Ramadan

Ok, so it's been two weeks since I last updated, but not too much has happened. I got sick a couple days after my last post, and it took me close to a week to recover. Ramadan started 10 days ago, and so far it hasn't been too bad. The calls to prayer are much more frequent, and much louder, and people tend to walk around banging pots and pans at four in the morning to wake people up for prayer and breakfast before the sunrise. School starts for us at the same time, and we're allowed to eat and drink in school so long as we don't in public, out of respect for those fasting. Breaking the fast in public also happens to be illegal, as I recently found out, and you can go to jail for it. My favorite time of day has quickly become around 7 pm, when everyone closes up shop and heads home for iftar, or the breaking of the fast. It cools down by then, and everything is quiet and peaceful for a time. Then around 8 or 9, everyone floods the streets and cafes to eat, socialize, and smoke the hookah (called argeelah here) usually until past midnight. And there are lots of fireworks.
Last Thursday, I went to a local restaurant with Christina and our neighbor, Emily, to hang out for a bit. There was a live band that played, which was actually quite good, and we got to just relax and talk and smoke argeelah. Friday morning, I went downtown to see the art market, which was open Friday mornings until Ramadan started. It was really cool - there were lots of eclectic things, jewelry, artwork, antiques from all over the Middle East. I settled for some funky earrings. I spent the majority of Friday studying at Starbucks before heading off to our small group, which is getting larger and larger every week. A bunch of us went to the pool to relax and celebrate my classmate, Amy's, birthday on Sunday. It was incredibly hot, with no breeze, the end of a stifling heat wave, so it was so nice to be able to jump into the cool water whenever we got too hot. We Christina and I got home, I made lasagna from scratch for the first time in my life, and was very surprised when it wasn't half bad. Classes this week have been much more difficult and at a faster pace than previous weeks, but I'm relishing the challenge. We've finished the first 5 chapters, so we're now beginning to review before our first test. My class thought it would be a good idea to put me in charge of our first review period, so I'm taking it and running with it. I've prepared pictionary and jeopardy to make the review more interesting, so it will definitely be a fun class tomorrow.
Today has been good so far. I got to explore the British Council, which was really cool. It has a library, classrooms and tables set up in a really nice, quiet garden. I will definitely be spending more time there. Our washing machine is still broken, so we're still doing our laundry at Emily's. Christina and I were invited to the office building to eat lunch, which was fantastic. I really enjoy a good home-cooked meal. Tonight I'll be attempting to take a taxi to a nearby mall to meet up with a new friend of mine. I'm still a bit nervous, but I think I'll be ok this time. After all, I learned a few choice phrases to use if the taxi driver oversteps the boundaries again.... And the icing on the cake: Babal Hara. Babal Hara is an Arabic soap opera shown every night during Ramadan. It's a great way to listen to how words are used in different contexts, and it's dramatic. My excuse is that it's educational.
So coming up: I attempt to pass the first test, register for absentee voting, and my introduction to steamed grape leaves.