Why, you ask? Well, because I find myself spending Ramadan in Palestine, the gift that keeps on giving. Beyond the usual harried driving, total lack of efficiency or anything getting done, closure of almost all places to eat and drink during the day, etc. etc., Palestine also decides to SWITCH TIME ZONES FOR RAMADAN. This means that all of the West Bank and Gaza is now an hour behind Israel; which means that when crossing the checkpoint into Jerusalem, you also lose an hour. Meeting scheduling becomes an art form; dinner plans require a weird rush in either direction. Do buses running into Palestine end at 10 pm Palestine time or Israel time, if they're ostensibly serving Palestinians? What about the camps, town and villages right along the border? It's anyone's guess.
My Palestinian colleague strolled over to my desk today for a noon meeting at 11 am. He hadn't even realized about the time zone shift. I think this is, in fact, a telling point: time accuracy matters so little here that an hour shift barely goes noticed. The Americans are losing their minds, the Palestinians aren't even caring. AST (Arab Standard Time, the phenomenon of no one and nothing ever, ever being on time, or even close to on time, in the Arab world) has a new and evocative meaning here. We craft our own time zones, people. We're beyond zones. Stateless and zoneless go hand in hand! Oh, how I could go on.
Don't worry, come September we'll switch back for the 15 days before actual Daylight Savings Time. Not that it matters. I'll still always be early.
Note: Literally as I am writing this my friend just texted me in a panic the following message: 'Um what time is it here??? Is there a special Ramadan time?' Yes, my dear. Yes indeed.
Is the time zone shift an attempt to get to eat earlier?
ReplyDeleteYup sure is! Smahty pants.
ReplyDelete