Ahh... bliss. Okay, maybe a smidge not convenient sometimes to not drink water or eat in public from sunrise to sunset, buuuuuut hey - ho, I would trade that in for 2 less working hours a day AND NO evening shifts! YAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!! Our hours are 9-4pm (hmph, used to be 9-3pm), and again, NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO evening shifts!!! Yayyy!! Literally have a list of "Ramadan Things to Do" with random things like "pleasure read 1 book," "do at least 1-2 online continuing education courses" "DE-CLUTTER." Ahh, the last one is my fave. Talk about spring/summer cleaning! And now, da da dum, am taking it a bit more seriously because I am 99% sure I have to downsize next year, wah wah. My cost of living is just getting waaaaaaaaaaaaaay too expensive and really, putting a big o damper on trying to save money for my grand re-entrance back to the States and planning my little travel sabbatical before I do that. Hehe. And of course want to be NOT be reliant on family for support, am fast approaching a new decade in life (eek!) and want to be more self-sufficient and independent. Although I LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE where I live, really, at the heart of downtown with a grocery store, pharmacy, restaurants, and downtown steps away from me... life is all about change and I know it will be worth it in the end. Plus, it's been 5 years so have had my enjoyment. And now, am making a point to use the pool here and facilities more. I regularly use the gym, and then one week when my water heater was being replaced and had to shower at the gym, it was a blessing in disguise to re-discover all that my facility has to offer - a fab pool with day beds, a tennis court, squash court, open gym area, a regular gym area, aerobics studio, a kids play area (not for me, hahha), and again, it's just awesome. So have 6+ months use and abuse it, ha ha.
Anyhoo, back to Ramadan. Sooo, work has more cancellations and no-shows than usual, so it's nice to have downtime there as well. And we have forced fasting as we are working straight, but of course we sneak into our Physio Room and have snacks and drinks there. Which, speaking of...
Today I fasted! Thought in the spirit of Ramadan, to at least fast once. I tried earlier last week but then decided to drink water yet not eat. But darn it, according to my Muslim friends, that doesn't really count. Darn it! (haha, thought not, but hey, thought I'd try).
This is what my Jordanian co-worker sent me when I was trying to justify my fasting with water, ha ha. I ended up giving up and then for real tried again :-)
So was a bit of a cheat because picked a day when I wasn't working out and have little to no activities, so relatively low key, which happens to be Saturdays. So I woke up at 3:30am for Sohor and forced myself to drink and have something to eat... and then that's it until 7:10 for Iftar! As predicted, the lack of food wasn't that much of a bother as all of us go through periods when we don't eat... you get those hunger pangs and then it just goes away. The lack of fluids is what is a killer, had dry mouth, a little of a headache, and tried to keep myself busy all day to not think about it. Will power I tell you! And it really does make you appreciate for those that are starving and without food and water. So I've officially done 2 fasting days and hope to at least squeeze one more in.
Some random Ramadan things I have done:
Go to Iftar's! Went to a homemade one hosted by my lovely Turkish friend. We have bi-annual meet-ups and after realizing we always sit in the same places and also are more or less in the same order, we had some comparison photos from last year (above) and this year (below), lol:
Fatos also did her turkish coffee 'prediction' readings, something my dear grandmother used to do and something my dad has taken over a bit. Quite interesting, we'll see if what she says comes true (can't say outloud otherwise it might not come true! hehe).
Besides other Iftar's, also had a 50th birthday celebration for my lovely Dubai friends Steph and Jez at Top Chef Dubai, basically a little cooking program where you more or less cook the dinner you will eat with a Chef who gives you little tips, and then eat it! Quite a unique experience and we all really enjoyed! Our menu was an appetizer crab salad with avocado, beef wellington and a yummy pistacacio ice cream with nectarines. Delish!
And as always, every summer somehow get a new craze with my 'cooking.' This summer it is a spiralizer! Basically this super light and relatively cheap gadget that has different blades that you can make zucchini noodles (or zoogles if you will, ha ha), and 'slice' things like cucumber, sweet potatoe, beatroot in more 'fancy' little spirals and such. Tried it once and again, I looove simple things that can spice of a salad!
All righty, back to organizing and doing random bits and bobs around my apartment. Am becoming quite a home body as again, want to appreciate my apt while I have it. But then again, as always, the days are flying by and never seem to be getting done all that I want to do!
Ramadan Kareem!!!!!
p.s. Random and unrelated, but here's a pic of my Dubai Creek Striders family at a recent brunch we went to celebrate a couple of our runners that did a 89km (55mile!) run! Wowza!!
