If you have ever fasted for a holiday or event, you know that it is not always easy and requires a lot of discipline. People fasting during Ramadan tend to be tired and less patient because they wake up before dawn for suhoor, their morning meal, and are hungry and thirsty throughout the day.
With almost all Jordanians fasting during this month, most businesses, schools, and government facilities change their working hours to accommodate. Schools start half an hour later and end an hour earlier, most work places that were 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. are now working 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., or 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and the government agencies themselves are operating from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. In the commercial sectors, most cafes and restaurants in the city don’t open until after iftar, the meal that breaks the fast at sunset, and then stay open until 2 a.m. The other day, I was at the mall around 5 p.m., which normally would have been packed with people and there was barely anyone there. Rush hour in the city also shifts with the most traffic around 3 p.m. as everyone rushes home to start preparing their evening iftar meal.
