My first true Iftar

Well, another Ramadan season has come and gone. As a reminder for those not familiar, Ramadan is the holy month in Islam where Muslims fast from sunup to sundown and then break their fast with what's called an Iftar. It's a reverent and very special time for Muslims and a bit of a challenge for expats in UAE as we are not allowed to eat, drink, chew gum or smoke in public places.

This was our 5th Ramadan, I can hardly believe it! It was made special this year by an invite to an Emirati family's home for Iftar one night. One of my colleagues from work invited a few of us to share Iftar and dinner with her and her family which provided a whole new level of experience and understanding.

We arrived at her house and were greeted warmly as expected. What I wasn't totally prepared for was how different she looked without her Abaya and Shayla. I had never seen her hair as she wears the tight fitting hijab that fully covers her hair at work and, of course, had only seen her in black from head to toe. This evening she was in a gorgeous teal colored jalabiya which is a full length, long sleeved gown of sorts - very pretty and looks very comfortable. All the female family members were wearing them so the whole evening had a comfortable but very elegant feel to it. They look a bit like the photo below.

We were welcomed into the majlis of the house, which is like a formal living room just off the front entry - in fact, the front of the house has a main door into a grand entry and a smaller one to the left into the majlis. The majlis itself was a largish room with very nice couches around the outside against the walls. The floor in the middle is left open (gorgeous carpets of course) and this is where a cloth is laid out on the floor with the food for the iftar.

It's very common to find extended families living together in the same household. In this family, there were multiple brothers and sisters living together, along with one brother's wife and a few children. Grandparents lived just a few doors down the road and the family was planning to head over there after dinner for the final evening prayer (after we had left). Family is central to life for Emiratis and they prefer to live very close and often in the same house. Typically, the wife would go to live with her husband's family after marriage.

Guests are separated male and female in most Emirati households. We met all the female family members of the household as well as a number of cousins who live close and were breaking fast in this house. We didn't see any of the males as they ate upstairs in a separate room. This is traditional when guests are present, otherwise, the family would have Iftar and dinner together.

We chatted until sunset which the family was monitoring with the internet and when the official time was reached, we were invited to take a seat on the floor to break fast. The Iftar is technically separate from dinner. Iftar is a simple affair (usually) of dates, milk, juice and water first and then some simple snacks. The idea is to introduce food slowly to avoid indigestion. After a few bites to take the edge off, the family goes to pray. We weren't invited to pray of course so chatted a bit while we waited for the family to return - maybe 10 minutes. We then ate a little more, talked a bit and then cleaned things up to move into the dining room for dinner.

Dinner was as you might expect, soup, mains, salads, juice - really nice food and lots of it! Our friend's mother loves to cook and loves even more to cook for guests so she went all out to impress us with a number of emirate dishes. She then made sure we had enough to take home to feed a small army (I felt right at home with that! ;)

After dinner we talked and visited some more, ate some delicious desserts and drank some tea back in the majlis. We were also each offered some Oud and perfume to top off the evening. As I mentioned in my post about the Emirati wedding, sharing scents is a traditional practice. They had an incense type of burner that burn the Oud, which is a scented type of wood (I think) that produces scented smoke. One of the girls brought it around to each of us and we were to wave the smoke through our hair to catch the scent. We were then also passed a bottle of traditional perfume to dab on our wrists. Again I thought of the comfortable elegance of the evening. The photo below give you an idea of the Oud burner.

By this time it was after 10pm and the family was just gearing up for a night of visiting with the rest of the family and the final evening prayer. Since it was a Thursday evening, no one had to be up early for work the next day so the plan was to stay up most of the night and sleep in the next day. Since the morning meal has to be eaten before sunrise (called Suhoor and about 4am this time of year) this made a lot of sense.

I, on the other hand, headed home as it was getting past my bedtime. 

A weekend in Bahrain

As most of you know, we're not very 'spur of the moment'. When we travel, the tickets have been booked months in advance, the accommodation carefully researched and booked in advance and yes, I have a calendar of activities sketched out before we even start packing. So, imagine my surprise when Brian emails me on a Thursday evening from Saudi asking if I'd like to meet him and spend the weekend in Bahrain!

