Ramadan: Pros and Cons

Ramadan greetings again, gentle readers.
Now, not to be repetitive ("Yes, Alissa, we've already had the "Ramadan Special" post"), but Ramadan Egypt is simply not the same as ordinary Egypt, and is the cause of much reflection and new experiences. Imagine you were an (insert nationality) exchange student in America, and it was Thanksgiving every day for a month, over and over again. You'd find more than a few things to write home about.

Today I bring you the pros and cons of Ramadan.

Pro: There is now always toilet paper in our carefully rationed and usually TP-less bathroom at work, since, uh, fasting people seem to use the bathroom less often.
Con: I know this because I now eat my lunch in the bathroom stall every day.

Pro: There is a steady stream of invitations to eat homemade, 7 course meals in the homes of Egyptian friends: great food, and no grocery shopping or cooking for me.
Con: Type II diabetes and lethal blood pressure by Christmas.

Pro: Men are generally more well-behaved during the day, reducing the usual stream of catcalls to a mere and manageable trickle.
Con: Large packs of men roam the streets all night, eating and smoking and generally making up for their daytime discretion.

Pro: The month is full of evening concerts, boat rides, walks along the Nile, holiday discounts, and celebrations.
Con: I haven't slept in 5 days, neither has the rest of the country, and sleep-deprived fasting people on hot afternoons are a bit touchy to deal with, to say the least.

Pro: Work ends a half hour early, to give everyone ample time to get home and prepare for "breakfast" at sunset.
Con: We need 4 hours to get home because the whole country is doing the same thing. You have never seen traffic gridlock until you have 20 million hungry people in a city without adequate infrastructure all scrambling to get home first.

Pro: It's well understood that not everyone will be fasting—Christians, children, people with health problems, and so on—so I can enjoy the festive atmosphere without feeling awkward.
Con: Politeness dictates that those who aren't fasting are still discreet. I hide behind a bush last weekend to scarf my eggplant and mashed potato sandwich undetected.

Of course, there are other little things: seeing the decorations in the streets (which include lots of brightly colored lanterns and slit plastic bags to make a kind of streamer effect) is lovely, the skyrocketing price of food (classic supply/demand pressure) is not. Ample opportunity to discuss religion with my Egyptian friends, both Christian and Muslim, is great. Missing my usual afternoon Nescafe break at work is not.
Just a few notes from Egypt.