Family gatherings are one of the most precious aspects of Ramadan. During Ramadan, family members come closer spending a lot of time together. Gathering around the Iftar table, praying Al-Maghrib together, and watching TV while having dessert is simply priceless.
But sometimes life forces you to spend those memorable moments alone, far away from your family and loved ones. Here are some of the worst things about living alone and spending Ramadan away from your family:
- Cooking for yourself.
One of the worst things about living alone is having to cook for yourself. Imagine how painful this can be; multiply that to the power of 100 in Ramadan. Not just because you suck at cooking, but you also sometimes end up burning the food. This can be one of the most heart-breaking feelings you’ll ever experience, particularly when you’re fasting. Of course, there will be certain types of food which you crave but cannot cook like ma7shy, molokheya, and mesa2a3a.
- Washing the dishes.
As if cooking for yourself is not enough punishment, you have to wash the dishes as well. I know people who wouldn’t get married to avoid this particular chore!!
- Eating alone.
You get to eat your burned food alone…yaaaay!!
You sit alone at the table, or the couch (it makes you feel less lonely), talk to yourself or your pet if you have one. You could pretend that your pet is an actual person and talk to him; being a lunatic is way better than being lonely!!
- No home-made desserts.
No more home-made desserts; no home-made Konafa or Om Ali, not even Katayef…nothing!! You just finish your meal and maybe search for a bar of chocolate in the fridge.
- No pre-iftar naps.
No more naps for you. You come home from work extremely exhausted and in desperate need for a 15 minute power nap. You know that this nap might last for 2 days because there’s no one to wake you up in time for iftar, given that there’s food in the first place since you overslept and forgot to cook!!
- Sohour
Yes, Sohour is one of the trickiest things about spending Ramdan alone. You would like to sleep after Iftar, but again you’re afraid you might miss Sohour. If you actually didn’t turn off the alarm and woke up on time, you might be too lazy to make Sohour and end up just drinking a cup of milk or eating yoghurt.
But let’s look at the bright side; you might get to reunite with your family during the last couple of weeks in Ramadan. Don’t worry, they’ll stuff you with all the food you’ve missed out on.
