Life here continues to be unpredictable and pretty dynamic. I think that for the past few months I have pretty much lived the life of an exchange student, although without the accompanying deadlines and exam stress. It feels though like a chapter that I am ready to close, and I am looking forward to a time of calm–devoted to some reflection. Luckily the Holy Month of Ramadan is nearing*; it will start in less than a week. Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, and it is a month in which all Muslims around the world are required to fast, meaning that they need to abstain from eating and drinking (yes, even water!), and that they need to restrain ‘every part of one’s physical body’ from dawn till sundown. It is ‘a time for Muslims to focus on purifying their soul through prayer and self-sacrifice’. I took the quotes from the website that I am including below, for those who want to have a simple overview of what this month entails even more.
I have been told that the summers here in Granada are really tough and super hot, but I remain optimistic. And today for example is a wonderfully cool day, so who knows how this summer will turn out to be.
What I have been up to lately? I traveled a bit more in Andalusia, participated in a nice weeklong training near Malaga, got to know more wonderful people. The latter never seems to stop, thankfully. Whether it is during a seminar, in a tea-house, at the mosque, sitting outside at a square or a view-point–I always get to know more and more people, and they are all wonderful souls. Each and every one of them and all of them teach me–in their own ways–new and often important things. It is nice though to reflect upon this, because these encounters are essentially little, valuable puzzle pieces, but it is also nice to just appreciate it and let it be.
I am intending on reading a bit more as well, and I recently finished reading a book by Khalil Gibran Khalil, a Lebanese writer. I would like to share the following excerpt of the book entitled ´The Prophet´:
On Joy & Sorrow**
Then a woman said, “Speak to us of Joy and Sorrow.”
And he answered:
Your joy is your sorrow unmasked.
And the selfsame well from which your laughter rises was oftentimes filled with your tears.
And how else can it be?
The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain.
Is not the cup that holds your wine the very cup that was burned in the potter’s oven?
And is not the lute that soothes your spirit, the very wood that was hollowed with knives?
When you are joyous, look deep into your heart and you shall find it is only that which has given you sorrow that is giving you joy.
When you are sorrowful look again in your heart, and you shall see that in truth you are weeping for that which has been your delight.
Some of you say, “Joy is greater than sorrow,” and others say, “Nay, sorrow is the greater.”
But I say unto you, they are inseparable.
Together they come, and when one sits alone with you at your board, remember that the other is asleep upon your bed.
Verily you are suspended like scales between your sorrow and your joy.
Only when you are empty are you at standstill and balanced.
When the treasure-keeper lifts you to weigh his gold and his silver, needs must your joy or your sorrow rise or fall.
It is wonderfully eloquent and it perfectly describes how balanced life in fact is, if you pay attention—but it is key to be honest, especially with yourself.
And Granada, wonderful Granada. I enjoy being in the old part of the city, the Albayzín. Someone described it as a little city within a city, and I find truth in that description. Climbing up the hill, encountering people I only met there on the streets, like this Italian woman who is a street vendor, but who isn’t really part of the wider community of street vendors, or hippies, as they are often called. In fact she is here on a similar mission: traveling, and in the process trying to figure life out. It is fascinating though how she has chosen to live on the margins of society in doing that.
A lot of the impressions and lessons are gathered, but I haven’t had the time to pen them down or reflect on them yet. I am looking forward to doing that in the days and weeks to come. For now I wish those participating a: Ramadan Kareem!
* On Ramadan: http://www.ramadankareem.info/
** Khalil Gibran Khalil: http://www-personal.umich.edu/~jrcole/gibran/prophet/prophet.htm.
voiraveclecoeur 