Ramadhan in Jakarta

Yesterday, I blog about my experience on fasting in US during the summer. It was tough. Long hours and very hot, but I survived. And today, I would like to share a little bit about fasting in Jakarta. 

How did I end up in Jakarta? Well, I was there on work assignment in 2006, and I would say that the assignment was very valuable as I learned about Indonesian cultures and people. Eventhough, it took me away from my family I have no regret at all.

If in US, because it was in summer, the fasting was more than 12 hours, but in Jakarta, I felt the day passed by very fast. 

I was lucky to stay in stayed in a hotel with kitchen facility. Hehe.. I didn't cook because it was no fun cooking only for me. So most of the time, I eat outside with my friends. I only cooked when I really missed Malaysian food.

Fasting in Jakarta was totally difference experience compared to here. When I first saw someone who I know a Muslim (a lady), and went out to eat during daytime, I was shocked. You will never see that happened in Malaysia. The religious department might haul you if you caught eating in public. But in Jakarta, it was common for people to eat in public if you are not fasting. 

The first time someone approached me and said, "Bu, Selamat menyambut Ramadhan Mubarak dan minta maaf ya," I was stunt. My replied, "Oh ya?" because I'm not used to it. After few people came and did the same thing, then only I know that's their culture. 

During my one month fasting in Jakarta, I didn't see any hawkers or stalls set up to sell food for breaking fast. Maybe, it was because I stayed in the city center, that’s why I didn't see any. I did asked around, but nobody can tell me exactly where it was, or they don’t understand what I asked.

So, most of the time, I ended up eating either at the restaurant near the hotel or at the Plaza Semanggi. Sometimes, I just packed the food and ate alone in my room. After a few days, I started to get tired of eating almost the same food. Hey! I’m not that adventurous with food, so I tried to avoid those that I have never tried before.

One good thing was the hotel where I stayed offered meals for sahur. They will send the meal to my room at 4am in the morning, but I need to order the food before 11pm. At first, I was so excited, but after two weeks, I couldn’t look at the food. I ended up eating bread for my sahur. Actually, I don't mind eating bread because when I’m back in KL that’s what I normally take during sahur.

Since Indonesia has the most Muslim population in the world, the activities at night were the best. The city becomes alive with activities. Throng of people went for Terawih’s prayer, and I could hear people reciting Quran too from my room, and their TV channels ran until morning where they had live shows while waiting for sahur. They mainly have comedians during the show to keep people awake.

During my stayed there, I also learned that, in most of the villages in Indonesia, the male youths went around the village with a drum, shouting ‘Sahur! Sahur!’, to awake the people for sahur. I’m not sure whether we have it here or not. But I think it was a good community service by the youths.

It was a great experience fasting in Jakarta where I learned new things about their culture.

Zara and her first attempt at fasting

Alhamdulillah, the kids get through the first day of Ramadan without any problem. For Zaki, this is the first time he fast the whole day while Zara was only for a short while.

The night before, they were very excited and can’t wait for sahur (the early-morning meal). Since they need to last the whole day, I cooked rice and fried some curry puff.

I woke up at 4.15am this morning. Actually, I wanted to get up at 4.45am, but my dear hubby set the alarm at 4.15am. This gave me ample time to fry and heat whatever food that we have during dinner. The kids didn’t get down until thirty minutes later. Zaki and Amir were the first to sit at the table.

“Where’s Zara?” I asked.
“Still sleeping,” said Zaki.
“Eh! Better get her up. She wanted to fast,” I said.

So, off went Syafiq to wake his little sister up. When she reached the kitchen, her eyes were still closed. She sat quietly while the rest were already eating their food.

“What do you want? Rice?” I asked.

She shook her head and pointed to curry puff. I gave her one piece, and she ate slowly. She was still eating her curry puff when the boys finished their food. I offered her one more curry puff, but she doesn’t want. She said she wanted her milk. 

I thought she would go back to sleep after she had her milk, but she, Amir and Zaki decided to play, and they kept on disturbing me. I have to ask them not to disturb me as I was sleepy. I only had four hours of sleep before I got up for sahur.

When I was about the leave for work, Zara quietly came to me and said she wanted her milk again.

“Eh! Aren’t you fasting?” I asked.
“I am, but I want susu,” she said.
“No. You cannot eat or drink anything if you fast. Why not wait until 12pm, okay?” I said, and she agreed.

At 10am, she called me at the office, and said she wanted her milk. Since she is only five, I told her that she can have her milk, and to ask her Uwan to make the milk. 

Since she didn’t want Zaki and Amir to know, she quietly told her Uwan, and had her milk downstairs before joining the boys watching TV.

At 3pm, she called me again, and said she wanted her milk. I asked her to eat something before she got stomach upset, and no milk. No objection because she must be very hungry. Hah! Normally she would eat in front of the TV, watching the Indonesian drama, but this time she told her Uwan that she would have it in the kitchen. She didn’t want anyone to know that she was not fasting. Smart little girl!

During iftar, she wanted exactly like what Amir and Zaki had, and told me that she wanted to get up for sahur again tonight. Heh! I don’t think I want to wake her up because tomorrow is a school day. She might use sleepiness as an excuse not to go to school.