Ramadan kareem, and the end of (dis?)orientation week

Classes begin on Sunday (Aug 23). And, as it so happens, Ramadan starts Saturday (Aug 22), which is technically now at the time of this posting. In Qatar, the traditional observance of fasting during daylight hours entails no eating or drinking from roughly 5am to 6pm. By law, that standard applies also to all non-Muslims, at least when we're in public.

From what we're told, this is actually the first time that the start of the school year has coincided with the start of Ramadan at WCMC-Q. This is going to be particularly demanding on the students. Students' classes are scheduled between 8am and 4pm, and then many of the Qatari students, when they break their fast at the end of the day, have family commitments which run late into the night. As a result, the vast majority will be working, learning, and studying through the day without food, drink, or much sleep, and it's going to be tough for them to start out the year this way. It'll be a challenging balancing act for the TAs as well, between being understanding and respectful of our students' situation and making sure they keep up with the class as it moves forward.

At the moment, though, the premeds have just finished their week of orientation. This means, aside from my getting enough free food to keep me fed for most of the week, that I also got to say hi to a lot of first-year students as well as a few second-years, and it's been great meeting them. As usual, I'm near hopeless when it comes to remembering (and pronouncing) everyone's names, but with a lot of repetition, I'm making really slow progress on that front. Actually, I won't initially be seeing much of the first-years, since the fall physics course (electricity & magnetism) is for the second-years. Overall, though, the students seem really bright and driven, and I'm definitely looking forward to teaching -- very soon.