ramadan here is not the same as it is in atlanta... i "felt" ramadan a lot more in atlanta than i do here - besides being more excited about everything in general (iftars, tarawee7, etc), i also felt more motivated overall. ramadan here just isn't the same -- it really doesn't even compare.
but its not just ramadan that isn't even the same... its really everything. life in general doesn't compare to what it was back home in atlanta... everything is totally different now.
today marks 2 months of being here... and i am not really adjusted yet. maybe its just a matter of time... maybe. or maybe not... i really don't know.
today though, mansoor and i cooked chicken for iftar. and i was the one cutting the onion. so as i started peeling the skin off the onion, everything was fine. but once i started cutting it, i began having difficulty keeping my eyes open, and i had to struggle to cut the rest of the onion.
and once the onion was cut and the chicken was cooked and maghrib came and we ate, the food we made was (believe it or not) really good. and i realized something... this "onion" situation could (perhaps) hold a large parallel to what i am experiencing now.
at first when i was coming here and when i first got here, i was really excited about the new place, the new job, the new environment, and so on (peeling the skin off the onion). but once i started diving into the lifestyle fully (cutting the onion), i began to realize how much i miss what i had and how i really want to be back home rather than be here (the onion irritating my eyes). but perhaps, after some time, after some patience (continuing to cut the onion with my eyes half closed), and after washing my eyes out (resolving the situation within myself), i maybe able to go on with my life as normal (cook the food), and enjoy the benefits of life here (eat the food) and realize that it isn't all so bad and that there are good things here too (realize that our food is tasty even if its not mama-G quality).
so that's my $0.02 for the day. i don't know. i am hoping that eventually i come out of this. apparently, its not just me though... a few of the friends i've made here amongst the new college grads have told me that they are struggling with the same thing. and i am sure that even those who haven't mentioned it are going through it too.
i don't know... maybe things like this just take time and patience...