Eid El-Fitr Celebration

Me chillin' in front of an indoor window. 

Monday, June 26th was Eid El-Fitr, the end of Ramadan celebration. My host parents weren't doing anything in particular to celebrate, so me and my roommate went to our friends' house to celebrate with their family. It was a lot of fun, but I was overcome with how many sweets and breads covered the tables! I'm still trying to learn the names of the various sweets, but there are so many and it is hard to keep them all straight since I really don't eat any. My host parents have been great about my gluten issues, but for Eid I let myself loose a bit and had a few sweets. My favorite had this kind of almond-fig-chocolatey taste to it. 

My roommate, Tasnim, and I started the day by "getting dressed up," which I use lightly because we didn't have any traditional Moroccan clothes to wear, so we just whipped out some skirts and nice blouses. We ate breakfast with our host parents for the first time since they could actually eat with us! It was really nice all eating together first thing in the morning and reminded me of Sunday breakfasts at home with my family. 

From left to right: Leena (Brooke and Marian's youngest
 host sister, Marian, me, Tasnim, and Brooke)

After breakfast, we grabbed a taxi to the old part of the city and met up with our friends Brooke and Marian. Many families, like Brooke and Marian's host family, usually visit relatives and friends throughout the day on Eid El-Fitr. So, as is customary, we visited some of their family's relatives, ate some sweets, drank some even sweeter tea, and relaxed with the family. It was a really lovely and relaxing day and it was really cool getting to see how close Moroccan families are with one another. 

A side note - You may have noticed I haven't been posting very often... I was hoping to be able to post more often, but my laptop has been overheating easily in the heat (but thankfully today it is much cooler!). Normally I would just post from the center where I study since there is AC there, but I usually opt to get as much homework done as possible in the AC instead. Hoping to post very soon about the trip we took several weeks ago up north, some lessons learned, how I feel after being here for a month, and healthcare experiences!