Community: Real Life

Hungry star bunny


Naomi

Naomi Prior, 23, is studying Arabic in Yemen for the next 12 to 18 months. Here, she tells us what life is like for an English woman in the intriguing Middle Eastern country.
Entry: 3
Date: 01/12/2006

Yemeni life turns upside-down during Ramadan. Still, at least Naomi can still tuck into a midnight chicken burger from Star Bunny.

"Are you fasting?" asked my Yemeni teachers, when the fasting month of Ramadan, the ninth month in the Islamic lunar calendar, started in October. "No, I'm not Muslim," I explained, assuming that would end the conversation. "You should try fasting," came back the response. "Believe me, you don't want to teach me Arabic when I've had no food and especially no coffee" I countered, trying to protect them from a horrible ordeal. However, undeterred, they continued urging me to fast. In the end I gave in and looked forward to having a more personal experience of Ramadan.

According to Ramadan.co.uk, Ramadan "is a time for spiritual reflection, prayer, doing good deeds and spending time with family and friends. The fasting is intended to help teach Muslims self-discipline, self-restraint and generosity. It also reminds them of the suffering of the poor, who may rarely get to eat well [...] Fasting during Ramadan did not become an obligation for Muslims until 624 C.E., at which point it became the third of the Five Pillars of Islam. The others are faith (Shahadah); prayer (Salah); charitable giving (Zakah); and the pilgrimage to Makkah (Hajj)".

My fasting experience began with a 4am mobile wake up call. "It's time for breakfast," my neighbour announced. I had frequently been woken up by the mosque calls around 4am, so was aware that this was the time when fasters had their final meal before a day of fasting. As I was rising from my bed I suddenly heard the mosque and panicked - the mosque signalled the start of fasting! I hadn't had my breakfast yet! Panicking even more, I scrambled for a long dress to put over my pyjamas, a clip to put up my hair and a scarf so I was presentable in a Muslim household for breakfast. I pegged it down the stairs, the mosque still sounding, bursting into my neighbours' house shouting in poor Arabic, "The mosque is calling, fasting is starting and I haven't had my breakfast!!!" My neighbours calmed me down, explaining this was the 'warm up call', so to speak, reminding fasters to have their last meal - suhoor - before fasting began.

Relieved, I stocked up with a typical Yemeni breakfast - beans, flat bread, egg and tea. My family had my best intentions at heart as they forced as much food, tea and water down my throat as possible. I felt like a participant in the Yemeni version of the British summer fête competition 'How many crackers can you eat in a minute?' I pushed away more food, explaining I wasn't used to eating so much at this time in the morning. My intake would have to do. As we ate, more sounds emanated from the mosque. This time, the Imam was reading from the Quran, the final warning that soon eating must cease. About 10 minutes later, another mosque call sounded, and all eating and drinking terminated. My family then talked me through Yemeni tactics for a day's fasting - sleep off as much as you can and soon it will be 6pm and time to break the fast. Unfortunately I had scheduled a work call for 8am so I was in for a harder day.

When I headed into school later that morning, I felt rather virtuous declaring I was fasting. My teachers seemed suitably impressed. I also benefited in another unforeseen way. Every time I made a mistake in class or forgot a word, my teachers excused me saying, "Oh, you're fasting." I rather enjoyed the day's reprieve from normally tough teachers. Alas, I could only benefit for one day.

Fasting was an interesting experience - there were times when I was really hungry, but it wasn't as tough as I thought. Although, a) I knew I was only fasting for one day and b) I deliberately chose a day with minimal activity. It would have been a lot harder if I was fasting in the height of the summer and outside doing lots of physical activity.

As ifta - the meal that breaks the fast - approached, I felt the excitement that all the other fasters feel, which you can often visibly see in their faces. My neighbours had kindly invited me to join them for the iftar meal at their house which gave me the full fasting experience. Iftar is a very sociable affair - Yemeni families take it in turn to host for their family and friends, spreading the work of preparing the feast amongst the women. That night was my neighbour's turn. At about 5:45pm thirty relatives, including children, descended on their home. The men peeled off into one room, the women into another. As a foreign woman I had the privilege of choosing who to dine with - this time I chose the women.

