Whoops, sorry for my absence! In my defense, we had a pretty cruddy heat wave topped off by the start of Ramadan last Friday. I know I shouldn't complain about heat to all you DC people sweltering in the swamp humidity, but a dry 100-105 can be brutal when most places don't have consistent air conditioning. My host family thankfully has AC units in every room, but electricity is expensive so AC is usually just used for a few hours in one room during the heat of the day. But I'm pretty thankful for those few hours. And the heat wave was so legit that on Thursday of last week I had TWO cab drivers who were using AC for their own benefit in their cabs so it was nice and cool when I got in.
One adjustment that inevitably happens in this kind of heat wave is that e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g slows down. This was made a bit harder by the fact that Ramadan started last Friday, so the days during the heat wave were the prime pre-Ramadan days when I learned last year that you should get in all your meetings before people get testy from not eating and drinking during the day (and rightfully so) and their schedules become unreliable.
I'm not the only one who tries to cram in productivity before Ramadan, either. Summer is generally wedding season in the the Middle East, so when Ramadan falls during the summer months (it is based on the lunar calendar and moves up around 10 days each year), people are under even more time pressure to get weddings done either before or after Ramadan. It's not standard to do them during Ramadan when everyone is focused on fasting and breaking the fast with their immediate and extended families. We had a particularly large, traditional and Bedouin wedding held on a plot of dirt owned by the groom's father in our neighborhood in the lead up to Ramadan:
Thankfully a beautiful thing happened on the first day of Ramadan: the heat wave broke! My host sister exclaimed it was a blessing from God (and I wholeheartedly agreed). It's still been hot (even a bit humid), but I'll take mid-90s over mid-100s any day!
Last year we had iftar (breaking of the fast at sunset) during the first week of Ramadan at relatives' homes. However, this year, my host parents were in Switzerland during the first few days of Ramadan so the iftar locations were a bit different. My first week of Ramadan iftars looked something like:
Despite having a different Ramadan iftar experience, it was fun to see how the house dynamic changed with the parents away. The first night they were away, I witnessed the equivalent of a "kegger" here--the son has his friends on the terrace downstairs smoking arguille and the second oldest daughter had her friends on the upstairs terrace smoking arguille and eating cake. Drinking alcohol is prohibited in Islam, so indulgences usually come from sugar, coffee, tea, juice, and arguille (also known as hookah, water pipe, hubbly bubbly). I walked into the elevator to get to the second floor of the house where my room is and could barely fit in it with the arguille / juice detritus:
The father is a doctor and does not like when his kids smoke arguille because it is bad for their health, so they usually do it when they know their parents are gone for a certain amount of time. On the final night before their parents were due back, I came home to find the four children who still live at home sitting on the upstairs terrace smoking from their own individual water pipes. It was pretty amazing.
One adjustment that inevitably happens in this kind of heat wave is that e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g slows down. This was made a bit harder by the fact that Ramadan started last Friday, so the days during the heat wave were the prime pre-Ramadan days when I learned last year that you should get in all your meetings before people get testy from not eating and drinking during the day (and rightfully so) and their schedules become unreliable.
I'm not the only one who tries to cram in productivity before Ramadan, either. Summer is generally wedding season in the the Middle East, so when Ramadan falls during the summer months (it is based on the lunar calendar and moves up around 10 days each year), people are under even more time pressure to get weddings done either before or after Ramadan. It's not standard to do them during Ramadan when everyone is focused on fasting and breaking the fast with their immediate and extended families. We had a particularly large, traditional and Bedouin wedding held on a plot of dirt owned by the groom's father in our neighborhood in the lead up to Ramadan:
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| Ginormous tent set up for the pre-wedding lunch where the groom can receive upwards of 10,000 JD ($14,000 in financial gifts) |
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| All the cars lining the street |
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| In a traditional ceremony, the tent is usually divided into a male side and a female side |
Thankfully a beautiful thing happened on the first day of Ramadan: the heat wave broke! My host sister exclaimed it was a blessing from God (and I wholeheartedly agreed). It's still been hot (even a bit humid), but I'll take mid-90s over mid-100s any day!
Last year we had iftar (breaking of the fast at sunset) during the first week of Ramadan at relatives' homes. However, this year, my host parents were in Switzerland during the first few days of Ramadan so the iftar locations were a bit different. My first week of Ramadan iftars looked something like:
Friday: Iftar at the eldest daughter's in-laws house
Saturday: Iftar made by the second oldest daughter at our house (her first time making mansaf!)
Sunday: Iftar at our house (leftovers + KFC + shwarmas)
Monday: Iftar at the eldest daughter's house
Tuesday: Dinner with friends
Wednesday: Iftar with my friend's family in Salt
Thursday: Iftar at our house
Despite having a different Ramadan iftar experience, it was fun to see how the house dynamic changed with the parents away. The first night they were away, I witnessed the equivalent of a "kegger" here--the son has his friends on the terrace downstairs smoking arguille and the second oldest daughter had her friends on the upstairs terrace smoking arguille and eating cake. Drinking alcohol is prohibited in Islam, so indulgences usually come from sugar, coffee, tea, juice, and arguille (also known as hookah, water pipe, hubbly bubbly). I walked into the elevator to get to the second floor of the house where my room is and could barely fit in it with the arguille / juice detritus:
The father is a doctor and does not like when his kids smoke arguille because it is bad for their health, so they usually do it when they know their parents are gone for a certain amount of time. On the final night before their parents were due back, I came home to find the four children who still live at home sitting on the upstairs terrace smoking from their own individual water pipes. It was pretty amazing.
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| The view from the family's terrace on Tuesday night. It's a little blurry (I need a tripod), but look at the gorgeous moon! (In between the big mosque and the orthodox church) |
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