Ramadhan: fasting in Seattle

So we've been fasting for a little over a week now. Having the first day or Ramadhan align with Sept 1st makes it easy for me to remember things :) All in all, it's been a trying first week. I mean, we *just* came out of summer, so the days are still longer than the nights. It's pretty damn annoying to have to wake up at 4am because you have stop eating at 5am. Then there's the waiting for sunset to come so that we can start eating. And sunset was 7.50pm on Sept 1st.

It has gotten progressively better since then. Sunset is now at 7.35pm, which is close to the Malaysian sunset, so that makes me feel a bit better. Sunrise is at 5.15am, which gives me an extra 15 mins of sleep that I didn't have before. Although I have to admit, a huge part of why it feels so much better now is pretty much because my body has gotten used to it. The first week is always, always the worst. It doesn't help that I still go out late at night and am totally dead by the time 4am rolls around and I have to eat my sahur. Hopefully the next few weeks, I'll be more diligent about going to bed at a reasonable time so that I can face the day better rested and with better clarity.

I went to the Northdate Way Idriss Mosque the Monday of last week, and I have to say that I was sorely dissapointed with how the sisters' area was set up. I know there wasn't a whole bunch of us, but the classroom they had set up for iftar is too small to fit even the ladies who were there. I found the experience too cramped and full of people yelling and kids just getting in the way. I don't mind small children, in fact I love kids, but the parents basically let them run amok all over the classroom, which resulted in spilled drinks and food. Which, of course, made the already cramped classroom unbearable. I relish the sense of community one gets when going to a mosque and praying with fellow Muslimahs, but that experience just left a me bit traumatized and I haven't gone back since. I really should probably give it another try, though. Maybe it was just a one-time thing, I dunno.

Fasting has been interesting of late. I get a lot of questions from people who are intrigued by it and want to know what the rationale behind it is. While I do tell them the religious aspects of fasting, usually I supplement them with whatever scientific details that I've read about based on research on fasting. Apparently fasting allows the bodily function to rest from chruning food, and instead allocated resources to repair cells instead. So you are basically "repairing" your body while fasting. A lot of people get scared when they hear the "no water" part, but studies show that as long you hydrate yourself plenty during the time you *can* eat, it shouldn't be a problem at all. In fact, drinking 32oz of water before sunrise even allows you to exercise during the day, I've been told. Who would've thought?

anyway, Ramadhan mubarak to all who are fasting this month :)