Lost Entries: An Interesting Problem

The next few entries will be the ones from our old blog (alcamelriders.com) that we couldn't get to post... I'm going to try to recreate them here. 

May 31, 2010

Lucy enjoying another bath! I haven’t taken any bath pics lately and I know how they’re loved! :) See, she can hold the sprayer now without soaking the whole room!

Any of you who’ve been reading my journal long enough may know the difficulty I had when moving to Tanzania with clothing. I was moving somewhere where women weren’t allowed to wear shorts or anything short, for that matter. And this was troubling to me, a shorts wearing kind ‘o’ gal. I could still wear sleeveless shirts and short sleeves, but the shorts really got to me. 

Then, I got used to it. And when we went back to America for those two years, I very rarely wore shorts outside the house or swimming pool area because I just felt, well, naked. Strange how that happens, huh? I remember several mornings around 5 am, still dark, and I was leaving the house in Tarrant to go open the YMCA pool when I was lifeguarding and I wore shorts outside and I just felt weird! 

Now, I live in a place where not only do women not wear shorts... but no short sleeves, no sleeveless, no ANKELS, even should be seen. And in some friends’ houses I go to, I don’t even let my wrists show! And while I love my t-shirts and capris once I get back into the comfort of my house, I’m used to the attire and don’t often complain of it after 11 months of this being ‘normative.’ 

NOW... here’s my interesting problem. Tomorrow night at 3 am we will head to the airport to get on a plane to go on a 2 week vacation to....drum roll... TANZANIA!!! We’re so excited! I couldn’t think of a better place to spend my 30th (yikes!) birthday - June 11, in case you forgot! So now I can scale back the long sleeves and long pants. I can even wear short sleeves, sleeveless and capris outside... but now, I don’t know what to wear anymore! I don’t have many short sleeves and I have 1 pair of capris! Geez! I’ve forgotten how to dress myself in a non-Mslm, yet still more conservative than the US society! Weird. Never thought I’d be here. It’s taken me hours to pack even a few things. 

(Oh, to compound my “problem”...it’s winter in TZ right now - Southern Hemisphere and all - so it won’t be as freakishly hot there as it is here and as it is most of the time there. So, do I pack cooler weather clothes? But then, wait, I want to wear things there that I can’t wear here... but do I really? How do I do that? What do I have that I like right now?) 

Yes, I know this isn’t really a problem. I just think it’s kinda funny in an I’ve-lived-overseas-for-a-while-now kind of way. Maybe only a few of you can laugh at this. Some may not get it at all. But at least you’ve gotten a glimpse into my head! (I might add it’s 1:24am here and I passed sleepy about 2 hours ago.) Night friends. Pray for us as we pack and go!