On the eve of Ramadan

I am not a Muslim.  I am a non-practicing agnostic who was raised in a loving and supportive household by two wonderful  Roman Catholic parents whose faith I admire but do not fully understand and cannot replicate.  It is through no fault of theirs that I am not a more religious person and although they would be thrilled to hear that I faith has become a central part of my life, they show great patience each time they discover this is not the case.  Despite an inability to integrate the rituals of religion and deep faith into my life, I try my best to live a decent life, to help and respect my friends, family, and worldly neighbors, and to generally do my part to leave things in a better state than I found them in.

But back to the first words of this post and its title.  I am not a Muslim, so I am not the best person to write about the month of Ramadan.  But since Ramadan dominates most conversations I have these days and since this is my blog, that will be the topic of this week's blog.

Ramadan will most likely start on what we consider to be August 1, but on the date that the Muslim calendar would call the first day of Ramadan (no coincidence).  Since Islam follows a lunar calendar, the new month starts when the new moon appears.  This year, most people are predicting a sliver of moon will be seen in the sky on August 1, thus triggering 29-30 days of Ramadan.  However, it could start as early as July 31.  Whenever the moon first appears and the imam in Saudi Arabia declares it to be Ramadan, the following will also begin:

Fasting:
The most prominent and tangible aspect of Ramadan is fasting from sunrise to sunset.  Unlike in another religion with which I am familiar where fasting might mean abstaining from beef or chicken and hoarding instead on mounds of fried fish, in Islam fasting is taken very seriously.  No food.  No drink.  All day.  For 30 consecutive days.  This means that the first meal of the day is eaten before the sun rises and dinner (or iftar) is served in the evening.  The fast is generally broken with dates and water or juice so as not to stress the hungry body with a sudden influx of food but to introduce some hydration and calories to the system.  But soon thereafter, large meals are served.

Even for those of us who don't officially fast, Ramadan naturally brings sacrifices from food and drink.  Eating and drinking in public is highly frowned upon and the majority of food establishments aren't open during the daytime.  (Some restaurants even close for the entire month for major remodeling or maintenance projects.)  Thus, eating and drinking during the day needs to be well planned and done discreetly.

Winter time:
According to the British (and Palestinians), daylight savings time is called 'summer time' and standard time is called 'winter time.'  (Before I knew this, I thought I had observed an extreme display of hubris when I saw a headline that said Israel had decided to extend summer time into October.  As if they have the ability to alter seasonal shifts...)  Anyway, the Palestinian Authority recently announced that when Ramadan starts we will go back to winter time--the clocks will roll back one hour.  Jerusalem, however, which I can basically see from my apartment window, will stay on summer time.  So if I have a meeting in Jerusalem during Ramadan at 9am, I need to anticipate the one hour time warp that I will encounter 5 miles down the road.

Questionable productivity potential:
I don't like to write about work in this blog, but I will mention one small work-related thing here.  I am very interested to find out whether my ability to get things accomplished at work will increase or decrease during Ramadan.  Like other workplaces, we are reducing our official daily work hours by 1.5 hours.  I've been warned that some people and organizations use Ramadan as an excuse not to do much work.  This could be highly unfortunate if I'm relying on contributions or participation by others to help accomplish important tasks.  On the other hand, this could play to my advantage if it means fewer distractions and more opportunities to focus on tasks I can make progress on independently.  Either way, the work isn't going away--perhaps just the pressure to get it done on a tight timeline will be reduced.

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And so that concludes my current Ramadan observations, other than to mention that this upcoming Ramadan could be very difficult for those observing the fast.  The long summer days will translate to more hours between sunrise and sundown and thus a longer period of fasting.  The hot August weather will mean dehydration is more likely.

Whether you're Muslim or not, and whether you're fasting or not, Unimpossible Life wishes you peace, love, and happiness over the coming weeks.

Until next time...

Palestine Photoblog

Last week I promised my next blog would include a series of interviews with the Ramallah elite.  Alas, scheduling conflicts and technical problems have delayed the production of such a posting.  And I know my readers demand only the highest quality content, so rather than rush what should certainly be nominated for a Bloggy (or whatever award is given to excellence in blogging), I will wait until the finished product is at the standard you deserve.

Instead, I will share photos along with my wit and wisdom...

