Tomorrow is Eid ul-Fitr. It’s the celebration that breaks the fast which took place during Ramadaan, which when you are a teacher at a school that is 100% Muslim you get two days off of school.

This year it fell on Tuesday and Wednesday which means that we had school today, we’re off Tuesday and Wednesday and we go back Thursday. It’s a little odd having a weekend, then one day of work, then a weekend, then two days of work, then a weekend.

Today was really not worth having. Most families celebrate the holiday by getting together and going some place fun (a popular place around here is Camp Snoopy or Chuck E. Cheese), eating a huge pile of good food and presents. Lots of presents. So today was like trying to teach on Christmas Eve. Not the most productive of days.

Today’s my birthday. But if you ask Lexi it’s her birthday. About a week ago I got an early birthday present. Kevin bought and installed one of those under the counter radio/cd players. It also has an input jack for my iPod (which is why I really wanted it). We have 3 levels in our house and the main floor has no music. Now, problem solved.

I also got a cool bracelet and necklace from Ten Thousand Villages, the first two seasons of How I Met Your Mother and the third season of The Cosby Show.

Apparently since I’m 30 I’m supposed to be slightly traumatized by this. Turning 30 just feels like another day of 29, with the bonus of presents.

I’m really excited about Christmas this year. Since I’ve decided to go handmade with most of my gifts, I’ve had to really think about what I can make (or who I can hire to make it) and what people would appreciate. I’m not going to go through the effort to make someone something just to have them say “thanks” and stash it in a drawer. I’m trying to come up with stuff that people will actually use or wear or play with. I started working on a couple of things this weekend - trying out a few ideas to see how they would turn out and sketching out patterns for other things.

Sorry I can’t go into details. Pictures will go up on my flickr site after the gifts have been opened.

Enkutatash (The Ethiopian New Year) is celebrated this weekend. It’s now 2001 in Ethiopia.

Ethiopia follows the Julian calendar which is 8 years behind our Gregorian calendar from January to September and 7 years behind from September 11 until January 8. The Julian calendar has 12 months of 30 days each and a 13th month of 5 days (or 6 days in a leap year).

Enkutatash means “queen of jewels”. When the Queen of Sheba returned from visiting King Solomon in Jerusalem, the chiefs welcomed her back be replenishing her treasury with jewels. Today when Enkutatash is celebrated there is dancing and singing as the rainy season comes to an end and all of Ethiopia is green again.

People celebrate with feasts, dancing, exchanging New Year’s greetings, cards and bouquets of flowers.

I’m pretty excited about Lexi’s Halloween costume for this year. I’m going to make her an Abby Cadabby costume.

Any volunteers to be Elmo or Zoe?

Tonight is the Irish Fair of Minnesota and Romantica is playing. And the fair and concert are free. But tonight is also the opening night of the 2008 Olympics and I love the Olympics. Especially the opening ceremonies.

What to do? What to do?

(I actually know what to do: tape the Olympics, go to the concert. And if you’re in the Twin Cities you should go to the concert too.)

I had always thought Mother’s Day was a Hallmark Holiday. Right up there with Father’s Day, Grandparents Day, Sweetest Day, & Love Day. But it’s not.

Julia Ward Howe wrote the Mother’s Day Proclamation (sometimes referred to as the Mother’s Day Proclamation of Peace) as a pacifist reaction to the carnage of the American Civil War and the Franco-Prussian War. The Mother’s Day Proclamation was one of the early calls to celebrate Mother’s Day in the United States.

Arise, then, women of this day!
Arise, all women who have hearts,
Whether our baptism be of water or of tears!

Say firmly:
“We will not have great questions decided by irrelevant agencies,
Our husbands will not come to us, reeking with carnage, for caresses and applause.
Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn
All that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy and patience.
We, the women of one country, will be too tender of those of another country
To allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs.”

From the bosom of the devastated Earth a voice goes up with our own.
It says: “Disarm! Disarm! The sword of murder is not the balance of justice.”
Blood does not wipe out dishonor, nor violence indicate possession.
As men have often forsaken the plough and the anvil at the summons of war,
Let women now leave all that may be left of home for a great and earnest day of counsel.

Let them meet first, as women, to bewail and commemorate the dead.
Let them solemnly take counsel with each other as to the means
Whereby the great human family can live in peace,
Each bearing after his own time the sacred impress, not of Caesar,
But of God.

In the name of womanhood and humanity, I earnestly ask
That a general congress of women without limit of nationality
May be appointed and held at someplace deemed most convenient
And at the earliest period consistent with its objects,
To promote the alliance of the different nationalities,
The amicable settlement of international questions,
The great and general interests of peace.

According to NPR

Anna Jarvis is credited with starting the holiday in the United States, in honor of her own mother, also named Anna Jarvis. She later bemoaned the commercialization of Mother’s Day and worked to end its observance.

This has been a pretty enjoyable spring break. Usually my long vacations from school (except for summer) are filled with 5-12 hour drives, visiting family, having family come here and lots of commitments. But not this one. The only things I scheduled were a play date today, picking up some rummage sale stuff and I had to teach a private lesson for a dog school client. The rest of the week was spent doing what I wanted, some of it was responsible stuff and some was fun stuff but regardless, it was all stuff I wanted to do.

