Ramadan

It's amazing how quickly time passes when you have a baby in your life! Leaving the apartment to go and do some errands is no longer a five minute exercise. Today we were very organised, already to go out, when Nikau decided it was a good time to be sick on himself and Nana, which resulted in both of us having to change and our departure time was delayed, yet again! I wouldn't miss such episodes for the world, and I proudly wear the badge of nana hood staining my shoulder!

Today is the first day of Ramadan, the Muslim holy time when, for a whole month Muslims around the world are not allowed to eat or drink between sunrise and sunset. Consequently all cafés and restaurants are closed during these hours and many businesses change their working hours during Ramadan. Joel is working reduced hours during Ramadan and will be finishing work at 3pm. It must be really difficult not drinking during the day as the temperature now is consistently in the low to mid 40's. 

Tonight we went to a mall to celebrate Iftar, which is the breaking of the fast each evening. We dined at an Arabian restaurant where a large buffet of traditional Arab food was on offer. There was a plate of dates on the table as it is tradition to break the fast with a date. All the restaurants open when the sun goes down and families come out to eat and celebrate Iftar. Many shops which have been closed during the afternoon reopen about 8pm and stay open until the early hours of the morning. It is not unusual to see very young children up and about in the middle of the night during Ramadan.