Ramadam Kareem

RAMADAN KAREEM

At the time of typing this, it is the evening of the first day of Ramadan here – I am pleased to say that I have 'survived' my first day of fasting in a very hot country. We had sahoor (the meal before dawn) at 3:30 am this morning (fool and bread plus lots of water) and then slept until Noor woke at 7am. Luckily after his bottle he did, after a little coaxing, go back to sleep in the bed with us and we slept until about 10 am. I took things pretty easy I must say, and did only light housework, which I stopped when the electricity went down (yes again!) though luckily it was only off for about an hour. While I was doing this, Reda had taken Noor out to see his cousins and then another friend, so it was nice and peaceful and when the electric went off and I started to feel too flippin' hot, I went and lay down on the bed. Not very long after this, at around 12 ish or so, Reda returned but he left Noor downstairs with this granny. However, I think she too was feeling the heat, as it were, and she brought him up after about half an hour or so; but luckily after playing for a while he seemed sleepy and sure enough after a little cuddle he fell asleep in my arms and I put him in his cot for a rest. Reda then went out to visit another cousin, while I put out the washing and then, I am pleased to say as I was feeling very hot, I relaxed and went to sleep myself. I slept for about 90 minutes, maybe more, before Noor woke us both up, and I felt very refreshed after that, as I hadn't slept too well during the night. After I woke, Reda took Noor downstairs to his gran, and I was able to read some Koran for a while, before she returned him. Then we took Noor up onto the roof to enjoy the cool air, before getting ready for Magrib time and breaking the fast. My mum in law, bless here, had prepared the meal and what a lovely meal it was. It was a 'simple' meal of chicken, with rice and beans, but it was delicious. We also had a drink made from soaking dates and for dessert we had kanaffa and grapes. Kanaffa is a strange kind of 'cake' if you can call it that – it is basically this kind of stringy stuff which is soaked in sugar water and then baked, but it is actually quite nice.

Well anyway, after we went outside into the street, where the children were setting off little 'bombs' – a kind of firework that they do here, and we bought some more fireworks for them to play with – relatively innocent ones, which you light and then throw onto the floor and they let of a stream of little bits of hot white fire; sounds dangerous, but as long as its an adult lighting it and throwing it safely to an area where no-one is, they are fine. Well of course there were whoops of delight all round; and even Noor who didn't really understand what was going on, enjoyed it.

I'm enjoying some quiet time on the PC while Reda is out again, he's taken Noor with him to visit a cousin in the nearby street who has a little girl Noor's age. I shall prepare what I can for Sahoor in the early hours of tomorrow morning, and enjoy doing the same again. The atmosphere here is very different from that in the UK during Ramadan, and so far – despite the heat and feeling very thirsty – I have positive vibes for an enjoyable Ramadan.

Over and out;

Stella xxxxx