Happy Eid

Ramadan is over! Now it's Eid. Eid Al-Fitr. Translated it means the Festival of Breaking the Fast. Now, keep in mind that there have been feasts every night during Ramadan. You fast all day, then feast when the sun goes down. Now, now that Ramadan is over, you get to feast again.

And what's interesting about Eid is that you have to wait on the moon sightings to know when it starts. So we found out late last night that Eid had started and there would be no school today. It's like that. No one knows until it starts. Not a firm date on the calendar.

And it reminds me of Christmas, because all the stores close for Eid. The shopping during the days leading up to Eid - just like Christmas. Lines of cars at the malls, at night, no less. Traffic jams around the souqs and malls.

So, my husband is off work until next Sunday. My kids are home from school until next Monday. We should have been travelling, but because of delays in getting residence permit, we weren't able to find any hotels with available space. And we looked: Lebanon, Cyprus, Oman, Istanbul. Everyone travels during Eid, everyone, that is, except us. But we have some neighbors here and other new expats who didn't get RP in time, either. So it's party time in Doha!

Oh, and last, but certainly not least, Starbucks is open again. And I can take my water to the pool. And I can go out to lunch. All things for which I have been patiently waiting.

EID MUBARAK!
Kathryn knows how to write this in Arabic - cool, huh?