EID AL FITR Holiday

I actually wrote this on Oct. 18th, it is now November 14th and I am at the school library tonight so I can publish this. At the start of the Eid holiday we discovered, as did many teachers that our phone lines went dead. We all went into a panic some more than others, especially those of us who were staying behind and hoping to do some holiday research etc. on the internet. How does a family of 4 with 2 burgeoning teenagers manage in an apt. for 10 days without their computer vices. Not easy. Scary but true, we are addicted to the wireless world. Unfortunately, we are still without a phone line. this I will save for another story as I'm tired of battling it out with the ministry and the lack of working infrastructure around us.


Oct. 18th This day marks the first night of our Eid Al Fitr holiday. The local newspapers were writing articles saying that Eid would most likely be declared on Sunday 22nd instead of Monday so they (ministry) were going to declare Sunday as an official holiday as well. This meant that only Saturday 21st would be a day back at school/work and then 4 days off for the rest of the week. After much anticipation and waiting from the school admin/director, a letter finally came out on Tuesday 16th saying we will have off Saturday and Sunday as well along with our other 3 days (Monday-Wednesday). Wow, this means 9 days off in a row! And no trip planned. How I’d love to hop on a plane to Oman or Jordan again, but we are saving funds for winter break. This will be our opportunity to hang out in Kuwait for the longest stretch ever without working and get in all of the sights we never seem to get around to.
Marina Hotel Iftar. As a follow up to being shut out of our club because of the Brazilian soccer team, we had complementary Iftar dinner tickets for the Atlantis restaurant at the hotel where our club is. Since September blew by in a flurry along with our 15th! anniversary and both our birthdays, we marked the moments at the Atlantis with a toast of the finest water. We initially had wanted to sit around by the poolside being entertained with music, shisha, and food, but my requests for this were continually misunderstood. By the poolside is something different and happens between 9:30pm – 3:30am, Iftar dinner is between 5:00-7:00pm formally. It appeared impossible to get down by the poolside so we took the Atlantis offer. Arriving at 5:00pm is so early for dinner, especially if you haven’t been fasting all day. We opted for 6:00ish and arrived at 6:15 only to find half the place empty and although there was still plenty of food, buffet style, you could sense the end was near. By 7:00 the place had cleared out except for us. The servers very politely offered us coffees, a last round of desert and then politely ushered us out by 7:30pm. It was a short and sweet dinner complete with all the trimmings of a full Middle Eastern buffet – chicken paella, various rice dishes, lamb, deep fried shrimp/veg rolls, hummus, baba ghanoush, pita, olives, and of course the starters to break the fast – dates and laban (a type of plain yogurt drink). After weeks into Ramadan, if you are not on the country’s prayer, sleeping and eating, schedule, you feel like a fish out of water when trying to do anything according to your regular waking/sleeping schedule.