The experience of fasting elsewhere

I was reading the post by blogger-friend Nurie the other day about her experience of fasting and other activities in the month of Ramadhan in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. This is the second year she is spending the holy month away from home. Her observations on some of the differences between fasting in Malaysia and Saudi Arabia can be read here -> Ramadan 1429.

Nurie's post reminded me of the time that I spent working in the United Arab Emirates two years ago. I was posted to a project site in the Emirate of Fujairah, about 130km from Dubai. When Ramadhan arrived that year, it was towards the end of the summer. The weather was still hot where daytime temperatures range in the mid-30 degrees Celsius, sometimes touching 40 degC. It was a really trying first day because the heat made me very thirsty. But then, a fast without the trials and temptations would not be a fast at all.

There is no such thing as a `Bazaar Ramadhan' over there. No place where you can feast your eyes on a whole variety of cooked food for sale. For iftar (the breaking of fast), you either cook your own meal, buy takeaway dinners from the Indian restaurants or join other muslim brothers to break fast at mosques. In addition, there are some well-to-do Emiratis who offer free iftar meals at their houses to anyone who wishes to join.

My local sponsor is one such generous person (a `sponsor' is an Emirati citizen who, for a fee, supports your work permit application). Since I was a temporary bachelor, I mostly took my iftar meals together with about 200 other foreign workers at the large courtyard within the compound of my sponsor's house. We would all break the fast initially with some dates and a yoghurt-like drink locally known as `laban'. The sour taste of the laban actually complements the sweet taste of the dates.

The congregational Maghrib prayers would then follow. After prayers, the area would be cleared, plastic sheets rolled out on the floor and the main meal would be served. The meal consists of briyani rice with both mutton and chicken, local Arab flatbread, vegetable curry, fresh salad and sweet desserts. I try to remain low-profile and like to have my meal sitting next to other foreign workers, normally Arabs from other middle-eastern countries such as Jordan or Egypt. But sometimes, I am spotted by the host, and he would gesture to me to come to sit next to him. My sponsor is somewhat of a local dignitary but he is a very kind and gracious person. He would ask how I was doing and then ask about my family back home in Malaysia as well.

The food portions were always generous and we were encouraged to pack the unfinished portions to take home. Most of the other workers would do this as it saves them the trouble of preparing the sahur or pre-dawn meal. But I never did so because I preferred to cook my own sahur. Having chicken or mutton briyani day in and day out can be a bit boring after some time.

My sahur meals were rather simple. Rice with fried eggs and fried ikan bilis (which I had brought from Malaysia). Sometimes, I would make do with fried rice using the pre-packed flavourings also brought from Malaysia. I would then eat my sahur quietly and alone. Perhaps the saddest moments to experience during my time being posted overseas.

Looking back now, I savour the experience... but given a choice, I would always want to spend Ramadhan with my family.

Update 26.10.2021 : Link to Nurie's blog has been removed because the blog no longer exist.

And I thought my question was silly...

I came across an interesting book titled `What Makes Flamingos Pink?' while browsing at the Popular Book Store in JB City Square a few weeks ago. The book is a collection of trivia questions and their corresponding answers. It is written by Bill McLain who is the official Webmaster for Xerox USA.

McLain and his team handles all the queries to the company website. While most of the questions he receives are Xerox-related, every day scores of curious fact seekers write in with questions ranging from the useful to the bizarre to the downright comical, and everything in between. Here are some samples found in the book :

What does SOS stand for?
Why do golf balls have dimples?
Why are there no A and B batteries?

The questions in the book are grouped into 16 chapters, each chapter covering a certain common subject. McLain answers each question factually but in an interesting and amusing way. And he does not stop at simply giving the answer... other interesting factoids relating to the issue in question are also presented. At the end of each chapter, the author lists out some useful websites that the reader may wish to explore to further satisfy his curiosity.

This is apparently McLain's second book, the first being the intriguingly titled `Do Fish Drink Water?'. At only RM25.90 for a hard-cover version, it was a steal and I quickly snapped it up.

It is not the type of book that you have to read from front to back. I scan the contents page and pick the interesting ones that I want to read first. Even so, I have only managed to read only a few of the questions. I've selected a very trivial one to share with you, below. Well actually, it is the one with probably the shortest answer ;-)

What makes your fingers and toes become pruney after you have been in the bathtub for a while?

A thick, tough layer of skin (in Latin, stratum corneum) covers the tips of your fingers, your toes and the soles of your feet.