He went to Saudi Arabia to renew his residence visa and expected it to take a few days. But miracle of miracles, he was renewed the same day so while he still needed to stay the weekend, he didn't need to stay in Saudi. So, he took a taxi and I took a flight and we met up in Manama, the capital city of Bahrain. And get this, with my airline travel benefits, my round trip standby plane ticket was cheaper than his round trip taxi/bus ticket . . . and that was flying business class!!

So we met up in Bahrain and got a small taste of the city and country. In many ways, it's just like Abu Dhabi. Hot, sandy, Arabian. The differences are that many more Bahrainis take 'normal' jobs such as taxi drivers or other service jobs, whereas in Abu Dhabi, an Emirati would never drive taxi or serve in a restaurant. It was actually really nice to see local people everywhere and in every type of job.

One similarity is the amazing architecture. Here are a few pics:

There wasn't a lot to do given the hot weather and the fact that we only had a day, but we did find a very nice National museum that was interesting. On the second floor, they had a whole village set up to represent Bedouin life which was pretty interesting and a little creepy.

And like most of our vacations, food was important. We started with breakfast at Ric's Kountry Kitchen, which boasts the "best American food in the Middle East". . . and that's true enough, but how hard is that really.

And we finished our trip at this Japanese restaurant with amazing Sushi, a gorgeous outdoor garden and real Samurai uniforms in the entry way.

A quick and interesting weekend for sure and another pin to add to our travel map!

Cultural Lesson: My first Emirati Wedding

I went to my first Emirati wedding a few weeks ago so thought I'd post a bit of a cultural lesson on how they work. I've actually been invited to 4 weddings since moving here, but this was the first one that aligned with my schedule and wasn't going to be awkward (i.e. I didn't have to go alone)

Weddings are either arranged by the family or for love. This depends on a number of circumstances and varies greatly from family to family. I've met women who barely meet their husband before the wedding and others who had full rein to choose their partners. In the case of my friend, her family chose the potential husband, but she had some say in the match. In fact, this was her 2nd or 3rd option over the last few years so she was happy with the match.

You may be surprised to learn that technically, the couple is married before the wedding. There is no religious ceremony that I can tell, but instead a document signing that makes the marriage official - the marriage certificate. This is done weeks and often months before what is called the wedding. However, even though the couple are officially married after the marriage certificate is signed, they do not live together or share a bed until after the wedding celebration. In fact, depending on the family, they may still not get to see each other unchaperoned during this interim.

The wedding itself is a celebration of the couple as you would expect. What you might not expect is that the men and women celebrate separately and only the groom and his father and brothers are allowed to visit the bride at the end of the celebration to take her away for the wedding night and then honeymoon.

The men's celebration is eating drinking, dancing, bragging and what you might expect. I wasn't there of course, but 2 of my male colleagues shared the experience. They said it was raucous, loud and not something they need to repeat any time soon! :)

The women's celebration is probably a bit more refined but no less loud and raucous. But let me start at the begining.

The event was held at one of the hotel wedding halls with valet parking for the ladies and a lavish entrance hall. As I walked into the hall, I greeted each of the mothers and sisters of the bride with my pathetic Arabic and warm smiles. They seemed to be truly touched that I had come and I felt very welcome.

Upon stepping into the hall, I was overwhelmed with the scent of Oud (a type of incense) and perfume. I was invited to steep in the smoke of the brazier to get the scent in my hair and clothes and then taken to a long table covered with bottles of perfume. I can't even imagine the amount of money that table represented and all for the use of the guests. My Emirati friend who was with me said this is traditional when you have guests - you invite them to 'freshen up' by offering Oud and perfume. So, when in Rome - I've probably never smelled so good in my life!

