Private sector employees share Eid experiences

Though soaring temperature affected celebrations, private sector employees in the country had taken advantage of their two-day Eid Al Fitr holiday to spend time with family and friends.
Sara Khan, a Pakistani national, said that on the first day of Eid, her family travelled to Dubai to visit malls.
"We usually go to parks as part of our Eid celebrations. However, this time, we avoided parks and visited malls. We went to Dubai Mall and Ibn Battuta Mall," said Sara, who works as an accountant in Abu Dhabi.
She added that she could take her parents-in-law, who came from Pakistan, to many places in the country as she got two days for the Eid. In the evening, the family went to Jumeirah Beach and watched the fireworks, she said.
For the second day, she chose her three-year-old son Abdul Rafay's favourite play area at Abu Dhabi Mall, and later went for a long drive to see the Jebel Hafeet mountain, the biggest tourist attraction in Al Ain.
Nighat Khan, her mother-in-law, said she enjoyed this year's visit compared to last year.
"I've seen different places this time. Above all, Eid brought us together."
Meanwhile, Dubai residents Hussain and Wijdan Al Jawhar took their two daughters Dania,7, and Rahaf,5, to Abu Dhabi for a "change of environment".
"We stayed at Al Raha Hotel to spend Eid. I haven't seen Abu Dhabi for the last seven years and it's good to come back here and see the changes. I know, from Sunday, it's back to routine," said Hussain, an engineer from Iraq.
For Teslim Adegboyega, Eid celebration in the UAE, meant catching up with friends in Dubai and Abu Dhabi. "On Friday, I went for Eid prayer, then visited the malls in Dubai," said the Nigerian sales personnel, a Dubai resident.
This is the second year Adegboyega has spend his Eid away from his family, yet the experience is "awesome" for him.
"In Dubai, there are lots of places to visit than Abu Dhabi. It is also much livelier than Abu Dhabi but Dubai malls do not have Ramadan Villages as in Abu Dhabi," he said.
He also went to the Ramadan Village pavilion at Abu Dhabi Mall, with his old friend Kafayet Oyelade who arrived in the Capital just six months ago.
Unlike Teslim, Kafayet's first Eid celebration here was a bit melancholic, as she missed her family a lot.
The Nigerian nurse said: "From tomorrow, it's all the same. Back to work."
olivia@khaleejtimes.com

It was a reunion for Teslim Adegoyega (left) and Kafayet Oyelade.