Ramadan Kareem

[mcgillianaire]

It started yesterday in Oman. And a Muslim classmate from high school came home to visit. It was still mid-afternoon. Barely seconds after wishing him a generous month of fasting, I went back into auto-pilot and asked him what he would like to drink. Naturally he refused but he was kind enough to stop me before it became too embarrassing. Not that he minded much. But still. Schoolboy error. And I shouldn't make excuses, but I'm pretty sure this is my first Ramadan in Oman since we were in high school. Though truth be told, he really should've taught me a lesson and played along.

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Comments

[drunkendeadcat.livejournal.com]

haha I'm sure you won't make any more mistakes and t will go well

[mcgillianaire.livejournal.com]

I hope I don't. In any case, I'm outta here in less than 48 hours.

[messicat.livejournal.com]

Oh dearie me, must be hard to get used to! What kind of percentage of Muslims is there in Oman? Does it affect daily life for everyone during Ramadan (which doesn't show up in the Google Chrome dictionary, thinks it's a spelling mistake!)?

[mcgillianaire.livejournal.com]

99% of the locals are Muslims and they make up 80% of the country's 3 million (2.4 million). I'm not sure what percentage of the expatriates are Muslim. Ramadan affects office timings (they're shorter) and any place serving food is not open during fasting hours (daylight hours basically). When we were in school we would allow Muslims to leave class 5-10 minutes before each break so that they could congregate in a common room with other Muslims, while the rest of the infidels added insult to injury by digging into their peanut butter jelly sandwiches. One noticeable difference is the substantial increase in late-night sporting activity across town. Lots of floodlit football pitches past 10pm and at the beach. And that's all I can think of while half asleep. I'll sleep on it and might add more tomorrow. :) And good spot about the spelling on Chrome. I didn't notice it thought it a spelling mistake. I tried a few other variations but they didn't work either. Guess they don't like Muslims either. ;)