Sunday...

and start of a new week for us here in Algeria...

It took me a while to get used to a Friday /Saturday weekend when I first came here

but it's normal now...and we generally look forward to the couple of days off school.

Falling into a slightly different pace & routine.

It's not altogether unbusy of course...

Friday, being Jumuah is the nicest day of our week.

My boys wander off to tutors in the morning while the rest of tidy up the house a little and make ready for any of the drop in guests we normally get over the weekend.

Boys are back in time to shower and run off to meet their Abi in the masjid and then we prep lunch and settle down to a nice family meal post salat... and hopefully to an afternoon of lounging around catching up with all the things we wanted to do during the week but didn't have time for because we were too busy doing the "have to's" of life.

Although in reality our weekend quite often gets hijacked by friends and neighbours popping in for tea and a chat.

This weekend was nicer still because lunch was courtesy of an aunt in law who sent it along with my boys..and then we drifted off in the afternoon ( they live just a short walk away)to spend some time with them all and the new baby in their lives masha'allah.

Saturday is another affair altogether...back to an early start after the Friday lie

and making ready for my "Saturday Girls"

A group of 5-6 girls from my Tuesday masjid class who come for extra tutoring.

Though we've decided that Saturday should be more informal and as we're not actually covering much academic ground on a Saturday we're changing it to a crafting session insha'allah...so I hope we'll have something constructive to show for ourselves sometime soon.

My other two regular adult students weren't able to make today... so we had an easy afternoon.

Dh was out all day, so we all sat down with the knitting sticks and cast on projects to make us happy...

a rash of baby wear  is taking shape on our needles and after a few days of not being able to find a rhythm to our yarn crafts we are finally back in the groove and happily knitting away masha'allah.

Tomorrow?

Well,

it's the first day of a new week...

which, in my house means cooking & cleaning

getting rid of all my week long stash of stale bread and turning it into bread puddings

making some soup and bakeables

getting rid of weekend dust and lighting bakhoor to freshen the place up

and being ready to offer up the younger ones something warm and comforting after the long-ish walk down to the school and back...

I love the start of a new week almost as much as I look forward to the weekend...

My younger children are another matter altogether..

After years of homeschooling, Sunday morning holds less joy than it used to..and it seems more important now to make home somewhere where they can offload and relax.

I used to fight against housework and what I thought was the drudgery and monotony of everyday chores.

But I know that my job makes the other people in my life more relaxed, and makes life easier for them..after all they are the ones who are facing the real hardship of having to leave home day in day out whatever the weather....

The job I used to resent...even if ever so slightly I now (usually) tackle with relish and a new found enthusiasm.....