in September.
Sooo, after going to sleep, I woke up at about 1.30pm and that was about half of the day gone. I prayed sunnahs and fard of Zuhr and chilled online for a bit.
I had been invited to go to a big iftar thing with the Muslim community in my town, so I prayed Asr and started getting ready at 3.30pm as it takes me about an hour and a half to get ready to go out. I left the house at 5pm, and started looking for this hall that everybody was meant to be going to.
I drove past the hall and saw that there was only one car there, so I decided to drive around for a bit until about 5.15pm when there would be more people there and I wouldn't be standing around like a noob.
When I got to the hall, I saw tables filled with food and there was a tall sheet/curtain in the middle of the hall to indicate the gender segregation. A Turkish family was rushing around, putting things on the tables. I asked if there was anything I could do to help, and a lady said, "No, it's okay! We're almost finished." So, I just watched until people started arriving.
A bunch of sisterly kissy-huggy greetings later, my friend arrived with her sister-in-law. I love her sister-in-law, she's adorable - she's still learning English, and I was trying to explain to her that this was my second Ramadan.
Me: *Holds two fingers up to my face.* "This is my second Ramadan!"
Her: *Noticing my fingers, her eyes go wide and she looks shocked* "YOU SMOKE?!"
Me: "Huh?" *Noticing her looking at my fingers* "Ooh, no, no!! This is Ramadan number two!"
Her: "Oooh... So not smoke... Yesterday... And today... Two?"
Me: "Nooo, this year and last year... Two!"
Her: "Ooooh!!!" *smiling*
Hehe... Yeah... Also, I saw some Indonesian ladies. One came up to me and gave me the kissy-huggy greeting, and she said, "Oooh, this is so nice!! I come here from my country and I not know many Muslim, oh so nice!" I asked her where she was from, and she told me she was from Indonesia. My heart skipped a beat and I thought to myself that this was going to be my opportunity to show off my Indonesian skills!
I opened my mouth to speak some Indonesian but realized that I had completely lost confidence with my speaking skills. Don't get me wrong, I'm fluent in Indonesian and have been able to speak it for about 2 years now however I haven't actually spoken Indonesian so long that I get nervous... I felt like rubbish but then I thought, hey, it's Ramadan, be happy!
When most people had arrived we sat down and waited for the adhan to come from the other side of the curtain - the male side. My friend's sister-in-law said, "This is 'ezan'! You know 'ezan'?" Haha, I love Turkish people. When the adhan had finished, we all broke our fast and I went with a bunch of Pakistani sisters to a space of floor to pray Maghrib.
The sisters put down a big sheet for the ladies to pray on, we prayed Maghrib, and I went back to my seat and started stuffing my face with amazing Turkish food. We had dolma, lentil soup, chicken on kebab sticks, rice which had been cooked with something beautiful tasting, and beans. For dessert, we had baklava, dates, Turkish delight and some delicious ball things covered in coconut. I should have taken photos, darn!
Obviously the people who cooked and organized the iftar were Turkish. I love Turkish food, it's amazing! As I'm writing this diary entry on my 2nd day of fasting, I'll let you all know that tonight I'm going to a Pakistani iftar insha'Allah! I can't wait, I've never had Pakistani food before but I may as well get used to it since I'm engaged to a Pakistani. Hehe!
By: The Australian
---
Peace & respect ★
(Original post on the KimDonesia blog here)
Day 1
I've decided that I'm going to start a Ramadan Diary and talk about my experiences during Ramadan. Not that anything that exciting has happened so far, it's still cool to let people know what goes on in the life of this Australian Muslim revert.
I'm writing this blog post a bit late, but insha'Allah I'm going to be writing in this diary late at night when the day is over.
Sooo, what happened on Day 1? I'm a lonely Muslim in my family, and nobody cooks for suhoor because everybody's sound asleep - non-Muslims, what do you expect? Also, I'm a lousy cook so I just had some microwaved canned spaghetti with grated cheese on top, chai tea and two glasses of water. Believe it or not, this filled me up reeeal good... To the point that I was laying on the bed, clutching my stomach before Fajr prayer.
