Last Post Special

           Due to this blog being a school assignment, I have decided that I've learned a lot but I rather not continue with my blog after this post. In honor of this being my last post, I wanted to do a "Day in the Life" kind of thing. What a typical day in Sudan is like. This post will be from my prospective. 
     Since Sudan is a Muslim country, most people wake up at sunrise to pray their first prayer of the day,Fajir(Muslims pray five times a day). Once they're done with that, they go back to sleeping. In the morning, when fully awake most enjoy a cup of tea with cookies. 
     After that, the students who need to go to school go, and the people who work go to work. The morning is when activities around the house are to be done, for example cooking and cleaning. Then around Noon is when the next prayer, Duhr, needs to be prayed. After they pray, they eat a meal. I guess you can compare it to breakfast in the U.S. When that's done most enjoy watching television or due to the hot sun, take a nap. 
     Around four or five o'clock the third prayer, Asr, is prayed. After that, lunch is eaten. Around this time, people usually go run errands and visit people they need too. This is because the sun isn't as hot as Noon time. At sunset, the fourth prayer, Magrib is prayed. Around this time, most events occur such as weddings or parties. If families want to go out, they go around sunset. At around 8 or 9 o'clock, Isha is prayed and dinner is eaten after that. When all the days activities are complete and homework is done, it's time for bed and then a cycle of the day in the morning occurs. 

Clothing

         This is a topic that is very different in the United States and Sudan. In the U.S, they're are many styles and fashion that come out every year, and I guess you can say that for Sudan as well. However, I do not want to discuss the yearly fashions such as animal print or skinny jeans, but the more tradition dress in these countries. 

          In the United States, people just go with the flow and wear whatever is fashion. I don't think there is a traditional dress in the states, but there are fashions that will never go out of style. Such as the traditional blue jeans. Jeans originated in Europe in the 1500's and is still being worn today.

     In Sudan, they all pretty much dress the same. I believe this is due to the fact that they dress more religiously, rather than trying to make a fashion statement. The women wear head scarfs, hijab in arabic. Here is a video to show how to wear a hijab 

                                               

In Islam, women are supposed to cover their bodies from their head to feet. The Hijab covers the hair to respect Gods wishes. They also wear what we call abaya. It's a long gown that is predominately black although can be purchased in other colors. This dress covers the female body from the neck all the way down, long like a dress. There are also many different styles of abayas and they will never go out of style. 

An abaya looks like this 

The Men also have a traditional piece of clothing they wear that will never go out of style. It's call jalabiya. It predominately comes in white but is also available in other colors such as blue or gray. In Islam, men do not have to cover like women do so a jalabiya is more of a traditional wear rather that a religious dress. 

Here is what one looks like 

The difference between the way Americans dress and the way Sudanese dress is that in Sudan they dress more for religious reasons as in the U.S people wear whatever it is they desire. I'm not saying you have to wear these dresses in Sudan, they wear jeans, skirts, and shorts for the men as well, but this is the traditional way they dress.