As it was the first official day of Ramadan, we were a bit curious as to what might be different for us. We went up to Abu Dhabi to run a few errands - bringing no water, food or cigarettes with us (as it is illegal to eat, drink or smoke in public for this month - and yes, your car is "public").
We didn't notice anything different - except for a radio announcement by the artist formerly known as Cat Stevens (who now lives in Dubai) describing what fasting was all about. Once in town, we could see that all the palm trees had been decorated with lights and hanging stars and signs saying "Ramadan Kareem" in Arabic. I can only imagine how beautiful it must be to see the whole town lit up at night. Might it be a bit like, dare I say, Christmas?
We headed to Ikea and had only been there for about 20 minutes when the loudspeakers announced that the store was now closed and would everyone please get to the checkout. The store clerk smiled at us and said, "Ramadan hours". Apparently, Ikea is closed from 3:00pm to 7:00pm.
Being from MZ, we are used to shops being closed in the afternoons (since all the stores here close from 2 to 5 all the time), but we were a bit surprised that, it seems, almost every shopping mall in Abu Dhabi has its own interpretation of "Ramadan hours". Some will close in the afternoon so that they can stay open later, while others close in the morning. I imagine we will have to discover which ones are open at which time by trial and error.
The ironic thing is that the bottle store is open at a more convenient time (for us, anyway), meaning that Ramadan hours make it easier for us to buy alcohol than at other times of the year. We'll have to venture out into the town a few evenings this week, and let you all know what, if anything, is happening in our rockin' little town in the desert.
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I'm interested to hear of things as the month progresses! V, how do you find your students and coworkers at this time? Do you have to work strange hours too?
ReplyDeleteI have some Saudi & Emirati students who are fasting etc for Ramadan here in Canada, but unfortunately they seem to be using it as an excuse to skip class... but to be fair though, the daylight hours are a fair bit longer here. It must be even more difficult when you throw in homesickness at a popular holiday time. Nonetheless, it is a pretty standard rule that if you don't come, you don't pass, and I can't just take it easy on them because of Ramadan.
Yeah. That doesn't surprise me! There are provisions, apparently, that exempt you from fasting. It isn't an obligation, necessarily, especially if you are travelling, pregnant, menstruating or if circumstances prevent you from fasting (health, age, etc).
ReplyDeleteDuring the day at school, I've had to dart quickly into another room with an apple or water when one of my fasting colleagues was approaching. As one guy said, "You know, I have seen food before", and that reassured me.
The students and teachers won't return to school here until after Ramadan. One reason being that the students (high schoolers) use Ramadan as an excuse not to do homework etc. I guess it's a universal!
V