This year, the holy month for all Muslims, Ramadan came exactly in June - one of the hottest months in the UAE, and even with the longest days. According to the tradition that has been established for centuries, which neither time nor technological progress could change, business activity has noticeably waned. And if it weren’t for the schoolchildren who are still studying and passing exams in June, the streets would be completely empty in the daytime.
But after sunset, life in the United Arab Emirates, as they say, is in full swing! In shopping centers, parks, hotels and restaurants there is no place to drop an apple. My inbox is full of gracious invitations to countless iftar and suhur. By the way, if iftar still complies with its traditional meaning and involves daily conversation (eating immediately after evening prayers during the month of Ramadan), then Suhur has long ceased to be an early breakfast, turning into a very late dinner, which sometimes begins almost immediately after iftar, and ends deep after midnight.
By the way, modern iftars and crackers are not just a meal, but rather great occasions to get out of the house once again, spend time with friends and relatives, friends and acquaintances. Moreover, this year at the time of Ramadan just came another holiday - sports. Millions of football fans around the world and hundreds of thousands in the United Arab Emirates have watched the progress of the World Cup. True, for many the holiday ended too quickly - at the time when these lines were written, the Russian team had already finished their performance, having failed to leave the group.
But if the Russian football team upset their fans, the Russian filmmakers unexpectedly made a pleasant surprise - in June 2016, the highest-grossing movie “The Crew” with Danila Kozlovsky and Vladimir Mashkov in the lead films was released on the screens of UAE cinemas in June 2016. A particular joy to the Russian-speaking inhabitants of the United Arab Emirates was the fact that the film was released in wide distribution in Russian, which was also a pleasant surprise - there was nothing like it before. One can only hope that the distributors will not stop at this bold experiment and the screenings of films in Russian will become a good tradition.
When this magazine falls into your hands, Ramadan is likely to end, but there will be at least a whole month of summer ahead, and I hope, dear readers, that you will have fun and usefully, having managed to relax and gain strength before the new season.
I wish you a pleasant acquaintance with the materials on the pages of our magazine, and by tradition I remind you that you can find even more interesting and useful information on our websites on the Internet: www.RussianEmirates.com and www.ChatRu.com. Be sure to subscribe to our news and follow our pages on social networks Facebook and Instagram - our hashtag #RussianEmirates.
See you soon!
Sincerely yours, Sergey Tokarev
