There's a Man in My Room!

One of the clear signs that you are no longer in the United States and are in a Muslim country is the call to prayer. There are speakers pointing in multiple directions from the minarettes of the mosques that broadcast the call to prayer five times a day, summoning the Muslim faithful to prayer. It is hard to describe it, but it is almost like a song that last about three minutes. Naturally they pick a guy with a nice voice to do it so it's a pleasant sound even if it is waking you from a dead sleep. Oh, I forgot to mention that the first call to prayer is at dawn, which was about 5:30AM when we first arrived and is now 4:30AM due to daylight savings time. Depending on how far away you live from the nearest mosque, it can be a distant sound or quite loud and bear in mind that there are no competing sounds at dawn.

One of our friends from class thought there was a man in her room everytime she awoke to the dawn call to prayer during her first couple of weeks here. I cracked up when I heard her say that, but I could totally believe it. I sleep through it sometimes and sometimes it wakes me up. When it wakes me up, I just try to remember that I have just been blessed with another day of life and then I roll over and go back to sleep for another two hours.

Do you remember the episode of Seinfeld when Kramer said he could tell time without a watch, by using the sun? The funny thing is that I kind of do that now. I still wear a watch, but I know that the first call to prayer will be at dawn, which means I have a couple of hours before I have to wake up. The next one is approximately noon so I know it's time for lunch and then a nap. The third is mid afternoon, usually 2:30ish, time for my second lunch. The fourth call to prayer is at sunset, around 4:40 and the last one is between 5:30 and 6, dinner time. All kidding aside, the call to prayer is one of those unique things about living here that I know I will miss when I leave. Luckily, I still have another nine months to enjoy it.