rats it's ramadan

I woke up this morning, scoured the paper, and discovered that those 4 dozen cookies I bought for my team are going to go to waste because it's ramadan. Typical of this place, I searched on line until midnight last night to find out if it was going to be ramadan or not (although they can predict the date scientifically and make it easier for everyone to plan around, they prefer to do it the old fashioned way so you can't plan anything) but apparently the decision wasn't made and broadcast until after I went to bed (and they would have known at 8 pm if it was going to start or not).


No eating, drinking (of anything), gum chewing, smoking, or even taking medications during the daylight hours. Today was a miserable day at the office as I'm fighting a cold still and I was coughing every 5 minutes because my throat is sore and I'm not allowed to drink water. Combine that with the 122 degree heat...it pretty much sucks.


Though ramadan is a holy month, and fasting is supposed to be a sign of dedication to the faith, what it boils down to is:
-eating way too much at iftar and staying up all night
-being super cranky at work from lack of sleep, food, fluid and nicotine
-an increase in traffic accidents
-people buying excess food and presents when the stores are open in the evenings
-a decrease in the economy since people are working less hours

My old hotel at least had an area blocked off for us non believers to smoke or eat during the day away from the eyes of the cops. But the intercon does not have such an area so I've had to make a smoking area in my shower that blocks the smoke from getting into my room proper and out the door where it could be reported and myself arrested. Yeah, I could just not smoke for 14 hours, but, if I could do that, I wouldn't be smoking at all, would I?


Here's a quote that explains why I'll never convert:

"Certainly our message to Egyptians during Ramadan is no excessive food and no excessive partying or staying up way too late, because that's hated by Islam," says Ali Abdel Fattah, spokesman for the Muslim Brotherhood, a political movement that is officially banned in Egypt.

Anyway, I'm on a plane in two more days. So close, and yet such a far time away...