Ramadan kareem!

The holy month of Ramadan started early this morning. Even if I wasn’t in the Islamic loop- umm, hellooo, did you read my last post? Obvi I AM in the loop- I would definitely be able to tell that something was up. I walked outside early this morning and was met with an eerie silence. Aden was dead. Getting a bus or even a taxi to work this morning seemed highly improbable and as the minutes inevitably ticked on I started to get desperate- a few teachers and, of course, many students were wickedly late this morning because of the paucity of transportation options. During Ramadan (the holy month of fasting), Islamic countries turn nocturnal- fasting is from sunrise until sunset, ergo things come alive at night. I’ve heard that it is really difficult to fast for Ramadan in non-Islamic countries because the world just carries on the same. Here, as in all Islamic countries there is a total shift to night living. Nothing is open until evening, the streets are dead, the shops are closed, the people are at home. Sleeping. Amideast is now open until Midnight. My Arabic class went from 5pm to starting at 11pm, which is super-de-duper past my bedtime. A few things remain open like normal, hospitals for one. Another are my English classes. It’s going to be hard having to stay up all night for my myriad obligations-which now take place in the middle of the night aka boxing at 2am- yet still be functioning for my morning classes.
So this morning when all seemed lost, a bus driver I know, Amin, happened by. I had only met Amin once previously many months ago but he remembered me, and I, astoundingly, remembered him as well. He took me all the way to Amideast- refusing to pick up any other passenger- I saw two people out on the usually overcrowded, bustling main streets- all the while jabbering excitedly in Arabic. I got a free ride, I had a nice covo and got to practice my Arabic, I made it to class on time- what an excellent start to Ramadan.
Many an hour later as I was leaving work I stuck my finger out to an approaching bus (expertly pointing my finger behind me to indicate the region I wished to head towards) and it was Amin again! He may have been waiting for me because the coincidence of seeing him twice in one day seems too great, but I don’t think so.
Once again he took me all the way home, refused to let me pay, and didn’t pick up another passenger. We discovered that we have many things in common- we are both 23, we both live in Muallah, we both think sahawic is simply delicious, and we are both married. My husband is of course, still away on business though…

In a couple of hours I will go to an iftar at my family’s house. This is the ritualistic breaking of the fast after magrib prayer- and subsequent gorging ourselves with food. It is traditional to eat a date when breaking the fast so I’m going to wander off in a bit and try and find some delicious, nicely packaged dates to give them. People go crazy during iftar. If I had somehow inexplicably still been unaware that Ramadan was coming up, a trip to see the devastated shelves of the super market would have clued me in. Teeming throngs of woman buying jello, custard cream, and sambosa wrappers literally by the shopping cart load is a clear indication that something is going down. They really love their jello here by the way.. All year I keep hearing about delicious, fried, and traditional dishes that only make their appearance during Ramadan- Yemeni cooking is delicious but extremely redundant, I’m pumped to get some delicious variety in my life.