Ramadan

I probably should have talked about this before. Oh well, here it is.
I'm doing Ramadan this year, the Islamic month of fasting. It's very interesting, it's changed my perception on a lot of things.
One is levels of hunger; I don't consider myself hungry until I'm truly unable to think of anything else because it's impossible to ignore the pain in my stomach. Where I once said, "I'm starving!" I now notice the feeling impassively and go on with my work - it's not important. Also, the psychological difference between can't eat and won't eat is huge. When, for example, I was in Florence and fasting, I tried to ignore the hunger until 6:30, when I suddenly became ravenous and searched for food like a maniac, and if I couldn't find it, I was furiously frustrated. It wasn't that I was more hungry, it was that I could eat but wasn't.
Another is my take on food in general. Wow. Do any of you know how gloriously wonderful an apple or a piece of bread is? Have you savored every bite of it, reveling in the foreign sensation of something in your mouth? Food is so good! I'm amazed that I've taken it for granted for so long.
There's a strange psychological/physical dynamic about evenings in Ramadan. After one meal, I'm full, but I want to/need to keep eating. It's like my head is hungry but not my stomach. In the beginning, this ended with me having a constant bellyache - in the day because I was hungry, and in the night because I was too full. But now I've figured out a pretty good balance of eating and not eating at night, and so I'm relatively comfortable all the time except the 3ish hours before I can eat again.
My favorite hour of the day is now 5:30 to 6:30 - half an hour before I can eat and half an hour after. It's wonderful to count down the minutes until you can eat, and that moment of finally putting something in your mouth is heavenly. Then the half-hour after is great too, because you can eat happily and heartily without worrying about getting overfull. (after that I have to start controlling myself)
And it's more than half over. I'm enjoying it a lot, but I will be very happy to see it end. I really miss breakfast and lunch, and the weird eating schedule is making me fat. :(
It's really great bonding time with the Arabs, sharing break-fast and late night snacks. My rooma is surprised each day that I fast - she keeps thinking that I'll give up half way through. Ha.
Funny how much impact it's had on my dreams. Nearly every night for the first weekish, I dreamed about forgetting and breaking my fast unintentionally, and I still have those dreams periodically. you'd think the subject would be exhausted by now, but there seem to be endless variations on what food I accidentally eat and when. Very interesting.
And now all this talk about food is making me hungry and I still have 3 hours to go. ug.
Ciao!