Ramadan

No eating from sunup to sundown, no listening to music, no dancing, no water, no sex, no cigarettes, no fun. That's right, it's Ramadan again. The Mandinkas call it Sungkaro which means the month of fasting. I tried it for one day, woke up at 5:30 and ate 2 protein bars, drank 2 liters of water, tried to move as little as possible throughout the heat of the day, ignored my angry stomach which was asking me "WHY?? whyyyyyy?? youre not muslim!!" and I made it unitl break-fast time... and then ate a whole box of macaroni and cheese. That was the last and only day of my personal Ramadan experience. I guess I don't have enough of the fear of God in me to keep it up.

There are still two weeks left and I've had lots of time to ponder Ramadan and I've come up with some positves and negatives of living in a Muslim country during the month of fasting:

The positives are as follows:

• If I want to be lazy and not walk around in the sun I don't need an excuse, I can just sit on the bantaba with everyone all day and do nothing.


• Not eating or drinking water keeps most of the bumsters at bay...no energy to chase me around.


• Break-fast is fun to watch. I make bets with myself everyday on how many handfulls of food each of my siblings can fit into their mouths in one minute. Mama (the 8 year old) is winning with 5...and I don't even think she's fasting


• Break-fast foods are DELICIOUS. Chicken sometimes, cold water and juice, tasty ground mystery meat, and beans.


• The markets are almost, dare I say, peaceful in the mornings because the usual women buying food to cook for lunch arent there.


• They arent allowed to listen to anything but religious music so I'm getting a break from the constant Jelibah, Rhianna, Vivianne, and other various annoying Gambian pop artists who are begining to cause an unwanted twitch


• Watching the Gambia vs. Congo football match. The Gambian team was fasting, Congo's was not. The Gambians still managed to kick their asses 3-0 while walking pretty much the whole game.

The negatives:

• Everyone is grumpy. Everyone.


• I am asked by every person that greets me if I'm fasting. And then why not... and screaming "BECAUSE I"M NOT A MUSLIM" and whispering it outloud usually isn't a good enough answer.


• No eating or drinking in public. I keep catching myself hiding behind bushes to take a sip of water as to not offend anyone.


• Only Arabic music, top volume, all. day. long.


• The one day I did fast (and then quit) they told me it wasnt really fasting since it was just for one day.

So, as from and outsiders perspective I guess I like Ramadan more than not. I can't understand how or why they do it but i would like to say keep it up. One less day of having to listen to fake reggae music give me one more day's worth of functioning strength. Thank you Ramadan.