Ramadan

We are now halfway into the fasting month of Ramadan. For the last two weeks Hossein, I and sometimes the children, have been getting up at around 3.15 a.m. to have some food and water before the call to the morning prayer at true dawn, which this morning is at 4.32 a.m. The fasting lasts until after 6 in the evening, but the hardest part of all is the lack of sleep, especially since last Sunday, when school started: by the time we are back in bed at about a quarter to five there's less than two hours' sleep to be had until the children get up for school at 6.45 at the latest. Some concession is made in terms of school hours: school starts at 8 and finishes at 1.30 during the Ramadan, whereas when Ramadan's over, school reverts to normal (7.30-2.00), along with sleep and meal times.