Swimmin' in my Clothes!

So one weekend, my friends and I decided to head to the beach.There are beaches everywhere, but one particular beach was recommended to us. Beaches in Egypt are very different then beaches in the States. The beach we went to was very crowded, and everyone put their chairs right along the surf. (The sea is on the other side of all of the umbrella's and tables in the photo!) So you have to kind of walk through all of the chairs/umbrellas/tables to get to the water. Some of my group tried to sneak onto one of the hotel beaches, but they blew their whistles at them right away. So aside from having to go in the water fully clothed, (and observing that the men could wear the tiniest of swimsuits and still be appropriate!) and sitting further back on the beach, it became very obvious quickly that we were a main interest on the beach. People kept coming over to talk with us. Hussein, our driver, sat with us most of the time, so less people came over to us. One guy came over to us and handed his baby over and started taking pictures of us with his baby! He had us pass the baby all around! I swam a bit on my own, but once I was with the others, (some of whom were wearing tank tops - gasp!), there were people all around us talking to us. I eventually just got out of the water.

I'm still fascinated by the clothing norms here, especially for women. I don't think I know enough about the traditions to write a whole lot about it. From what I've heard though, some women wear hijabs (headscarves) because it's traditional to do so in their families. Others though, wear them because they've become fashionable again. (I guess they went out for a while.) There are all different styles of dress around, combining traditional middle eastern fashion with western fashion. Foreign women who where clothing that reveal knees, or shoulders will attract a lot of unwanted attention. This has also taken me a while to adjust too. (Especially because dress for men is not at all restricted...)