Relate

                This book is beginning to remind me of my childhood growing up. Since my family is Muslim we have many of the same traditions which Amir and his family celebrate such as Eid. "On Eid, the three days of celebration after the holy month of Ramadan, Kabulis dressed in their best and newest clothes and visited their families. People hugged and kissed and greeted each other with 'Eid Mubarak.' Happy Eid. Children opened gifts and played with dyed hard-boiled eggs." (page 44) Its nice to be reading a story I can truly relate to and understand the excitement the characters have. When I was a kid, Eid was like Christmas and one of the happiest times of the year; I remember  receiving money and painting hard boiled eggs with my grandmother, thinking they were the most beautiful things in the world.
                It's also interesting to read about these kids and what they take enjoyment in and even though they live in a completely different culture and country, they are no different than us. "Winter was every kids favorite season in Kabul, ... The reason was simple: They shut down school for the icy season. Winter to me was the end of long division and naming the capital of Bulgaria, and the start of three months of playing cards by the stove with Hassan, free Russian movies on Tuesday mornings at Cinema Park, sweet turnip qurma over rice for lunch after a morning of building snowmen." (page 48) For those of you who have lived your whole life in Miami, I am sorry, but you will probably never know this feeling. I used to live in New Jersey and when I was about Amir and Hassan's age, waking up to snow and no school was exhilarating. Reading the description of winter and the feelings Amir and Hassan get during this time of year brings back old memories and for that, I'm really enjoying this aspect of the book.
                These kids are in no way different than us. They have the same kind of innocence we do, they laugh at the same things, and they learn the same way kids in America do. The only difference is that they're a few thousand miles away and have different traditions than we do. The kite running competition would almost be like a box car competition in comparison. The kids in Afghanistan get as excited for their competition as any other kid would. "I never slept the night before the tournament." (page 50) All kids are the same no matter where they grow up and they all think the same way; child like innocence is almost like a universal language.