**Ramadan Karim!**

OK, so Ramadan just ended here (actually, everywhere, I guess). For those of you who do not know (like myself), Ramadan is the holy month of the Muslim calendar. It follows a lunar cycle and involves fasting (no water or food) during the daylight hours, no smoking, and generally acting well for a month to sort of set yourself up for the rest of the year. Most religions have something similar so you can self-evaluate once a year. However, I jumped into the deep end since I got to celebrate my first Ramadan in a Muslim country.

On the first day of Ramadan (and with my usual "sensitivity"), I committed a faux pas. Luckily, I have prepared everyone with my stupid question and dumb jokes since April... so I was cut a little slack. Since the appropriate greeting is "Ramadan Karim" (pronounced "Ka-reem"), everyone was using this. A coworker said it to me and since Kareem is a name in the US, I asked if all the Ramadan's were named.... like hurricanes. I feel this question was justified and sadly, they just laughed at me. Fortunately, I can use Google and found that it means "Generous Ramadan" as it is a month where all Muslims are supposed to help those less fortunate than themselves. I hope my mistakes save you all some embarrassment. It is too late for me... obviously!

Over the month of Ramadan, I was lucky enough to be included in many Iftar's - the daily meal Muslims eat when they break fast at sunset. Everywhere has Iftar specials. I mean everywhere - from the fancy hotels to Pizza Hut and KFC! I will be posting pictures as soon as I get an appropriate picture host!

My favorite "commercial" aspect of the month was the universal need for car salesman to use a holiday to sell cars. On the radio, there were tons of commercials starting, "Celebrate the holy month of Ramadan and make it memorable for your family by coming to Al-Whomever's Auto Sales and get zero down on a new BMW!!" I almost drove off the road; I was laughing so hard!!

Now, that Ramadan is over and we are back to normal hours of work and there is no dehydrated road rage on the commute home every day, Eid Mubarak (Happy Eid Festival marking the end of Ramadan)!!