I've been fasting for a week now and I'm kind of surprised at how easy it has become. I have no problem getting up at 4am to eat (as if I'd turn down the chance to eat) before going back to bed for another 4 hours or so. However, if I was doing something more physical with my day, like a labor-intensive job, I'm sure I would have a really hard time with fasting. I've heard about professional athletes who fast during Ramadan and still compete and I just don't know how they can go without water! That's definitely the hardest part. The first three or four days were the worst, as I was tired and light-headed for most of the day. Studying was grueling, as my brain did not want to fire any synapses and I gave up on trying to memorize my new vocabulary words. Nothing was sticking in my head. However, now things are much better and aside from having a dry mouth almost constantly, I'm fine with the fasting. As long as I don't have to read any long texts in class, I really don't even think about fasting. It's so strange how the body can adapt so easily to changes in environment. Of course, I'm probably totally screwing up my metabolism, as I'm completely inactive all day, then eat a bunch of high-fat foods, then go to sleep. Not really great for the health, but it's an experience.
The foods that we have for Iftar (the meal at night when we break our fast) are some of the least healthy foods I've had thus far in Morocco. It's pretty much fried bread (stuffed with meat or cheese sometimes), or different fried bread covered in honey and butter, mini pita sandwiches with tuna or ground beef, cookies (made from dough that is deep fried, soaked in honey then coated in sesame seeds), harirra (a Moroccan soup with the possibility of vegetables in it, but I'm still not clear on that), dates (sometimes soaked in honey) then sometimes a second soup, or like tonight, lentils. There is an astonishing lack of fruit or vegetables (surprising since they are so cheap here and really good) and almost no meat. It's pretty much sugar, flour, fat and more sugar. It's only been a week and I'm craving something green and vegetable tasting. So, even though I'm fasting, it's not like I'm taking in any fewer calories. If anything, I'm probably gaining weight on this little adventure. Great. Only in Morocco can I gain weight while fasting.
Before, I was looking forward to the end of Ramadan so I could have a damn drink, now I just want a carrot or something. My how priorities change. Ok, well maybe not that much. I'd still give up a carrot for a beer.
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Friday, September 5, 2008
Ramadan Chapter 2
I just finished my fourth day of fasting and am now sitting contentedly full, a huge bottle of water next to me and quite proud of myself for sticking to this. As I feared, the no water part of the day is the hardest, as I am used to constantly having a bottle at my side like a security blanket; even if I don't want to drink, I know I can and that is somehow satisfying.
The first two days were difficult, in that I was thirsty and kind of in a daze, making my studies even more difficult. I'm now in the Intermediate level course and it focuses on longer texts, which I have to read aloud. The more I speak, the more difficult it is to talk without water, reminding me of how thirsty I am. I did just find out today though, that I am allowed to rinse my mouth with water, or brush my teeth during the day, as long as I don't swallow any water. Just being able to swish some water around in my mouth was actually really helpful and made reading in class easier. I've been able to concentrate a little better over these past two days as well and think my body is adjusting. However, today was the first day that I've actually been really hungry.
I've been waking up around 3:30 - 3:45 in the morning to eat something and to drink as much as possible, to keep me going throughout the day and without doing that, I don't know how I'd make it. However, I have until the first prayer of the day to eat whatever I want. So, I've become attached to a website with the prayer times listed on it to have a general sense of when the call to prayer will happen. Since the prayer times are based on the movement of the sun, they are not exact, but are probably accurate to with in a couple of minutes. I've included a chart with the prayer schedule for Rabat at the bottom of this post, if you want to see what it looks like.
The first prayer of the day is called Fajr occurs at dawn, as the first light of the sun is seen. It occurs between 4:30am and 5:00am in the month of September this year and so up until the time I hear the call to prayer, I can eat and drink normally. Since I have become so accustomed to hearing the calls to prayer, I sleep through them and have had to set my alarm to wake up in time to eat something before I begin fasting for the day.
From the time of the Fajr prayer call until the 4th prayer of the day (called Maghrib), I cannot eat or drink anything. This prayer occurs right when the sun is on the horizon (dusk) and falls between 7:00pm and 6:15pm through September, getting earlier each day by a few minutes. On the one hand, I'm happy about that, as I can drink a few minutes sooner each day! However, this means that days are getting shorter and winter is approaching, my time here is getting shorter and I'm reminded of how much I still want to accomplish before I return to the states.
I have been looking forward to the Maghrib azan (call to prayer), because that means I can finally eat and drink! The meal in the evening is called "iftar" and means literally, "breaking the fast". My ate my first iftar meal with my host family and Joe and Monica, my next door neighbors who also go to my school. They're a married couple from Australia and Muslim also. My host family put on quite a spread (as is usual when they have company...in this case the company was Joe and Monica. I'm no longer considered company!). We ate traditional Moroccan soup called harirra, dates, dried figs, mellawi (unleavened, fried bread, not unlike Indian naan), schbakia (Moroccan cookies usually for Ramadan) and of course, tea. After eating, all the Muslims went to pray the Maghrib prayer (i.e., not me), then returned to eat more before the last prayer of the day. Supposedly they are two separate meals, but it was like one big, never-ending meal in my opinion. My host sister/mother, Fatiha brought out meat and rice, homemade bread and a fruit and vegetable salad. I wasn't expecting all of this food and was sooo full by the time we left, I could not imagine eating again. Perhaps this is why I was not hungry the next day!
