Eid

On Monday the whole city of Dushanbe celebrated Eid.  Eid is the end of the Ramadan fast and in most places lasts 3 days.  Muslim or not, Eid is a national holiday here in Tajikistan.   It starts as early as 6:00 am with kids ringing your door bell asking for candy.  Luckily it was almost 7 when ours rang.  Winter and David had fun handing out watermelon gum to all the kids.  They even went to some houses along our street getting their own candy.   The rest of the day is spent visiting friends and family.   Gulzoda, our house helper invited us to her home for Eid.  Her home is in a village up in the hills west of the city.    We sat with her and her father and drank tea and ate on the goodies  spread out before us.  There were many sweets, sambosas, little nons, and nuts and candies.  Next she took us to her brother’s house where we met her sister in law and nieces and nephew.   They had a spread of food that was very similar but had added melon to the mix.  We practiced our language skills and it was nice to meet Gulzoda’s family and see where she lived.   Later in the day, we responded to an invite from our neighbors to come over for Eid.   The grandmother hugged and kissed each one of us and we were able to meet all of her grown children and some of her grandchildren.   One of the son- in-laws took a special interest in Noel and enjoyed engaging Noel in conversation.  He liked to eat and enjoy a good laugh.  I enjoyed talking to the mother of the house.  Between her limited English and my limited Tajik we were able to understand each other most of the time.  Once again, there was much food. 

We made some new friends, saw old friends, and practiced our Tajik-Dari.  It was a good day.