Sunday, August 12, 2007

Doo-Rags

My mom accidentally bought me a doo-rag for Xmas instead of buying a bandanna, it was even Harley Davidson brand. She never showed/gave it to me but told me about it. But it recently showed up in my latest care package. I laughed as I opened it up and had been wearing it around the Peace corps hostel for a few days when only one person had said anything to me about how ridiculous it was. Finally I wore it to the GLOBE conference on Wednesday. Keeping in mind this is a Muslim country so everyone prefers to have their hair covered. I took it off half way through the day and my counterpart asked me why I took it off, keeping in mind this is a Muslim country so everyone prefers to have their hair covered. I tried to explain that it's not my style, but he kept telling me how pretty it is. Whoa whoa, pretty? Not quite the word I would use for it. Then I tried to explain to him that this is for a certain type of person in the states, many of them drive motorcycles. His face lit up and he started smiling at me telling me how great it was and to put it back on. That's when I realized his viewpoint of it: the only people in Niger that own motorcycles are the wealthiest that have the funds to buy it. Moral of the story? Don't wear doo-rags and try to explain the motorcycle culture of America, it doesn't' work. Here's the link to check out the definition of doo-rag's on wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Do-rag

On a another note, Piper's counterpart's wife had a baby last week. Because he was at the GLOBE conference during the birth, he will be naming the girl "Globe". Normal. Hopefully I can meet baby Globe in the near future.

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