Thursday, June 18 marked the beginning of Ramadan, which is the month of fasting for Muslims all over the world. During Ramadan, Muslims do not eat, drink liquids, smoke, drink alcohol, etc. while the sun is up. During night time and before dawn they are allowed to do all of those things. (Except technically drinking is still forbidden). This year, the government decided to be more strict on Ramadan policies, so no one can eat or drink in public regardless if you are Muslim, Christian, a foreigner etc. We were warned by the U.S. Embassy that if we drank or ate in public we will be fined approximately 150-200 dinars which is around $225-300 and get put in jail for a month. On the first day of Ramadan, I totally forgot about this rule, and I was eating a KitKat in public after work. Immediately everyone on the street was honking at me, and at the time I was really confused on why. I thought, "Wow the street harassment is at an all time high today". And then, one of the guards of the embassies on my street started yelling at me and was walking after me. It hit me then that I was illegally eating in public, and I immediately shoved my KitKat back in my backpack...Luckily the guard went back to his post, so I did not get arrested or fined. Close call...
In the morning before sunrise, Muslims eat a meal called Suhoor, which consists of food and lots of water. Then at night they eat a meal called Iftar right at sunset, which consists of anything and everything really. I didn't start fasting because I suffered a minor head injury that made me dizzy and nauseous for a couple of days, but I decided to try fasting yesterday.
Most people listen to the Call to Prayer, which tells then when they can eat and drink or when they have to stop. Once the prayer says Allah Akbar or God is great then you have to either start or stop eating depending on what meal you are eating. In the mornings they give one "warning" prayer where once it plays you have approximately 10 minutes until the next prayer. The second prayer is when you have to fully stop eating.
This is what my first Suhoor consisted of:
In the morning before sunrise, Muslims eat a meal called Suhoor, which consists of food and lots of water. Then at night they eat a meal called Iftar right at sunset, which consists of anything and everything really. I didn't start fasting because I suffered a minor head injury that made me dizzy and nauseous for a couple of days, but I decided to try fasting yesterday.
Most people listen to the Call to Prayer, which tells then when they can eat and drink or when they have to stop. Once the prayer says Allah Akbar or God is great then you have to either start or stop eating depending on what meal you are eating. In the mornings they give one "warning" prayer where once it plays you have approximately 10 minutes until the next prayer. The second prayer is when you have to fully stop eating.
This is what my first Suhoor consisted of:
I woke up around 3:00 AM to eat this meal with the family. It was actually much saltier than expected. I thought it would be less salty so I wouldn't need to drink as much water during the day.
I went to work, but my hours are reduced to 10:00-3:00 since the majority of people are fasting. Now those who know me personally, know that I am hungry 24/7. I am constantly asking for food, and when I don't get food or water I immediately get headaches. That's why the night before and the morning of I made sure to drink plenty of fluids and eat until I was full.
During the day, it was not so bad. I still got work done at my job, and I did not really complain. Although when one of my coworkers was giving me a ride home, we started talking about Indian food and veggie burgers, and I started missing food :(
Sometime around 4:00PM, I couldn't stop thinking about food. I was literally going crazy, and I understood why people say the first day of fasting is always the hardest. I think my Snapchat story describes it better.
I went to work, but my hours are reduced to 10:00-3:00 since the majority of people are fasting. Now those who know me personally, know that I am hungry 24/7. I am constantly asking for food, and when I don't get food or water I immediately get headaches. That's why the night before and the morning of I made sure to drink plenty of fluids and eat until I was full.
During the day, it was not so bad. I still got work done at my job, and I did not really complain. Although when one of my coworkers was giving me a ride home, we started talking about Indian food and veggie burgers, and I started missing food :(
Sometime around 4:00PM, I couldn't stop thinking about food. I was literally going crazy, and I understood why people say the first day of fasting is always the hardest. I think my Snapchat story describes it better.
Then Iftar happened.
To be honest, I don't want to lose weight while I am here in Jordan, so I probably won't be fasting again. It is a really neat experience that I knew I would probably never get the chance to try again in a Muslim nation. I'm definitely glad that I did it for a day.