The Ramadhan Diaries - Final Day

Its the last day of Ramadhan.

It has been especially slow

as i anticipate the coming

of the first of Syawal.

Looking back , i suppose i could say this year's ramadhan was better. Mainly because i didn't have so many papers to juggle so i guess i could spend more time well, doing moer ibadat stuff i guess.

eheh

anyway, tomorrow is Raya/ Aidilfitri.

Hooo boy

i am gonna be SO fat!

Starting from Maghrib today until tomorrow...

must...practice...self..control.

so, i would like to take this opportunity to thank all those who have been following my updates regularly and thoses who have commented on my blog.

I really hope that my postings have provided you with a better insight as to the Muslim life here in Malaysia during the 30 days of Ramadhan.

So to my Muslim friends, i say

Eid Mubarak!

And to my non-Muslim friends i say

'You didn't fast for a month, so try not to stuff ur selves too much at ur Muslim friends' open houses!'

Salams to all

The Ramadhan Diaries - Day 29

The second last day of Ramadhan….

Wow….

And my shoulder still hurts. Damn…

Oh well, at least it feels slightly better than it did yesterday.

After being woken up at 4, and the Subuh prayers, I fell asleep and woke up at 9.

Went to my aunt’s place, which was quite nearby and I managed to touch base with some of my relatives, including my cousin’s new husband. Managed to get to know the new in-law better.

Other than that, the rest of the day was pretty uninteresting, even though it being the second last day of Ramadhan and all.

*sigh*

One thing about fasting here in Pasir Puteh is that time seems to drag oh…so… slowly.. life around here isn’t the least bit hectic. Everything is so…slow…

Oh, but the sky is clear and haze-free…that’s good.

Tonight was the last night of Tarawih. Generally Tarawih is started on the night before Ramadhan and it ends on the second last night of Ramadhan. Which means no Tarawih tomorrow.

Imagine…just the day after tomorrow, it will be first Syawal…wonder what it will be like this time around.

The Ramadhan Diaries - Day 28

Once more, woken up at 4 am..

Once more, made to eat rice for sahur.

Fortunately Subuh prayers were easier on the body.

Woke up again to continue studying, an activity which I usually kick into gear when exams are approaching.

Mum hasn’t been enjoying her holidays much.. been too busy working on her research project and stuff. But I guess its easy for her considering that she doesn’t have to fast. Its that time of the month for her.

In Islam, women are exempted from praying or fasting during Ramadhan if they have their period. During the period, the woman is considered to be in a state of uncleanliness, because well… to put it simply, she can’t control her bleeding, and blood is considered as not very clean in Islam.

So, lucky for the women, they get to be exempt from prayers and fasting at least for one week, every Ramadhan… although they have to make up for their missed fasts throughout the year.

Hmmm… Lucky? Not really sure about that… the prospect of bleeding from my genitals for an entire week does not really sound that attractive to me…

Oh, I just realized that The Ramadhan Diaries is missing day 25. This is because there is an ‘extra’ Day 12 in my blog : p… that means that day 24 is actually 25 and 23 is 24…etc…

In an attempt to do yoga today, I managed to sprain my shoulder. I was jumping for my ashtanga san salutation and somehow, I failed to balance myself properly resulting in my shoulder shifting with an audible ‘Shrraaaff!

It hurt!

And what hurts even more is the fact that I may not be able to do yoga for the next couple of days or so.

No yoga… not enough exercise.. too much food…. *sigh*… im so gonna chunk up by the time I get back to PJ…’

The Ramadhan Diaries - Day 27

At 4 am in the morning I was greeted with a burst of light from the ceiling.

My grandparents were up…

And I was very much half-asleep.

After some general smacking my head back and forth, I finally regained control of my senses and I ambled to my parent’s room to wake them up.

They weren’t that pleased to see me either, at 4 am.

Eventually we all woke up to eat our sahur.

Sahur here in the Kampung, is almost as large as iftar, mainly consisting of last night’s leftovers. So I was made to eat a plate of rice together with the chicken or something ( I can’t remember, my mind was still trying to wake up). My grandma kept pushing me to eat more rice. Urgh…

After sahur, I managed to get some shuteye before Subuh.

