The gift of Ramadhan and Syawal

Entering the third week of Syawal, I am still occupied with open houses and invitations. There was never a dull weekend for quite a while. 

I had friends over at my house one weekend, and another weekend allocated for my colleagues. Yesterday, my family flew all the way from Alor Setar to get together again.  

As I was driving back home from a nice open house session earlier today, I felt blessed to have had the opportunity to spend quality time with people I cared for the past few weeks. 

Ramadhan gave us the opportunity to be closer to Him. At the same time, it also gave us the opportunity to reconnect with the community we live in. After Iftar sessions we got to see people at mosques for Tarawikh. During Eid, we see relatives that we usually see once a year. 

Personally, I just feel like these two months are truly a gift from Allah. It is up to us if we want to make full use of it, before we all go back to be busy and never have the opportunity to spend quality time with family and friends. 

Alhamdulillah. 

Ramadhan in Japan

This is my first time fasting in a foreign country and Japan is certainly a very interesting country to explore Ramadhan.

Unlike my last trip 2 months ago, the temperature now is burning hot. I'd say the weather is pretty similar to Malaysia.

Halal food can be quite a challenge, but it's not impossible. For the record, food is particularly tricky with me coz I don't eat seafood. Chicken & beef only.

I stumble upon a nice little Indian restaurant last night for my Iftar -comfort food!

Imsak is at 3:00am (very early!). And Iftar is at 6:48pm.

Think I'm going for Indian food again tonight.

Selamat berpuasa!