Today Tariq and I(it was too hot to take Saad so we left him home with my SIL) went to the passport office in the Saddar area of Karachi, and we took the Honda 125 this time instead of a taxi.
Since we live pretty close to the airport, it was a somewhat long ride. I think it was probably more than 20 minutes each way. I was sitting side saddle on the back of the bike, and I had put on a niqab(Pakistani style, wrapped and pinned at the back of my head, covering from the middle of my nose down) as I sometimes do when we go shopping.
After we got home and had rested a bit, Tariq kept asking me why my nose was red, did a mosquito bite me? I thought that was probably it, and thought nothing more about it. Until about half an hour ago I looked in the mirror and noticed half my forehead was red also.
I do tend to sunburn easily and have had many, many sunburns in the past. One of the benefits of wearing hijab and abaya though, is that I haven't had a sunburn in years. It took me about five minutes of staring at myself in the mirror to realize exactly why I had a red mask around my eyes and nose. When it dawned on me I felt very silly, how could I not know it was a sunburn?
