The beginning of Ramadan. Many people in my community have asked if I was going to fast. I told them that I wanted to and I would try it out. The Gendarmes English-speaker told me to do it for the first 4-5 days and then resume my usual routine, he said it is the difference between a tourist and a traveler. A tourist sees the sights and only scratches the surface of the culture, while a traveler will devout his journey to understanding the culture, language and beliefs. People who are observing Ramadan may not eat, drink, smoke, or have sex. Those exempted are children up until age 11, very old people, travelers, those who are sick and women who are menstruating. I have been given lots of reactions about Ramadan. Some are excited because of the festivities that partake in the evenings until the wee hours of dawn. Some are anxious because they are either heavy smokers or have to work a lot in the fields during this time. Others have mixed reactions because it isn’t too hard to go without food, but abstaining from water is most difficult.
Ramadan began today. My host sisters came over last night to let me know that officially it was starting the following morning. There had been debate up until yesterday as to when it was starting. The dates ranged from the 20th to the 22nd, and based upon the moon patterns, the imam would call it. From around 4:30am until 7pm or so in the evening people were fasting. I am one of them. To be honest, it hasn’t been hard. My tummy grumbled once or twice but that was it. I had a sip of water this morning to wash down my multi-vitamin, so I guess already I have cheated. I did not want to venture out much today because of the heat. After the purchase of my refridgerator I keep a decent supply of water bottles inside, there are few things in this world as refreshing as ice cold water on a hot Moroccan day. I do have to admit though, that one of my ways to deal with stress and unwind is to cook. I just read Ruth Reichel’s book, “Give Me Apples,” about her trials and tribulations of love, cooking, and life. Intermittent are delicious recipes that I want to copy down before I return it to the Peace Corps library.
I practically went broke in college because my love to entertain people. We will see how I cope with this month. It has been hard to get motivated to exercise. I have written down a new schedule but it has been difficult to follow. Wake up early, work out, shower, breakfast, etc. Except then I get home late from dinner with friends, sleep in and postpone exercising until the afternoon, which I slack off from. I think I might ask home to send me some DVDs on yoga or tai chi or something. Looking at my roof from my back and doing crunches isn’t the most inspirational. But I do have to say that I took apart my sink, unclogged it and pieced it back together. That was a productive afternoon. The longest slime snake came out from the pipe. I gagged, I admit it. There are few things that gross me out and that just caught me off guard. It was black, shiny, gooey and had clumps of hair and black bits in it. Found some more cigarette butts in there too. WTF you may ask. The plumber was so lazy that he just dropped his butts down into the sink? I say plumber but my suspicions are on the landlord. A controversial figure in my life because as nice and helpful as he is to me, there are times I feel like he is taking advantage of the situation. For example, splitting the utilities bill, 50/50. I explained to him that there was just me in my house, where he has something like 11 people there (it is all a part of his property, we have just sectioned off my two rooms, kitchen and bathroom). And a large water bill, “because of your garden,” which I will consent would have increased the bill, but I doubt it was as much as he said it was. We agreed that he should install my own meter on the house, of course it isn’t done yet. I shall remind him of it the next time I see him, seeing that it is nearing the end of the month…
I painted a watercolor today of hands holding up the world. Pretty goddamn original huh? I know, but I liked the different skin tones, the background and the green and blue blob in the middle of it all. It was going to go on my fridge buy I don’t own any magnets which seems ironic, seeing that my mom went through the ones on ours and threw out the ones she didn’t like because there was so many. Alas, there are no tacky magnetic advertisements here. You also don’t prank call people here either, it is too expensive. There are a collection of dead flies on top of my mat. I wish to sweep them away but my broom has been borrowed once again. I’m not really too interested in sweeping, but as I sit here and listen to my stomach gurgle once again, I am looking for ways to occupy myself indoors ( I just took a shower and am letting my hair air dry, can’t go outside with wet hair!). Currently I am reading Passionate Nomad, The Life of Freya Stark, by Jane Fletcher Geniesse, and I wish to share this quote with you:
“Perseverance is often praised, but it is not so often realized that another quality must accompany it to make it of any value—and that is elasticity; perseverance in only one direction very often fails: but if one is ready to take whatever road is offered, and to change the chosen way, if circumstances change, and yet to keep the end in view—the success is infinitely more probable.”
I have about two more hours until we break the fast! Fun fun fun.
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