Today is a Friday and Subuh prayers here in my Kampung on Fridays are slightly different from other days. It involves the imam reading a particularly long surah (I thin its surah Sajadah) and then making us perform an extra prostration during the first rakaat. It can be highly tiresome or deeply spiritual…depending on how you look at it.

Friday prayers in the mosque are still as packed as any other mosque. The sermon today was about Zakat…. If im not mistake is the same as the sermon I listened to during the first week of Ramadhan back in PJ. Anyway, the Khatib (Sermon reader) wished us all a happy Aidilfitri.

yay!

The rest of the day was quite slow. I slept, went to the market, did yoga…

Ate…

And Tarawih!

Spent the rest of the night burning the midnight oil, studying for exams which are coming up in 2 months time!

The Ramadhan Diaries - Day 26

Wow, thought I wouldn’t be updating, but here I am, updating.

Managed to hook up to a dial up connection here at my grandparent’s place in Pasir Puteh. Dial up is 4 sen a minute though, but it does not require registration which makes it quite easy to use.

TMNet’s 1315 dialup number. Quite useful I must say.

Anyway, today was spent traveling back to Kelantan. It took us about 6 hours. Plus we didn’t stop that much because there was a reduced need to go to the toilet every few kilometers or so. However snacks were non-existent on this trip and my father found it more difficult to stay awake without his regular shot of caffeine (usually derived from Coke).

Upon reaching Pasir Puteh, we were greeted by my Grandparents who were unfortunately down with the flu. They looked pretty tired. But later that same night, my grandmother was up and cooking dinner for us. Apparently she felt A LOT better seeing her daughter (my mum), son in law and grandson come home.

She might feel even more better once my aunt and her family comes back as well ,but that won’t be until next week. She will be spending the first day of Raya in Perak with her Husband’s side of the family.

Later we went to the town market and bought some extra food for our iftar. I managed to get some good pictures. I promise that once I get back to my beloved broadband wireless I will upload the pictures for public viewing.

My grandparent’s house is located right behind the local Mosque. Its literally a stone’s throw away.

Tarawih was done at the Mosque. Apparently this kampong Mosque only has 8 rakaat (repetitions) for the Tarawih prayer (plus 3 rakaat for Withir) and they do not go the maximum 23 rakaat.

It’s a very different experience in a smaller kampong Mosque compared to the large, air-conditioned halls of the city mosques. The ventilation is natural, with the wind blowing in cool breezes of air. There are bugs and cicak aplenty on the walls and the floors, not in a bothersome way though, but in a way that makes you go ‘oh, look at that..’.

I slept at 12 that night, massaging my grandma before bed.

The Ramadhan Diaries - Day 24

Day 24, six more days until the last day of Ramadhan..

sigh, its over so soon...

WEll, not yet though,

Today morning was spent transcribing...the ENTIRE morning, then suddenly, i hit the wrong button on the computer and before you could say 'recover data!' all my hard work was gone...just like that.

Feeling utterly depressed i decided not to look at any transcripts for the rest of the day, instead i decided to do what i always do, blog, yoga, some studying and general moping around.

Ah...moping around.

I had class today. At night..

Today wasn't exactly my day... the trains had some problems, it was slow, and because they were slow and infrequent, people crammed into the trains. Really nasty stuff.

Upon arriving at my stop, it was pouring. Though i am a huge fan of the rain, i prefer not to get too chummy when it pours, i mean it was REALLY pouring. Unfortunately i did not have a choice as i did not prepare my umbrella in advance.

So, giving the rain my best wishes i made a mad dash for my tuition centre from the train station through the rain.

Gotta love the rain.

I froze in class... aircond and wet shirts do NOT go together...

Tomorrow i will be going back to Kelantan, will be there for the next 10 days, will be celebrating Raya (Aidilfitri) there too. Since the internet there is pretty crappy, i may not be able to go online... although, rest assured, i will try my best to go online and keep on blogging all the way until day 30.

