CAIRO: The first day of the holy month of Ramadan is usually the most difficult. People are still adjusting to functioning all day whilst abstaining from food or drink from dusk until dawn. Everyone is counting down to iftar time, which will likely be a feast fit for a small army - or just the few members of the extended family gathered around the dinner table. Daily News Egypt spoke to people on the streets of Cairo to see how they are coping with the first day of Ramadan. "The past week has been crazy around here. Our store is open 24 hours a day and the activity at 12 am is the same as 12 pm. Families are coming in to buy their Ramadan stock, everything from groceries to toilet paper and shampoos, said Alaa, a manager at a hyper market in Nasr City. "The highest demand is for dairy products including milk, yogurt and different kinds of cheese, he added. Meanwhile, Nagwa Ibrahim, a housewife, said, "We have been preparing for [the first] day for days now, getting everything ready, cleaning the house. Today [the first day] we woke up early to get a head start on all the cooking. All the family is coming to have iftar here and we have to have everything for everyone; for the vegetarian, for whoever is on a diet. Basically we have to prepare each person's favorite dish. Even though it's very hectic, it's all worth it when you see the whole family around the dinner table. After all, this is what Ramadan is all about. Ramadan time also means a lot of traffic, as one taxi driver told Daily News Egypt. "Traffic, traffic and more traffic, these are the streets during Ramadan. Everyone is short-tempered before iftar and can't stand anyone coming in their way. Today, I expected the streets to be more crowded but surprisingly they are not. We'll see how it goes in the afternoon, said Am Saber, a taxi driver. "I definitely hope to have iftar with my family but it depends how work goes. If I happen to be in the street at the time, I stop at any of the mawaed el-rahman (free public eateries for the poor in Ramadan), with many people around, the spirit of Ramadan is still there, he added. Coffee shops offering wireless internet are always abuzz during the day with people working on laptops. However, besides paying for the internet service, customers must order something from the menu. Will this change in Ramadan when everyone is fasting? "Everything is the same during Ramadan, whether it's before or after iftar. Customers have to order something to drink or eat besides the LE 5 per hour for the internet connection, said a waiter at Beano's coffee shop. "There wasn't the usual morning coffee activity and there aren't many people coming in today, but this is expected since its Ramadan and the majority of the people are fasting, he added.
