appearance counts!

A hard adjustment to Albanian culture was hearing "You're fat. You need to eat less." Even though the literally means "healthy", they use it with the same connotations. Often, my mental response is "How exactly is that supposed to make me feel?", especially when the comments come from my Christian friends who think nothing of it. And in general, Albanians are not very tall. So needless to say, when I walk down the street, I stick out a bit. And the response is that people strain their neck looking at me, and sometimes making comments like "Mashallah". This means something is really good, and is a saying to keep away the evil eye. But sometimes I want to Mashallah them in the nose when men say it while I'm passing by. Pray that God will affirm to me that my inner is more important to Him than my outer, and that He finds me extravagant.