But if you don't hear from me, i would like to once again wish Selamat Hari Raya and Happy Deepavali to all my readers!!

The Ramadhan Diaries - Day 23

The morning was spent transcribing, an activity which i do not really enjoy doing. BUt i had to do it because mum said so and heaven is beneath the mother's feets..bla..bla..etc..

Im such a mama's boy.

Anyway, transcribing = not easy. Never is never was. In fact the reason why my friend was late yesterday was because she was still busy transcribing her interview with me.

So it seems like im not the only one who hates transcribing.

Anyway, i got it done. Phewh!

The afternoon was spent with another frien of mine, a non-muslim girl whom i had agreed to go out with earlier last week. Fortunately she was on time. And i didn't have to bum around this time.. a good thing too because i hadn't brought anything to read.

WE spent the rest of the day talking about religion and stuff...well, mostly me doing the talking, mostly about my religion anyway..eheheh.

In Islam, we call it da'wah. Which basically means sharing the word. I suppose you could call it missionary activity but we are different in the sense that our aim is not to convert but to merely inform. We believe that through understanding will we be able to live side by side in harmony.

Humans do not convert other humans, only God and God alone can do that. Of course, we could pray, but that is as much as we can do.

In fact what i am doing here right now, is a form of da'wah, telling stories about my religion and my personal experiences. Its good to have shared with those of you who have been following my blog. I hope now you have a better understanding of what it means to be a young Muslim here in Malaysia.

I will be going back to Kelantan in two days time, so i might not be able to update from there. If you don't here from me in a while, i would like to wish all my Muslim readers, a Happy Aidilfitri and my Hindu Readers a Happy Deepavali!!

And to those of you whose celebrations haven't come around yet,

Just be happy!

The Ramadhan Diaries - Day 22

I woke up this morning, thinking it would be nice and relaxing, just do my Yoga, really stretch it out..., but then i checked my email, and suddenly i found out that i have a Psychometric test in KPMG scheduled for today!! apparently it was sent last night!

Yikes!

So i had to get ready in a rush, and zip off to Wisma KPMG, off jalan Dungun.

I got there on time but according to KPMG time i was 10 minutes late.. (KPMG sets their clocks 10 minutes ahead)

The tests were fairly easy, consisting of numerical and comprehension questions, then i had to write an essay. I wrote about Positive Outbreak. Hehehe!

In the afternoon i was supposed to have an appointment with my friend that i went out with yesterday, apparently she wanted to take some pictures in the Masjid Jamek area and needed me as a guide.

First she said she would be slightly late, and would tell me when she was coming.

Initially we agreed on 12. Then it got pushed back a bit. So there i sat at sentral, waiting about two hours for her sms/call but alas, no response. Feeling impatient, i decided to call her, only to find out she was still working on her stuff and she wouldn't be around for another hour.

Needless to day, i was slightly perturbed by this turn of events.

Mainly annoyed by the fact that i waited for about two hours, only to find out i would have to wait another hour.

Had i known earlier, i would have been able to plan my time more productively.

In the end, i decided to cancel the appointment, as i realised that i had some work my Mum wanted done, mainly transcripts of her interviews.

She apologised, and i accepted and laughed... mostly at myself for sitting on my bum for the past two hours.. but it wasn't a total waste, i managed to read up on more Buddhist literature! Sweet!

Punctuality is an important concept.

As a Muslim, we have punctuality written all over our daily lives, through the practice of our five daily prayers, call them our appointments with God. They are the early morning prayers (Subuh) the Afternoon prayers (Zuhur) the Evening Prayers (Asar), the Sundown prayers (Maghrib) and the night prayers (Isya'). Muslims are required to fulfill this daily obligation at each interval of the day. We only have a certain timeframe within which we should complete each prayer, for example, Zuhur is typically from 1 to 4 in the afternoon, and Subuh is from 5.50 to 7 in the morning. Muslims are recommended to perform the prayers as soon as the timeframe starts. Meaning that if i performed Zuhur at around 1, it would be better than performing Zuhur around 4. Thus the concept of punctuality and the importance of being early is taught through prayer.

