The holy month of Ramadan begins and ends with the appearance of the crescent moon. This year the first day of Ramadan fell during our spring break trip to Italy and Istanbul. Since returning from our trip, we have enjoyed experiencing this festive time of year.

To start, we have been blessed by shortened school days with school starting and ending one hour early. This is to provide respite for those fasting who stay up late for Iftar (the meal to break the fast) and wake up before dawn to have Suhoor (the morning meal to fill you up for the day). In the upper grades, many students fast and there are lots of tired hungry kids, but in grade 1 my students were refreshed and energized by the shortened days. Our family certainly enjoyed having our extra time to relax and spend time together.

In Abu Dhabi, most restaurants have special meals and special deals for Iftar and Suhoor. Though we didn’t do an early wake-up for Suhoor, we did enjoy a few Iftar dinners on our own and with friends. Malls, restaurants, buildings, and streets are festively decorated with crescents, lanterns, and messages of Ramadan Kareem and Ramadan Mubarak (Blessed Ramadan and Happy Ramadan).

The month is intended to be a month of extra attention given to kindness and charity. In my own class, I saw students making gifts and cards for their friends and family. A few brought in small gifts for the whole class, with one parent even bringing in little gift bags with chocolate and cash! I had to check with my principal to make sure it was acceptable to send home but was assured that this is a tradition and perfectly fine to send. We saw members of the Emirates Red Crescent passing out Iftar boxes to families. I read in the news about the 1 Billion Meals initiative, started by UAE’s Vice President which pledged to provide 1 billion meals in over 50 countries. Funding included charitable auctions where the ultra-rich competed for low-number license plates and cool phone numbers. Low number license plates are a status symbol here, and the single-digit “2” Abu Dhabi plate raked in 6.34 million dollars. The phone number 586222222 sold for $41,000!

Our calendar originally gave us a 5-day weekend for Eid. Many of my colleagues were hopefully anticipating that we MIGHT get a full week off. The anticipation grew as neighboring countries began announcing full weeks off, then neighboring Emirates Dubai and Sharjah announced the full week holiday. Abu Dhabi announced that government employees would get a long break, then added the public sector, and then finally, two days before the start of our break…private schools were added to the party! Hooray!

We had already planned to do a 2-day beach vacation in the northern emirate of Ras Al Khaimah but once we knew we had the full week we decided to extend our trip, adding two more nights in RAK and two in northern Oman.

Days 1-2: Chilling at the beach and a seaside Iftar. Mila rocked out to the Oud musician after our dinner who seemed to be flattered by how much she was feeling the music.

Day 3: Suweidi pearls. We took a dhow boat out to a floating pearl farm where we learned about the process of culturing and harvesting pearls and the history of pearl diving in the area. The UAE and RAK in particular have a rich history of pearl diving, dating back to the 12th century.

Historically, pearl divers would plug their nose with a turtle shell clip, plug their ears with wax, and hold their breath for long periods of time as they dove down to collect oysters. They would be tethered by a rope to the boat and a trusted relative would wait for the signal tug that the diver was ready to be pulled up. Without goggles, divers would alternate which eye to look through, swapping when the saltwater burn became too much to bear. It is not surprising that many divers’ eyesight suffered.

Now, pearl farmers use a seeding process to cultivate pearls. We learned about the steps in the process, which take 12-18 months. The guide had Alden select an oyster to open. He had a 60% chance of choosing one containing a pearl, and he chose well. The oyster held a shiny cultured pearl and three tiny natural pearls as well.

On the ride back, the kids got a turn to drive the boat. Mila preferred navigating.

Day 4: Jebel Jais

We drove up the winding road to UAE’s tallest mountain, Jebel Jais, on a mission to ride the Jais Sledder, a new attraction on the mountain which is also home to the world’s longest Zipline. Apparently, we weren’t the only ones with this idea, so we joined a looooooong line to wait our turn. We wondered if the wait would be worth it but we all concurred that the beautiful view and exhilarating ride made up for the long wait. We were well matched with our sled partners: Mila rode with Simon screaming, “Faster, papa faster!!” and Alden rode with me yelling “get ready to brake!!!” as we zipped around the curves.

We grabbed a bite and Karak tea at a food truck and watched a bunch of hip guys park their sports cars in a row and pose for some insta/TikTok shots.

We had a seafood feast and then some surprisingly good gelato. The gelato place was small but had 17 flavors and the owner insisted we sample them all!

Day 5: Overnight Dhow Cruise

We experienced our first land border crossing on our way to Oman, along with MANY other holiday travelers. After three aggravating hours of waiting for our visa, we finally made it into Oman and headed to the harbor of Khasab. We climbed aboard the dhow boat which would be our home for the next 23 hours. The boat was lined with seat cushions on both sides and had a small bathroom, handheld shower, and a bar for serving meals. The entire vessel, except the bathroom, was open-air, but shade was provided by a canopy across the top of the boat. On our first evening, we cruised out to near Telegraph Island where we anchored for the night. On the way, we saw loads of cormorants perched on the cliff rocks and terns zipping through the air. We also had our first dolphin encounter!

After a quick swim and a tasty dinner, we settled in for the night. We awoke in the middle of the night to the sound and feel of the intense wind. Fortunately, the air was warm and the sea relatively calm, so it was comfortable to sleep despite the wind.

We got up with the sun and after some coffee and breakfast headed back out to look for dolphins. Our driver and guide were great at spotting the dolphins and then luring the dolphins to ride out wake. There were other boats out competing for the dolphins’ attention. At one point we saw a guy lose his hat to the wind. Later, we watched as the dolphin snatched the hat from where it was floating and dive down away with it. We had fun imagining what the dolphin might have done with the hat!

We had two different stops for swimming and snorkeling. Alden had fun jumping off the boat into the turquoise water. We saw lots of colorful fish, urchins, and sea slugs. On the way back to the harbor, we saw a few small villages tucked into the coves, accessible only by boat.

After a leisurely day, we headed back to the harbor and off to our hotel in Khasab where we enjoyed one last festive Eid dinner, complete with DJ and a belly dancer.

Our final adventure was a mountain safari up to remote villages and views near Jebel Al Harim. The “Mountain of Women” earned this name due to its role as a refuge for women to hide from pirates and rival tribes when men would leave to hunt or fish for long periods. The views were amazing and we enjoyed watching the goats rock climbing and giving them names. Our guide showed us cave dwellings and rocks with fish and jellyfish fossils. He also showed us a few edible fruits, one fig-like fruit that he recommended eating with salt, and another nut that tasted like almond extract. As we carved our way back down the winding road, we heard our guide murmuring curses under his breath and we came to learn that we had a flat tire. He had a spare but said it wasn’t good for going down. Fortunately, moments later a truck pulled up and his friend helped him jack up the car on some mountain rocks and gave him a new tire.

We grabbed one last seafood lunch and headed back to Abu Dhabi with a much easier border crossing. We feel so grateful to have had the opportunity to have this unexpected bonus trip. And we are refreshed and ready to take on the last eight hot weeks before our summer arrives and we head back home to the US!