Mystery of the Moon

There are so many things to tell you about, but tonight is more on Ramadan. We've come to the last week which is a lot of celebration from what I am told. I saw our neighbors head outside with presents under their arms when they left.

Just to give you an idea, Ramadan is the equivalent of Christmas here with several activities sprinkled through the month. For example, one night I was on the phone and the doorbell rang. Matt answered, and there were several kids at our door saying some chant to Matt. He just replied, "I'm new. I don't understand." One of them said, "candy!" Luckily, he had bought a bag of mini snickers the afternoon before so he had something to give them all. I wish I would have seen them, but maybe I'll get to next year.

Tonight we are awaiting the moon to see if Eid (the end of Ramadan) will begin tomorrow or Friday. I have friends waiting by their phones for text messages as to whether or not they are off of work tomorrow. Yes, I am very serious. It's almost 9:00pm which is close to my bedtime and they don't know whether they will report in the morning or not. Can't this be determined through science? I guess not.

What does the end of this month mean for us? We get to eat lunch, drink coffee, chew gum and shop in stores during normal daytime hours. We also get to be on the roads with the comfort of not seeing the other driver or passengers falling asleep at the stoplight from staying up all night with the festivities. Happy Eid!