Punctuality also serves a more practical concept.

It can be a very nice way to start an appointment, especially a first meeting, because by being punctual, you show the other party that you appreciate them and that they are very important to you. It can go a long way in establishing mutual respect for one another in any relationship.

And speaking of puncutality, i have an appointment with my bed and pillows in about 5 minutes.

*yawn*

nights

The Ramadhan Diaries - Day 21

Oh, the days just fly by don't they?

Before you know it... its already Syawal...


well, not yet anyway... Today is a Sunday, fortunately, not a slow Sunday like usual. But today i went out with a friend... a girl... once more breaking a few uhm.. guidelines which i should have been following... ehehe

Anyway, i was helping her out with some interview that she had for her project then i accompanied her around brickfields, an area i am somewhat familiar with to take pictures of religious buildings for her project as well.

It was a learning experience for me as well. We went into one of the Churches and the huge Maha Vihara Buddhist complex.

The Church was cute, built in a triangular shape, representing the Trinity and the church workers were very.. very friendly. They even invited us for Sunday mass...hmmm...

The Buddhist temple was really nice i we managed to pick up some buddhist literature which i find to be quite enlightening as it helped me to realise how much Buddhism and Islam have in common, a lot of which i find most Muslims seem to have forgotten.

The tolerance for others, to treat others they way we would like to be treated and to ahve compassion even for those who hate us.

A story regarding the Prophet s.a.w. Once upon a time in Madinah, there lived this old Woman who really hated him. Everytime she saw Muhammad s.a.w. walk past her house, she would chuck faeces and garbage in his general direction. But one day, it just stopped. Curious, Muhammad asked around where she was. Some of the locals told him she was sick. The next day he came to her house bearing fruits and dates, to visit the old woman. Upon seeing him and his gifts, she felt ashamed and from that day on she became his friend.

There are minor variations to this story, but the gist is the same. The worse thing that you can do to someone who hates you is to be nice to them.

By being nice you rob them of any reason to hate you, and in the end, they may even develop greater respect for you.

Comparing Islam in Malaysia with the other religions, i wonder if our Mosques could be as open and accomodating to non-Muslims who would like to come in, take a look around and learn more about the faith. Although i can name a few Mosques which practice this openness (Masjid Negara, for one) most of the Muslim establishments have this air of exclusivity about them which only serves to tarnish the name of Islam. By opening our doors to them, only then can we share with them the beauty of our religion.

The Ramadhan Diaries - Day 20

Whoa!

Day 20 already!

Time does fly

Indeed it does.

hmmmm....

This morning i couldn't sleep in as i usually do... well... i did for a while, i napped until 8, after which i had to wake up because my business partner, Nick was coming around to pick me up to go see a prospective new printer. My dad (my other partner) came along as well.

we arrived at the office at around 9.00 and we were greeted by stack of T-shirts lining the office...almost wall to wall... WOW!

The owner was a Mr.Lee who had a lot of stories to tell us. Not that i really paid attention because what really caught me the most was his prices.

They were a LOT cheaper than other place i had been to. For a T-shirt printed with three colours at RM 9 a shirt, 100% cotton...well, for those of you not in the T-shirt business.... that is as Cheap as it gets, short of going and building your own printing factory of course.

He even offered to print a sample for us. And he was willing to allow us to stagger our order of 200 pieces...

ok, needless to say, we were bought.

After wrapping up his story about his daughter and how teens nowadays should be more active in business and social activities (that would be us...) we shook hands and he agreed to deliver the sample to us next week...

Tarawih tonight was rather interesting because we had an Imam who was only 11 years old. This little kid apparently was trained from young to recite the Quran...beautifully... he had this really cute pre-pubescent voice.

Usually imams are from those who have achieved puberty but seeing as how Tarawih is a Sunat (optional) prayer, i suppose the allowance could be made for the little imam.

Shocking?

Not really as it is quite common in schools for kids to 'jemaah' amongst themselves with a kid imam too. Plus when i was younger i have been imam to my fair share of adults as well.

