Shoes

When winter comes and I am forced out of my comfortable sandals, I most often go reaching for a pair of traditional cloth shoes.  These old school craft of shoe making now come in tons of fun and Asian trendy sort of styles (Yes, I have seen leopard print ones).  Think similar to modern day Toms, but the art of cloth shoe making has been around for centuries and is  perfected on this side of the world.  You can still see old ladies sitting on the squat stools by the side of the road, hand stitching the materials together.   They are the prefect, lightweight, fall footwear for all the walking I do.  In fact last year while we were opening our business we learned that there is one of these shoes stores located within a block  of all of the government offices we had to visit.  Shoes shopping became both a celebration for getting another step in the process done, and a consolation when we failed.  

If you haven’t guessed by now I am constantly singing the praises of these shoes.  Comfortable.  Durable. Affordable.  Cute.  I will brag about them as long as the sun shines in the desert.  But even here in our dry climate we do get rain occasionally.  Rain here tends to result in swimming pool size puddles on the roads.  Rains and cloth shoes do not mix.  You can ask my cold, damp soggy feet from last night, how much they enjoy squishing and sloshing around for hours in freezing water holes with zero protection.  Maybe what I need to do next time is tie bag on my feet to protect my shoes they same way guys take care of their doppas.

Eyes Wide Shut

Islam teaches that people are not allowed worshiping idols.  This command against graven images can be taken quite literally.  My favorite example of following the letter of the law is the manikins in the fancy women’s dress shops.  These human figures are decked out in high fashion glittery outfits topped off with headscarves and everything – Yet to avoid the appearance of an actual human figure, their eyes have a thick layer of masking tape covering the sockets.   This simple solution is supposed to be enough to turn the figures from an opportunity to sin into a very shapely hanger.  They look harmless enough in the daylight, but walking by a few of these eyeless figures late at night can seem a little creepy. 

 

Stuffing the Head Scarf

When I travel down south I tend to wear a head scarf, it is more appropriate and respectful of the culture.  When I use to wear them I always felt like my hair was just too flat to hold it up, I tended to spend the majority of my day readjusting the colorful accessory and in an attempt to keep it from slipping off.   All Uyghur girls put their hair in a big bun on the top of their head and you can see the bump of hair under the scarf.  Uyghur girls have such long, thick, dark black hair that I always just figured it contributed to the seeming large appendage on the back of their head.   My relatively short, thin, plain hair was only be twisted up into a droopy little bun that just couldn’t compare.  Their secret isn’t in their length of their hair, or its thickness … the truth is most Uyghur girls stuff their head scarves.  To get that really full-back of the head-bump under the scarf look,  all you need is the biggest scrunchy known to man,  a hair clip with so much volume and fluff of its own that it rivals the size of a soccer ball.  Now with the popper tools in hand I tool can have the trendy fashionable bulge on the back of my head. 

 

The Desired Look

  

Getting 'How to' Lessons

 

Pulling It Off

 

Home Town of My Heart

There is one small town in the southern part of this province that has always stood out to me above all the others.  Kerya is still like stepping into the past with the dusty dirt roads winding between neighbors homes.  When asked by Uyghur friends in the city “oh, where are you from?”  I often try to fool them and say that I am from Kerya.  I can’t really convince many of them, but a few do pause for a minute to consider if I am being serious.  I think it is because this region is known to have slightly fairer lighter skinned and haired people.  In fact some actually call them ‘Yellow Uyghurs’ because of their ‘blond’ hair – just like mine. 

Ancient history teaches that Kerya use to be its own kingdom.  Once the princess of Kerya was kidnapped and was being forced to marry a king from a nearby land.  The women of Kerya are said to have raised up with furry at the treatment of their beloved princess and chased after the warring King to retrieve their precious monarchy.  The women won the battle and were reward by the royalty with these special robes that speak of their bravery and strength.  The blue bars are like their breastplate for battle.   ( The details of this story might not be 100% accurate.  It is one of those legends that everyone one I ask tells me a slightly differing version).

The women of this region are still known throughout the province for these unique outfits and accompanying small teacup shaped hats.  They tend to wear them for family celebrations like weddings and circumcisions.  Every time I have gone down to visit the home town of my heart I have sworn that I would buy one of the traditional robes… but every time I asked the price, I can’t get over spending about $50 USD on something that I will never really wear.  Friends of mine are packing to go back to the states for an undetermined length of time and as part of their farewell ‘bu yao’ they generously gave me their Kerya robe. 

Now I really do fit in.  I bet you can’t pick out the imposter. 

  

Not Very Lady Like

Modesty is a big part of Uyghur culture. Dressing in such a way that is considered appropriate. Down south in our province most women wear long skirts, long sleeves and head scarves. Not much actual skin is visible. While I was studying Uyghur at the University I had one teacher comment to me that my shirt was to ‘open’, meaning I had a large bare neckline that showed off too much skin. But these rules are all for show. If for some reason an older lady needs to rest these same modest women will hike up their skirt, around there waist ( or higher) and squat on the sidewalk, hardly the most lady like of positions. It isn’t as bad as it sounds since most of them have two or three layers of leggings to keep them warm.

