Today I wore a skirt that I have owned for over two years, but rarely wear. I rarely wear it because it has a weird waistband, and it looks weird. When I put it on today, I realized that it is actually intended to be a fold-over waistband, like on some yoga pants, and I put it on that way and it looked great. So I've just been an idiot for two years.
It's also, once the waistband is folded over as it was CLEARLY INTENDED TO BE, shorter than my normal skirt-length. Two-and-a-half years in Africa since 2002 has messed up my perception of acceptable skirt lengths. Folded over, the skirt falls just at the top of my knees, and, as we know, this is practically scandalous in much of Africa, especially on a white girl showing white legs. (In Elsewhere, in Southern Sudan, I once wore a skirt I have that falls just below my knees - a skirt that would have been fine in many places I have lived, but I would not have considered wearing it in Tiny Little Town. On a break, one of my (more distant) colleagues sidled up to me and said, lecherously, "I really like that short skirt you are wearing." So much for that skirt.)
But just below the knee is practically overly modest here in the US. I saw a girl today wearing a skirt so short I could almost see her butt cheeks. And no, she was not 15. She was a normal adult age going out to a nice restaurant for dinner. It says something about how I've acclimated to the US that I can almost feel comfortable wearing this skirt. (I think it also might say something about how old I am getting that I consider 25-35 a "normal adult age.")
I am so all-American now. Until, you know, I leave again, and it takes another 1.5 years upon return to get back to wearing knee-length skirts.
It's also, once the waistband is folded over as it was CLEARLY INTENDED TO BE, shorter than my normal skirt-length. Two-and-a-half years in Africa since 2002 has messed up my perception of acceptable skirt lengths. Folded over, the skirt falls just at the top of my knees, and, as we know, this is practically scandalous in much of Africa, especially on a white girl showing white legs. (In Elsewhere, in Southern Sudan, I once wore a skirt I have that falls just below my knees - a skirt that would have been fine in many places I have lived, but I would not have considered wearing it in Tiny Little Town. On a break, one of my (more distant) colleagues sidled up to me and said, lecherously, "I really like that short skirt you are wearing." So much for that skirt.)
But just below the knee is practically overly modest here in the US. I saw a girl today wearing a skirt so short I could almost see her butt cheeks. And no, she was not 15. She was a normal adult age going out to a nice restaurant for dinner. It says something about how I've acclimated to the US that I can almost feel comfortable wearing this skirt. (I think it also might say something about how old I am getting that I consider 25-35 a "normal adult age.")
I am so all-American now. Until, you know, I leave again, and it takes another 1.5 years upon return to get back to wearing knee-length skirts.
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