Breaking fast with a Jew

It was a cold summer evening in Paris, near Bois de Boulogne. 2007 Rugby World Cup.

The group stage match between Italy and Portugal has kicked off. It was ramadhan and I was waiting for the time to iftar before I enter the Parc des Princes stadium. "I'm gonna be late" I was talking to myself while sitting on a bench outside the stadium. In europe, they don't let you smoke and bring either food or drinks into the stadium. So there was I, alone, hungry and late.

A male in his late 30s or maybe early 40s holding a McDonald's burger in his hand came and, in french asked my permission to join me on the bench. From how he looked like, I was quite sure he's not a gay. So I replied "Oui". Not that I understand french, but he included some hand gestures when he was asking for my permission. So I reckoned an Oui would be a perfect answer. After all, the bench is a public property with Propriété de la Ville de Paris stamped on it.

Minutes later, that guy whom has finished his mouth watering burger, tried to make a conversation. He amused me. Why? Because, after he learnt that I don't literally speak his native, immediately he started to converse in english. A descent english indeed for a frenchman. He asked whether I'm a muslim and promptly without hesitation I replied "Oui... Yes". But I am in no mood to have a chat because earlier, I had to walk and stand for hours, trying to sell my 3 spare tickets. Luckily, I managed to sell them off and made some handsome profit. Now I'm exhausted.

And before I know, he was giving me a lecture on Jew and Muslim. Ah malasnya aku nak layan. Yahudi rupanya mamat ni. Suddenly outside Malaysia, I'm become racist despite living in a no-racial issue life back home. But I have to iftar and now is the time to break my day long fast. 18 hours to be exact. So I told him "Sorry mister but I need to eat. You may continue your story if you want to". I turned into a passive listener while he continued with his bla bla bla. Interestingly, I do learnt something about Muslim and Jew, where of course his story did favoured his Jew descendants.

After my quick meal, I quickly "I need to go. Good to talk to you. Au revoir monsieur" and walk away from him towards the stadium's gate where I was supposed to walk up the stairs for my designated seat. Match was boring as it was between a non big team in rugby world. I left early before the match ended. An hour plus later I reach my hotel using a combination of metro and stage bus. But it was an experience for me, seated in a stadium in Paris to watch a Rugby World Cup match, befriended with other Italians and Portugese to illegally sell tickets and an iftar with a Jew.

Having interest in many fields, after that conversation now I like to think that anthropology is a very exciting. It is not a very fun read but it will enlighten you, make you a better human. As a person I mean.



ps: this link is highly recomended if you are interested to enhance your knowledge in this subject

pss: jew are smart by nature.nothing u can do about it seriously

psss: its the last month of the year.how fast