As mentioned, it's now Ramadan here. That means changing one's way of eating and drinking (water) in public. There's also something else that can't be done from sunup to sundown but as this is a family blog, I won't go into details.
It also means that the shopping hours are radically changed. We were off yesterday to get art supplies for Anna only to find that the store was CLOSED from 4 pm to 9 pm (Ramadan resting and eating hours) and then OPEN from 9pm to 1 am. SO back we went at 9pm and holy cow there were people out in droves!
They were at the store that stocked art supplies for class. The store Jarir is like a combination Barnes and Noble and college bookstore. All kinds of books, in Arabic and English. I had forgotten that books published in Arabic are read from right to left so therefore, the binding is on the right side (instead of the left for English readers).
We've been told that during Ramadan, the important thing is to spend time with family. I guess they spend time until 12-1 am and then sleep until 330-4:00 am when they are woken up to get some food in their systems until sun-up and then they fast until sundown, which is around 630 pm. There's an actual calendar which tells the official times of sunup and sundown for each day. I remember seeing this in Pelican Rapids when the Somali students would fast.
It's an interesting way of life and I'm lucky to get to be a part of it. Today's humidity and heat (my glasses fogged up as I stepped out my office door!) makes it tough to not drink BUT I can do this (actually I'm still ducking under my desk or hiding with the shades shut)
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