| (2003-10-27) Ramadan Ramadan has begun. This is a thirty-day fast performed by every Muslim in this country. Not all Muslims pray five times a day, but most Muslims take part in this fast. No eating, no drinking, no swallowing of any sort- between sunrise and sunset. There is a lot of spitting in these thirty days, because even swallowing saliva is forbidden. I’ve considered taking part. I’m not Muslim, but I am in this country, and this country emphasises a large amount of their social conduct on their religion. At home, religion is whispered about, it’s considered somewhat faux pas to talk openly about your personal religion. No one dwells on any discussion about religion except for maybe the argument about if there is a God or not. Here, Allah is praised at least five times a day. People stop working to pray. People carry mats around with them so that they can sit on them as they pray. The streets are crowded outside of the mosques in the early morning and late night with men and women and children praying. It’s totally normal to praise God openly to your friends or family or strangers. When I went to a wedding last week, I was asked to pray for the bride and groom into a video camera. I would’ve hated to see the look on my face when they asked me to do it- I’ve never prayed in my life (except for about a two week period when I was 13), and I’ve certainly never prayed into a video camera. Who do I pray to? God? Jesus? Allah? The Profit? I had no idea. So, I just said “God willing” a lot because my friend did. It sounded like a good thing to say. I’ve decided to fast for one day, I’ll try to make it a week. If anything, it’ll give my digestive system a rest after the two months of eating lots of dense white bread. (The following picture was taken one morning outside of where I wait for my bush taxi. There was a rainbow- the first one I’ve seen here. You can just make it out on the horizon.)
Oh yeah, and Jinny fell in a ditch, and it was so funny I had to hold my crotch to keep from pissing my pants. It was too dark and some of the heaviest rain in the whole world managed to create a 1.5-foot deep rut in the span of two hours. We weren't prepared for it, and she suffered the consequences.
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