Ramadan

Ramadan is here. When I was here in the Kingdom 13 years ago I got to experience Ramadan. Then I was active duty Air Force. What I remember is that we were told not to drink or eat in front of the Saudi's--so we didn't. I also remember that evening prayer seemed to last forever. Everything was open in the evening until morning--or so it seemed.
One night there were 4 of us waiting for evening prayer to be over. We were so hungry but none of the restaurants were open. We heard this "psst." We looked around--nothing. "Psst--are you hungry?" Was this a joke? We finally saw a little TCN. We said "Yes, we're hungry." He motioned for us to follow him
The TCN took us to the alley. Great we're going to be mugged. Instead he looked around--knocked on a door--a small opening--words were whispered--the door opened. We went inside. The bottom floor was dark and empty. He took us upstairs.
The upstairs made up for the dark downstairs. Upstairs there was music, smoking, laughing and eating. It was the best meal I had!
Ramadan is the holy month. Once they see the crescent moon the fast begins. The month changes every year--moves up two weeks each year. This is a big deal for the Saudis. This is a big deal for the country. There are some employers that will fire an employee that is caught drinking or eating. All of us expats are warned not to eat or drink in public--it's against the rules--the Embassy sends us this via e-mail. Night becomes day and day becomes night. It's chaos.
It's not just food and drink that is forbidden during the day. No smoking, no sex, no...no temptations of the flesh.
I love my work hours during Ramadan. I work from 1000 to 3--you're reading it right--1000 - 3--that's 5 hours. We usually get in around 0945 and then leave 5 hours later. It sounds great--but it's getting boring. There's no lunch to break up our day. We're in our office the whole time. But that's not to say we don't eat or drink--we do.
When prayer is called--around noon--we close and lock our door. Then we expats get out our contraband water and food. We quickly--and I mean quickly--gulp down our water and eat our food. We put the wrappers and empty bottles back in our desk drawers and then later I bring in a bag and bring it home to throw away. We brush the crumbs off our desk and shirts and then open the door. This takes us about 5 minutes--but it keeps us going.
The Saudis I work with have told us we're allowed to eat and drink--in the open. But we've told them that we respect their culture and we'll close the door. I think they know what we're doing but they respect that we don't have food and water out.
Each evening they break their fast with a big meal. There are tents all over town for the poor--or anybody that wants to eat. Then at the end of Ramadan there is a huge feast that lasts for about three days.
The bad thing about Ramadan--night becomes day. Most shops aren't open during the day--only at night. Laurie and I went out--it was nice. Timmie and I went out--the stores were still closed so we came back home and bought what we needed at the market here at the compound.
I respect that the Muslims do fast during the day. I haven't seen any try to sneak a drink or eat something. I know that around 6pm they're going to eat and eat. I'm not sure that's what the Prophet had in mind. I think his vision was a time to read the Quran, fast during the day and then eat sparingly in the evening--all to bring a person spiritually closer to Allah. Oh well things change with time and interpretation. I'm hungry and thirsty!