Family + Food + Friends = Amazing Eid!

This blog post is coming a day late because yesterday was a really busy day. I got back home and slept straight away. However, let me try and remember as much as possible.

The day started off really early at around 5:30am when I got up to go pray the Eid Prayer. I didn't know what time it was at so I guessed that they would pray at 6. Good guess since they prayed at 6:20. The Eid prayer, for those of you who know what I am talking about,

is one of the best parts I love about Eid in general. I feel that all muslims around the world come and pray and greet each other "Eid Mubarak". Its a really good feeling. I met some of my neighborhood friends that I havent seen for a long time. This is a picture of the sun rising as I was going to the mosque.

After prayers, I got back home and wished my sisters "Eid Mubarak" as well. The plan was to go to my uncle's house and see the rest of the family. However, we were a bit confused since every year, my uncle calls the night before Eid and invites us to his place. However, this year, and since my parents are not at home, he did not call. We called dad and mom in Dubai and wished them Eid Mubarak and told them our plans. While my sisters were debating the idea of going to my uncle's place, I remembered that I had some friends coming over from Doha to visit Oman. I decided to go pick them up from the airport since I wasn't being of much use at home.

The friends are three american exchange students from College Station who are doing a semester abroad in Doha and one Germany friend who is studying with me in Qatar. I picked them up from the airport and dropped them at the bus station since they were going to go to Sohar for the first few days before they come back to visit Muscat. I will update you guys about them more once they arrive here.

Going back to the story, I went back home and saw that my sisters had decided that we were going to visit the family even if they didn't invite us, after all, they are family!. My sisters got ready (which took forever!!) and after a long photo taking session, we headed off.

Seeing the big family has always been a joy and source of great happiness. I chill with my uncle and aunts and cousins all day. However, this year was a bit different since Dad and Mom were not there. Its always them that make the whole atmosphere lively and crazy!

We started the feast with the traditional harees.

If you don't know what this is, I really don't know how to explain it. Here is a picture in case you are confused.

After that, fruits and coffee came in. Then some guests came to visit and more fruits and coffee came it. This kept on going until it was Friday prayers time.

It was really weird to see that most of the people during the sermon were so sleepy and you could tell that they had eaten a lot at home. The sermon itself was extremely short!

After Friday prayers, me and the sisters headed back home because we were very sleepy and had a movie to watch at 5. It was 1 when we left. We got back home and slept until it was movie time.

We watched the Egyptian movie " Al-talata Yashtaghlonaha (The Three Pranksters)". It was epically funny and I really advise everyone to go watch it.

After the movie, I left my sisters and went to go see my old neighborhood friend, Ahmed. My sisters went to see their friends. I chilled with Ahmed for about two hours and chatted about life and other random things. Its always good to be back and meet this guy. I got back home at around 10. My sisters were back already.

This in short was my first day of Eid. I met family, ate food, and met my old friends. What more can a guy ask for!

Here is a picture of my crazy cousin who wanted me to take a picture of him. His name is Ahmed and he is 7.I simply asked him to smile for the picture and this is what i got! I love this guy.