Ramadan is the Muslim month of fasting from dawn until sunset from eating, drinking and sexual relations. Ramadan lasts 30 days and its beginning depends on the sighting of the crescent moon in the ninth month of the lunar Islamic calendar.
Ramadan was announced here on Thursday and declared with cannon fire..... in the park next to our house at 11pm at night. I cannot even begin to describe how loud it was or how high I jumped. They then proceeded to fire at 5:30am to announce the beginning of the days fasting and again just after 7pm to declare the days fasting over and the beginning of Iftar.
Thankfully the morning cannon fire has stopped and they are now only firing in the evening. Who would of thought my little family would get used to cannon fire!
Although we are not muslim we must abide by the rules of Ramadan. Here are few quick lessons we have had to learn and how we are coping so far.
1. We must abide by the laws and have to fast between dawn and sunset. This means no food, water, chewing gum or cigarettes in public (we try not to engage in sexual relations in public so no change there)
2. We are allowed to eat just not in public. In our home is fine, as long as we are not publicly visible. Most restaurants, mall food courts etc close down. Some cafes and restaurants do open in the day but with blacked out windows for non-muslims. However these are not as easily found as we were first led to believe. Basically we have to plan everything because food and drink is just not available. Last weekend we found a McDonalds that was open when were out and then had to hide in the car to eat it whilst frantically looking over our shoulder..... not fun at all and so very awkward.
Piper is allowed to eat and drink, children and pregnant women are excluded.
3. Basically home is our prison. It is extremely hot at the moment with daily temperatures ranging on average from 42 – 49 degrees. So you can imagine how limited our activities are going to be during the daytime without being able to consume liquids in public.
4. We use indoor play centres a lot due to the extreme heat. Unfortunately these are also affected by Ramadan and have adopted new opening times for the 30 days – our fave play centre will be opening between 8pm and 2am.... WTF???
5. Shorter working days hooray!! By law all employees in the UAE are only allowed to work 6 hour days during fasting. My office is going with the 8am – 2pm rule! Which sounded great in the beginning but the reality is I cannot get my work done in this time and end up working from home in the afternoons.
6. A lot of expats take overseas holidays during Ramadan. We are no exception and have planned to skip out on part of Ramadan and get a break from the heat. We will be away for two weeks. I have to go to Rome for a few days work so we are all going and then onto France.
7. No music or dancing is allowed during Ramadan – this includes in your home or car so we have to curb the wild parties for awhile. Not sure how this will go down with Miss O who thinks life is one big musical and insists on dancing, singing and performing everywhere we go. All night clubs and most bars outside of tourist areas close during Ramadan.
8. Most retail stores open after 4pm during Ramadan if at all outside of tourist areas. For those that do open during the day you can expect to be served by dehydrated hypoglycemic staff which will ensure Dubai’s already horrific levels of customer service will reach all time lows.
9. Iftar celebrations – Iftar is the first meal after the fast is broken daily and is a nightly celebration. A lot of restaurants have great prices and fabulous packages. If you are very lucky you may be invited into a local Arabic home to share Iftar. For the most part of life here expats and locals rarely mingle.
So that is my take on Ramadan. Basically 5 days in we are bored out of our brains.
Hopefully when we return from our holiday we can participate in some Iftar celebrations and enjoy the culture. But for now I cannot wait to get on that plane.
I will try and blog over the next two weeks but France is not known for it's wifi access. We are heading to Rome for three days (I am working) and then onto France. Paris Disneyland for a couple of nights (not sure who is more excited about that one, Piper or Naz). Then staying in Paris itself for a couple of nights before we pick-up our motor home and begin our road trip through northern France (first stop Champagne) then up to Luxembourg, Belgium and back down through France.