According to locally held beliefs, this innocent looking hill just north of the West Bank will be the main gathering spot on Judgement Day.

Delicious grape leaves - ready to wrap delightful treats.

A van in Nazareth loaded with other kinds of wrapping devices.

Even up close, it appears this flower is sprouting Cheetos.

The Sea of Galilee--calm, blue waters fed by the Jordan River from the north and a feeder to the Jordan River to the south.

Ruins from a synagogue at the Sea of Galilee in which Jesus is said to have preached...

***We interrupt this Photoblog with breaking news...

Today, "Tawjihi" scores were announced in the newspaper and there was great interest in the results as demonstrated in photos above and below.  The Tawjihi is the general secondary exam used in Palestine (and Jordan) and it plays a significant role in the lives of Palestinian youth because the score determines which 'stream' the young person is able to enter for further study--Science, Literary, etc.  In other words, this morning the youth of Palestine who dreamed for 17 years of being doctors, lawyers, engineers, and the like discovered whether they would be able to pursue their dreams through the traditional academic avenues. And after nearly two months of dramatic suspense, the scores were released and the streets were filled with honking cars and the skies were lit up with fireworks as Palestinian families celebrated the accomplishments of their young academics.

We at Unimpossible Life wish all Palestinian youth safe, happy, successful futures, regardless of what the Tawjihi claims to tell you what you can and cannot do with your future.

Young ladies read Tawjihi scores on the hood of a car.

Reading Tawjihi scores on the sidewalk.

And that wraps another episode in this Unimpossible Life.

Be good to your planet.  See you next time...

Learning Arabic in Palestine (pt. 2)

According to the EnglishPal website—a popular resource for English Speakers interested in Palestinian news, culture, shopping, etc.: “Arabic is the official language in Palestine. However, there are different Palestinian dialects throughout the Palestinian areas. The main accents are in the area of Jerusalem, Hebron, Gaza, the North and from the Bedouin population.  It is vital to mention that there is a huge difference between classical (“Fusha”) and spoken Arabic, in speaking and writing. People who learn only ‘Fusha’ Arabic will find it difficult at the beginning to understand the language that local [people] are using in their day-to-day life.”

As my darling wife and I advance in our Arabic proficiency through twice-weekly classes, the complexities of the language are slowly being revealed just as any process of discovery leads the learner to realize the vastness of the unknown that is unknown.  Likewise, after our first few lessons I was coming to the conclusion that Arabic had a relatively high proportion of logical and straightforward guiding principles.   Verbs conjugated according to standard rules; future tense was achieved simply by using the present tense and adding ‘tomorrow’ or ‘next year;’ words were generally spelled phonetically, so as long as you could pronounce the word, you could spell it.  But arcane and complex rules have started revealing themselves over the months, a few of which I will try to explain below—although by doing so, I will probably reveal an less sophisticated understanding to native Arabic speakers than even I know.

Sun letters and Moon letters

In Arabic, letters are considered Sun letters or Moon letters depending on whether they ‘assimilate’ the following letter.  In other words, when pronouncing a two words—one that ends with a sun letter—the next letter is not pronounced and the two words are blended.  This is said better, perhaps, in this explanation from Wikipedia:

“When followed by a sun letter, the l of the Arabic definite article al- assimilates to the initial consonant of the following noun, resulting in a doubled consonant. For example, for "the Nile", one does not say al-Nīl, but an-Nīl. When the definite article is followed by a moon letter, no assimilation takes place.”

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Singular, Dual, and Plural Forms

In Arabic when referring to one object, just as in English, you use the singular version of the noun.  When referring to three objects, you use the plural form.  But when you refer to two objects, you use the dual form.  One book = “kitab.” Two books = “kitaben.” Three books = “kutob.”  So if you need to buy two books, you don’t need to specify “two” kitaben, because the dual form is used exclusively to refer to two objects—just say “kitaben” and the bookseller will hand over two books automatically.

However, the numbering scheme in Arabic includes one additional twist: when referring to eleven or more objects, you revert to the singular form of the noun.  So you would ask the bookseller for 10 kutob but 11 or more kitab. 

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Gender rules

In Arabic, verbs, nouns, and adjectives are subject to gender conjugation.  So, asking your brother where his new red car is would look quite different from asking the same question about your sister’s new red house.  Transliterated, those sentences, respectively, look like this:

Brother: Wen sayartak jadeeda hamra? = Where car (masculine form because it’s your brother’s) new (feminine form because car is feminine) red (again feminine form because car is feminine).

