First of all, I would like to say Happy Eid to all our readers. May Allah accept good deeds from us and repeat those happy occasions year after year.
It is officially my first Eid in the UK since I started my Ph.D., and to be honest it was not as lonely as I was expecting it to be. It’s very difficult to spend Eid without your family, for me at least, family gathering is the essence of Eid and without it it’s meaningless.
I was expecting a lonely Eid, with me and my children watching Eid songs on TV and wishing that we were in our homeland, but it was not like that. We had Eid breakfast with friends and we exchanged gifts and Eid money (Eideyyah). My children were very pleased with the Eideyyah. They were sad anticipating they would be missing the happy occasion when they get money from elders and then count them at the end of the day. They kept on reminding all family members in the Kingdom asking them to keep their Eideyyah until they return. “Please granddad, keep our Eideyyah with you. Do not forget because we are not there. We will take it when we come back, please,” they used to say.
So they were pleasantly surprised when they got Eideyyah. The next day we went to Blackpool Pleasure Beach theme park with some friends and the children had a real blast.
To be honest, not only the children but even the grown-ups enjoyed thoroughly. I was planning to stay and watch the children play, but then I ended up going for all the thrilling rides. I thoroughly enjoyed it. It’s Eid after all and we should express happiness with all available means. We then came back and I realized that the month of Shawwal has started, funny thing is that in contrast to the very fast Ramadan, Shawwal is the complete opposite.
I remember when I used to go to work after Ramadan before I came to UK, I used to stare at the clock and it seemed stationary. You could arrive to work at 8:00 a.m., make your coffee and work for a very long time and still when you look at the clock expecting it to be 11:00, you are surprised that it’s barely 8:15. I was wondering if it would be the same here in the UK.
I think Shawwal is similar to January as it follows eventful times with lots of gatherings and parties, and then everything is over and you need to get back to your normal life.
You are usually broke as you spend a lot in holiday seasons. Well, let’s pray for unexpected Eideyyah for me to cover up for all the expenses.
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@HatoonKadi
