School During Ramadan—and Vacation Plans
The past month we have been having school with reduced hours. We were coming in an hour later and leaving two hours earlier than usual, while classes were 35 minutes apiece. The general pattern for Muslims during Ramadan involves, of course, not eating and drinking during daylight hours, followed by a big feast at sunset. Another big meal occurs just before dawn. Students would generally get home from school, sleep a few hours, then be up till all hours of the night. Visits to and from relatives are common at this time, and the atmosphere is festive, with lights, streamers, and giant lanterns (lanterns being an Egyptian symbol for Ramadan) everywhere. You also see a lot of open Qurans, since this is a time for people to come closer not only to their families but also to God. There is also a great deal of giving, with local charities receiving the equivalent of millions of dollars in donations.
For Faith and I, meanwhile, we’re glad that Ramadan is ending and are looking forward to getting back to a normal schedule and routine at school after the weeklong break for feast of El Fitr, which is the climax of the Ramadan season. Shortened days sound fun in the abstract, but in practice the hurried atmosphere and alternately exhausted and hyper students felt about as draining as the normal schedule did. In addition, it was harder to get things done. Still, it WAS nice to get home about 1:30 every day. When we get back to school on November 21, we’ll have a little less than 5 weeks of school before the big Christmas break, when Faith and I are hoping to go to Greece for our vacation. We have another vacation already planned for next week. We are taking a train to Alexandria, the city founded by Alexander the Great in the fourth century BC. We will visit the huge new library there, a Roman amphitheater, and the Greco-Roman museum. We have an Egyptian friend who spends a great deal of time there, and she’s going to show us around and is helping make arrangements. We will leave early Tuesday morning and come back on Friday. Needless to say, we are VERY excited. We have been doing little else but working and recovering-from-working, and are ready for a change of scene and pace. We look forward to being tourists.
For Faith and I, meanwhile, we’re glad that Ramadan is ending and are looking forward to getting back to a normal schedule and routine at school after the weeklong break for feast of El Fitr, which is the climax of the Ramadan season. Shortened days sound fun in the abstract, but in practice the hurried atmosphere and alternately exhausted and hyper students felt about as draining as the normal schedule did. In addition, it was harder to get things done. Still, it WAS nice to get home about 1:30 every day. When we get back to school on November 21, we’ll have a little less than 5 weeks of school before the big Christmas break, when Faith and I are hoping to go to Greece for our vacation. We have another vacation already planned for next week. We are taking a train to Alexandria, the city founded by Alexander the Great in the fourth century BC. We will visit the huge new library there, a Roman amphitheater, and the Greco-Roman museum. We have an Egyptian friend who spends a great deal of time there, and she’s going to show us around and is helping make arrangements. We will leave early Tuesday morning and come back on Friday. Needless to say, we are VERY excited. We have been doing little else but working and recovering-from-working, and are ready for a change of scene and pace. We look forward to being tourists.
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