This week continues to be pretty hot outside with temperature hovering around 50 degrees Celsius. The beginning of the holy month of Ramadan increased hardships of the local people as most of them are fasting.

Last night, the Government declared today, the Thursday as a public holiday in Iraq because of very high temperature. This is a good respite to those especially on fast. Also, we get an extended weekend.

Of course for me weekends are boring as I have nothing else to do. I get time for extended sleeping hours, watching movies on Television, laundry and proper cooking of meals.

Let’s hope that the temperature will sober down in coming days and my Muslim friends can complete their month-long, dawn to dusk fasting in health.

01 August 2012

We will now have four days a week in this Ramadan month! Iraqi government announced that the Thursdays during fasting month of Ramadan shall be a day off. The reason for the holidays is the increase in heat temperature in the country that reached to 53 centigrade and the lack in power generation in all Iraqi provinces.

Amid the brutal summer, enterprising Iraqis have set up make-shift outdoor showers, hooking up mains water supplies in shops and markets to hoses, and attaching showerheads so that passersby can find some respite from the sun. There are many areas, where such street showers are put up every 200m.