Saturday 17 August 2013

Ramdan's Jetlag

You remember from few blogs away when I mentioned that we were staying up till five in the morning in Ramadan? well, that killed every drop of sleep from our heads, and most of us were really tired.  Now that nine days had past, we started to feel ok, and we can sleep in our regular sleeping time, and wake up in our regular waking up time.  One person had no problems at all, it was my husband, he will not budge, he sleeps on time and wakes up on time, Ramadan or no Ramadan.

When I started to travel long distances and started to feel the jetlag, I couldn't understand it, I didn't know that the body has a certain biological ticks, that work like a clock.  Once you change your habits the clock will not function, you need to start moving backward (or forward) slowly till the clock adjust itself.  I wonder if there are tablets for this? as its quite annoying really.

This year Eid was really great,we had two for the price of one.  Even though two of my kids were not here, we still enjoyed it, and with the advent of technology, they could see the food, check the photos and know who was gathering and what they were wearing, etc.  Of course as one professor once told me, we can never hug a picture of a son or daughter, we can never smell the rose that we see on TV, and we can never feel the sand of the beach unless we are actually walking on it and not through someone else's eyes.

Also, because we follow the lunar calendar, it means that we must see the moon then we break our fast, those that don't see the moon continued their fast, which meant that we must have two Eid lunches with friends and family gathering in our place for those two days.  It was wonderful, my friends from Abu Dhabi were here and while their little son was chasing Micky, and their little new born baby was crying, we were continuously talking and chattering away about so many things that I don't really remember, and I don't think that what we were saying needed to be remembered.  To me this is the best thing about any gathering, we talk for the sake of talking and not for arguments or for scientific research.

Two points are worth mentioning here, firstly we give money to kids during Eid (instead of gifts), this year I got 3x 500 dirhams from my daughter, her husband and my brother Hasson (who we adore as he is the organiser and technology geek in the family).  I felt like a child really, and enjoyed my money by spending it.  The second point is that we must wear new cloths during Eid! yes we must in actual fact when we were little we had only three times in the year that we buy new dresses, once when we start school, once during Ramadan's Eid, and once during Eid Alhaj, but with my menopause, I need cotton and lightweight materials.  My mum, decided that to buy me a dress, what she bought was lovely, it was red (my favourite color) and was made of georgette material.  I wore the dress, took the pictures, modelled it to the group for 5 minutes then apologised and changed into my comfortable robe made from cotton.  Everyone laughed at me for doing that, but I for once didn't care about having a new thingy on.  My comfort was more important. However, I hate menopause.

Will talk to you again about our customs and traditions next Eid.  Indulge in the pictures as they are really nice.



























3 comments:

  1. Mashaallah beautiful pictures of a very loving family. Made me feel homesick!!.... Noddy.

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  2. Beautiful photos. Thanks for sharing them with your readers.

    For jet lag...you may want to try melatonin tablets. It is a good supplement to treat jet lag and insomnia. Melatonin is produced naturally in our bodies and as we age we produce less.

    Velva

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  3. Hello Velva, I have been away for a long time, and didn't check y blog or even write one since I posted this article. i hope you are doing well. I am coming to America tonight on business to tour our universities. not sure f you are in those areas or not, I would love to meet you and have your lovely recipes. as for melatonin, I think i have too much of it already. I can sleep like a log anywhere anytime

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