Ramadan cometh... bringeth the hunger pangs
Trip Start
Oct 13, 2005
1
18
22
Trip End
Dec 22, 2006
Sana'a,
Yemen
Tuesday, September 26, 2006
Okay, so the presidential election has been and gone - the incumbent President Saleh won just in case you hadn't guessed... by some 78%! Ridiculous - people were thinking it would at least be closer to 60% with a kind of tacit understanding that actually Bin Shamlan (the opposition candidate) probably came really close to winning (just not on paper). Perhaps the large win may in part be explained by the fact that Saleh announced the day before the election that Bin Shamlan's bodyguard was in fact one of the al-Qaeda suicide bombers in the oil depot bombings that I referred to in my previous blog - a mendacious and insulting claim and just more proof of what a scumbag Saleh really is, given he was never going to lose, that he would sully the name of his respected and honest opponent! Or perhaps it was the extra month's pay Saleh doled out to public sector workers just a couple of days before the election - money that should already be in their pockets, but that Saleh siphons off from them every other day of the year!
Well anyway, I had hoped that such a big win may spark some civil unrest, but here in Sana'a (a Saleh stronghold like so much of the north) it's more likely that a close result would have led to violence. Either way, I'm disappointed... both for the people of Yemen who deserve better than a corrupt dictator in all but name, and for myself because I kinda wanted the excitement of civil unrest! Ah well, maybe I should head over to Hungary for a short holiday instead - fun and games there right now!
Anyhoo, enough politics already - my blog seems to have temporarily turned into an anti-Saleh polemic rather than a travelogue, but I'm sure you'll forgive me. So moving on... a select few of you may recall that I arrived for the first time in Yemen in the middle of Ramadan last October with no Arabic and not a clue of how things worked. I spent my first fortnight feeling constantly hungry because I was unable to find food. Well, Ramadan began again on Saturday just gone, and I had decided in advance that this year I would fast like a Muslim. That said, I was feeling rather apprehensive about it - as someone pointed out to me, as a non-Muslim I wouldn't have the religious aspect to help me through. However, I figured it's a once-in-a-lifetime kind of deal to participate in Ramadan in a conservative Muslim country. Besides which, it's a real pain to plan and execute an eating strategy during the day here during Ramadan, as last year sorely taught me. Plus, to my surprise, a good number of the students are also taking to fast which should help with collective motivation to stay the course.
It is not just my eating schedule that has had to be adapted but my entire body clock - Ramadan is a truly nocturnal event (at least here in Yemen). My new routine is as follows: I now stay up until around 3.30 in the morning at which point I head out to the streets to eat a large meal for 'suhoor', the meal prior to sunrise. I then return and go to bed at around 4.30am. I get up at around noon and study until around 5pm. I then head back out to the souq to purchase a load of those wonderful coriander and meat samosas (that I raved about last October) in preparation for 'iftar', the evening meal that breaks the fast at sunset (which is approx. 6.15pm). After iftar, some of the other students and I will sit and socialize or watch TV. As the night wears on, I'll do some more work or find things to do to keep myself awake until suhoor comes around again at 3.30am.
I have to say that so far I've not found it difficult at all. Though, I am only a few days in to a whole month of fasting, so perhaps I should reserve judgment - I don't want to be made to eat my words (at least not before sunset!). The fact that I've adjusted my body clock to sleep through part of the daytime also means that, once I wake up, it's only some 6 hours to wait for food or drink which isn't really that long. The hardest aspect of it by far though is not being able to drink water during the heat of the day, especially given that Sana'a is at a 7000ft altitude and is the driest atmosphere I've ever encountered. Come sunset, my mouth is parched beyond belief, but water has never tasted so good. Adjusting my body clock to stay awake until 5am and eating my main meal at 3.30am is also a strange feeling that will take a bit of getting used to, as will seeing the bustling streets alive with activity at four in the morning.
Well anyway, four days and counting and so far so good. On that note I think this about wraps things up for now.
Tom
