I knew I would forget things. I said I would forget things. Here are some bullet points of what I forgot about Ramadan in Oman.
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| The Experience Oman sign in the Wave |
- It is generally expected that you should dress more conservatively during Ramadan in the Middle East than even other times of the year. However, I dress conservatively year round. I almost always have my shoulder covered, and my knees are always covered. People indicated that the expectation would be ankles to wrists, but I did not experience that. Nobody cared if I was wearing capris and a t-shirt. I did make a mental note to not where fitted t-shirts. And while I do occasionally run in tank tops, I did not during Ramadan. I stuck to t-shirts and my typical fun running pants.
- You can get fined or jailed for eating or drinking in public, but this is generally only enforced in extreme circumstances such as for the men who thought it was funny or something to post a video on social media of them eating in public. The saying, "Don't poke the bear" applies.
- Technically, it is always illegal to eat or drink in your car, not just during Ramadan. It is considered unsafe because it is a distraction. My guess this is not a regularly enforced law.
- Did I mention that along with no eating or drinking in public that you can't chew gum? This was hard for me on our post dinner walks. We eat early (between 5 and 5:30 typically), so our post dinner walks were still before sundown. If we ate anything with a lingering taste, I wanted gum bad but had to wait.
- There is some decorating for Ramadan, but nothing like during National Day celebrations. I saw some houses with twinkle lights and our local Oasis Mall had extra lights outside. The below picture is a favorite I saw on my run recently.
- Many places had special Ramadan hours all month long. It wasn't just restaurants that didn't open until dinner time. Other stores might open later to accommodate the shorter working hours and to fit their schedule. Or if a business followed the declared hours, then they might close by 2pm.
- After Ramadan, Eid seemed like an almost non-event. Many people go on vacation because we did get 3 days off work and school. I thought stores might be closed, but the only things I saw closed were Kargeen and the American Club. I'm sure other local restaurants and shops were closed, but I just didn't try to visit them to find out.
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| Clark W. Griswold Jr.'s Oman house decorated for Ramadan/Eid. Just kidding, but I do love it! |
Now that Eid is behind us, we are in full countdown mode to the end of school. With school summer almost upon us and the heat and humidity in full swing, I am starting to feel a bit homesick. This is really first time since I've been here outside of my 1 month breakdown, 3 month breakdown, and 6 month mini slump. By the way, those are normal times to feel the strains of being an expat. My 1 month and 3 month markers were exasperated by circumstances beyond my control. Probably why they were full on breakdowns.
