June Challenge: 30 days of fasting

As the previous challenge made me completely ignore this blog (with a record low of two blogs posted in the entire month) I am glad that it is over. While I will soon post more about last month’s challenge, let’s now have a look at my new challenge,which I am slightly nervous about, to say the least.

The good thing is that this month’s challenge won’t (hopefully) take a lot of my time, so in addition to the challenge I am hoping to also find some more time to update my blog. That said, it might take a lot of my energy, so we will see how it goes!

On Monday or Tuesday, the Muslim holy month of Ramadan starts, and as Ahmed will be fasting this month I decided to join in and make it my challenge of the month! (So yeah, I haven’t started this month’s challenge yet and will continue until the end of Ramadan, around July 7, if I am strong enough.)

Balilah - a traditional Ramadan dish containing chickpeas, pickles, vinegar, and (optional) hot sauce

Balilah – a yummy Ramadan dish containing chickpeas, pickles, vinegar, and (optional) hot sauce

It is not the first time I will be fasting for an entire month, but the times I did this I was living in Saudi Arabia, where day and night almost invert in Ramadan: During the day, people work less, sleep in, restaurants are closed, and no one eats or drinks in public. At night, people go out, get together, do their shopping, and – although this is not in the spirit of Ramadan at all – eat a lot.

Iftar, or breaking of the fast, at my in-laws. (Rest assured our iftar table is not gonna look like this unfortunately!)

Now in New Zealand, we are lucky that Ramadan is in our winter and days are short. On the other hand, fasting in a non-Muslim country seems a little daunting to me, and I honestly doubt I can (or want to) do it for an entire month. So while this may be the first challenge of the year I am not going to succeed, I think it is worth giving it a try and encourage myself to at least fast a portion of the month. I am actually quite excited to do a very challenging challenge!

Here are a few more photos I took during Ramadan while living in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. If you would like to read more and see some more photos of previous Ramadans I spent in Jeddah, you can check out these posts: