ramadan kareem

for those of you who don't know, ramadan just began on september 1st. ramadan is a long month of fasting and feasting. what this means, practically speaking, is that the fast begins every day at sunrise and ends at sundown. nothing is allowed to touch the lips of any muslim during that time. that means no eating, drinking, or even chewing gum during the day... and the same goes for respectful non-muslims! we have been eating and drinking behind closed doors. no one expects us to fast, but it's kind of a slap in the face to eat in front of them. or drink. yesterday, one of the other english teachers was covertly passing around mentos like contraband. and i've been gorging on baklava, the rebel that i am.

you can imagine how hunger and dehydration affects some individuals' level of irritability. road rage has increased ten-fold, much to our dismay and terror! the driving situation has been scary enough as it is, but now it's totally out of control. we've seen cars running other cars off the road; a car driving toward another car as it speedily backs up (going the wrong way down the highway); aggressive speeding up behind a car and slowing down in front (in order to prove a point); our own driver, Hussein, has had a number of face-offs, including one incident where he actually got out of the car and yelled into somebody's window. normally, he's extremely affable, but when he starts tearing off after somebody who just cut him off, screaming in egyptian arabic, i swear his eyes glow red. we've had more near-collisions in the past two weeks than i've had in a lifetime.

and for the parents: yes, we are wearing our seatbelts!

but when the sun goes down, the pressure perceptibly changes. people relax and recover from their hungry fatigue. lots of people are out and about enjoying the food tents set up around the city, fireworks, and a nightly festive atmosphere. the feast that breaks the fast is called the "iftar". basically, you get to shovel a lot of food in your mouth. you get to veg out. you get to lay around and digest. so it's a month of extremes. and not just for muslims!