Then I prayed Fajr, and went to sleep. Yeah. I went to sleep. Whaaat!? I have insomnia, so when I go to bed I don't actually sleep for a few hours - not until the early hours of the morning, and then it's too hard for me to wake up for Fajr. So, I've been staying up all day, all night, and going to bed after Fajr then waking at noon for Zuhr prayer. Luckily I'm a lazy bum until TAFE (college) starts in September.
Sooo, after going to sleep, I woke up at about 1.30pm and that was about half of the day gone. I prayed sunnahs and fard of Zuhr and chilled online for a bit.
I had been invited to go to a big iftar thing with the Muslim community in my town, so I prayed Asr and started getting ready at 3.30pm as it takes me about an hour and a half to get ready to go out. I left the house at 5pm, and started looking for this hall that everybody was meant to be going to.
I drove past the hall and saw that there was only one car there, so I decided to drive around for a bit until about 5.15pm when there would be more people there and I wouldn't be standing around like a noob.
When I got to the hall, I saw tables filled with food and there was a tall sheet/curtain in the middle of the hall to indicate the gender segregation. A Turkish family was rushing around, putting things on the tables. I asked if there was anything I could do to help, and a lady said, "No, it's okay! We're almost finished." So, I just watched until people started arriving.
A bunch of sisterly kissy-huggy greetings later, my friend arrived with her sister-in-law. I love her sister-in-law, she's adorable - she's still learning English, and I was trying to explain to her that this was my second Ramadan.
Me: *Holds two fingers up to my face.* "This is my second Ramadan!"
Her: *Noticing my fingers, her eyes go wide and she looks shocked* "YOU SMOKE?!"
Me: "Huh?" *Noticing her looking at my fingers* "Ooh, no, no!! This is Ramadan number two!"
Her: "Oooh... So not smoke... Yesterday... And today... Two?"
Me: "Nooo, this year and last year... Two!"
Her: "Ooooh!!!" *smiling*
Hehe... Yeah... Also, I saw some Indonesian ladies. One came up to me and gave me the kissy-huggy greeting, and she said, "Oooh, this is so nice!! I come here from my country and I not know many Muslim, oh so nice!" I asked her where she was from, and she told me she was from Indonesia. My heart skipped a beat and I thought to myself that this was going to be my opportunity to show off my Indonesian skills!
I opened my mouth to speak some Indonesian but realized that I had completely lost confidence with my speaking skills. Don't get me wrong, I'm fluent in Indonesian and have been able to speak it for about 2 years now however I haven't actually spoken Indonesian so long that I get nervous... I felt like rubbish but then I thought, hey, it's Ramadan, be happy!
When most people had arrived we sat down and waited for the adhan to come from the other side of the curtain - the male side. My friend's sister-in-law said, "This is 'ezan'! You know 'ezan'?" Haha, I love Turkish people. When the adhan had finished, we all broke our fast and I went with a bunch of Pakistani sisters to a space of floor to pray Maghrib.
The sisters put down a big sheet for the ladies to pray on, we prayed Maghrib, and I went back to my seat and started stuffing my face with amazing Turkish food. We had dolma, lentil soup, chicken on kebab sticks, rice which had been cooked with something beautiful tasting, and beans. For dessert, we had baklava, dates, Turkish delight and some delicious ball things covered in coconut. I should have taken photos, darn!
Obviously the people who cooked and organized the iftar were Turkish. I love Turkish food, it's amazing! As I'm writing this diary entry on my 2nd day of fasting, I'll let you all know that tonight I'm going to a Pakistani iftar insha'Allah! I can't wait, I've never had Pakistani food before but I may as well get used to it since I'm engaged to a Pakistani. Hehe!
By: The Australian
---
Peace & respect ★
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