And those are some big eyes

While our Hindu neighbors are celebrating their own holiday, I'm acclimating a week-in to my first Ramadan - quite late to the game as it technically started last month and ends any day now, I'm operating on the principle offered in many Qu'ranic teachings that any days missed during the month of fasting can be made up at the end. When it started I was sort-of indisposed (as women will be once a month) and during that time one is not expected to fast. If a person is travelling, injured, or sick they also, are not expected to fast but should make up the days at the end. (From the Qu'ran: "Specific days (are designated for fasting); if one is ill or traveling, an equal number of other days may be substituted. Those who can fast, but with great difficulty, may substitute feeding one poor person for each day of breaking the fast. If one volunteers (more righteous works), it is better. But fasting is the best for you, if you only knew.")

I'm not really 'expected' to do anything but am doing my best to experience a wide range of Muslim events, rites, and rituals during my first year within Islam.

The idea is that a person will wake up at the early morning, perhaps eat and drink something, pray, and then not eat or drink anything again until the late afternoon prayers have been completed. Sex and smoking are also on the no-list during this time. I've quit smoking, and the rest is none of your business.
Participation in Ramadan is considered an expression of personal fortitude and is a month of self regulation.
I'm not quite on that page of waking up at four a.m. (and unfortunately I don't yet know the prayers) but I am fasting from the time I wake up until the time of the evening assan, and I'm hungry!

I'm hungry, but not going to die (remembering the UNICEF lunch days in Catholic grade school intended to keep us mindful of all the empty stomachs in the world with a single cup of chicken noodle soup for lunch instead of our wonder bread tuna fish frito lay chocolate pudding with an apple lunches...or whatever. Sometimes my mom would pack Twinkies and Funyuns, my favorite combination.)

When I started observing Ramadan, each day I was really struggling after a few hours, especially if I'd woken up earlier than usual but not early enough to be able to eat. Still, I waited, and waited - asking Hamid every hour and then some what time it was, waiting to hear the faint sound of voices carrying the evening prayer song to us from the nearby mosque.
But now, when the day has passed and I finally order dinner, I'm more relaxed with my meal and taste it with much more zeal than were it any other normal day when I might eat three or more times. And now that my body has adjusted to the process I find that I have more energy, less internal issues, and a clearer mind. I am more in tune with my self, my thoughts, and the world around me - rather than dulling it all with the constant intake and stimulation of food. I see it as a sort of active meditation. And while the Qu'ran doesn't prescribe fasting with any specific medical benefits in mind, they are certainly there.

The only really difficult part now is to stop obsessing over what I want to eat in the evening and then trying to keep the 'eyes bigger than the stomach' thing to a minimum.