Experiencing Ramadan for a day

Having been invited to my roommate Summer’s Uncle’s house for the sundown break-fast meal of Ramadan, the if-tar, my two roommates and I decided to try what it was like to fast all day during the lunar month of Ramadan. Luckily, I have a pretty full schedule at the university from 9-5 so stoping to but lunch at a nearby vendor’s stand was not too terribly tempting. However, fasting certainly makes you more tired and irritable! At about 3pm, over a half an hour past when my Paths to Peace in the Middle East class was supposed to begin (but not yet begun) I started loudly grumbling about the “ridulous non-linear concept of time in the Middle East.” On any other day the slower pace of a major metropolis like Amman is rather refreshing, if not welcomed. The cab ride home (by “the shortcut” route) with four cranky roommates who just want to eat was also not the chipper experience it normally is. I was glad I participated in that experience though since I don’t think the if-tar meal would have meant as much to me if I had not fasted all day.
Arriving at Summer’s Uncle’s house in East Amman, the four of us were welcomed by Summer’s 22 year-old cousin, Qabas, chopping cucumbers for salad in front of an American TV show. Since I don’t have the ability to chop vegetables to the tiny size required in Jordanian salad, I most just watched while everyone prepared the meal for about an hour. I was able to make a little conversation in my limited Arabic vocabulary. At sundown, around 6:45, the family turned TV to the live stream of the King Hussein’s Mosque sundown call to prayer. The formal living room was then transformed into the dining room as the family of six and the four of us sat around the large coffee table in a large free-for-all meal. Some noodle soup and salad started us off, followed by sweet and sourish chicken and rice and pizza. For dessert later we had Arabic ice cream (essentially frozen milk with pistachio) and Chocolate cake I helped make from a box. Qabas then gave us a tour of the house and we watched the quality film Material Girls while her parents when to pray at the mosque. Although many people from Jordan stereotype East Amman as a low-income or lower class area, the buildings and shops in this area were comparable to the quality of those in West Amman. The house did not have carpet, just tile floor, and the kitchen was small for the six person family but overall it was similar to my apartment. It was a lot of fun to participate in such a big event as the fast during Ramadan and to share a meal with nine other people who had also fasted all day. The practice’s surrounding Ramadan intend to remind Muslims that they are to feed the spirit not just the body, reaffirm care for poor (those who may have no choice but to eat only one meal a day) and bring families together. From what I have seen many people in Jordan look forward to the month of Ramadan as a time like the holidays, while more secularly-minded people in Jordan dread the changes in daily life. Ramadan in Jordan blends classic practices with modern life; Jordanians families eat pizza for dinner some nights, put up glowing cresent lights and drive by Starbuck’s signs that wish one a happy Ramadan.