Eid :) - Meat Mubarak!

Eid is an important religious holiday celebrated by Muslims around the world.
I think because our Prophet Abraham/Ibrahim dreamed that God was telling him to Sacrifice
his own son, to test his loyalty but then God provided him with a sheep to sacrifice instead.

It is celebrated 70 days (2months and 10days) after Ramadan, all the Muslims slaughter sheep, skin it, gut it, clean it, cook it and eat it, and
of course you can give away all the meat to the poor, or give away the money you were going to spend on the sheep to poor families.

I think this might be my last Eid with my family here in Libya, cause  hopefully, i'll be away in Uni. next year!

before it was slaughtered.

I couldn't watch this year for some reason. I usually watch the slaughtering.

I just turned around, shut my eyes, and put my hands over my ears, cause 

I didn't want to hear anything either, and then I cried a little. Idk why.

OK when I was a kid, my dad used to stain our foreheads with some blood,
I guess we just do it every year, ever since.

I helped out A LITTLE and look how bloody my hands got. ew.

I love this one!

this is Glaya, a mixture of meat, heart, liver, kidneys and of course fat! 

dad BBQing

the aftermath.

This years Eid was great! And of course, we're not like the typical Libyan families, who have large family gatherings on every occasion. It was just Dad, Mom, my sister and I this year. Last eid, my Aunt, Grams and Uncle came over, and that was basically it.

We slaughter 2 sheep maximum, ours and my Grams sheep, however this year, my Grams didn't want to get sheep, she gave her money to the needy.

Happy Eid to everyone! Kurban Bayraminiz Kutlu Olsun! :)

Remembrance Day - A visit to the War Cemetery.

Remembrance Day is a memorial day to remember the members of the armed forces who have died in the line of duty since World War I.
This day is observed on 11 November to recall the official end of World War I on that date in 1918; hostilities are said to have ended at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month in 1918.

This year it was Mr.Keith, Hamida, me, Wareda, Mr.Bolam and Yasmina
(who had to sit down cause she felt a little dizzy)

I read the poem  MCMXIV (1914) by Philip Larkin

Those long uneven lines,

standing as patiently as if

they were stretched outside

the Oval or Villa Park.

the crowns of hats, the sun

on mustached archaic faces,

grinning as if were all 

an August Bank Holiday Lark.

And the shut shops, the bleached

established names on the sunblinds.

The farthings and sovereigns,

and the dark clothes children at play

called after kings and queens.

the tin advertisements for cocoa and twist;

and the pubs wide open all day.

And the country side not caring,

the place names all hazed over

with flowering grasses, and fields

shadowing doomsday lines

under wheat's restless silence.

The differently dressed servants,

with small rooms in huge houses;

the dust behind limousines.

Never such innocence.

Never before or since,

as changed itself to past 

without a word, the men

leaving the gardens tidy.

The thousands of marriages 

lasting a little while longer;

never such innocence again.

Wareda read the poem Do Not Stand At My Grave and Weep by Mary E. Frye.

Do not stand at my grave and weep
I am not there; I do not sleep.
I am a thousand winds that blow,
I am the diamond glints on snow,
I am the sun on ripened grain,
I am the gentle autumn rain.
When you awaken in the morning's hush
I am the swift uplifting rush
Of quiet birds in circled flight. 
I am the soft stars that shine at night. 
Do not stand at my grave and cry, 
I am not there; I did not die.

Hamida and Yasmina laid the Poppy wreath

The weather was real warm, and wearing black didn't help at all!