A tale of two countries

Happy Labor Day to all of you residing in the U.S. of A. Enjoy your day of sunshine, barbecues, backyard parties, and your last long weekend of summer.

Meanwhile, over here in the U.A.E. we welcomed the Holy Month of Ramadan. Yes, the official religion of the country is Islam. Ergo, according to the moon cycles, there is a month of fasting, daily from sun-up to sundown, for all practicing Muslims. The really observant ones pray 5 times a day, too--but they do that year round anyway, so no biggie.

The government sets the sunrise and sunset times, i.e. setting the parameters of the fast. Even the end of the month isn't set, as it totally depends on the moon. So, you might think your last day of fasting is September 30th, and then poof, it's really October 3rd. Rough crowd.

In other news, this translates into the official workday being 9am-3pm, even for those who aren't fasting. Too bad that's not feasible for me. Ramadan also means you cannot eat, drink, or smoke in public places of any kind, whether you're Muslim or not. Including your car. All the restaurants shut down during the day--no eating in, and only some do delivery. It's like a mandated month off for the food industry during working hours. I guess a blessing and a curse, when you think about it.

I just miss being able to sip my morning coffee/tea at my desk. I now do it standing up in the pantry kitchen, out of sight. And I can't drink water at my desk during the day. Or have a mid-afternoon snack. I even got nervous when I almost started chewing gum in my car on the way home. The policia doesn't mess around.

Mind you, most of my floor isn't fasting, but for the select few, I feel it's the classy thing to do to be respectful. I mean, if you were Jewish and had work at a bakery during passover, you'd be pissed. Or if you gave up chocolate for lent, and somehow won an all expenses trip to Hershey Park, that'd just be wrong.

Hence, I feel like it's the right thing to do to not bring any wafts of food/drink into the cubicle area. Mind you, when it hits the 4th consecutive week of this, I might not feel so neighborly...then again, at least I'm not the one having to maintain a regular work load, at back-to-school speed, while fasting. Just sayin'.