Restaurants and Ramadan

Well, yet another week has passed! We had midterms on Sunday, so we’re getting grades back today. From what I hear, all the tests in all the classes were pretty hard, and at least in my class, no one’s overly happy with our score. It was the listening section that killed our scores – when you’re just learning a language, good sound quality is a must – and even would have been alright if they hadn’t waited until afterwards to mention that those few questions were half the grade.

However, my skills in Arabic, including listening, are improving. Outings help. I actually went to church three times this week. I attended an Arabic-speaking youth group, a church service in English, and a church service in Arabic (a very liturgical one) on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, respectively, and I could understand the gist of the talks in Arabic. It’s handy going to church to practice your listening skills, since if you know the passage you can guess the general direction of the sermon before it’s started.

Sunday was also the beginning of Ramadan, so all of our teachers are trying to get along without food, water, or coffee after around three in the morning. A few of the students are also trying to fast during daylight hours, or at least tried it for a couple of days. Not drinking water all day with 15% humidity and temperatures over 100 makes for some very wiped-out people by the end of the school day. I considered fasting, since our host family is; it’s a “cultural experience”, but I have my own fasts, and I’d rather study Arabic on a full stomach.

My roommate is attempting to fast, but our host family is determined that she won’t. By Sunday afternoon she was exhausted; we arrived home at around 4:30, and she immediately wanted water (most students aren’t fasting from water, just food – a cultural experience only goes so far). The host mother was in the kitchen, so while getting water, I explained to her that Jordan was fasting (yes, in Arabic) and she followed me into the room and was very confused when she saw Jordan drinking water. The language barrier and my roommate’s exhaustion didn’t help much in the ensuing conversation. In the end, the mother dragged us to the kitchen and ordered us to eat. I had no qualms about it, and my roommate finally gave in. Roughly the same thing happened yesterday. Thus, today, she is determined not to get home until the official time to break the fast, so that they can’t make her eat beforehand. We’ll see how it works.

We still haven’t gotten membership at a gym, though we have found the one we want to go to. Between fasting and the heat, no one really has the energy for working out, and we don’t want to pay for a membership we won’t use. Ramadan has a definite effect on the city; it’s practically dead for a lot of the day. You have to go further to find taxis, and places that were brimming with cars, people, and shops less than a week ago are almost silent until after sunset. Not only can you not eat and drink during the day, you can’t smoke – and smoking is a pretty big thing here. In addition, you have to get up at three in the morning to eat, so everyone’s sleep schedule is messed up. It’s just not a particularly good time, but it must be awesome for cultural cohesion. Nearly everyone in the Muslim community participates.

We did do a couple of things right before Ramadan, started though. On Thursday a group of us went out to eat an early dinner, and then we went to a pub to watch the US-Germany game (the World Cup is a big thing here), and then went to another, outdoor restaurant where there was more room. It was a good night.

So, it’s been a pretty good week, and hopefully I can stay home long enough this weekend to get some good studying done as well – most of last weekend was spent studying. A blessed Ramadan and a happy Fourth of July to all of you! Until next week!