Ramadan Kareem

So its Ramadan here, and technically everywhere. But we've never experienced quite like this. Ramadan Kareem is like saying Happy Ramadan or something to that effect. Everyone says it but I'm not sure exactly what it means.

It is somewhat uncomfortable as Christians here during Ramadan. There are plenty of rules that we need to follow in reverence of Ramadan, which lasts about a month. The hijab that we mentioned earlier that was bought for me (Mal) is pictured to the left. I wore it the first day of Ramadan. I'm not required to wear it, but I wanted to out of respect.

We are not allowed to eat, drink, or chum gum in public during the daylight. All restaurants (near us at least) are closed during the day as well, which makes it a little more difficult for us, because we're still in a hotel, which in turn means we can't simply cook and eat in private like many non-Muslims here. So we're pretty much fasting in our own way as well. What surprises me most is that no one drinks any water during the day in this heat, and believe me - it's HOT. They still work, and live life as normal, but with such sacrifice. It's only day 3 and I have major respect for the Muslims here. They're dedication to their faith and their kindness to those who are not of like faith is worthy of respect.

I've quickly gotten use to the prayer calls. I'm not sure how often they are, but I know for sure there is one at 12pm, 4pm, and 7pm daily. I believe there are two more but I'm not sure when they are. You can hear it most anywhere. If we're eating in the mall, or sitting in our hotel room, we're bound to hear it. It sounds like a chant almost, in Arabic. We have no idea what is being said, but it's pretty cool. David and I try to pray whenever we hear it. However, it depends highly on where we are (location wise) at the time.

Well, more about Ramadan to come.

We rode the bus around the city the other day and on our way back we stopped at a random location to eat dinner, it happened to be the night before Ramadan officially started. The streets were packed and people were everywhere. I felt extremely awkward, like we were intruding their space at such a special time. Above is a picture of our first "real" u.a.e meal. I had Kabobs, it came with humus and salad. David had Mutton.

Both dishes were GREAT! The kabobs were spicy to begin with, and anyone who knows me, knows I can't handle spicy foods, but I didn't want to make a scene in the restaurant, so I kept eating and got use to it. David could barely finish half of his Mutton, it's like rice, with meat and some veggies - I'm not sure what it was seasoned with. We didn't really eat the salad...they didn't give us any dressing, we didn't want it dry. Nor did we eat the humus, but I did taste it:) We'll get bolder with our food choices in the weeks to come. We had plenty left over but it had to go to waste - another reason we're excited for our home!