An imam is not the equivalent of a priest/monk/holy man. An imam basically is a prayer leader. Any muslim can be an imam for a congregational prayer. However women can't be imam for a congregation of men... although this is sometimes disputed.

More educated members of the Muslim clergy are called 'ulama'' which basically means 'knowledgable'. Thus the Muslim definition of clergy is not just one who is well-versed in religious matters but in worldly matters too. Which is why in our Muslim communities we have a lot of ulama/politicians, ulama/businessmen, ulama/scientists.

One does not need a certificate to be declared an Ulama', but generally you have to be well-versed in a particular area and you have to be a respected person in your community... and people come to you seeking advice on various matters.

A true Ulama' never admits to being an Ulama' because a true Ulama' is never knowledgable as he is always constantly learning.

The Ramadhan Diaries - Day 19

Still high from my interview yesterday, i felt really good today.

With theCICAK on the way to fame, a job (hopefully!) in my pocket and a meeting with a new printer lined up... i felt good.

And because i felt good i decided to sleep in the morning.

bliss....

I woke up, did my Yoga and then was rushed off to the Mosque, this being a Friday after all.

Can't really remember what the Sermon was though, it probably was generic and not really that memorable. Maybe that's why...hmhmhmhm.

The rest of the day was spent in KDU shadowing mum like i always do, hoping to glean some bits of experience off her. Today she was handling a room of KDU lecturers. Mostly they came in to whine about their students etc... the learning hadn't really started yet... not in a big way anyway but i knew that in the next lessons, things would be different and i get to see my mum manipulate..oh.. i mean ... mould...these lecturers to follow her principles of classroom management.

Sweet.

The Ramadhan Diaries - Day 18

Well, today is the day.

The day of the interview.

The interview which was given to me at the very last minute .

Hah!

Anyway, the interview was slotted at 3. So i spent the morning bending myself into shape, Yoga-style. Worked up a good sweat, but i still felt fat. Probably its due to the huge quantities of rice (Carbohydrates!!) and dates (more Carbs!!) which i consume when the Sun goes down.

*belch*

The interview was at 3. I went in with my best attire and proceeded into what i felt was a very informal interview. I was chatted by an attractive Audit Manager and later the partner was brought in to give me the KPMG sales pitch.

Some conversation was made about my past involvements and i was given the lowdown on the salary structure of a fresh graduate auditor (RM 2100 a month! starting salary).

After the sales pitch, needless to say i was bought... and i so totally wanted in!!

Fortunately i think they were impressed...either that or they were absurdly polite.

I was told that i would be contacted to come back for a psychometric test next week...

oh, the wonders of Ramadhan.

Praise the Almighty!

:)

The Ramadhan Diaries - Day 17

Wow, ok, i have a confession to make

i haven't been updating for the past 3 days!

mainly because i had been sleeping... a LOT, so nothing much to really blog about.

I guess it is true, fasting does tend to change your sleeping habits quite a bit. Not to mention eating habits as well. When i would usually be munching away in the afternoon, i find myself knocked out for 2 hours or more... hmhmhm. Mum says i'm getting in touch with my 'Malay' side.

But in the wee hours of the night however i find that i can stay up to absurdly long hours...working mostly on theCICAK stuff. Got a few...well.. a lot of things to settle before our debut in theSUN. So on one hand im sleeping my days away but working (getting in touch with my 'Chinese' side?) my nights away.

Anyway, the highlight of today was that i got a call from KPMG. For an interview...
tomorrow...

oooooooh....

more on that tomorrow!

The Ramadhan Diaries - Day 16

Probably the best thing about today was that it rained.

Yeap. it rained... it really poured. It rained in the morning.

Im not really sure if it rained in the day though, i was in class for the better part of the morning.

Half way through Ramadhan, fasting does not seem such a big deal anymore. Its so normal now not to have lunch, although i must admit, it does get boring because i can't be going out with friends for lunch.

I believe lunch to be a very social activity. I generally don't have lunch if there isn't anyone to have lunch with

I have been fasting so long, it does not feel like fasting anymore.

haha!