Here’s what my week looked like:

Saturday: Taught dog classes, went to a Tupperware Party with friends. (While I was gone, Kevin finished painting the kitchen for us. w00t.)

Sunday: Organized all the rummage sale stuff and hauled everything that will be sold from the garage to the garage. I also got around to packing up the second half of the Christmas decorations. (Yes it was after Easter. Get over it.)

Monday: It snowed. Lexi and I made chocolate chip cookies.

Tuesday: Bought fabric for Lexi’s curtains and this babysling. Drove to North Branch to pick up a carload of rummage sale stuff. (My car was so packed that I couldn’t see out of the back window or any of the passenger side windows.) Got home and sorted it all out. Made Lexi’s curtains.

Wednesday: Made the baby sling. Did a private lesson. Went to house group. Made a mini-sling for Lexi.

Thursday: Kevin and I took Lexi to the Children’s Museum. We rode the bus to get there. Very exciting. Katherine came over to watch Lexi and Kevin and I went to Chatterbox for dinner and some old school NES.

Friday: Lexi’s friend Cosette came over for the day and hung out. Tonight we went to Target.

Not quite sure what I’ll be doing tomorrow or Sunday. Probably not too much. All in all it’s been a good break.

I didn’t do it this week, but over Easter my mom and I made valances for the baby’s room.

P.S. I’m pretty proud of the sling I made. I used a pattern on line but made the straps wider. I also made it reversible. And I made it slightly bigger than the pattern called for because I wanted it to comfortably hold a toddler (because the baby we bring home may not be a tiny newborn). And, it’s got a pocket…can’t wait to use it.

What Kevin and I did for Valentine’s Day (because I know you are dying to know):

Nothing. But we never make a big deal out of Valentine’s Day.

What the Kindergarten class did for Valentine’s Day:

We made a banner for the school secretary listing all the reasons we thought she was great. (The list included reason’s like “she gives us band-aids”, “she helps us when we are in trouble”, “she tells us if we have inside or outside recess”). We hung them outside her office, asked her come out to the hallway and said “surprise.”

What the rest of the school did for Valentine’s Day:

When 98% of the school is Somali and 100% of the school is Muslim, Valentine’s Day is not a holiday that most of the families celebrate - honestly, I don’t think the kids really knew what it was until we talked about. We tend not to focus on the love part, we put most of the emphasis on appreciating someone or friendship.

Anyway, most of the classes made Valentine’s for their reading buddies or for other teachers and delivered them throughout the day.

Best reaction to a Valentine:

When Maryama (6th grade) delivered a card to Mohamed (kindergarten), Mohamed, in the most dramatic voice imaginable, yelled for the whole room to hear, “Oh man! I can’t believe I got one from a girl!”

My three favorite valentines:

From Warda:
“I appreciate you because I like the way you to your class.”

From Mumtaz:
Deer Ms. Abby Thank you fore teaching me how to rite gud end teeching hou to reed iksrshen. Lev Mumtaz*

*translation: Dear Ms. Abby, Thank you for teaching me how to write good and teaching how to read English. Love Mumtaz (Mumtaz was in my kindergarten class last year)

From Hafsa:
Dear Ms. Abby Your very nice and won I was at kinnagrden you was nice to me I was happy and you clas is nice and you are nice alway I wish i was in kinnagrden. Hafsa*

*translation
Dear Ms. Abby You’re very nice and when I was at kindergarten you was nice to me I was happy and you class is nice and you are nice always. I wish I was in kindgarten. Hafsa. (again, one of my girls from last year)

So, that was my Valentine’s Day. How was yours?

It’s about 4 hours away from 2008. Lexi’s asleep in bed, Kevin is in California and I’m in my pajamas blogging and doing laundry. Sounds exciting, doesn’t it? Funny thing is, I never even considered finding someplace to hang out and ring in the New Year. It just seemed like way too much work and a really long night. Lexi and I did go to Target and she wished lots of people a Happy New Year.

As for the tradition of New Year’s Resolutions, I gave that up a long time ago. Partly because I would either a.) quit my resolution 20 minutes into the new year or b.) make it something ridiculously easy like not letting my car get to empty before putting gas in it. I don’t remember when I stopped making resolutions but I do remember what my last official New Year’s Resolution was. My former boss (read: nutcase) forced us all to make resolutions and share them with everyone. My resolution was that I was never again going to make resolutions.

A couple of years ago I did make a list of 50 Before 50. And I’m not doing too bad on it. At last count I’ve done 17 out of the 50. I’ll let you see if you can figure out which ones I’ve done. A couple of them just won’t happen - we caved and got cell phones, I won’t be starting a kindergarten program at my daycare because I don’t work their anymore ( I teach kindergarten, does that count?) and I won’t be finishing grad school (if you haven’t heard why I quit and really want to know, e-mail me).

Here’s what I’m looking forward to in 2008:
1. Turing 30. I think when you are 30 that’s when you officially become a grown-up. Or something like that.
2. Watching Lexi go from toddler to preschooler.
3. Bringing home our baby from Ethiopia.
4. Traveling to Ethiopia.
5. Seeing how much my kindergarten class has changed from September to June (and believe me, this group has gone through huge changes.)
6. Starting another school year.
7.Painting a few more rooms in my house.
8.Friends from far away places moving closer to home.
9. Kevin coming home from California.

Happy New Year.