a day in the life

Okay this will be my second post today. I just happen to have extra time these days. I'm still on summer vacation, my son and I are up all night and sleeping most of the day(we still haven't adjusted back to Riyadh time since our trip to the US), and while he's taking over the TV, I get online. So I'll enjoy all this blogging for now because I'm sure once I go back to work, I won't have all this extra time.

Anyway, as promised I'm going to write some more about Ramadan. I thought I could share with you what a day during Ramadan is like for someone here in Riyadh. Here goes:

• An hour or two before the sun rises, we eat a meal. The meal could vary depending on what your family's traditions/habits are. Some families eat a big meal of rice and lamb, while others eat a breakfast type meal. We usually eat something pretty light in our house.


• Once the sun begins to rise our fast starts. We also pray the morning prayer. After this, most people go back to bed or start their sleep if they've been up all night (someone like, oh let's see...me?). For those who work daylight hours, they would wake up and go to work depending on their hours.


• There is an afternoon prayer and a late afternoon prayer. We pray both of these at their times.


• After the late afternoon prayer we start preparing food for the breaking of the fast. I remember how crazy I was trying to do this with a 2 month old baby who had colic. I somehow managed. I really appreciate that we have housekeepers who help with this now.


• Shortly before the sun begins to set, we set the table with some light things to eat, water, and juice. Here, we eat dates, Arabic coffee which is accompanied with something sweet (we have one sweet thing each day, today we had homemade mini cinnamon rolls...yummy!), and juice (yesterday and today we had delicious pomegranate juice).


• Once you hear the call for prayer, you may break your fast. People usually say some prayers right before this.


• Shortly after we break our fast, we pray the sunset prayer and then set up for a light dinner.





• Everyone eats a light meal together, we eat soup (we usually have lamb soup and a white creamy chicken soup) and appetizers filled with meat, chicken or veggies. There are many families who will have a larger meal with rice and lots of side dishes. Again, it depends on your family's traditions.


• Here in Saudi there is a show that comes everyday during Ramadan. It's usually comedy but sometimes they touch upon issues that are more serious. It's tradition to watch this show after the meal in our house.


• Family tend to hang out together at home until the last prayer of the day, the night prayer. There's only about 1 1/2 hrs between the sunset and night prayers.


• During Ramadan, there are extra prayers performed at the mosque after the night prayer. It's common for men and women to go to the mosque and pray these extra prayers.


• After the night prayer, Riyadh becomes CRAZY. :-) People go out shopping, visiting family and friends, etc. Traffic is also crazy and I personally do not like going out too much during this time. If I do, I like to pick places that aren't as busy.


• Some families, such as ours, eat a dinner somewhere between 10pm and midnight. We usually have chicken or lamb, rice, and salad.


• A lot of people will go to bed sometime after midnight and wake up to eat something light before the sunrise. Other people will stay up all night and sleep after sunrise.

So there you have it. A general summary of a day in Ramadan. It's important to remember that this is according to my family and how we do things. Every family and every culture has their own way of doing things. When I lived in the US during Ramadan, things were a bit different. And that's okay, too. ;-)