I'm in the airport waiting to board my plane for Egypt. The last five days in Turkey have been thought provoking. I was waiting in the park to board a boat for my Bosforous cruise last night and I was directly across for an islamic family. This was not unusual as most of the people I sat next to were Islamic, but this interaction caught my attention. The family was made up of of a married couple and a boy of five or six. The man was older in his late forties of fifties.. He wore a collared shirt not unlike one you would find on any golf course in America. His son wore shorts and an designer branded t-shirt, I believe it said Gucci. He was running around in from of the Haiga Sofia with an ice cream cone. It is the mother that caused me the most curiosities. She was completely covered from head to toe, sparing a two inch strip for her eyes. A veil covered her nose and mouth. she was attending to her son and in the most affectionate way, beside her was a cup of ice cream. Periodically she would carve out a smallest spoonful of desert, lift her veil and the spoon would disappear beneath. During one of these momentary lifts, i caught a short glimpse of her mouth. She was wearing bright, beautiful, red lipstick. She was a lovely woman and couldn't have been a day over 30. She had spent time putting makeup on in the mooring, only to hide her face from the world.
There is so much about this culture that i don't understand. It captivates my imagination. Does she spend time in the morning only to veil herself as a ritual for her own pleasure? Is the act for her husband but his eyes only?
