First day of Ramadan passed safely. It was extremely hot yesterday, but I did not leave the house all morning.  Therefore, did not get the chance to deal with the heat and the traffic… apparently Amman was jammed yesterday. A friend explained that she stayed from 1:30 till 2:15 standing still in the traffic jam in the new U-turn in Shmeisani. She realized that her petrol tank was almost empty, and therefore had to make a decision to cook slowly in the heat by turning off the car, thus the air conditioning, so that she does not get stuck there in the middle of that traffic if her gas runs out.  By the time I talked to her, she was almost in tears.

My experience was much nicer; I left the house at around 3:30… The roads had cleared by then… as a matter of fact, it was pleasant for me to drive around and see how people go about their Ramadan.

Yesterday Muslim families gathered together around breakfast tables for the first day of Ramdan. The tradition is to cook something green or white. (mloukhiya, waraq dawali, mansaf, shakriya …)… and while some families managed to cook several dishes, others had to do with the bare minimum since prices started increasing slowly two week ago to hit their peak yesterday.

Commodity prices increased by 20%-25% in Jordan this year, while this is mainly due to global surge in the prices of food and other commodities, citizens blame poor market control. As a matter of fact the high prices of fruits, especially dry fruits, and other popular Iftar items in Jordan have left this year’s Ramadan an expensive affair to the chagrin of 90% of Jordanians, whose monthly income does not exceed 200 dinars.

On this note, Ramadan Mubarak for everyone.