Why Extra Time Change is Good

Now that my email group for foreign ladies living in Egypt have moved on from the topics of their favorite hegab style and their stance on second wives to a topic I can finally understand and relate to - namely the time change issue in Egypt - I am surprised to find that everyone is so against it.

Click here for a little background on the issue.

So if a bunch of ministers got together in one room and decided that the Egyptian people should change their clocks four times this year – certainly the pros must outweigh the cons!

Let’s look on the bright side…perhaps there really are some advantages to this:

First of all, I LOVE fall back.  You know what I mean, that day each autumn when we move our clocks back one hour.  I always feel like I am in heaven when I wake up that first morning and realize that I have a whole extra hour to sleep.  So…one advantage of changing the clocks four times is an extra fall back.

Secondly, I am psyched that this means that for another month or so the time difference between Egypt and the USA will be only 6 hours (EST).  So I have a whole extra hour to talk to family and friends.  That 7 hour time difference is a real kicker at times.

Thirdly (and fourthly), it’s Ramadan time.  For those of you who don’t know, Ramadan is the month of fasting for the Muslim community.  They fast from food, water, and cigarettes (and other things) during the daylight hours.  So this time change means that they #1 will get to sleep an extra hour in the morning (not really but their bodies will feel like it) and #2 will get to go home from work an hour early.  Most workplaces in Egypt already adjust their working hours to allow workers to leave early in order to get home to break the fast with their family.  So when they leave at 4:00 instead of 5:00, their bodies will feel even that it is only 3:00.  See what I mean – advantages!

Granted, I HATE spring forward so the thought of an extra spring forward just wears me out by thinking about it.   Plus I am neither Muslim nor working so the whole fasting angle really doesn’t apply to me either.

Well, at least I tried, right?