Adventures in Moshi: Eid Mubarak!

In other words, the end of Ramadan! Marked by none other than glimpsing the moon in the 22 minutes after sunset, the day after no moon. Needless to say, this was next to impossible for us, as the sun sets behind Mt. Meru (see prior post), which is often obscured by haze. As it was Saturday evening.

Nonetheless, in anticipation of Eid occurring Sunday, I joined the celebration at Sumera's with mehndi hair dying (I refrained), hand painting (I happily acquiesced), feast preparation (guacamole and tea, not necessarily together), and moon searching -- at the Moshi airport! (I know you're thinking, Moshi has an airport!?!?!? Don't worry, it's a dirt strip :))

As you can guess, we didn't see the moon, but apparently, it was sighted in some small Tanzanian town, and word later trickled our way that Saudi Arabia also decided Eid was Sunday. For us, that meant only Monday was a public holiday, as opposed to Monday and Tuesday. Clearly, I could have used a fourth day to read, do yoga, cook, and, oh, did I mention read? I'm reading 3 books right now -- The Book Thief (very addicting), Dark Star Safari (very condescending), and The Invisible Cure (very intellectual). I bet you can guess which one is closest to being done :)

Yes -- I am cooking now!!! Brandi and Sarah and Aaron left this week, meaning that I have large oven mitts to fill! Must graduate beyond scrambled eggs... of course, I started with my banana bread, which also tastes yummy in Moshi. Foster's would be proud :) Aaaand, Indian food cooking begins now -- I've already made daal twice!

Pictures from Brandi's and Scott's going away party at my house... I can't say I did much this week, especially not at work, in my last-minute attempt to finish Brandi's going away present -- a scarf for the incubating mtoto, with the cable in the middle knitted thanks to a twig. Only in Africa.... :)