This Year's the First & the Last Buka Puasa @ Rumah Sangwolgok

This year's last breaking-the-fast @ Sangwolgok House owned by mas Khoirul. 

Today's menu for breaking-the-fast was 불고기 or daging asap. Looks like everyone seemed to like it. 

Aris and om Wawan were busy 'barbecue-ing' the sliced beef.

While others, mostly the Moms, were busy preparing the side-dish. 

Thanks to Dikka for having left some kolak or coconut milk fruit cocktail. 

Then, excluding the photographer....lots of them seemed to enjoy the meal we prepared for today.  

Then, there was Om Kiky who's generous and close enough with teh kids.

Happy Hari Raya...1435 Hijriyah.

Buka Puasa Bersama @ KBRI

The 3rd Saturday in Ramadan. And...it's the 3rd event of Buka Bersama or breaking-the-fast-together held at the aula of Indonesian Embassy in Seoul. Overseas Indonesians,  immigrants, students, and migrant workers residing in Seoul and its vicinity were welcome. Oh, it's not just a simple 'buka bersama' but as usual, prior to having the fasting dinner, we have a 2-hour session of lecture.

The topic for that day was Indonesian culture and how to nurture it in other countries.

Okay..I won't touch that theme since it's gonna require much space to jot it down.^^ 

The second presenter was Mr. Anton from Ciputra Entrepreneurship University in Indonesia. He gave us a lecture that mainly dealt with the importance of 'entrepreneur-ING and 'marketing' the culture.  

Then, the last session was closed by the Indonesian Ambassador, H.E. Mr. John A. Prasetio. He was accompanied by our moderator for the day, Mr. Didik Eko, the counselor. Credits to Mr. Didik for initiating the weekend-gathering like this. 

After the Magrib (dusk), we went down to the basement to have the iftar. Well, yes...I think there were about 500 people attended that evening's buka puasa.  

Bumped into my friends, Ahmad ( the train transportation expert), and Ony Jamhari (the traveler guy cum expert in marketing)...and me. ^^ 

Again, with Ony and Rizky (international relation dept)..the same university I am attending.

Oh, Rizky..congrats for graduating this August. Salute.

That's it. A good buka puasa bersama with friends @ KBRI.

During & After

Shoes all piled up together during the feast. Gosh..what a scene.

sandals, slipper, shoes, sneakers...all piled up..

After the feast, most gone home and some left: the hosts'^^

Some might ask as to why I put these onto the blog, well..this is something NOT ordinary that occur in the front door...# memories on July 26, 2013. ^^

Iftar/Buka Puasa Bersama @ Home (part 2: the whole gang)

Indonesians consisting of students, stay-at-home Moms, laboratory workers, Radio DJ, researchers, and kids. Oh, there is one Korean friend & one Korean-Indonesian friend. Hmm..who and where are they?

Before having the iftar, we had a TPA (Koran learning activity) and kids activity. We sort of prepared all of the activities by ourselves: I mean..the Moms did that. 

Drawing and other activities which I left that to the hands of their Moms.^^ 

Some kids really never got enough of playing. They even made their own 'debut' on the bed....oh, well..at least...they were having a good time. 

Iftar time. We gathered together and had a fast-breaking 'feast'.  

Then...a family picture....wait...we're not ready, yet. 

July 2013: Summer+Ramadan+Feast.

Iftar/Buka Puasa Bareng at Home (part one: the food)

It's Friday and the day we planned on having a fast-breaking together had finally arrived. We invited seven Indonesian families and single students (^-^) who live along the line 6 subway^^. Yes, we are the line 6 families. Since our kitchen was not big...we squeezed ourselves to fit into the kitchen while preparing for the food. 

Even we made some food on the floor since there were no other tables around.

Chopping the veggies and other ingredients..... 

But although we could call it a make-shift kitchen...we managed to make several kinds of food for all of us to enjoy. 

Spaghetti (with Indonesian sauce^^), veggie-filled tofu, yellow rice, urap (coconut milk-ed salad, seasoned steamed tofu, egg rolls, potato sambal.... 

oh...some fried veggie rolls and shredded cheese, too. 

It's all now..gone. Just pictures....

We enjoyed all of them. 

But....I haven't mentioned one thing: some chopped and shredded beef were also mixed into some of these food....and that's not my kind of food.

*being a vegetarian.....* totally...

1st Day of Ramadan @ Itaewon

The first iftar we had in Seoul Central Mosque. It's a tradition that the Masjid holds every Ramadan on a daily basis. Everyone coming to the Masjid is served with iftar (breaking the fast). It was like a privilege to be here since we could meet lots of Muslim from other countries sharing the common way of celebrating Ramadan. 

This is where we get donation..I suppose. 

Today's first menu was well..what would a Ramadan be without dates. 

The committee prepared hundreds of iftar everyday. It's neatly arranged an hour before dusk and then... 

people started to sit around the food and we started the first iftar of the first day of Ramadan.... 

As for me, it was also a good start to make friends and associate myself with others who came to the Masjid. 

It's been a great day.

Alhamdulillah. 

Then..came the big feast...after Magrib prayer, people lined up to have their share of the first big meal ( I did not know what). I went home as soon as I finished magrib prayer. But, I'm sure that it must be something with 'meat' or 'chicken' which....happen  to be not in my list: hey..I am a vegetarian.^^

I wonder as to when there'll be vegetarian-friendly 'feast'? 

Not a chance, right? But, it's a good thing that I am not into meat-eating culture..so I can skip this long line-up and concentrate on other things. 

So..that's been my first day of Ramadan.