Yesterday was the first time I've been openly reprimanded for my naked face here. I wear an abaya (a long, black robe), but rarely wear a hijab (headcovering). The majority of Saudi women not only wear hijab, but also a face cover (called niqab, I think) and sometimes black gloves and socks and shoes and the whole bit.
Anyway, usually it seems those around me stare, decide I'm not from Saudi, and decide not to say anything. But yesterday in the mall we walked past a couple guys with long beards (a sign of piety here), and one of them made a circle around his face with his fingers and said, "Madam, your face." A few steps later, I realized it was a polite scolding.
Mark it down as a first.
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5 comments:
That's very polite. Wow. But do you think you maybe had pieces of food all over your face that they were politely bringing your attention to?
so are you gonna cover up now? does the culture expect you to as an american? or is it not expected of you as an un-arabian?
i'm confused as to what you are and are not supposed to do. remember that one time though those guys were after you on those dune buggy things....becuae you were in a t-shirt?!
maybe traces of food...but more likely, traces of sin.
stacey - good fricking memory! that was, hands down, the most afraid i've ever been. i don't plan on covering my face/hair, but if the negative feedback was persistent...who knows. thank you soooooo much for the email, by the way! i shared your greetings with my parents and bro and they all sighed and said they loved you a ton. true!
is there any likelihood that future reprimands might not be very polite? or that you could get in trouble?
perhaps what he was going to say was "Madam, your face... is very pretty." But he got too embarrassed and stopped half way through. He is probably at home right now kicking himself, thinking "she must think I am a total goof"
But that is just one man's opinion.
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