Eid Mubarak!  I woke at some undefined hour this morning to hear the Eid prayers.  I had forgotten that the Eid prayers were special ones, and I think I only woke up because it did sound so different from the normal early morning call to prayer. 

 

If the month of Ramadan reminds me of the Christmas preparations, the Eid reminds me of a cross between Easter and New Year's.  Easter because Eid is celebrated with new clothes, candy and sweets.  New Year's because it is all about visiting families and friends.  Traditionally, the women stay at home to host the guests, while the men and children go out to visit the houses of their family and friends. 

 

When I went out this morning, I saw groups of men with children in suits and brand new clothes.  It made me smile - this isn't my holiday, but I can appreciate the importance of celebrating with family and friends.

 

A friend, Donnette, who is the mother of one of Omar's classmates, invited me over to do Yoga with her this morning.  She has been experimneting with "teaching" for a few of the other mother's in the class who have never taken Yoga before.  She said she wanted an opinion of her teaching skills from somebody more experienced with yoga.

 

Well, I think she's a pretty good teacher!  She has a very smoothing voice, and was excellent about giving instructions on how to make corrective actions in the poses.  I felt incredible after our 1 hour session.  I do my own guided yoga about 2-3 times a week, but it was really nice to do it with somebody else.

 

After yoga, I sat down with her, her husband and 2 girls to have some tea.  I feel so relaxed with this family.  At one point, I stood up to go help in the kitchen, and the next thing I knew, their 3 year old daughter, Sahara, had jumped into my arms.  I love Sahara- she's got the same spirit as Omar, and it really helps ease the discomfort of missing Omar, to be around other kids his age.

The word came in this evening that there is one more day to Ramadan.  I am so ready for the Eid holiday to get here!  I kept telling my colleagues today that I was certain that there would be an extra day to Ramadan, but they told me they were certain it was tomorrow - I was right, they were wrong.

 

It only gets frustrating when I'm expecting and anticipating the holiday!

 

To make things worse, Jordanians have gotten down right rude and nasty as the end of Ramadan nears.  I don't really understand it - I mean, by now, they're used to fasting.  Plus, since our office is located in one of the main shopping districts of Amman, the streets have been noisy and crowded, making it difficult to concentrate on the work and time consuming to get home in the evenings.

 

Also, I was only one of two people in the office today, everybody else has taken off already, so I was the only person to sign the loan contracts.  I spent most of the day signing the loan contracts.

 

I went to the gym tonight, and it felt really good to work out, I'd rather be going for walks in the fresh air, but fresh air is difficult to come by in Amman.  There is no green space to think of, and any open space is brown, and not any place where a woman would be strolling alone.