Ramadan in Bali & A Ha Story to Remember

It's the 3rd day of fasting here in Bali and so far it's been pretty good. It all seems like business as usual here because the majority of Balinese are Hindus. But on the first day of Ramadan, while I was out and about, I did get a lot of 'Happy Ramadan' & 'Happy Fasting' wishes from friends & strangers including the cashier & parking attendant. I thought that was just lovely! :)

I wake up at close to 5am to prepare for Sahur - something I have to make sure I do because my mum is here and she needs to take her morning medications and we break-fast at about 6.18pm Bali time. So, woohoo! :p

Friends & family back home have been wondering if we have Pasar Ramadan (food stalls selling breakfasting goodies) here. YES, apparently there is one near our house. Not just that, we also have Pasar Sahuran dong (food stalls selling pre-dawn goodies) and I was told they are pretty awesome.

However, we haven't checked them out yet. The main reason for this is because we are trying to eat healthier & lose some weight. We've been talking, talking, talking about it but it's really hard for me to resist those cookies & cream ice cream for dessert or put lots of butter & cream in my pasta. So while we're discussing our personal goals during the eve of Ramadan, Michael made an executive decision to really start this healthy business now. We're trying to cut back carbs & processed food and include lots of fresh ingredients.

I still cook what I used to cook like Bakso noodles on the 1st Ramadan and roasted chicken last night. But I cooked 1 instead of 2 packets of noodles and baked 1 potato each instead of 3. I also included lots of vegies and made no-added sugar fruit juices and fruit salad ( does this make you wanna go 'watermelon, watermelon' too?)

So it's only been 3 days but man, I MISS MY CARBS!!! :p Im so tempted to make some sweet stuff for breakfasting as well but I don't wanna ruin our (Michael in particular) diet. He has been really good with his food intake and he's even walking to and from work - about 40 mins each way as his Ramadan exercise. I haven't been doing anything (does putting Ayisha in & out of her carseat count?). Plus, he's really strict! So how lah!?

On the first day, I made chocolate banana bread. My justification were that the bananas were going off because Ayisha didn't want them anymore (salahkan anak pulak!) and that I gave almost half of it to the neighbour (tunjuk baik konon padahal guilty cause I made dessert and scared of his 'rolling eyes' disappointed look). Today, I feel like making bread & butter pudding WITH custard to go with my Mexican meal. But I can't let it sit there at the table and eat it while Michael looks on. It would make me feel worse if he did have any. Actually I'm more terrified of his rolling eyes. So am updating this blog to stop me from preheating the oven. (UPDATE: I did not make the pudding! How strong am I? :p)

That 1st day of Ramadan was also Ayisha's 1st day of school for the new intake. She's in the 2-3 year old class now called Moonbeam. I am a Little Star mum expert now as I just see her off to the classroom and leave. Didn't even peek after. (OK, the new classroom doesn't have a window that I can peek from!) She cried of course, as with other kids of all ages on their 1st day there. But the teacher said soon after it was all so quiet. No more sobs. Phew!

She is so much fun to play with nowadays. She'd point out to me all the cool interesting stuff from her seat while we're driving ie. 'look mum, look!' when she saw a toy shop. She reminded me of stuff ie. a bag of groceries left on the trolley after shopping. She copycats things that you didn't even notice you're doing. Like the other day I asked her to massage my feet. She did it for 5 seconds then asked me to do hers. Then she 'hang on a minute' me, picked up her book, laid back and pointed her feet to me to continue my massage!

I love that she understands and sometimes listens & obeys me. It feels like Im doing something right as her mum. hehehe. Like the other day on the flight back to Bali, she was singing her lungs out almost throughout the whole flight 'Where is Thumbkin, where is Thumbkin?'. When it started getting dark and the lights went off and things seemed pretty quiet, I was getting a little bit embarrassed by her singing so I told her to quiet down cause other people might be trying to sleep. She kept quiet for a while. Then came really close to my ears and whispered 'Where is Thumbkin, where is Thumbkin?' with one finger on her lips. Gerammmmmm tau....:)

I also had one proud mum moment upon arriving at Bali airport that day.

We requested wheelchair assistance for my mum but somehow, the Bali Air Asia staff didn't get the instruction and there was a lot of waiting around when we touched down. To make matters worse, the staff that did show up and attend to us has only been working there for 2 weeks and didn't have a clue on how to handle wheelchair situations. 

At one point, I was left by myself with Ayisha and my mum in a wheelchair and was asked to follow a custom officer who was walking way ahead of us in the midst of the crowd. I carried Ayisha to catch up to the officer and tried to push my mum at the same time. I thought I'd be ok because I've pushed trolleys many times before while carrying Ayisha but I was going nowhere with the wheelchair. 

Just as I started to push and trying to keep up with the officer, Ayisha suddenly shimmied down from me and said 'Ha down, mum push Jiddah' complete with hand gestures. I was so so touched I could cry!! I was going to put her down & try move us anyway but her thoughtfulness & awareness filled my heart with enormous gratitude that this little person can be so very considerate.

Later on, she held on to my shirt and was almost running trying to keep up with us whilst giggling away. The officer, who probably just noticed & felt sorry for Ayisha who kept bumping into strangers and trying to hang on tight to me, picked her up and went way ahead of us. Ayisha would normally hesitate & cry if taken by strangers abruptly, but she turned to me, giving me this 'Im ok mum' look with the biggest smile, my paranoia of her being taken away from me forever subsided.

I know this might seem trivial to some but I want to treasure this moment especially for my wonderful Ha. This is so you won't EVER forget how special you are and how very proud you made me. :) Thank you, Squeaky!