Ramadan is over

So, today is the last day of Ramadan. Tomorrow is Eid "eed". This is the celebration of Ramadan being over.

It is explained better here: what is Eid?

As a non-Muslim, this means that I can now eat and drink in public and restaurants will be open during the day. Also the traffic will apparently change. Right now, the roads are empty close to 6:30 pm because Iftar is at 7 (breaking of the Ramadan fast) so hungry Muslims all over the city are anxious to eat and are home or somewhere getting ready to eat.

Also, people have told me to be aware of cranky people around late afternoon because they are all so hungry. Honestly, I haven't noticed this. I wonder if it's worse during the beginning of Ramadan, as opposed to near the end when you are used to it?

The Muslim calendar depends on the moon.

So, the end of Ramadan is determined by when the new moon is sighted to cross the horizon. There is a "New Moon Committee" in Abu Dhabi and they monitor when the new moon is seen "by the naked eye" to cross the horizon. Once the new moon is seen, the following day is considered Eid.

Because things are so out of the norm during Ramadan, lots of expats (what I'm now called as someone who is residing in a country that I am not a legal residence of) go on vacation and there are less people here.

It feels like there are tons of people here, so I can't imagine lots more.

We'll see how different the next few days are. I've been without a Mocha in the afternoon for a couple weeks now. I supposed I'm free of the dependency.....do I stay off or resume? I'll have to try a Starbucks here just for curiosity......




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