I've had the other three IFtaar dinners, all at my school. They're pretty much the same, consisting of soup, fried breads (one stuffed with ground beef and spices, one stuffed with vegetables, one plain), and a pancake-like substance, very similar to Ethiopian injeera which is eaten with a mixture of honey and butter spooned over it. Also, there are the requisite figs and cookies and I'm actually getting tired of sweets ... and bread now that I think of it. I can't remember the last real vegetable I've seen and every IFtaar seems like a contest to see how much fat you can stuff into your body. This might be cool for a night or two, but I don't think I can take this for the entire month! I wish now I had done a before and after weigh-in. Oh well. We'll see how it goes. Wish me luck!
Here's a link to a prayer schedule for Rabat, Morocco:
The first two days were difficult, in that I was thirsty and kind of in a daze, making my studies even more difficult. I'm now in the Intermediate level course and it focuses on longer texts, which I have to read aloud. The more I speak, the more difficult it is to talk without water, reminding me of how thirsty I am. I did just find out today though, that I am allowed to rinse my mouth with water, or brush my teeth during the day, as long as I don't swallow any water. Just being able to swish some water around in my mouth was actually really helpful and made reading in class easier. I've been able to concentrate a little better over these past two days as well and think my body is adjusting. However, today was the first day that I've actually been really hungry.
I've been waking up around 3:30 - 3:45 in the morning to eat something and to drink as much as possible, to keep me going throughout the day and without doing that, I don't know how I'd make it. However, I have until the first prayer of the day to eat whatever I want. So, I've become attached to a website with the prayer times listed on it to have a general sense of when the call to prayer will happen. Since the prayer times are based on the movement of the sun, they are not exact, but are probably accurate to with in a couple of minutes. I've included a chart with the prayer schedule for Rabat at the bottom of this post, if you want to see what it looks like.
The first prayer of the day is called Fajr occurs at dawn, as the first light of the sun is seen. It occurs between 4:30am and 5:00am in the month of September this year and so up until the time I hear the call to prayer, I can eat and drink normally. Since I have become so accustomed to hearing the calls to prayer, I sleep through them and have had to set my alarm to wake up in time to eat something before I begin fasting for the day.
From the time of the Fajr prayer call until the 4th prayer of the day (called Maghrib), I cannot eat or drink anything. This prayer occurs right when the sun is on the horizon (dusk) and falls between 7:00pm and 6:15pm through September, getting earlier each day by a few minutes. On the one hand, I'm happy about that, as I can drink a few minutes sooner each day! However, this means that days are getting shorter and winter is approaching, my time here is getting shorter and I'm reminded of how much I still want to accomplish before I return to the states.
I have been looking forward to the Maghrib azan (call to prayer), because that means I can finally eat and drink! The meal in the evening is called "iftar" and means literally, "breaking the fast". My ate my first iftar meal with my host family and Joe and Monica, my next door neighbors who also go to my school. They're a married couple from Australia and Muslim also. My host family put on quite a spread (as is usual when they have company...in this case the company was Joe and Monica. I'm no longer considered company!). We ate traditional Moroccan soup called harirra, dates, dried figs, mellawi (unleavened, fried bread, not unlike Indian naan), schbakia (Moroccan cookies usually for Ramadan) and of course, tea. After eating, all the Muslims went to pray the Maghrib prayer (i.e., not me), then returned to eat more before the last prayer of the day. Supposedly they are two separate meals, but it was like one big, never-ending meal in my opinion. My host sister/mother, Fatiha brought out meat and rice, homemade bread and a fruit and vegetable salad. I wasn't expecting all of this food and was sooo full by the time we left, I could not imagine eating again. Perhaps this is why I was not hungry the next day!
I've had the other three IFtaar dinners, all at my school. They're pretty much the same, consisting of soup, fried breads (one stuffed with ground beef and spices, one stuffed with vegetables, one plain), and a pancake-like substance, very similar to Ethiopian injeera which is eaten with a mixture of honey and butter spooned over it. Also, there are the requisite figs and cookies and I'm actually getting tired of sweets ... and bread now that I think of it. I can't remember the last real vegetable I've seen and every IFtaar seems like a contest to see how much fat you can stuff into your body. This might be cool for a night or two, but I don't think I can take this for the entire month! I wish now I had done a before and after weigh-in. Oh well. We'll see how it goes. Wish me luck!
Here's a link to a prayer schedule for Rabat, Morocco:
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