Ramadan Kareem!

Ramadan Kareem to all our Muslim brothers and sisters around the world!
To others who may not be familiar, Ramadan is the holy month of fasting for our Muslim brothers and sisters . This is the time when they refrain from eating and drinking within the day, starting after their first prayers in the morning and until the breaking of the fast after the sunset prayers. For us Christians here in the Middle East, although we do not participate in the fasting, out of respect, we also refrain from eating and drinking in public places or at any time that we are in the company of Muslims. But, this is not to say that we don't look forward to Ramadan, because we excitedly wait for the month of Ramadan every year. For us Christians and Expat Pinoys, we look forward to a month of shortened duties in our jobs and school for our children. In Qatar, the law states that companies are prohibited to extend duty timings of workers to more than 6 hours per day. So that's at least 2 hours less from normal duty everyday for a month! Who will say no to that! :)
This year is even better, I have not seen it as being the rule but then most companies, government and private alike had implemented a 5-hour workday for Ramadan! Yahoo!!!!! Fortunately, in line with the school timings so the children won't have to wait an hour more for their parents to pick them up, specially now that it's the summer season, that's more time to stay in and get a bit more sleep :)
One other thing we look forward to during the Ramadan are the invitations we receive for Iftar and Souhour gatherings. Iftar being the breaking of the fast meal,usually at around 6pm. While Souhour, which is supposedly the last meal before you go fasting, but most Souhour invitations are for late dinners (and mind you, these are mostly buffet dinners at various hotels!) --- such a festival! lol!
The downside is, there is really nothing much to do outside during the day. Malls are usually closed until after the breaking of the fast and definitely no restaurants are open during Ramadan (except ones in the hotels of course!). But, more than anything, what I really love about Ramadan is the added time I get to spend with my girls. We usually ran frantic everyday with our schedules which we need to squeeze into the 5-6 hours waking time after work and school. So, with these shortened timings PascuaFam is a bit more relaxed and we are able to phase  our daily tasks without rushing to the next. More family bonding time, or to use my girls own words "chika-chika time"! :)