Approximately once a year Muslims participate in the holy month of Ramadan where from sunrise to sunset, they refrain from eating, drinking, smoking, or essentially doing anything unholy in the eyes of Allah. The week following Ramadan they celebrate (Eid al-Fitr) and everyone takes a week off work and school.
For my Eid break, I had the pleasure of hosting Moriah! She had some free time so decided to fly out and join me in Jeddah for a bit.
We had initially talked about going to travel somewhere, but it made a lot more sense to hang out and have a staycation. I made a list of stuff to do, so we went at it starting with a home-cooked meal.
Almost every day we hit the pool. Jeddah sits in the mid-90's most days during spring, so we were inclined to splash around at the pool in the compound. Moriah kept wanting to play games in the pool, but me (being an old curmudgeon) either swam laps or waded around for a bit.
We were a bit fortunate because my buddy from work (elementary school librarian) was staying in Jeddah and had borrowed a car from another teacher. We had a friend and some wheels! Our first stop was the corniche. The waterfront can be a really nice place to watch the sun set over the Red Sea while dust storms from the distant Sahara cloud the horizon.
After watching the sun set in tandem with prayers being broadcast from gristled & aged loudspeakers atop nearby mosques, we set out to Al-Balad to visit old town.
It was a fun experience seeing deserted streets and walkways slowly populate after evening prayers. It went from apocalyptic-esque emptiness to complete chaos. After a nice break in a cafe, we went incense shopping.
After a nice evening walking around old town (and a 45 minute exodus from the parking garage) we made it home. That evening, we decided to channel our inner-Arab and stay up until 6am drinking and smoking and talking. It was awesome at the time, but Calan and I (being a tad bit older) were struggling to survive the next day. Moriah, as usual, was as chipper as a songbird.
After we recovered, we decided to do a beach day at la Plage (where I usually go diving).
The sea got us itching for more sea, so we penciled in a trip down south to a local shipwreck. We stopped for shawarma on the way and made a fire after sunset. A combination of liquid courage and Calan's and my boring conversation led Moriah to go hang out with some Filipinos and catch fish and octopus with them.
And as we rounded out our visit together, we went oud shopping. Oud originally came from India and SE Asia and was heavily purchased by Arab merchants, so much so that it now grows and is harvested locally. It comes from a fungus-infested agar tree and is sold as a perfume oil or spray, or wood chips placed on top of a piece of coal and burned like incense. It is absolutely amazing.
Our dinners were a nice way to end the trip. We wrapped it up with sushi with an wonderfully sweet friend of mine followed by Moriah's culinary wizardry preparing a salmon fresh from the fish market.
And our last meal!
Thanks for visiting Moriah! I had a blast. Love you!