Ramadan Kareem

These photos are of the mosque that is about 100 metres from our front door.

We are now about a week into Ramadan and it has changed our days considerably.

Ron is having a shorter school day, though not a shorter work day – the kids just go home earlier. He is also not eating anything in public at school so he has had to take some muesli bars in and wait for a moment when no-one is around to have a snack. Two of the people on his team are observing Ramadan so he is being sensitive and not eating or drinking when they are around. They have said it doesn’t concern them but he is conscious of it and making appropriate moves.

The shopping malls have all their food outlets closed during the day – so no more meeting for coffee at Gloria Jeans or Starbucks and using the internet during the day. The food outlets don’t open until after dark. Cafes and restaurants in the street are all closed and the streets are significantly quieter. Businesses have a shorter business day – banks are only open for about 4-6 hours. The supermarkets are still in full swing because you just buy the food there – not consume it. So there are periods when the supermarkets are really quiet (during prayer times) and then they get busy so that people can purchase their supplies for the breaking of the fast at “Iftar”. Mountains of food are consumed during the Iftar meal and it is not unusual for people to be up till 2-3 am feasting and talking and celebrating.

The hotels and other places have Iftar feasts advertised, however the one we went to really wasn’t that wonderful so we are looking out for a better one! Many of the restaurants, even in the hotels, do not serve alcohol during Ramadan so we have had to content ourselves with watermelon and mint or lemon and mint juice or a coke.

Our street is very close to one of the large mosques so we find that our parking is being used by people who have come to pray at the mosque. There are literally hundreds of cars in the mosque carpark and parked through the streets in the late afternoon and early evening.

We are now waiting for Eid which will be on Friday the 12^th or Saturday the 13^th of October (or a day either side) when Ramadan finishes and things return to normal. So in the meantime ‘Ramadan Kareem’ and ‘Eid Mubarak’ for when that time comes……………it seems mubarak and kareem are synonymous with happy and merry, though not direct translations.