My 19th Ramadhan

 #1 Day in The Life ⛅ 

Welcome to my first post for the "Day in The Life" blog series. For this occasion, I want to tell you a story about my experience in the holiest month, Ramadhan. This post is actually intended to fulfill one of my assignments in my college. But I hope you guys also can enjoy reading my story, happy reading!

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My Nineteenth Ramadhan

    Assalamu'alaikum, fellas! How is your Ramadhan going? I hope all is going well as you prepare. First, let me introduce myself. My name is Nady Chiquitta. I was born in Bandung. I grew up in Bandung and have been living in Bandung for nineteen years from the time I was born until now. My parent also originally from Bandung. Therefore I can say that Bandung is my hometown. 

    I have been doing my Ramadhan in Bandung since I was a kid and now I am almost an adult. I was a five year old child when I tried fasting for the first time. When I was a kid, I usually spent my day in Ramadhan with a lot of fun activities. The first activity is sahur with my family. When I was a kid, sahur was the most difficult thing to do because we should wake up at 4 a.m. Hoam! So lazy! My mother was always struggling to get me to wake up for sahur. And my sahur ended up with a sleepy eye and no energy. After sahur, I was taking a prayer of Shubuh and going to sleep again. I would wake up again for school. On days of school in the month of Ramadhan special activities were usually held, namely "Pesantren Kilat Ramadhan". The activity which are taking a prayer of Dhuha together, reading the Quran, listening to Islamic material, and many more. So, I followed that event as well. Upon returning from school, I usually took a nap. Then in the evening, me and my friends attended pesantren kilat held at the mosque near my house. Sometimes I broke my fast together while eating the free takjil there. After that, I went home to take a prayer of Maghrib and have dinner with my family. When the Isya call to prayer was sounding, I went back to the mosque to take a prayer of Isya and a prayer of Taraweeh. There I was taking a prayer while playing with my friends and snacking at a nearby merchant. Snacks that I like to buy are basreng and pop ice drinks. After that, I went home, slept, and prepared to do the activities again for the next day. That is what my activities were like during Ramadhan when I was a kid. Another special moment in every Ramadhan is when my cousins from out of town usually come to Bandung to visit our grandparents. So we usually spent happily together with my cousins. The most special moment in the month of Ramadhan is Ied Mubarak. We shared happiness with all of the big family, apologized to each other, and ate the opor, gulai, ketupat sayur, kentang sambal balado, and many more delicious dishes. And last but not least what children always look forward to is THR (Tunjangan Hari Raya) from grandfathers, grandmothers, aunties, and uncles. How happy it was at that time. 

    Now 2024, which means this is the nineteenth Ramadhan in my life. A lot has changed. I rarely hang out or just meet up with my friends. Because we have own different busyness. Likewise my cousins, they rarely visit Bandung like used to do. My grandfather and my great-grandfather have passed away. Sad? Of course. But we cannot be sad all the time. Ramadhan will always be special for us all of the time. In fact, the essence of Ramadhan never has changed. Al Quran has been explained how glorious this month is. We have to find out and understand about it. After that, we will know what should we do for Ramadhan so that it always feels meaningful. We can set the worship goals during Ramadhan. For example, finish reading the Al Quran once in Ramadhan, memorize some surahs in the Al Quran, and many things to do. For information, this Ramadhan is my very first Ramadhan in college. It means I have to manage my time for classes and for worship as well. Besides that, my other activities during this Ramadhan are teaching children the Al Quran at Pesantren Ramadhan. See? I was a student and today I am a teacher. Life goes so fast. 

    Actually, still there many stories that I want to tell here. But sadly the time is up. So I think it is enough. I hope you can learn or take at least one lesson from here. Thank you for reading my story. Enjoy your Ramadhan, good people! 🥨