Ramadan karim!

Yesterday was the first day of Ramadan, the Muslim holy month. It is believed that during this month, the Holy Qu'ran was first revealed to the Prophet Muhammad, and consequently is a time that Muslims devote particular attention to the spiritual, rather than the secular, side of life through fasting, special prayer and other traditions. Being unable to attend one of my fusha classes on Tuesday, I instead went to the ALI Ramadan Orientation, which featured a brief presentation on some Egyptian and pan-Islamic Ramadan traditions, plus an iftar (fast-breaking meal) featuring more food than any of us could possibly consume in a single sitting. I was especially fond of the amir diin, a juice made of apricots, as well as the extremely sweet (and dense!) qatieef and kaniifa deserts, nuts (almonds and walnuts) and dates. My Muslim friends tell me that many people will officially break the fast at maghrib - sunset - with dates, to get their blood sugar up, so that they can pray and then have the full iftar meal.

Fasting is undoubtedly the aspect of Ramadan which with Americans are most familiar. With the encouragement of my roommate, Nafiza, I had planned to try the fast for at least a few days; while I realize that it cannot possibly be the same experience for me as for someone who participates for religious reasons, I think it's a good way to show respect for and attempt to further my understanding of this aspect of the Islamic faith. Unfortunately, as many of you know, both Nafiza and I have been sick as dogs for about four days, thanks to a combination of poor indoor and outdoor air quality and almost constant use of the air conditioner. Nafiza was unable to begin the fast on Thursday due to the antibiotics she's on, and I didn't think that anything good could come of depriving myself of food and water when I was recovering from being ill. The good news is that both of us are feeling much better today, and we plan to begin fasting on Sunday when Nafiza is done with her medications.

As if my class schedule wasn't crazy enough, everything at AUC gets shaken up during Ramadan. All of our classes run 10 minutes shorter in total, but some may start as much as 30 minutes earlier (I feel really bad for my friends with regular 8 AM classes, who have to begin at 7:30 AM now!), and classes that run through iftar (here it's around 6 PM, thanks to Egypt's early return to Standard Time) begin after 7 PM. The shuttle schedule is thrown off too, not that it was entirely reliable before, but shuttles are running between campus and Kanzy until midnight now, which may give us the chance to explore more of downtown in the evenings after dinner.

The atmosphere both on campus and in my neighborhood is much, much different now than it has been for the past three weeks. As far as I can tell, the coffee kiosk in the Fountain Area is shut down for the duration of Ramadan, and the cafeteria is much less crowded and significantly cleaner without all the student traffic. Where the Fountain Area and other patios on campus used to be brimming with students, they are now close to empty, with more people electing (presumably) to spend free afternoons at home or in their rooms. I can't say I wouldn't do the same, given the option; although the temperature is way down compared to when I arrived (it hasn't hit 90F in several days now), I think that the warm weather is going to make some of my long afternoon breaks quite trying.

Iftar gives us all a chance to eat dinner together and to socialize more afterwards; last night Nafiza and Helen (one of our friends who is Egyptian-American) introduced me to Arabic music with the new Amr Diab CD and a series of music videos from an Egyptian artist named Saad al-Sughayar. (Hatgawez - literally "I'm getting married" - was my favorite, but he also has a song/video entitled Bahabek ya Hmar, which means "I love you, donkey," and has turned "donkey" into a term of endearment among the hip young Egyptian people. You should really check out these videos - the dancing must be seen to be believed.)

Tonight, we ventured out to Nasr City to go to City Stars mall, a structure which makes Woodfield Mall in Schaumburg look like child's play. I believe City Stars' website describes it as having five stories; it is actually developing two additional floors as we speak, as though there was some niche unfilled in the existing structure. There are at least six coffee shops (two of them the same chain, even), restaurants covering all the major categories of foreign cuisines (Japanese, Mexican, Chinese/SE Asian, Indian, French; also Chili's, Kentucky Fried Chicken, McDonald's and Hardee's [if you were wondering what happened to Hardee's, it defected to Egypt]), a Wal-Mart-like store called Spinney's which occupies an entire wing on the first floor, and a 16-screen multiplex. Allegedly, there is also an indoor theme park; we didn't see it, but based on the rest of the place, I do not doubt for a second that it exists.

Right across the street from City Stars (on one of its sides) is a mosque occupying an entire block. Different kind of religion.