Thoughts and conversations

 Assalamu aleikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh dears :) happy weekend!

I got my monthly medicine yesterday so I have been really tired today. And hungry. I only went to market, I have really been just home relaxing. Alhamdulillah. Tomorrow I plan to meet my friend in sha Allah, and Sunday is for workout. These are the plans, but they might change too. 

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I don't have much to write today. I've been following a bit of the conversation in Tiktok about 'Scandinavian scarves' which are actually dupattas from South Asia. I have been thinking this, while wearing my abaya and baati, cooking 'fried rice' (of course the one which is not authentic but as close as I know how to make it so.. yeah), remembering having my dreadlocks in my teens, cringing of the stupidest s* I've ignorantly said to fellow people, and what else. Is it in my blood to steal and be dumb or what?

What comes to my youth, we didn't really have these talks about cultural appropriation, I thought it was just one of the estethics of that time, 2000s and 2010s, to be free to dress like a hippy and 'loan' things from other cultures. I didn't understand well what I was doing, so I forgive myself that. You don't have to. But anyways, I guess as we have grown now, we should know better. To educate our families, for example, not to behave like this anymore. To just not steal and make profit out of other cultures, it should be obvious. Still it is going on and vital. 

What comes to dressing in a halal way, I never have thought it to be appropriating Arab culture. I wear simple abayas and scarves because it's convenient and easy way to dress modestly. I wear pants too, with tunics or long shirts. I remember one time I was going somewhere and as I was stepping out of a metro, I heard a young Finnish boy loudly asking/confusing, why would a Finnish woman with European hair (his words, he didn't see mine) dress like a Somali? Umm.. I didn't hear what his friend answered, but it kinda made me think. I know it's just someone's opinion or lack of knowledge but really like.. if you knew how often some people look at me a certain way, talk about me, laugh at me, even try to spit on me, would I really choose to dress this way other than devotion to God? 

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Then there's the marriage, interracial, two different cultures. But that seems so much easier. Our cultures and differences, as similarities, are a constant topic we have. Daily maybe even? It's not a taboo. We can compare, laugh, be interested and learn from each other's stories. And I like how it comes naturally. Also I appreciate that my husband let's me be me, I don't have any pressure to change to a different person. And of course I love him for him being him.

What comes to these conversations, I think it's best to humble oneself and hear other people out. I know it's so easy to want to be right so bad but that's usually when we are the most wrong. A proper dialogue, not a debate, takes patience and the courage to admit that one was wrong if that's the case. Rather be the one who learns the most, instead of being the one who wins on other people's cost.

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Hmm, a bit more serious today. I've also run out of new products or beauty routines to share, I'm just a simple woman, there's not much. I would really appreciate your feedback, it helps me to write about topics that interests you, dear readers, and not just talk about myself. 

But now I must make myself ready for maghrib, so have a good evening!

Later then,

Aisha