If you sit in a bathtub for a long period of time, or soak in a swimming pool or hot tub, your skin absorbs water and expands. Unlike the skin on the rest of your body, the skin on your fingers and toes has no place to expand, so it just buckles. This causes the skin to wrinkle, which gives it the "pruney" effect.

Okay, so now you know... but what makes flamingos pink, I hear you ask. The answer to this, akan datang...

A nomination from The English Cottage

It has been more than a week now since I last posted. I had thought the slower pace of the fasting month would allow me time to post more stories in this blog but surprisingly, it has been a very busy week. I traveled up and down to Kuala Lumpur twice in the last 10 days. Last weekend we had our breaking of fast at a sister-in-law's home in Kota Tinggi. Plus the working week was filled with meetings and site visits.

I did not have much time to update or even blog-hop. So I was pleasantly surprised when blogger-friend Patricia of The English Cottage nominated me for an award. You can read what Pat wrote about this blog in her post -> here.

I'm flattered, Pat. But thanks anyway. Here are some orchid flowers for you.

I created this blog primarily as an avenue to sharpen my writing and story-telling skills. It's a very modest journal on personal experiences mostly. It also gives me the chance to meet other writers in blogosphere. Along the way, I get to be friends with readers, commenters and other fellow bloggers... and this is a good thing. Thanks to all of you for dropping by and having something to say about what I write. Most appreciated. I truly hope that we'll be able to meet in real life, one day.

Sorry about the break in updates this last week. Will hope to squeeze some time from the busy schedule and be telling more stories soon.

Update 26.10.2021 : The links to Pat's blog have been removed. The blog itself is still there but Pat mostly posts on Instagram and Facebook now.

A wish come true

Here's the first interlude for this month of September. Be careful what you wish for, guys...

A married couple in their mid-60s were out celebrating their 35th wedding anniversary in a quiet, romantic restaurant.

Suddenly, a tiny yet beautiful fairy appeared on their table and said, "For being such an example of married couple and for being faithful to each other for all this time, I will grant you each a wish".

"Oh, I want to travel around the world with my darling husband" said the wife.

The fairy waved her magic wand and...poof ! two tickets for the Queen Mary II luxury liner appeared in her hand.

Then it was the husband's turn. He thought for a moment and said, "Well, this is all very romantic, but an opportunity like this will never come again. I'm sorry my love, but my wish is to have a wife 30 years younger than me".

The wife and the fairy were deeply disappointed, but a wish is a wish....

So the fairy waved her magic wand and... poof!

The husband became 95 years old.

The moral of the story : -
Men who are ungrateful should remember fairies are female !!

First day of breaking fast

I've always tried my best to make sure we spend the first day of breaking fast every Ramadhan at my parent's place. It helps make a memorable start to the holy month. It's only my father and my mother left at home so they are always keen to have us come over. It gives a reason for my mother to display her cooking skills and feed her grandchildren to the max.

On the way over there, one of my sons asked, `Nenek nak masak apa untuk buka puasa, abah?' (What's grandma cooking for the breaking of fast?)

I replied, `Entahlah... kacang pool agaknya.' (I'm not sure, maybe kacang pool.)

Sure enough, that was what she prepared for our iftar or berbuka puasa meal. A mother can always read her son's mind, no matter where he may be, believe it.

As I've mentioned before in my post of 24 August 2008, my kids and I like kacang pool, especially the one cooked by my mom. My mom learned how to cook it because my father liked it in the first place. The tradition has now been passed down the line with my wife learning the recipe from my mom so that she can placate the tastes of her husband and sons.

In addition to the kacang pool, my father had brought home some bubur lambok (rice porridge) that was prepared and given away for free by the nearby mosque. My sister and her husband also came by and hence mom's tiny kitchen was packed with ten family members.

When the time to break our fast arrived, my three sons quickly tucked into the kacang pool voraciously. This prompted my father to proudly remark, `Tak rugi cucu-cucu atok minat makan kacang pool ni macam atok juga.' (It's good to see that my grandsons like to eat kacang pool just like me.') Seems that all my sons inherit their grandfather's appetite and penchant for good food.

Iftar meals at our home are mostly non-rice dishes. Dishes such as mee goreng, laksa, murtabak, mee hoon sup etc. If there are actually rice dishes, then they would be of the `special' variety such as nasi tomato or nasi beriani. Plain rice meals are served only for sahur (pre-dawn). My mother has been preparing it that way since I was growing up and now when I have a family of my own, I had my wife practice the same.