Ramadan

I was thinking yesterday as I was riding my motorbike through town that me being in America feels like a dream, like I was never really there. It feels like I never left Indonesia.

Indonesia isn't a country that makes big changes in short amounts of time. I mean, the new toll road around town has been well under way since before I got here 3 years ago, and it's STILL not done.

Basically the only things that changed over the summer go as follows:

1. My apartment got a lot cleaner (thanks Ibu Sri).
2. A new cafe opened in town.
3. Aswan lost weight.
4. Fasting month approached.
5. The mosque down the street got a new - and incredibly loud - PA system.

Those last two - accompanied by jet lag - are absolutely slaying my sleep times. Ramadan, the Muslim month of fasting, actually started this morning. I was reminded of this when I got here last week (I forgot it was starting so early this year) and saw banners hanging all over town depicting a cartoon drawing of a baby Satan with an ever-so-inspirational slogan, "Don't let him grow up. Ramadan."

But the mosque... Oh, the mosque...

So during the fasting month, Muslims cannot eat or drink (the truly devout go so far as to not even swallow their own spit) from dawn until dusk. So they all wake up REALLY early to eat breakfast, then sunset brings with it a feast. In years past, in my kampung (neighborhood), the men take turns going down the street with a stick at 3:30 - 4 AM, banging gates and yelling "SAAAHHHHHUUUUUURRR!!! SAHUR!!!!" (Basically, "mealtime! mealtime!") to wake everyone up. After the first few days, I can sleep through that.

But the mosque... Oh, the mosque...

They got a guy with a totally made-for-radio voice to YELL and SCREAM through the brand spankin new PA system. And it wasn't just two seconds of "SAAHHUURRRRRR!!!" No, it was that, plus a welcome to Ramadan, the holy month, plus guidelines on what to eat at this time to maintain energy throughout the day, plus a bunch of other stuff that I couldn't understand on account of he was SCREAMING through an incredibly loud PA system with the volume jacked up as far as possible. That mosque isn't even the closest mosque to my house - there are 2 (maybe 3 - I've never measured) in the other direction that are closer than this one, but I COULDN'T EVEN HEAR THEM.

Really? Does nobody in this kampung own an alarm clock? Nobody??? Can we PLEASE go back to banging sticks on gates??

After that wonderful awakening, and once the neighbor's German Shepherd finally realized aliens weren't invading and shut up, I drifted back to sleep, only to be awaken about 5 minutes later to "ALLLLEEEHUUUUUU AKBAR....." Call to prayer.

So... yup, I've been up since 4:30. No hope for going back to sleep now. I did go to bed at 7 last night though, so there's a chance I'll be OK. But if I don't learn to sleep through this, it's gonna be a looong month.