Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Packing for Egypt





As I said before, tomorrow we are going for a long weekend trip to Cairo, Egypt, to celebrate our 8 years anniversary.

Usually, packing is a difficult task for me, with so many questions! How many shoes to bring, which dresses to choose... So many questions and usually so little time to answer, because I always end up packing late at night, before living in the morning.

But this time, the "simple" task of packing is even more difficult.

First impediment: The "dress code"

Egypt is a Muslim country, and they tend to dress very different than us, Europeans. So if you want to avoid unpleasant remarks etc, it is better to dress accordingly to their customs as much as possible. Considering that I am not Muslim, so I am not required to wear their specific clothes, the appropriate dress code is: no shorts or mini skirts, not too much revealing, not too tight, not too see-through blouses. With the bottom part is was easy, 3 pairs of bermudas and that's it. But the top part, considering the 37 degrees Celsius in Cairo, it was tricky.

Yesterday I went shopping, in search of at least 3 blouses corresponding to the rules above. It was not that easy at all....



Option 1: A square printed blouse from Promod. No, a sure no-no. Just look at me!
Option 2: A long white blouse from Promod. Is it a blouse, is it a dress? Who knows, but it is sure see-through! No!
Option 3: A long shirt from Promod. Look at me! I am pregnant! In eight months! No!
Option 4: A paisley silk blouse from Promod. WUhu! Instant plus 20 pounds! No!


Eh! After searching in several shops, I settled for the following (from left to right):



Promod paisley top with long sleeves / Promod peasant blouse in a nice mauve color





Mango t-shirt (not sure it will work) / Mango t-shirt with cute collar - cute, but in that berry color has a fall feeling / Mellow by Irina Schrotter for Debenhams pink blouse

I (almost :) ) like all my buys. I definitely can wear them on other occasions as well!

Second impediment: Summer shoes

Have I said that I nicely packed all my summer clothes & shoes in nice boxes two weeks ago? So there's the dilemma. Buy a new pair of shoes (*cough* the cute Mango sandals with appliquéd flower *cough*) or search through boxes for suitable sandals? Tough decision, isn't it? Very tough indeed! Needless to say, I bought the Mango sandals. They are so cute, and I don't have to wait a whole year to wear them...

1 comment:

Dana (MODAna) said...

I love the shoes!!! SO much!