Then into the hall which was huge and lavish. No cloth covered conference center chairs you might expect, but silver gilt thrones for everyone at beautiful tables decorated with flowers and gorgeous table settings. I wish I could show some pictures but photos were very clearly and strictly forbidden as weddings are one of the few safe places women can gather in 'public' without their abayas and shaylas. I pulled this photo off the internet - it's not from this wedding, but gives you a sense of the lavish style of the one I attended.



At this point, we sat down and were served lots of little snacks, tea, coffee and juices. And not some bland buffet - full service with lots of waitstaff ready to get you whatever you want.

As back home, the women dress up for weddings, which I expected, but what I wasn't prepared for was the contrast. Remember that I usually see these women completely covered up in abaya and shayla with only an occasional glimpse of hair if we're in the restroom at the same time. Here was full tilt glamor - the gowns, the hair, the makeup and the shoes! It was very fun to watch - I felt like I was at an Academy award banquet or something.

There was very very loud music and professional dancers to entertain during the evening. Some of the younger women also danced and of course the kids were running around dancing, playing, screaming and having a grand old time.

Meanwhile, the bride has been fully dressed and ready for a few hours now and is waiting quietly and alone in the bride's room away from the party. She isn't allowed to enter until 10:30 or later (the party starts around 8:00). Apparently, the custom is that this allows her time to contemplate the change her life is about to go through and some quiet before it all begins. I can imagine it's a bit boring and frustrating to know all your friends and family are enjoying the party you helped plan while you wait. Our bride was busy texting her friends to see who was there and what was going on! :)

Around 11:00 (a bit late because the groom hadn't shown up on time for the wedding photos) the bride entered to what I can only describe as a cross between yodeling and catcalling. Her entrance is a very slow walk "up the aisle" sort of to her special chair at the front where she will sit and receive her guests until the groom makes his entrance about 45 minutes later. And good thing it was a slow walk because the bride has purchased 7 inch heels for the occasion!

At the point, dinner is served. Lots of traditional Emirati dishes including beef and rice, Harissa (a kind of flour and meat mixture - hard to explain but yummy to eat), pasta with mean sauce and more rice dishes. And more juice, soda, coffee or tea (remember Muslims don't drink alcohol).





The groom's entrance was met with more caterwauling and his mother and aunts throwing money at him as he walked down the aisle to meet his bride. The bride at this point was now covered with a white abaya and shayla since the groom would be arriving with his brothers and father. Most of the other women had covered up at this point now as well since there would be men joining and the additional cameras.

An interesting night and one I won't soon forget!

Perth Adventures: Home already?

As with all good vacations, they end too soon. It was time to make the drive back to Perth and catch our flight home. Here are a few last photos of the trip.

Another last photo of the Cape to Cape hiking trail. What a beautiful day!!

Xanadu winery cellar door. Nice place and nice wine.

Some of the fall color - seemed so strange to see and feel fall in the middle of May.

This is part of the Voyager Estate winery cellar door - I think it will be the template for my next living room. 

So long Australia - hope to see you again soon!!

Margaret River Discovery Tour

Margaret River is gorgeous! Woods, caves, beach, wine country - all within driving distance of one another. And it's fall so the colors are changing, the air is crisp and cool and life is good. We've been to a number of different wine regions in our travels, so wanted something a bit different from a traditional wine tasting tour. Stumbled across the M/R Discovery Tour and were so glad we did.

We started the 'tour' with a canoe trip on the Margaret River. So peaceful - the water was like glass.

 Next stop was a cafe in Prevelly for a quick coffee and a look at Surfer's Point beach. Some of the world's greatest surfing competitions are out on that breakwater.

And kangaroos!! We saw them everywhere! In the fields sunning themselves, among the grape vines, we were in heaven.

We also stopped at a waterfall which had just started running the day before due to all the rain. I guess Mother Nature was feeling bad about us missing our trip to Rottnest Island and decided to make it up to us. The waterfall was gorgeous.

We then went to lunch at a winery that isn't open to the public - a very private tour and a wonderful lunch right in the working winery.

And our final stop was the Cape to Cape hiking trail. Amazing views and the weather was absolutely perfect. Crisp, cool and bright and sunny. What a day!