2nuksabroad: Eid Al Adha - Another week of holidays!!

The Sultanate of Oman officially announced the public sector would get the entire week of Oct 27-31 off (and private sector 4 days off) in light of Eid Al Adha celebrations (which translates to Feast of the Sacrifice). The wonderful news came 4 days left of the work week which was quite a nice surprise. I had heard we would get some time off, but figured maybe 3 days or so, which is still pretty good. But because of the sighting of the moon, Eid would fall on the Friday which meant the holiday should extend to all week! Eid Mubarak indeed. Quite a few of our muslim colleagues were already on holidays the week before to make their pilgrimage to Mecca for 'Hajj'. Many of them also explained that each day during the holidays would be spent with family and friends. From 6am until past sundown their house would be full. I also learned that a family will sacrifice a cow and take 1/3 for themselves, give 1/3 to friends, and give 1/3 to charity. The last day before leaving the office, we also collected an envelop of money for the tea ladies in our building. Charity and good deeds seems to be at the forefront of the celebration.
This bring the year-to-date public holiday count to 15 days and 2 more coming up in November! Living one holiday to the next....

With the weather being more pleasant these days, we decided to do a staycation in Oman for the week. Which has so far consisted of bbq's on the beach, beers-bee, going out to some restaurants we hadn't been to before, swim/bike/run's, and relaxing on the beach.

Given Eid is a time for feasting and gathering of friends for Muslims, we decided to go out for a feast ourselves on Friday. Quite a few friends recommended Kargeen for its tasty food, authentic Omani atmosphere and sheesha. It was a great place - arabic music, benches and cushions, servers in traditional dress and a nice garden area for seating. It was also nice to see a blend of Omani and expat patrons.
All the food and drinks (sans alcohol) coming out of the kitchen were presented well - soup bowls with the flame underneath, bbq dishes served on a grill top, and the arabic stews were served in copper bowls with a large piece of arabic bread. The menu had a spread of difference cuisines - Italian, American, Indian but of course we went for Omani food!
We settled on the Kargeen special bread for an appy, the Samak Mizhbaza (grilled hammour fish) and Mandi Laham (roasted lamb served with spiced rice and sauces and dates). The food was really tasty and plentiful! Our bill came to 23 rial (62 CDN) which I thought was priced right. We'll definitely bring our visitors here for it's authenticity.