Wanted: Western Woman Looking for Ramadan Revelation

Ramadan is the holy month of the Muslim calendar. I thought it was the name of the holiday, but in fact it's the name of the MONTH. The name of the holiday is Eid Al Fitr (end of Ramadan). You think you know something and then you find out you had it all wrong.

So, curious and not wanting to remain ignorant about this most holy times of the Muslim year, I started reading up on it. OK - by reading up on it, I mean typing search words into Google and hitting "I feel lucky." It turns out to be one of thoses situations where the more you know, the more you're confused. The big mystery is when Ramadan (the month) actually starts. I knew that it had to do with the sighting of the moon. This is actually how the beginning (and end) of every Muslim month is determined. And there is controversy surrounding these exact dates within the Muslim world. So looking for a straight answer on the web turned out to be an exercise in futility.

So, finally giving into the "Inchalla" attitude, I waited to find out when the first day of Ramadan was in the paper. Turns out, it was (in Dubai, in any case) Sept. 23. Now the question is, when is the LAST day of Ramadan - marking the big holiday Eid Al Fitr? I'm asking because we want to go out of town and we need to book a hotel.

Out of the Frying Pan...

...and into the fire. That's what leaving Louisiana in August to come to Dubai in September felt like. Have you ever walked in heat so extreme that you thought your shoes would melt into the pavement? Here, you switch off your hot water heater. Your hot water heater fills up with hot water from outside and cools off in the air conditioned house. Then, when you take a shower, you mix the hot water that comes out of the cold water tap (because it's been sitting outside in the water tank) with a little of the cold water from the hot water tap to get the right temperature. That's how hot it is.

And, sadly, that's the coolest part of the whole "hot as hades" thing we got going here.

When we got back to Dubai after the vacation trip of a lifetime (I don't know about you guys, but I've NEVER had a summer like the one I had this year when I was growing up) - the boys asked "Why can't we live in Dubai forever." That's how much they love it here - despite the heat.

For me, however, after telling everyone I saw this summer, "Yeah, I like living in Dubai," I really had to wonder if that was true. First of all, traffic is horrendous. All the heat escapees are back and on the roads. Then - to my extreme horror and indignation, THEY CUT OFF SKYPE. Not only did it irk me because I use Skype everyday for keeping in touch with friends and family AND for work, but it drove me into despair that I (choose to) live in a place where this can be done LEGALLY and only to help the state-run telephone monopoly to make money. That's how free the Internet is here.

After a jet lagged feuled search until 3 am on the web, I found a secret weapon that will help me skype on. I can't divulge the secret because, I'm afraid that it will be sabotaged by the authorities. Actually, I shouldn't even be talking about this in the web. If you don't hear any more from me on this blog, you'll know that they came for me. That's how scary it is to be an Internet outlaw.