At 6pm when the mosques signalled the end of the fast, everybody ate some dates, providing a quick sugar rush into empty blood streams. The men and women then disappeared to pray, in separate places, leaving me to amuse the children with my comedy Arabic. After prayers, endless food piled in. I have been told that there is no strict format for iftar food but I've noticed that dates and sambosas (which are the same as 'samosas') always seem to feature though in Yemen. Not surprisingly I guess, I wasn't actually able to eat stacks of food - my stomach had gone beyond hunger by now. However, I was downing sugary fruit drinks in quick succession. Back at school the next day, I felt relaxed knowing I had nothing to prove anymore on the fasting stakes. Or so I thought...

"So, are you fasting today?" my teachers enquired. "No, I fasted yesterday, I thought I told you."

"You should fast again, it's good to repeat it." I couldn't believe it! No one was satisfied! I refused to fast anymore and went on fasting strike - maybe I'll do it for two days next year.

It wasn't just my dabbling with fasting that interested me during Ramadan. Yemen really turned upside down during Ramadan. As a local paper explained, it is when "Day becomes night and night becomes day". It wasn't just my neighbours who opted for the sleeping tactic - most of Yemen appeared to be doing the same. Now, this isn't me criticising the fasting practices of Yemenis - many Yemenis admitted openly that they 'cheated' when it came to fasting, compared to the rest of the Muslim world. Driving to school I felt immensely virtuous, being one of the first people up and about at 'dawn'. But 'dawn' was any time before noon when the streets were practically deserted and shops closed. My teachers were losing their patience with me for having no paper to write on but I simply couldn't work out when the stationery shop was actually open - clearly sometime after 2pm and before iftar at 6pm, but I never succeeded in the whole month arriving at the right time!

Getting up later meant Yemenis were going to bed far later. The down side for a non-faster who likes her sleep was the noise of people out and about until the wee hours, passing from party to party, especially towards the end of Ramadan. Another downside of Ramadan was the increased violence. Opinions are divided on how true this is but I did see fights on the street and jambiayas (traditional daggers) drawn, as did several friends. I hadn't seen this pre-Ramadan. Road accidents also went up, as tired and hungry drivers struggled to concentrate. The upside was a month of being able to attend to 'post-beer munchies'. Yeah, good point, not much beer to cause 'post-beer munchies' but one Wednesday night I was suffering from the above-mentioned affliction and muttered, "if only I could pop to the kebab van". "But you can", my friend enthused, "It's Ramadan". Sure enough, at midnight most eateries were open and doing a roaring trade. It was quite surreal tucking into a chicken burger in "Star Bunny" (yes, a complete take-off of "Star Bucks" - similar logo and everything!) in the early hours, the garden packed with families and children. The streets were buzzing with traffic when we piled out at 2am.

Yemeni hospitality, warm and humbling in normal times, went to another level during Ramadan. I was frequently invited to join in iftar with my teachers at our school but even virtual strangers offered me iftar. I was particularly touched when a security guard at an associated building pleaded with me to share in his iftar offerings, which his wife had carefully packed into his lunchbox. These people had been fasting all day, unlike greedy-face me, yet still enthusiastically wanted to share their iftar. One Yemeni friend told me you get extra credit if you share your iftar food with a non-faster. I haven't had this confirmed yet by any other Muslim friends, but if this is indeed correct, I think I've found my new vocation! In my own small way, I tried to give back some hospitality myself by inviting some Yemeni friends over for iftar. We experienced a new form of enlightenment during our iftar by making an exciting iftar culinary discovery - sambosas are delicious dipped in HP or Worcester sauce. Might catch on next Ramadan...


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