I don't really remember that much from our long ago class devoted to culture shock and how to deal with it. But I do have a vague memory of comparing our lives to floating down a river on a raft. Our rafts are made up of various pieces of ourselves and our culture and are roped and nailed together with various other cultural experiences and skills. Sometimes the rapids come and knock us up a bit, but overall after years of experience, trial and error, we find ourselves on a decent raft that suits our needs pretty well on the river of life.
Then, if you are really lucky, you enter into a new culture with widely different expectations and assumptions. What happens to your nicely crafted raft? It pretty much sails right off the top of a waterfall to burst apart at the bottom with pounds of water beating down on top of the pieces. Dramatic, huh?
The human spirit being what it is, and God's presence encouraging you on... the raft gets slowly, painstakingly re-built with new pieces and tied together in unthought of ways. And if not perfect, at least passably usable to keep afloat in this new situation. The rapids continue to come and you do get used to frequent dunkings and clamborings to get back up. About the time your raft is looking cool and stable, it is time to return. Over yet another waterfall...
Quite an introduction to my main point which is today make-up and general skin care.
What? Yes, seriously. In Uganda, it was a good day if I managed to shower, brush my teeth and glance in the mirror. While Kev and I liked to have regular "date nights" both in Bundibugyo and in Kampala, mostly, this meant nice food and some dedicated time spent on my appearance (10 minutes tops), before an evening devoted to reconnecting... to paying attention to each other. Despite my sister's dire warnings I wore not one lick of sunscreen the whole time. Perhaps a bit on my nose if we were on vacations, but beyond that nada. Believe me this was a big mistake. Facial cleanser? You've got to be kidding. And most make-up just did the humidity slide right off my face whenever I tried. So here I stand at the ripe age of 37, staring at a face that has seen kinder days armed with nothing but a 10th grade understanding of skin-care. Which was just about the same time I put on make-up on a regular basis. Let us just say that while fashion does come around in circles, the bright blue eye-shadow that I once sported will not. What's a girl to do? Let's not even devote ourselves to the theological questions surrounding application of make-up, lotions, recovery gels and the time or money devoted to personal vanity and appearance.
But yes, if I'm being brutally honest, which I know is one of my weaknesses, I have to admit that I like the way I look with make-up on AND I also like when my face is free of blemishes and red itchy dry spots. So here I am at the bottom of the waterfall and there is not one piece of my Ugandan survival raft that is of any use.
The flylady has been immensely useful in organizing and cleaning (I'll save that line of thought for another day) but for skin care and make-up tips I have learned to trust the cosmetics cop. My new cyber friend (although she hasn't a clue I exist) is Paula Begoun. My neice Christina, another skin-care diva, introduced me to Paula's book "Don't Go To the Cosmetics Counter Without Me" and I have been relying on her information ever since. Paula's website... found right there on the side bar has handy free advice on most products (cleansers, lotions and make-up) as well as step by step videos for the clueless, like me. Just go to the LEARN tab on the main page. She has a team of researchers that test and report on most of the beauty products for a given year (hence the "cop") and fill you, the average customer, in on which products actually do what they say they will and which are a bunch of overpriced crapola. In my 2 months of trial and error, she has steered me true every time. I'm still learning and experimenting. Mostly indulging in a little bit of peace in the bathroom while small children pull on my shirt trying desperately to rope me into solving their problems. Which are my current favorite products? This post is already too long, so that'll be next.
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