ramadan.in.nl
First ramadhan always differs from one authority to others and so does in the Netherlands here. Well, I don't want to offer debate here, as people have their own authorities to follow on. It is my first fasting out of my homeland. And I found it quite difficult especially at the first days. Now I can feel the luxury of fasting in home with family and friends. But so far, I managed myself to do it for the whole days. Even one week has unexpectedly passed by.
I have to say that I, physically, don't have a lot of troubles keeping myself from drinking and eating. Even if I have to biking from one place to another. I also enjoyed a futsal game with my colleagues here in one afternoon before the dusk. However, if we talk fasting spiritually it is surely unbearable, I have to admit.
You can imagine when mostly women here wear lower-rise jeans that offer their folds of skin around lower part of their body. They are not hesitate to show off their body shape and even their strings! Not difficult to think as it is now at the end of summer when sun still offers its light. Until a windy and colder weather comes, they will wrap their bodies with thicker clothes. It is so my eyes can hardly say fasting.
Not once do I have to answer questions why I don't eat and drink. My Colombian and Dutch mates thought it awkward to stop eating and drinking during daylight. My answer were sometimes 'do googling yourself'. But, not for some other Dutch friends. They are familiar with this season. At one early morning before the dawn, my corridor's mate found me cooking. He only nod his head when I told him I took my breakfast. Afterward, he took a meal from fridge too maybe for his supper anyway.
Almost all supermarkets provide dates, not only at Muslim's store such as Zamzam, an Islamic store that provide halalan foods. Two days ago, I was wondering myself if I got kolak for my breakfasting. To my surprise, while I chatted an invitation to breakfast was coming. You know what the menu was? Alhamdulillah, that's kolak sampeu (ubi kayu, Manihot). You may wonder how come sampeu is available here? Netherlands or West Europe in general is a tropical fruits haven. You can find everything you want, but of course, with a more or less expensive prices than those of their home products.
Muslim population in the Netherlands is increasingly rising nowadays. The are mostly immigrants from Turkey, Morroco, and North African countires. They were allowed to stay because the Netherlands needed a larger work force in 1970s and 1980s. But, the first group established the muslim community is Indonesian, whom they were studenten during the colonisation time. It is so that now Muslims in the Netherlands become a lot bigger. According to the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) Netherlands, "There were 945,000 Muslims living in the Netherlands on 1 January this year (2004), double the amount in 1990. The number is expected to reach 1 million in 2006.", Wikipedia writes.
So people do ramadan fasting is larger. Even I found a website www.ramadan.nl poster at the entrance of Ede's trainstation to inform all people that ramadan has come.
I have to say that I, physically, don't have a lot of troubles keeping myself from drinking and eating. Even if I have to biking from one place to another. I also enjoyed a futsal game with my colleagues here in one afternoon before the dusk. However, if we talk fasting spiritually it is surely unbearable, I have to admit.
You can imagine when mostly women here wear lower-rise jeans that offer their folds of skin around lower part of their body. They are not hesitate to show off their body shape and even their strings! Not difficult to think as it is now at the end of summer when sun still offers its light. Until a windy and colder weather comes, they will wrap their bodies with thicker clothes. It is so my eyes can hardly say fasting.
Not once do I have to answer questions why I don't eat and drink. My Colombian and Dutch mates thought it awkward to stop eating and drinking during daylight. My answer were sometimes 'do googling yourself'. But, not for some other Dutch friends. They are familiar with this season. At one early morning before the dawn, my corridor's mate found me cooking. He only nod his head when I told him I took my breakfast. Afterward, he took a meal from fridge too maybe for his supper anyway.
Almost all supermarkets provide dates, not only at Muslim's store such as Zamzam, an Islamic store that provide halalan foods. Two days ago, I was wondering myself if I got kolak for my breakfasting. To my surprise, while I chatted an invitation to breakfast was coming. You know what the menu was? Alhamdulillah, that's kolak sampeu (ubi kayu, Manihot). You may wonder how come sampeu is available here? Netherlands or West Europe in general is a tropical fruits haven. You can find everything you want, but of course, with a more or less expensive prices than those of their home products.
Muslim population in the Netherlands is increasingly rising nowadays. The are mostly immigrants from Turkey, Morroco, and North African countires. They were allowed to stay because the Netherlands needed a larger work force in 1970s and 1980s. But, the first group established the muslim community is Indonesian, whom they were studenten during the colonisation time. It is so that now Muslims in the Netherlands become a lot bigger. According to the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) Netherlands, "There were 945,000 Muslims living in the Netherlands on 1 January this year (2004), double the amount in 1990. The number is expected to reach 1 million in 2006.", Wikipedia writes.
So people do ramadan fasting is larger. Even I found a website www.ramadan.nl poster at the entrance of Ede's trainstation to inform all people that ramadan has come.
Comments
met puasa ya =)
terimakasih sudah berkunjung =)
Farok in Amsterdam