Friday, October 15

Ramadan kareem! Apparently, that is the greeting during Ramadan. Literally translated it means Ramadan generous. The response is something like Allah is more generous. Something like that. So far, Joe and I have determined that during Ramadan pretty much nothing is open. Today was the first day. It's a Friday, so it's the holy day anyway. It's always quiet but today we couldn't figure out where all the millions of people had gone to. I asked my students yesterday and they said that they spend the night eating with family.

In case you're not aware, Ramadan is the month where Muslims fast from sunrise to sundown. It is very strict fasting. The students told me that they can't drink water. People can't smoke. The girls told me they can't even wear lipgloss. If I understand correctly, the purpose is to get past the physical and to a more spiritual level. They fast as a remembrance to the prophet Mohamed's fast. As you can tell, I don't have it all figured out yet.

Joe and I are going to try to do the fast, maybe not every day, but we want to at least try it. I want to know what my students are going through. I tried today to not eat anything until sunset. I cheated and had a few drinks, but didn't eat anything. It was hard! I started to think that I wouldn't assign much homework to the kids this month because I don't really think they'll be able to focus much.

Here's the great part, though. Our school schedule changes. We only go to school from 8-2 on Sun, Tues, Thurs and 8-12 on Mon. and Wed. We think it will be great. I guess everyone comes home early to sleep before they eat at the iftar (evening meal).

We're pretty bored tonight, though, as there's not much to do. We ended up going to the grocery store and buying the English/Arabic version of Monopoly. Don't worry, I beat Joe as usual.

I hope all is well in the U.S. We are eagerly awaiting the upcoming elections!