Ramadan Nights

It's getting a little cooler in the evening here and I've been taking advantage of the great light in our yard.



Here are some pictures from our "garden."




We've actually had a little rain lately and the flowers are gorgeous.


























And since it's ramadan, the streets are deserted ten minutes after the sun goes down. So we've been going for walks in our neighborhood and I've snapped a few photos then too.


















One ramadan night, however, was far from pleasant for us. Two nights ago we were awakened at midnight to men yelling at each other outside our window. Now, this is not terribly uncommon so at first we just waited for it to die down so we could go back to sleep. But it continued. For a long time. After about half an hour I began to notice that the two men were saying the same things over and over. First the man with the higher voice would start in, yelling in Arabic and sounding pretty angry. Then the lower voice would respond and they'd go back and forth for about 2 minutes before quieting down again. Then, a couple minutes later and they'd be back at it. We were puzzled. Why were they reenacting the same argument over and over? I wondered aloud to Sarah that maybe they were reciting some particularly intense part of the Koran over and over (they are to read through the entire Koran during ramadan and stay up nights reading it). Well, around 1:30 (one and a half hours after it began) I decided to find out just what was going on. So I went downstairs and looked out our front door. I saw four or five people standing around looking at the part of our building where the sound was coming from. So. . .thought I. . .other people have noticed the to-do. Then I noticed the flood lights! Are the cops here? I lean farther out to get a better view and am finally granted the answer to my questions. There in the yard is a man with a movie camera and another with a boom mic. They were filming a MOVIE!! AT MIDNIGHT! FOR TWO HOURS! RIGHT ON THE OTHER SIDE OF OUR BEDROOM WALL! I thought about running out there in my pj's and hollering during one of the takes on the off chance that I'd make it in the movie but decided against it. Oh well, I wanted some exotic experiences and I'm getting them.
Another somewhat bizarre thing happened to me yesterday. I was riding my bike home from work and there was a man waiting on the side of the road for a taxi. Usually they wait there and try to thumb a ride from every car that passes in hopes of getting a free ride instead of jamming in the taxi and paying to sit there with five other passengers. Anyway, I'm riding along on my bike and as I approach, the guy looks right in my eyes and sticks his thumb out. As I get closer I realize that he is trying to get a ride from me. On my bike. I should mention that we often see bikes with up to three passengers so it made perfect sense to this guy I'm sure. I mean, heck, as far as he was concerned I was only 1/3 full.
"hey man, I gotta get home for fatur. how about givin' me a buck."
I kind of wish I had stopped. THAT would have been a great story.