Some Things Just Can't Be Explained

Sadly, I cannot take credit for shooting this photo, but I thought I would post it as an interesting cultural observation. These are some of the more conservative abayas (which are sometime referred to as burkas, depending on which country you live in), but believe it or not, they are not the most conservative that I have seen. You can still see their hands sticking out, and if they were a bit more modest, they would be wearing black mittens too. If they were a bit less conservative, they would have slits for their eyes, instead of their whole faces covered in the black veil.
While I am glad that I don't have to wear an abaya every day, I must admit that they come in quite handy sometimes. For example, you are in your pajamas, in gym clothes, in a tank top, or just plain don't want to get dressed--put on the abaya and run to the grocery store. Nobody will be the wiser. I wore my abaya to work a few times, thinking that it would make me a bit more inconspicuous. Oh contraire. The men loved it. They gave me these speeches on how "it suits you" and how it made my skin look even paler. The pasty white skin is a real crowd pleaser, and random men (and women) have told me how beautiful I am because of my light skin. Beauty is definitely in the eye of the beholder, and I keep trying to tell them that my skin is not attractive in the US. The just can't comprehend why I would like to go home with a tan.