What not to wear.......

What to wear today?????.....A common question of women around the world....Well, I thought I would share this with you guys, so you can know a little bit about how we dress over here.

I thought I would take a minute to write about some of my first impressions on the way the women dress here....why is that important??????......let me explain my impressions first then I will explain form my point of view.

When we came here it was cold so I will start there...

-I saw no skin except for the hands and the face of the women.

Turtle necks, scarves, or head covering are a must.

I felt naked if my neck was showing even a little bit!

-No ankles showing. If they wore long skirts they put tall boots or pants under their skirts.

-Very, very dressy clothes...0r super dumpy clothes (like pj pants under skirts with hot pink socks etc.)

-Everybody tries to match everything, even the frumpy girls who wear their pj pants try to match their pink cheetah print pj pants to their pink head covering.

-They either care a lot about what they look like(the majority) or they really don't care at all.



And as it got warmer.......

-Everyday it seemed like the women would get a little braver

-Soon everyone was dressing more "normal"

-Still long skirts and long sleeve shirts

-If they wear pants their shirts almost always cover their bottoms completely

-Finally sandals of kinds!

-Even in the heat they wear lot of layers



So for me, I have spent this summer in long sleeves and ankle length skirts!! I have some friends who even follow that "dress code" when they go swimming in the ocean. For me, I just choose not to go. AAHH...sitting on the beach in longs sleeves in 95 degree weather!!!



I try to dress like them except for the head covering, if I wore a head covering everyone would assume I have become a Muslim. It is very important to fit in with the women around you. But it is also very important to establish a distint difference.I don't want to be immodest by their standards. Although I do get told by some of my friends that I need to cover up my hair. I do darken my hair to draw less attention to myself. It is obvious when I dress like them they feel honored and pleased that I want to be like them. One of my friends got really disappointed when I told her I wasn't going to wear my djellabas in America. I will always be an outsider to them...always..because so much of their culture in centered around Islam. Anything I can do to get me one step closer to them is something I willing to do! I wish they could understand the freedom we have in CHRIST.