Alright, anyway, there are about 14 more days left until the end, i can't really say i'm anticipating Aidilfitri (the first of Syawal, right after the end of Ramadhan), when it comes it comes lah.

Spent the rest of the day working on theCICAK press kit.

Oh and for followers of my blog, expect theCICAK to come out in theSUN soon

The Ramadhan Diaries - Day 15

Ok, tired of wasting my time during the weekend, i woke up today with renewed vigour to do something productive.

I realise that during the month of Ramadhan it is better for us to be up and about, doing stuff rather than sleep and getting fat in bed.

So today, after my usual Yoga what-not, i planted myself in front of the PC and i started writing!

Yeah!

I managed to complete an article on the haze and i managed to get out a review for S'kali an indie local movie.

PLus i managed to call a few ...no... a LOT of potential suppliers who may be interested to print for Positive Outbreak...

yeah!

Did i sleep?

Only for half an hour (5 to 5.30)

Wooh!

Then i helped to cook, we ate, went for prayers then came back.

Hah!

ok, here is hoping that tomorrow will be just as productive as today was!

The Ramadhan Diaries - Day 14

Another slow weekend

Weekends during Ramadhan tend to be quite slow and boring, with me spending most of the time curled up in bed sleeping my boredom away.

*sigh*

The Ramadhan Diaries - Day 13

ITs a Saturday.

A really slow one.

Really.

*sigh*

other than my mandarin class, i pretty much slept the rest of the day.

*snorE*

but had a buka puasa buffet at night, not that i managed to stuff myself because we had to rush off to the mosque anyway...

*sigh*

anyways, here's hoping that tomorrow will prove more exciting

The Ramadhan Diaries - Day 12

Day 12 of Ramadhan!

TOday was a really slow day. I woke up and i stayed up after Subuh prayers. Spent the morning finishing up some designs and doing some Yoga and installing some printer drivers.

After that, i folded some clothes, did laundry...well... mostly boring, non-world changing stuff lah.

Then i went for Friday prayers! The second one in Ramadhan. The topic of today's sermon was something about the Quran... and its holiness...etc... can't really remember, i was half asleep due to the fact that i had been up since 5 this morning.

AFter prayers which ended at around 2, i got home and pretty much slept the afternoon away, then i cooked...(yes, i cook)

At night, i met my 'client' whom i massaged yesterday, said he was better, but his other leg was acting up, so i did that one too. Got myself RM 20!

Whee!

THen came another guy, complaining of headaches and well... pretty much a lot of aches. So i massaged him too. But no payment as of yet. I don't really like to push for payment. Said he wanted to continue the treatment tomorrow night...

Well, ok, but if he expects me to massage his entire body, i expect more than RM 20...

hmhmhmhm

The Ramadhan Diaries - Day 12

Ok, admittedly, i have been slipping in my updates.

But to be honest, nothing much happened this Thursday..

I went to college, got my degree project... and i went out...

with a friend...who is a girl... wihch BTW, isn't exactly good practice from an Islamic POV..

hehehe

At night however, after Tarawih, i saw a man, who was massaging his leg to no avail.

I decided to help him and well... im not really sure if it turned out well...

The Ramadhan Diaries - Day 11

After awaking from my usual after prayer nap, i made the decision to do yoga...again!

This has got to be a habit!

Anyway, today i had a class in the morning, and one more in the night.

Which meant i had to brave the awful traffic of Masjid Jamek and lately the....

HAZE!!!

Argh!!

It just keeps coming back doesn't it? You'd think that they finally get it under control...

No doubt it was probably courtesy of our delightful neighbours to the West, those Forest Burning Indons... what better way to show their appreciation for us, for providing many of their children better jobs and better pay than polluting our backyard...*koff**koff*...

Of course Malaysia's own industrialisation has contributed to the haze.. but lets face it, if the Indon's weren't too busy burning down forests, it would be a lot cleaner. Besides, our own pollution we can manage... but their pollution??

Anyway, i'm just upset because i'm fasting, and i have to deal with the haze.

