We told the students we’d probably change the schedule, but they’d have to wait to catch the news in the evening. And sure enough, even though everyone said Ramadan would probably be today, it wasn’t.
I’m still not clear on the details, but from what I can make out, since Ramadan is based on the lunar calendar, Islamic leaders needed to wait to see if there was some kind of crescent on the moon. If so, we would have started Ramadan today. Since they didn’t, though, no Ramadan today.
The students had to show up early still. The teachers had to work a longer day. The schedule was all whacked because we thought today would be the day Ramadan started.
The Ramadan experience here (or the lack thereof today) parallels the Saudi experience in many ways. It’s not as scheduled and precise and planned and strict here. Deadlines don’t mean as much. Flexibility is a huge virtue. Isha’Allah. That’s the mindset here. For better or for worse, it’s definitely interesting to me to see and feel how pervasive it is.
