Ramadan Kareem!

This year, Ramadan started on Monday 1 September. Everybody talked about it weeks before. About the fasting, about the traditions, about how this year it is going to be quite tough because it is during summer and therefore very hot. And about the funny fact that Egypt set the clock back to WINTERTIME in the night of 28 AUGUST, for the sole reason of making the fasting day shorter. And we talked about the meaning of Ramadan, that it is supposed to make you feel what real self discipline is, not eating, not drinking, not smoking, taking the Prophet as an example. That it’s a way of detoxing your body and mind... And then enjoy Iftar (breakfast at sunset) together with family and friends, a happy, social happening.

As usual with these religious traditions, I do appreciate the thought behind it.

But we also talked about the exaggeration and hypocrisy of it. About how they do everything 10 times slower than they normally do, close down shops earlier, huff and puff all day, saying they are so tired, drive home like maniacs at 5 pm (yes, traffic can get even more chaotic then it already is).... And about how everybody, after sunset, pigs out on huge dinners and lights up cigarette after cigarette... Or how, even worse, rich people go out on boats loaded with alcohol, drugs and women and party likes there is no tomorrow, just 50 km away from the coast. A nice example of abusing the rules, because when you’re “traveling” you don’t have to fast - originally because traveling on a camel in the desert without eating and drinking can turn out to be quite lethal. And all this while the whole point of Ramadan is to keep business going as usual and enduring the fast without complaining!

Fortunately, here in El Gouna, I haven’t noticed any extremes in the Ramadan sense. The Egyptian colleagues who choose to fast haven’t really complained badly so far, don’t mind others eating or drinking in their presence and respect the fact that others don’t fast.

I, however, chose to fast for one day, to show some support, but also to personally experience what it’s like. Several European friends have done so in previous years, for a day or even for the entire month. So before I went to bed on 31 August, I put a bottle of water on my night table and set the alarm clock for 5 am. I had the intention to get up to eat something as well, but my lazy nature made me stay in bed (some things never change) so after drinking half a liter of water, I went back to sleep until it was time to get up to go to work.

That day, I was lucky enough to be working in the office instead of going out on the boat, so that made my life easier. Fasting when you have to dive does not sound like a healthy plan to me - although most Egyptian divers do so. Anyway, I was asked by Khaled, my boss, to produce a couple of documents related to compliance regulations needed for the dive centre.

COMPLIANCE!!!! Aaaaargh, here’s me thinking I had left that horrible legal, compliance, regulatory world behind me... But alas, it’s stretching its greedy and asphyxiating tentacles into the diving world as well... Khaled guessed that I would be good at this (I wonder why), so I spent the morning typing up documents, trying not to think about how thirsty I was. And it wasn’t too bad, I must say. Not eating and not smoking is really not hard, but not drinking is something else. In the afternoon, I had a scuba review in the Clubhouse pool with two guests. And believe me, pool water is something you do not want to drink, no matter how thirsty you are, but at least being in the pool kept me busy. When I came out of the pool at 5 pm, I was thirsty, yes. But I wasn’t dying, I wasn’t feeling sick, I wasn’t feeling terrible at all. Just thirsty. One hour to go. I was going to survive my attempt at one day of Ramadan just fine.

Every year, Hoda, the manager of the Clubhouse, organises a big breakfast (Iftar) for all the regulars of the Clubhouse on the first day of Ramadan and she always makes a big happening out of it. So by 5.30 pm, the Clubhouse started to fill up with tutto El Gouna and the buffet was waiting for us... And we were waiting for the sunset. At 6.05 pm exactly, the first bites were taken. Dades soaked in milk, apricot juice, then lentil soup, stewed beef, green salad, rice Egyptian style, stuffed peppers and courgettes, and for desert, lots of sweet stuff. I ate modestly and drank only one beer, but I felt completely stuffed and after the meal, I could have fallen asleep standing. I went from very thirsty, to very very tired. But that tiredness also passed as my body absorbed the energy and thus I lived through my personal Ramadan experience. Not a particularly great accomplishment, but one worth mentioning.

The next day, I had a day off, so I made myself crackers with “Vache qui Rit” for breakfast, had a pasta for lunch at the Clubhouse and then Stefano made Gnocchi for dinner... I brought the wine, real, delicious white wine imported illegally from France via Djibouti by boat (I’m not naming my source) and we had a huge pig out dinner.

One day of fasting is enough, some things will definitely never change... :-)

Illustrations:
http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=56046&l=dc378&id=523210814

Baci!

xYx