The Difference Between Mosquito Bites and Zits

Every time I have a zit I have to go through a detailed dialogue with Malians. On most high acne days every Malian I meet needs to have the conversation and often times it provokes a dialogue among Malians while they point at me and speak in soft voices.

Yesterday topped the charts. I went to the market in the morning and I felt as though every Malian were staring at me like I had an extra eyeball. There was lots of whispering. Malians who I actually talked to said, "It's hot lately, your face gets red in spots when it gets hot out, right?" I just shrug most of the time and say, "no, it's just me." Then they say, "oh those mosquitoes are bad aren't they?" Seriously, when was the last time anyone you knew got a mosquito bite on their face. Kids get them, but I'm gonna be 25 soon, so I can add to my list of abilities "can swat mosquitoes away from face." I mean COME ON MALIANS! The greatest thing is that they all feel the need to say it and when I finally tell them, "Folks, it's a zit. When it gets hot out, I sweat, when I sweat my pores fill up with dirt and oil," then I pull out my presentation materials using example of Clean and Clear ads with pictures of throbbing bumps and ingrown hairs then I say, "My skin is white, so you can see the zits. You get them too, look there's one right there, they just don't look red on your face like they do on mine."

Then I storm off to my house to wash my face for the thousandth time that day.

To be fair my acne really isn't that bad, ONE zit and every Malian in the area seems to feel the need to tell me about it. It's like when you get a sunburn. Ya, I know I'm sunburned, I'M THE ONE WHO IS BURNED. I can feel it, I don't need every person to tell me. What would we do without these people? I don't know but I'll betcha not a single one of them will tell you when you have food in your teeth. They just don't know when to tell the truth.

Anyway, my zit has since disappeared so all is well on Mariam's forehead! I'm not upset about this, just a funny quirk about Malians...I swear I will not go Ugly Tim on the next Malian who comments on my acne when I'm having a bad day!