Sister: Wen betik jadeed ahmer? = Where house (feminine form because it’s your sister’s) new (masculine form because house is masculine) red (again masculine form because house is masculine)

And gender rules apply to numbers, too.  So the gender form of numbers change depending on whether you’re talking about one vegetable market (hesba wahada, which is feminine) or one marketplace (souk wahad, which is masculine). 

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So there you have it.  This week’s lesson in three short parts—likely inaccurate and poorly presented, but in order to keep the educational, non-profit status of this blog, I need to convey some semblance of knowledge, information, or instruction at least twice annually. 

Next week, I will return to my long-running series of interviews with the influential Ramallah elite.  I will ask them to share their thoughts and insights on a number of pertinent issues: fracking, the upcoming elections, the environment, volcanoes, rapid badgers, rabid badgers, dapper badgers, rapping badgers, and the troubling increase in north woods battles between dogs and raccoons!

YOU WON US$ 2, 100, 000.00 IN CASH

It is with mixed emotions that I report to you, loyal readers, that I recently won a very healthy sum of money.  In cash!  In a way, this feels like bittersweet news.  On one hand, I will soon enjoy a world full of creature comforts and will be free of all concerns.  On the other hand, my new life of champagne and caviar may very well tear me away from the thrill of blogging that fills my life with so much joy, because this windfall will likely mean I will spend more time cruising the world's oceans on my yacht than sitting on my couch churning out delightful blog fodder.  All I need to do is contact one Mr. William Sumtany at the completely un-suspicious email address of kjhhjggh@att.net and start spending!

But perhaps I should think of better things to do with my huge pile of cash than gazing upon endless golden Mediterranean sunsets...


Here are some options that could be funded with my new endowment:

Option 1 - Bring Peace to the Middle East: This is an obvious first choice--not only because I am currently living in Ramallah, but also because bringing peace to the Middle East would bring new economic opportunities to millions of hard working Palestinians, peace would ease the psychological burden of harassment and attacks, and peace would facilitate the exchange of culture, knowledge, and technology that makes for a vibrant global society.  And just think of the impact I can make with my new towering stack of cash--I can purchase influence and authority and alter the course of Middle East politics for the benefit of mankind from this day forward.  It is nearly unimaginable what positive change I can bring with this sum of money.



But perhaps I should leave peace in the Middle East in the hands of more capable minds (the rich are allowed to blatantly mix metaphors and split infinitives, by the way) and concentrate on other matters of global importance, such as...

Option 2 - Bring Peace to the Mid-West: After all, I am from Wisconsin.  I spent two and a half decades living, learning, laughing, and loving in the Dairyland, and it breaks my heart to see my home state torn apart by simple money woes.  My unexpected influx of cash could solve the political upheaval if I were to invest it in new state programs to secure good educational opportunities for the next generation of cheeseheads, to revive the crumbling transportation infrastructure, and to ensure that every family has at least one opportunity each year to visit Wisconsin Dells, eat squeaky cheese curds, and revel in the glory of Tommy Bartlett's water show extravaganza!  Indeed, denying my fellow badgers of their inalienable rights by spending my money elsewhere could have tragic consequences.



Option 3 - Open a business: Recognizing that my first two options might be a bit beyond the scope of my available resources--and because my darling wife just told me that "peace comes from within"--it might be smarter for me to think smaller for now...opening a business to build more capital so I can buy peace in any number of suitable locations.  Here are some of the new business ideas floating around in my newly wealthy head:

• Recognizing that resources are scarce and people around the world are looking to stretch their consumer dollars farther while celebrating the customs of previous generations, I could open a full service sock repair store.  People could drop off their worn out socks in the morning and pick them up--good as new--in the evening.  This business would be called: Darn it All!
• Or, I could reach out to a larger market and provide a broad range of clothing maintenance and repair services with my business: Sew-Sew Fine!
• Going in a different direction, I could establish a small trading post in the frontier of the New World to sell the meat and fur of semi-aquatic rodents called: Leave it to Beaver.

Oh boy, I could go on and on, but I'm afraid that if I don't claim my winnings immediately this cash could go to someone else.  And heaven knows what a less serious person would do with this money...