It is the first day of the Fast. 3:23 in the afternoon (duh)
2 hours and 15 minutes to go... actually, it's not so bad. As usual, we get all het up about it - dreading it (at least to a certain to degree: "how will I make it through?"), and then, well, you just do. It would be better if my throat wasn't sore, but I'm told I don't have strep - what can you do? Gargle, gargle, gargle.
Wow - I'm just drawing a blank. What to say... perhaps this is a side effect of the fasting.
Here's something I've been meaning to say for a while: sometimes I forget I'm in Israel. What's more, I easily forget that I am now living in the Middle East, on the Asian continent! I can go days without any Hebrew being spoken, and if I stick to my neighborhood I may not even see it on street signs.
What with everyone speaking English where I work - and a large number are from North America, plus these are the same people I "play" with, it can actually be sort of easy to forget. We have our own grocery store - so I rarely go to the public grocery stores.
It also doesn't look wildly different. Granted large parts of Israel are not exactly attractive (war-time buildings = UGLY!), most cities look like, well, cities. So I forget - until I miss my family and friends back home.... Even then, some of the people back in the States are cheaper to call from Israel than from home! Can you believe it? We've got set rates that the Baha'i World Centre has worked to get us - for every place under the sun (literally), and, fortunately for me, it is super cheap to call the U.S. Not that I call often, but at least when I do it is cheap.
Do you find fasting to be any different in Isreal as far as daylight hours? Does being in a Bahai community make it easier cause everyone you know(or just about) is fasting?
The daylight hours are about the same. It is somewhat easier because everybody else is fasting. It's also easier because we can sign up to have dinner in the cafeteria! (since they aren't making lunch...). Although I'm having a wicked time with headaches/migraines. I'm not actually hungry, I find, but that I have major cravings for water. Just water. Since I don't think the point of the fast is to end every evening with a migraine I am switching to just drinking water, unfortunately, I haven't actually seen any improvement... well, today's another day!