First: time change. Egyptian style.
A typical conversation with my mother, who lives in South Africa, may look something like this:
A typical conversation with my mother, who lives in South Africa, may look something like this:
M: Let's meet on Skype tonight at 7.
Me: At 7 ... Wait, what time is it where you are now?
M: Let me see .. It's 4:30.
P: Same here. OK. See you at 7.
Why all the confusion? Isn't Egypt and South Africa supposed to be in the same time zone? Well, yes, of course it is. The tricky part is, Egypt's time change policy. Since the Revolution of 2011, Egypt stopped applying time change. This was fine, as generally most people are not particularly fond of it anyway. But this year, the officials decided to re-introduce Summer time in order to save energy, as the country is suffering huge energy shortages (we experience power cuts a few times per day, and it gets visibly worse in the Summer months, when everyone is using A/C). Fine, but what about Ramadan? People will not want to fast for 16 hours. Well, the solution was simple - for the month of Ramadan, Egypt will go back to observing Winter time again. So here we are. And next month we will be back to Summer time again ... And then it will be Winter ... Btw, South Africa doesn't observe time change. So, this part, at least, is easy when it comes to Skype appointments.
(For those who are not antiquated with the concept of Ramadan fasting: in short, during the Holy Month of Ramadan Muslims refrain completely from eating, drinking, smoking, engaging in sexual intercourse, etc. From dawn 'till dusk. At dusk, the fast is broken with iftar - lit. "breakfast". After that, everyone is free to drink, eat, smoke, etc. until suhur,
which is the last meal taken before sunrise. And the whole procedure is
repeated for 30 days. Ramadan is the "holy month" because, according to
Q'ranic tradition, during this time Muslims received the Holy Book of
Q'ran.)
Second: the World Cup. In Ramadan.
Iftar is at around 7:15pm. This gives the people enough time to drink, smoke, eat and rest, before going out to watch the World Cup matches in coffee shops (qahwa) around town. It so happens, that almost everyone I know who watches the games, gathers in one place - a cafe called Abo Rageb in the Maht Raml area. This little traditional inexpensive qahwa, which serves shisha and drinks, such as coffee, tea, fresh juice and yoghurt with fruit, located in an alley just off of a side street, is famous all over Alexandria, and functions as something of a cultural center gathering people of all ages, professions and social backgrounds. On World Cup evenings, Abo Rageb easily accommodates around a hundred people, squeezed one next to the other on plastic chairs, which seem to pop up out of thin air and multiply every time a new customer comes around. The owners and staff run around in between the crowds of guests at the speed of light, carrying drinks, spoons of sugar, chairs, tables, shisha and hot coals. A soccer player during an important game, covers the distance of around 9-15 km on the field. This means that he runs a half-marathon every day. Wonder how many kilometers the guys from Abo Rageb cover on a busy night ...
I love watching soccer games in such places. The atmosphere, the anticipation, comments exchanged between friends and between strangers, the cheers of happiness and the disappointment when the other team scores and, most of all the feeling of doing something together - all these elements, for me, are part of the game. If I try to watch a match at home, I just fall asleep. In Abo Rageb, over sweet tea and shisha, surrounded with friends and random people, I feel that I am part of something amazing.
Iftar is at around 7:15pm. This gives the people enough time to drink, smoke, eat and rest, before going out to watch the World Cup matches in coffee shops (qahwa) around town. It so happens, that almost everyone I know who watches the games, gathers in one place - a cafe called Abo Rageb in the Maht Raml area. This little traditional inexpensive qahwa, which serves shisha and drinks, such as coffee, tea, fresh juice and yoghurt with fruit, located in an alley just off of a side street, is famous all over Alexandria, and functions as something of a cultural center gathering people of all ages, professions and social backgrounds. On World Cup evenings, Abo Rageb easily accommodates around a hundred people, squeezed one next to the other on plastic chairs, which seem to pop up out of thin air and multiply every time a new customer comes around. The owners and staff run around in between the crowds of guests at the speed of light, carrying drinks, spoons of sugar, chairs, tables, shisha and hot coals. A soccer player during an important game, covers the distance of around 9-15 km on the field. This means that he runs a half-marathon every day. Wonder how many kilometers the guys from Abo Rageb cover on a busy night ...
I love watching soccer games in such places. The atmosphere, the anticipation, comments exchanged between friends and between strangers, the cheers of happiness and the disappointment when the other team scores and, most of all the feeling of doing something together - all these elements, for me, are part of the game. If I try to watch a match at home, I just fall asleep. In Abo Rageb, over sweet tea and shisha, surrounded with friends and random people, I feel that I am part of something amazing.
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