Ramadan in 2 days

Lights over Damascus Gate

Ramadan is in 2 days time and already we can see the preparations for this festive period. Strange as it may seem ... it's 30 days of fasting but it's festive; of course there's alot of feasting every evening after the fast. The 3 muslim gates to the Old City are decked in simple and elegant lights ... much better taste than the previous years with gaudy, outlandish lights. This year the streets in the Muslim Quarter are also strung with lights (gaudy). This is in sharp contrast with last year when there was hardly anything due to the Gaza war. The muslims in the Quarter had to show solidarity with the Gazans and so kept festivities to a minimum.

Unfortunately we're in summer mode. The sun rises at 4.15am (3.15am solar time) so the first call to prayer is at 3.15am (2.15am solar time) and the 2nd much more solemn and longer prayers at 3.45am (2.45am solar time). Fasting for the muslims this year would last some 16 hours as they start at sunrise (around 4am) till sunset (around 8.15pm). And the heat of the day is quite unbearable. We foreigners living in the muslim quarter have been advised by the police to respect the muslims .... so no eating, drinking or smoking in the streets. I wonder why they don't do the same when we have Lent.

Lunch at Legacy

Yesterday most of the students in our school had their last exam. Today they start their holidays. I brought Matthias out to lunch to celebrate the end of his 1st school year. He had a burger while I had seafood risotto. It was my first full meal in 3 days as my diaphragmatic hernia hurts too much for me to eat, and I've been running a fever and nausea all the time. It was a good meal but I got very sick after that ... 3 major diarrhea attacks and vomiting. I guess I'm no longer used to eating full meals. Just as well that Ramadan is round the corner ...