People Watching

"That girl's abaya's so tight I can see the wedgie her panties are giving her", said DD as we sat in the hospital waiting for EttaMae's speech therapy appointment to begin.

"So what are you doing looking at her a** for you twit! What ever happened to "believing men, lower your gaze"?!

I'm not at all surprised as this is DD's favorite hobby right after vegging out in front of the TV: people-watching. And it's not just women he's watching either, otherwise I'd be a bit more uptight about it, LOL! The government hospital is a great place for people-watching and it contains a cross-section of Saudi society with every social/ethnic/economic group within Saudia represented. I'm guilty of people-watching too, although less obvious than DD as its done through my veil, and commenting on some of the more unusual characters that fall victim to our scrutiny.

Daisy- "You don't like men looking at me as I walk past so why do you do it to other women", I asked my ogling hubby.

DD- "Well, I can't exactly beat up everyone who looks at you now can I?"

Daisy- "How would it make you feel if I sat leering at every man that went by", I asked?

DD- "Be my guest!"

Daisy- "Huh?!"

DD- "Let's take a look at the selection in front of us now, shall we. Take this guy for example (pointing in front of him)...he's short, bald and he's got a pot-belly. Men, in general, are ugly. Women are much better to look at."

Daisy- "Yeah, but you're looking at it from a man's perspective. Try looking at it through a woman's. Do you think I've never been out walking somewhere and had a "WHOA BABY" moment when seeing a good-looking guy?" ***but of course immediately diverting my eyes and neeeeeever leering;)*** "You do realize there are good-looking guys out there, right?"

I'm not sure if DD thinks that a magical spell was cast on me at the signing of my marriage contract which only gives me eyes for him or what! The man is obviously delusional or else he's depending heavily in my piety:)

me- "Didn't your mom every give you a "it's not nice to stare" lecture when you were a kid?"

DD- "No, can't say she did, it's just kinda understood when you get older I suppose."

me- "Uh, ya think? It doesn't seem as if you reeeeeally understood all that well, wouldn't you say!"

Maybe next he's gonna claim that men just can't help staring.

I won't be in town to respond to comments so converse amongst yourselves for a bit:)

Government Warnings About Skin Bleaching

What a coincidence, weren't we just talking about stuff like this in the comments section of my last post? Seems like enough women have fallen victim to whitening "treatments" in salons that something had to be done about it. Today, two pamphlets were stuffed under our door compliments of the Saudi Food and Drug Authority. One warned the nation's women of the dangers of these "whitening" procedures done so frequently now, here's the English summary of the pamphlet and here's the full Arabic version.

I have one childhood friend in America who was diagnosed with skin-cancer before the age of 30 from trying to bake her beautiful porcelain skin into a "California glow" and I've got Saudi friends on the road to Cancerville from trying to bleach their tanned-by-God skin. I remember the reaction we all had in my high school history class when we learned how European women in the 1700's used to eat arsenic wafers to kill off the hemoglobin in their blood to make themselves "whiter" as well as applying layers of arsenic and lead-filled powder to their bodies. Apparently we haven't evolved as far as we thought.

I won't be in town to respond to comments so converse amongst yourselves for a bit:)