Not a very easy thing to do mind you,

Fortunately my home wasn't badly affected. I can still see the clouds around here.

The night was pretty uneventful, as i had class... Unless of course you find Audit and Assurance services to be fun....you weirdo!

The Ramadhan Diaries - Day 10

Wow, day 10 already?

Time does seem to fly quite fast...

Sahur was fairly simple, consisting of a simple potato, water, and some dates.

But filling nonetheless.

After prayers, i napped for a few hours, woke up and decided that i was getting too fat and lethargic from this routine of eating, sleeping (for the entire day) and then sleeping again.

I needed more action!

So i decided to practice Yoga on my own (as opposed to practicing it in a class), something which i haven't exactly done before. So i managed to sweat for a good 45 minutes, after which i had to prepare for class.

I managed to get a ride from my friend to the LRT station which would take me to class.

One thing which i noticed about non-Muslims, during this fasting month is that they feel kinda guilty about eating in front of me when i'm fasting. Or rather, they apologise for eating (???). Well, to be honest, if you want to eat, eat Lah! Don't starve yourself on account of me fasting. Besides, the whole, 'seeing you eat' is supposed to challenge our own will...etc...

Halfway through the day, i was beginning to feel the effects of my Yoga practice this morning... i felt really whacked!

Getting back home, and after giving my friend a tour of the apartment, i slept.

While sleeping i got phone calls from my parents, both of which i answered in a half-asleep state, which is why i forgot to take out the fish my mum wanted to cook for iftar, which eventually led to me getting a good sounding.

The fish was good though.

The Ramadhan Diaries - Day 9

If there is anything worth mentioning about this day is this:

It was HOT!

Like really hot, really dry and just generally tiring.

Its bad enough for a regular person, but for a person fasting it just becomes a real trial from God.

The day started simple enough with a fairly simple sahur. I had class today at around 10, which meant that i slept from Morning prayers onwards.

The effects of the hear were not so obvious in the morning. What was more obvious was the unbearable cold of the classroom... brrr...

After class, which finished at around 1, i was greeted by the other extreme of extremely hot weather. Imagine a hot and dry day in the centre of KL and imagine not being able to drink or at least eat something cool.

But i persevere!

That day i had to make my way to UM to use the scanner in the lab, which meant i had to take the train, wait in the baking, zinc-roofed bus stop for the bus while the driver took his own sweet time, after which i had to walk a bit more to the lab, under the hot sun... there was practically no wind!

Somehow all these little details seem a lot more pronounced when you're fasting...

Fortunately i got to the lab, exhausted but still with enough energy to scan my pics and do some photoshop.

After that i got a ride back from Mum.

Upon reaching home, i crashed out on my bed from the heat and exhaustion (sounds like a pretty good excuse neh?).

But i woke up in time for iftar (lamb chops!)

The Ramadhan Diaries - Day 8

Sahur consisted of leftover Fish head curry from last night with bread.

Yum.

I tried my best to sleep after Sahur and Subuh, because i was going to have a class for the entire day, from 10 to 5, however i was too busy updating my blog/ going over some articles that i just stayed up. By the time it was 8.30 it was too late to try and catch any shuteye.

I just willed myself to go to class.

Needess to say i was drifting in and out of a sub-conscious state whilst in class. I think i only managed to absorb about 60 percent of the lesson... which isn't too bad considering we learned about taxation...OHQs, IPCs, RDCs, Shipping companies...that kinda thing.

Iftar was done at my aunt's place in Setiawangsa. This is my mum's sister.

Tarawih was also done at my aunt's place with my Grand Uncle leading the prayers. In between prayers we also got little lectures on the minor details one needs to consider whilst praying.

For those of you who don't know, Muslim prayer is a dynamic activity. We don't crouch and kneel and stuff. Muslims prayer involves standing, bowing, sitting and prostrating with prayer included for each position.

So my Unc was commenting on how to properly perfect our pose and how to recite our prayer properly, pointing out the common mistake made by most Muslims when it comes to prayers.

We spent the better portion of the night at my aunt's place, hanging around, eating and stuff.