EID MUBURAK
Yesterday Ramadan officially ended. No more fasting for my Muslim friends. Fasting had been going on for about 3/4 weeks. No food between sunrise and sunset, no water, no smoking, but a lot of spitting. At around 3pm everyday street stalls began to sell IFTAR like the stall one of our kids ran above. Iftar are yummy light snacks like dates, chickpeas, deep fried eggplant, deep fried potato balls, puffed rice and deep fried sugar pastries that prepare the body from fasting. At roughly 5:30pm or whenever the prayer to call was heard everyone quickly ate their snacks and headed home for a late dinner.

Today was the special EID day, the Muslim’s version of xmas EID-ul-Fitr. I went to my friend Laboni’s house for lunch. This consisted of pullao (flavoured rice), kitchuri (flavoured rice), chicken, beef curry, vegetables, salad and three types of rice and wheat deserts. I also went to visit some of the kids at the centres. The girls were very proud of their new outfits. I think they look pretty cute. The boys were equally found of their new shirts. Everyone in Bangladesh gets a new outfit for EID.

Right now I have one week of holidays. Most of Dhaka has disappeared, except the beggars who seem to have doubled, especially near mosques where they target men who have just prayed to Allah.

My flatmate and I are stuck at home writing our last papers of the year for uni. I have just made a bunch of new friends to keep me company though. One of the girls discovered that I have nits….