Eid Mubarak!

Well, it's time for the second Eid of the year, so we have six days off of school again. The first Eid occurs at the end of Ramadan in celebration of the end of the month of fasting. During the second Eid, many Muslims remember the sacrafice that Abraham was willing to make with his son Isaac. It is tradition that on the first day of Eid, Muslims will slaughter their own lamb early in the morning and then eat it later in the day with family. Although I knew this, I was still a little shocked to step out of my apartment on Friday morning and see a pool of blood in the street. One of the neighbors was cleaning blood and entrails off his front step and the remants were pooling outside my building. Lovely.
It is also during this Eid that many Muslims make a trip to Mecca. I saw on the news that Saudi was getting hit with rain, so all the Muslims in Mecca were getting poured on. I was quite excited about the prospect of rain, and we did enjoy a lovely five minute rain yesterday evening. Unfortunately, before I could get my shoes on and go to the roof to enjoy it, it was over.
The rain has brought in some cooler temperatures, so it seems that winter is drawing near. In the last week I have seen people sporting jackets, snow hats, and even scarves; all necessary in these chilly 75* days. :)

what are they thinking?

One of my better students was studiously bent over his desk working on his math assignment. As I walked closer, I looked at his hand. "What is that?" I asked, to which he enthusiastically replied, "It's my pencil, Miss. I've had it since last year!"

harvest

this is the best I can do :)

morning surprise

after a rather unsettling few days at school, I was treated to an unusual surprise one morning. Upon meeting my class in the courtyard, one of my more disruptive and generally rebellious children walks up to me and hands me a small purple box. "From my mother, " he says.

Hmmm...a nice gesture or a bribe??? I'm not sure yet...