Azhan's first time fasting

As mentioned in my previous post, tahun ni tahun kedua menunaikan ibadah puasa di bulan Ramadhan bersama Fadz dan anak2. Azhan pon nampaknye sudah belajar berpuasa. But for the time being, we asked him to fast only on the weekend cause I think it'd be much easier for him to perform it while he's away from school and his non-Muslim class mates. Setakat ni, Azhan berjaya berpuasa penuh selama 4 hari. I know it may sound very little compared to young lads of his age back home in Malaysia. But do bear in mind that we're living in foreign soil where the Ramadhan fasting environment and spirit don't seem to exist at all.

I found it difficult to make Azhan understands the meaning and importance of fasting during the holy month. I remembered trying to explain to him about the rationale of performing this task as a Muslim on the previous Saturday. It was the first day that he started to experience the feeling of fasting for the entire day. His daddy promised him that if Azhan managed to fast from dawn till dusk, he'd reward Azhan £2 for each day. Azhan took up this challenge upon learning the reward should he succeed. But by mid-day after spending the entire morning walking from one shop to another doing our grocery shopping, Azhan started to plead if he could have a sip of drink. He kept complaining of how thirsty and starving he was.

I tried to comfort him by telling him the importance of performing of this rather difficult task. I told him that the Muslims been summoned to fast so that we'd realise how fortunate we are compared to those living in poverty whom couldn't even afford to buy food. My explanation might have sounded too grown-up for a seven-year old boy to comprehend that he kept asking when could he have a glass of water. Neither I nor Fadz gave-in to his pleading instead we pursuaded Azhan to lie down and have plenty of rest. We kept telling him it was just a few hours more to go for Iftar. Fadz had even diverted Azhan's focus from thirst and starvation to the reward that awaited him. I'm sure someday when Azhan is older, he'd have a better understanding of the concept of fasting.

Awa's visit

I should have written about Awa's visit since last week. But for some reason, I somehow couldn't get myself to writing. Perhaps Fadz's PC which constantly request for MS Word product key had put me off from noting down something special about her visit to Bury. Some of you may wonder, who exactly Awa is in my life. She is none other than Fadz's youngest sister aka my sis-in-law. She's a medical student studying in Dublin. Initially, we planned to pay her a visit cause by Spring 09 she'd be heading back to Malaysia for good. So, we thought that it's best to spend our boys' summer holiday in Dublin while Awa is still staying in Dublin. Unfortunately, our financial obligation didn't grant us our wishful thinking. We thought it'd be more economical if Awa came to our place instead.

I hadn't seen Fadz's lil sister for quite sometimes. If I'm not mistaken the last time I saw her was about a couple of years back before she left for Dublin. To be honest, I was never really that close to her as she's one of the quiet ones in his family. I think any wives in their rightful mind would be terrified about the idea of having their in-laws around especially those whom they'd never become close to. Somehow out of the ordinary, for this occassion I was excited about Awa's visit. In fact, I was looking forward to having her around.

Awa arrived at Manchester Airport on a Saturday afternoon. We took a bus to pick her up at the airport. If I recall correctly, she looked slimmer than I last pictured her. We stopped by the City for a while to do a little shopping and some window-shopping. Due to our petite nature, we found it hard to find clothes that perfectly fit us. We then headed home and had dinner which I'd prepared before we left for the airport.
On the following day, I took Awa to our little town to shop for some clothes. For once in my lifetime here, I had a shopping buddy who was more than happy to tag along my shopping journey. To be quite frank, I didn't shop anything for myself. It was more of a shopping treat for Awa. But I did have a wonderful time going from one shop to another and looked for the perfect dress and shoes for Fadz's sister. I didn't mind spending for her in return for the good deed that Awa did for us during her fortnight stay in Bury. She had helped baby-sit our two boys, walked them to and from school. And because of that I think she deserved to be treated with some shopping spree in our little town Bury.

Awa had returned to Dublin about three weeks ago. I kinda miss her company somehow especially during this fasting period. Sigh

Ramadhan datang lagi

Hari ini masuk hari ke5 berpuasa untuk Ramadhan tahun ini. Tahun ini juga merupakan tahun ke2 aku berpuasa di perantauan bersama suami dan anak-anak. Unlike other school children back home in Malaysia, An dan Nine masih belum diajar berpuasa dan kewajipan berpuasa. My hubby and I have been thinking about exposing An to the concept of fasting, tapi mungkin sekadar hari minggu sahaja sebagai melatih An untuk berpuasa. Inilah setback hidup diperantauan yang majority penduduknya non-Muslim. Suasana berpuasa bagaikan tidak wujud sama sekali. Hiruk pikuk pasar ramadhan sebaik habis waktu pejabat jauh sekali. Jauh di sudut hati ini, timbul juga rasa rindu pada masakan mak, suasana berhimpun kami adik-beradik untuk berbuka puasa bersama. Entah bila agaknya dapat merasai itu semua kembali.

If this year’s Ramadhan is my second time fasting here, it’ll be the third year in a row for my hubby. I’m sure he feels the same way about being away and having to spend our Ramadhan so far away from our close families back home. Pada awalnya, we’ve been planning to celebrate the end of next year’s Ramadhan in Malaysia thus reuniting us with our whole family for Hari Raya. Tapi disebabkan ada ahli keluarga yang besar kemungkinan akan melangsungkan perkahwinan dalam suku pertama tahun depan, jadi niat untuk beraya beramai-ramai terpaksa dibatalkan. Tak mengapa lah, barangkali lain tahun baru dapat beraya bersama mak abah dan adik-adik.

To all my friends back home in Malaysia, I'd like to wish "Selamat berpuasa. Moga ibadah tahun ini lebih baik dari tahun-tahun lepas"