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What better time than during Ramadhan, the Islamic Holy Month, to try on a hijab?
And get your photo taken with so many people!
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In solidarity with my teachers and students, I fasted for the entire month. While it wasn't too difficult not eating from 6am to 7:30pm, not drinking water in the Malaysian heat was. But I managed. And having the opportunity to break my fast with friends and families made everything worth it. I even got to teach how to cook Mexican food!
And then there was the evening of the school Iftar. All the teachers and some students returned to school for prayers and a joint breaking of our fasts. We sat on the floor in the surau, the Muslim worship hall on the school grounds, and ate delicious foods prepared by one of our own!
I wore a hijab again as a sign of respect for entering the place of worship.
Here we are lining up for our food. The women ate on one side of the surau, and the men ate on the other.
So it wasn't until after the meal when I was able to spend time with my male students. They are such fun, energetic individuals!
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There are many special foods during Ramadhan and Hari Raya at the end of the month. I taught some of my students how to bake Cream Cheese Cookies. It took us a while to get them right, but we did, and they were delicious!
And then we broke our fast together with dinner from the Bazaar Ramadhan!
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The Bazaar Ramadhan was a food market that stood in our town square for the duration of the month. Every day from 2pm until 7pm, there were many stalls selling various foods. I frequented the Bazaar quite often as I knew several of the people working and always saw some of my students.
One of the food stalls and the lovely ladies working it. They are selling traditional Malaysian foods.
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In addition to, or instead of, working at the Bazaar, many families will sell additional items during Ramadhan in order to have a some extra money for the Duit Raya, small money packets that are given to the children/unmarried individuals. Here I am with one of my teachers and her son selling periok kera.
These are periok kera, literally translating to "monkey pots." They are picked from the forests, washed, and filled with glutinous rice and coconut milk before being steamed.
After a long day of selling periok kera, we decided to go to the local waterfall to relax in the river. We had breath-holding competitions, splashing fights, and accepted the challenge to catch little fish with our bare hands. It was a successful mission.
Back at the house, we went to the garden to pick fruits. Here I am trying to get mangosteens from the tree using a long bamboo pole that is split at the end.
Soon enough, it was time to break our fast. I had the privilege of serving the rice, and then together we all enjoyed the food.
There are always so many options. And of course, everyone tells me not to be shy and to take more and more and more.
Perhaps the time most enjoyed by children is in the evenings when they can play with fireworks. There were sparklers, fireworks that stayed on the ground, and, if you're lucky, fireworks that shoot into the air
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Another night, I was invited to a students' house. She has 9 siblings, and two of them also attend my school. These are the three siblings who go to my school.
The night before I came, their extended family from Indonesia had arrived. There were nearly 30 people in the house. What a lovely, and occasionally loud, environment! We ate together on the floor, family-style.
And again, there were fireworks!
And they were clearly enjoyed.
Back inside the house, my students' mother and grandmother had returned from prayers. I was invited to try on the telkung, the traditional covering worn by women for prayers. Naturally, the occasion wasn't complete without some photos.
At the end of the night, the mother wanted to give me a gift. This is a painting done by her second oldest daughter and it's absolutely stunning.
In the morning, I met the family again at their durian farm. DUring the night durians fall from the trees and must then be collected.
Of all the durians we collected, I was only able to find one. I guess my eye is not trained to find durians yet! (My nose is however!)
There were also rubber trees in the forest. Some people were collecting the latex while we were there.
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ON the last night of Ramadhan, I joined one of my teachers and her family to prepare their Iftar meal. I learned how to cook rendang, a spicy, dry meat curry, and periok kera.
Here we are filling the periok kera with rice and coconut milk!
Time to eat. Her girls were adorable and quickly warmed up to me. I helped the oldest with her Englist homework before the night was finished.
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That same night, instead of going straight home, I decided to ride through the Malay neighborhoods where I know many of my students live. The next three hours were spent joking and laughing...
eating at one of the boy's house (more traditional foods)...
taking pictures, and playing guitar. I had to cut my night short at 1am as I had a train to catch at 3am and still needed to finish packing.
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Spending Ramadhan in Malaysia was incredible. It was a great opportunity to learn more about the Islamic faith, develop stronger relationships with my students and teachers, and become more fully engaged in the local culture. I say let's do it again!
