Went to the beach this weekend. It was a beautiful setting of palm trees, people strolling by and the sun beating down on my extra white wintery skin. I was the only one putting on SPF 70+ sunscreen and covering my body unlike the deep olive complexion of my “sister from another misses”, Maca.
Got invited to go to a party sponsored by Cosmopolitian Magazine! After walking all but 100ft we arrived at the gate where we had to state out names. I was taking the alias "Nicole Banoni", which they had to search for. I will admit I was very nervous for “my name” not to be on the list. It was there and after crossing through it multiple times, the beautiful 20 something let me by. It was a gorgeous pool layout with multi colored lights and an open bar.
The yacht club was beautifully littered with girls that had cute little shorts with mid-drift showing and hair perfectly done. In the states, I looked at this kind of dress and made the judgment “They want to get “some”, while here I am not sure if it is the same expectation or assumption. My mother always had my sister and I wear covered clothing, no matter if it was the length of our shorts or the cut of our tops. We were never to show to much to give someone the wrong impression of our intentions, thus making me self conscious on wearing anything revealing today. I find some trouble in that. In the quest of making us understand that we need not reveal everything, our sensitivity to wearing “sexier” outfits make me uneasy and filled with self-doubt. Why can’t I wear a shirt that shows a little skin if I am 24 years old and an adult that understands the consequences of what I look like has on men?
My experience here is that no matter what age your are, you are more then likely have been wearing low cut tops along with booty shorts. Mothers here encourage the dress, while the fathers make sure their daughters are home at a decent hour on friday and saturday nights. Its interesting concept that they don’t mind if, by my standards, their daughters dress slutty because the whole point of going out is to meet a guy, marry him and have kids. I think they push the getting married and having kids so much and so young that is makes my stomach churn just thinking about it.
Not sure if I am even doing a good job of organizing my thoughts on this topic of dress code because its such a juxtaposition of perspectives that I find myself baffled by the whole thing. This will be a topic I will continue to explore because at times I do feel completely outcast because of my visual atheistic of loosely hanging clothes and mix-n-match style. I have learned to not ask for help when it comes to dressing up here because what they tend to choose outfits my mother would not approve of. And yes, I still have her sitting on my should as a 24 year old women making sure my dress is appropriate. I love you mom!
Pictures above and below is the view from the apartment in Salinas, Ecuador. Love me some iPhone panorama!
Got invited to go to a party sponsored by Cosmopolitian Magazine! After walking all but 100ft we arrived at the gate where we had to state out names. I was taking the alias "Nicole Banoni", which they had to search for. I will admit I was very nervous for “my name” not to be on the list. It was there and after crossing through it multiple times, the beautiful 20 something let me by. It was a gorgeous pool layout with multi colored lights and an open bar.
The yacht club was beautifully littered with girls that had cute little shorts with mid-drift showing and hair perfectly done. In the states, I looked at this kind of dress and made the judgment “They want to get “some”, while here I am not sure if it is the same expectation or assumption. My mother always had my sister and I wear covered clothing, no matter if it was the length of our shorts or the cut of our tops. We were never to show to much to give someone the wrong impression of our intentions, thus making me self conscious on wearing anything revealing today. I find some trouble in that. In the quest of making us understand that we need not reveal everything, our sensitivity to wearing “sexier” outfits make me uneasy and filled with self-doubt. Why can’t I wear a shirt that shows a little skin if I am 24 years old and an adult that understands the consequences of what I look like has on men?
My experience here is that no matter what age your are, you are more then likely have been wearing low cut tops along with booty shorts. Mothers here encourage the dress, while the fathers make sure their daughters are home at a decent hour on friday and saturday nights. Its interesting concept that they don’t mind if, by my standards, their daughters dress slutty because the whole point of going out is to meet a guy, marry him and have kids. I think they push the getting married and having kids so much and so young that is makes my stomach churn just thinking about it.
Not sure if I am even doing a good job of organizing my thoughts on this topic of dress code because its such a juxtaposition of perspectives that I find myself baffled by the whole thing. This will be a topic I will continue to explore because at times I do feel completely outcast because of my visual atheistic of loosely hanging clothes and mix-n-match style. I have learned to not ask for help when it comes to dressing up here because what they tend to choose outfits my mother would not approve of. And yes, I still have her sitting on my should as a 24 year old women making sure my dress is appropriate. I love you mom!
Pictures above and below is the view from the apartment in Salinas, Ecuador. Love me some iPhone panorama!