Miriam's school is off tomorrow in honor of the Diwali holiday. Also in honor of Diwali, they decreed today a uniform-free day, meaning the students could wear whatever they wanted to school. Miriam was so excited about that. She thought for a while about what she wanted to wear, and finally decided on her Indian dress (that we bought in Qatar) because, after all, it's Diwali.
Jeremy and I had momentary concerns that this would somehow be wildly culturally insensitive, but neither of us followed up on them beyond having Miriam ask her teacher if she could wear an Indian dress to school on Diwali. Her teacher said yes, and that was good enough for us. After Miriam got on the bus this morning, I went to trusty Wikipedia and read that it is traditional to wear new clothing on Diwali, so I think the white girl wearing an Indian dress should go over just fine.
Happy Diwali! Holiday season has definitely started here. Diwali, then a whole week off for Eid in early November, then Thanksgiving (though that's hardly a blip on the radar here), then National Day (a big deal since it's the UAE's 40th), then Christmas. Woohoo!
Jeremy and I had momentary concerns that this would somehow be wildly culturally insensitive, but neither of us followed up on them beyond having Miriam ask her teacher if she could wear an Indian dress to school on Diwali. Her teacher said yes, and that was good enough for us. After Miriam got on the bus this morning, I went to trusty Wikipedia and read that it is traditional to wear new clothing on Diwali, so I think the white girl wearing an Indian dress should go over just fine.
Happy Diwali! Holiday season has definitely started here. Diwali, then a whole week off for Eid in early November, then Thanksgiving (though that's hardly a blip on the radar here), then National Day (a big deal since it's the UAE's 40th), then Christmas. Woohoo!