Eid got off to a surprise start. The islamic calendar and months do not match with ours - they are based on the sighting of the new moon by islamic authorities. Which means there's a surprising amount of uncertainty about when Ramadan will start and end. For instance, this year Eid was estimated on our calendar (printed a year ago) to be on October 2. The school schedule was set for Eid break to begin Wed., October 1, although there was a possibility that it would begin a day earlier. And at about 9 pm on Mon., September 29, we got emails and text messages announcing that the new mood was seen, Ramadan was over, and school would be out a day early. It felt like a muslim snow day.
But can you imagine the implications? Everyone was expecting it to begin on Wednesday. My dear friend had planned a large group gathering for Eid, but she didn't know which day it would be until 9 pm the evening before. Think of planning a Thanksgiving feast, and learning Tuesday night that nope, this year Thanksgiving's on Wednesday. It all worked out (luck favors the prepared, darling) thank goodness, but I've hardly ever seen anyone look more exhausted.
So what did we do with our extra-long holiday? Hang out at home. I went for a couple of bike rides, Daddy-O got out too. Our biggest event was joining with a couple of other families for a dhow trip. That's a traditional fishing boat in the region, and a big touristy thing to do is go downtown to the bayside and take a ride on a dhow. 20 minute trip, about 15 riyals, make sure you go when the sun isn't baking. We went just before sunset - the weather was perfect, warm and breezy. Then a snack picnic at the playground across the street, and dinner at McDonald's on the way home to round out the evening.
Nothing fancy, just pleasant. I only wish we had done another outing like this during the break. But really, there's no hurry. The weather is only getting nicer. Next weekend, Singing Sands.
