Eid Mubarak!

[Genesis]

Not sure whether this greeting is correct, but just want to wish our Muslim members Eid Mubarak. Hope you are enjoying the festive season.

I'm in Oman right now, and today feels like a Xmas day. All shops are closed for the morning session any way, which is quite something in a country where shops are open seven days a week. Quite a number of businesses are closed from today until Thursday (the last day of the work week). Most of the shops will be open from 4:00 p.m. this afternoon, as the season is of course also an opportunity to cash in with the extra number of visitors. The Hotel I'm staying at is completely booked out at the moment.

 

[Sander k]

Is it a Muslim thing to have the weekend in the middle of the week?

 

[Genesis]

It doesn't really work that way Sander. They have a Moon Committee that decides which days they are, and they can vary from the weekend to the middle of the week. Like Ramadan days are shifting ahead every year. When I started here it was in September I think, and now it was in July.

The work days in the UAE from Sunday to Thursday are however decreed by Government. A compromise with business days of the world and their own religious day on Friday. Although from all the countries I've ever lived in, this must be the hardest working countries in the Middle East I've seen. They work from 8:00 to 10:00, sometimes later, EVERY DAY of the week with the exclusion of Friday for prayer time. Government and some of the large private companies work shorter hours, 7.5 hours a day on straight shifts with 2-day weekends. But the rest is usually in two shifts with a break of two to four hours in the afternoon, except for the Malls, that are generally all open from 10:00 to 10:00 during normal days, and during special holidays the malls can be open much later. I always have to make a huge adjustment when I'm in countries in Europe where the whole city comes to a stop at 5:00 p.m. That's usually when things start to take off in the UAE. By 7:00 p.m. dense peak traffic.