It is one of my best kept secrets/ well known facts that I never wear long underwear or have a second layer on. My bare legs under my skirt are a disgrace to any Uyghur friend who gets a glimpse of them. It is not so much that they think it is indecent, but rather they think I must be crazy – everyone is so afraid of the cold here.

One day as we were traveling I knew we were going to be outside for several long hours walking around town, I also did knew totally what the weather was like, so in a very abnormal move for me I actually put on a pair of tights. I was very thankful for this forethought as we were climbing on a truck with a bunch of older ladies. My skirt was getting in my way and I tried to discreetly lift the edge of it so that I could have more room to swing my legs. One of the ladies saw me grab a handful of material and offered to help. The next thing I knew she was hiking my skirt up so it was almost under my armpits. Immodesty aside, my legs were suddenly on display for all to see. All I could do was stand there and laugh at the random situations I find myself in. Where else in the world does a complete stranger feel free to take the liberty of lifting your skirt up for you. Thank goodness I was covered. She didn’t seem to think anything odd or inappropriate about the situation, even in light of the fact that some of my travel companions were male. She just kept asking why I was laughing and why I wasn’t crawling on to the back of the truck.

Bridesmaid Dress Nightmares

During our girl’s weekend away, we also went wedding dress shopping for one of my friends. While she found a beautiful gown, we saw plenty of ugly, mainly in the form of some pretty hideous bridesmaid dresses. Just proving universal, cross cultural truth of what they guy said in 27 dresses “no bride wants to stand beside a bunch of girls that actually look nice."

Great Curry Cook-off

Last weekend my friends and I planned a ‘The Great Curry Cook-off and Bollywood Night”. The plan was simple everyone make a pot of curry, dress in Indian apparel and watch “Bride and Prejudice” (Bollywood made accessible for Westerners) . For most of the week building up to the big event it looked like only two of us were actually going to brave making food ( I say brave since I have never before in my life made curry – but I figured how hard can it be, you look at a few recipes online and then improvise).

Upon arrival it seemed that many of the guest figured the dressing up part was just a joke ( I, however, was looking most forward to this aspect. Ever since I was hospitalized days before our Christmas concert in grade four where I was supposed to be the little girl from India. I was always sad I didn’t get to dress up and wear a sari, so I saw this as my chance –finally).

I was ready to defend the weak attempt of cicken curry as they best of the two, but there was a last minute entry that blew us out of the water. One of our friends who is actually from India came and of course his food blew the rest of ours out of the water. But thankfully he was willing to share his cooking tips.

My Favorite Phenomenon

Winter is officially here! Today the sky has been dishing forth a generous helping of rain, sleet, and snow. All of which have spent the better part of the day vying for their opportunity to fall on the heads of ill prepared pedestrians. My grade three teacher would have labeled it : A dark, damp, drizzly, dreary, depressing, dismal day. The chilliness in the air, and the ensuing soggy clothing would normally sever to put a damper on my mood – but not today. Today on my way home I was greeted repeatedly by one of my all time favorite sights. It is a phenomenon that really only comes out on wet days.

I know I have blogged about this before, but I just can’t help myself. As I left my office building I had to avert my eyes, choke back a laugh, and try to hide my silly stupid grin as I passed a well dressed older Uyghur man. He was in his suit and appeared to be heading to some sort of important meeting. Most of him looked rather distinguished and dignified, until you got to the top of his head that is. There preached for the entire world to see was a plastic shopping bag, the name of a local store printed in bright red letters leading the way. He was a man without an umbrella , caught outside on a bad day, trying to do the best he could with what he had.

But he wasn’t the only one. As the first few drops of snowy sludge plummeted downward, all the men seemed to instantly transform into bag heads. They were protecting their dearly loved doppas ( a Uyghur man’s traditional hat - staple part of their wardrobe). I was so thankful this summer while we were traveling my friend was brave enough to snap a picture of this man rainy-day ready. I hope it makes you smile too.

Why You Have Stomach Issues

As I have mentioned many times… living here overseas means living with stomach issues, namely diarrhea. Our local friends have a lot of reasons to explain away our discomfort. My top two I heard recounted from fellow expats this week are:

1. You drink cold water from the fridge – no wonder you have diarrhea, drinking cold things will make you sick.

2. Your underwear is too low. If you wore ones that were higher cut they would keep your stomach warm and you wouldn’t have this problem.

Sound logic on their part since they would never do either of these things and don’t seem to have the same problem, but they forget that I spent more than 20 year of my life in Canada drinking ice water and not wearing granny panties tucked up under my armpits. Sadly I have learned there is no point in arguing with their statements of concern… instead I say “Thank you, I will have to try that next time, maybe it will help.”