Breakfast!

Tonight I was invited by Fawwaz, our interpreter, and some of the guys we are training, to break the fast with them. WOW!!!

Every night, at about 6pm, the Iraqi’s that are fasting break the fast with a big meal. The idea is that they get together with their families and those that they are close to, to share and bond with them in the breaking of the fast.

The fast is meant to be a time when they take control of their physical urges and really purge the bad stuff out and focus on being better people. When they break the fast, nightly with family, they can share their daily struggle and learning with those they love, care about and respect. That said, just being invited was a privilege and an honor.

6pm rolls around and the minaret’s start blasting evening prayers to announce prayer time and the ending of the day’s fast. We make our way around about a 6’ by 6’ blanket spread out on the floor and sit, bare footed around the outside, and eat. Now mind you, we didn’t have our own plates. What we did was, take a piece of bread, kind of shaped like a flat football, broke it into bite sized pieces and dipped it into the prepared food like you would dip a chip. In some cases, you would just eat straight out of the bowl with your spoon, if it was a dish that didn’t stick to the bread that well.

The foods were mostly made from olives or olive oils, tomatoes, potatoes and other vegetables. There were a couple dishes with meat, rice and other vegetables in them to add variety. It was great! There seemed to be little conversation because everyone was busy eating, but what was said was through smiling acceptance. There were four Marines, Fawwaz and two other Iraqi’s there around the meal.

The Marines I came here to replace are leaving tomorrow, so there will be another breaking of the fast one last time with them. I am STOKED. I will do my best to write on the new things we do there, but it should be relatively the same.

Semper Fi,
m