Ramadan started last week, and it lasts until July 17, which is the date of Eid al-Fitr (not to be confused with Eid al-Adha. I had no idea there were two Eids before moving here.). Eid al-Fitr is one of the main holidays in Islam, and Ramadan is the period of fasting that leads up to it. In terms of religious holidays, just like Christmas is the big one for Christians, Eid al-Fitr is the big one for Muslims. From what I understand anyways; I could be wrong.
During Ramadan, Muslims fast from sunrise to sunset, which here is about 6:30 am to 6:45 pm. One afternoon, we walked to our favorite bakery, Holey, which caters to expats and is open during Ramadan. All the usual market and tea stalls along the way were still there, but they were covered in tarps. You could see some people behind the tarps drinking tea, although there was definitely less hustle and bustle than normal. This is the first time I’ve been in a predominantly Muslim country during Ramadan, and it is interesting.
I am not observing Ramadan, and now that we are settled into our apartment, I’ve started doing some baking. I made a mango upside-down cake for our amazing social sponsors, which was so good I made a pineapple up-side down cake the next day for me and Nate. I’m sad to say that I made the cake 4 days ago and it’s almost gone… and Nate’s not much of a dessert eater, so, yes, I’ve eaten nearly the whole thing.
Not the best photo I’ve made of a cake, but tasty none-the-less!
This morning I made an apple coffee cake that is also really good. Nate likes coffee cake more than I do, so I’m really hoping that he’ll eat this one.
Whenever I’m cooking in our kitchen here, I’m always struck by the amount of garbage that we produce. This is primarily because, since moving to Dhaka, we don’t recycle anymore. Even worse, we don’t pick up after our dog.
A few nights ago, we were cooking dinner and Nate asked if we needed to save a glass jar. I said, “No, just toss it in the recycling.” His response was, “Um, don’t you mean garbage?” Right…. Currently in our garbage there is paper, a empty egg carton, a yogurt container, soda cans, and an empty milk box. I feel so guilty.
I’m able to rationalize not recycling here because there are people who go through the garbage and pull out the recyclables. Not that I think that picking through garbage should be something people have to do to survive, but, hey, at least someone is trying to make some money and also happens to be helping the environment.
And if we picked up after our dog, then we’d be walking around with a bag full of poop and no where to throw it away. We do our part, to the extent possible, and encourage Athena to take care of her business on the trash piles. But still, it feels strange and wrong.
Well I’m not really sure how this when from Islamic holidays to everything we’re doing wrong for the environment, but there you go, that’s my train of thought these days.
According to Athena 