The Best Foods for Skin Whitening | Skin Care Hanan The Beauty of Food System | Page 5

FOREWORD
Beauty Secrets From Persian Princesses
“Where are you from? I can’t place the accent,” I said, searching
for the mystery phrase that would hold this girl’s attention amidst
the semi-crowded backdrop of hectic business travelers, moms
with toddlers, and an ample supply of black-haired blondes with
unnatural holes about their faces.
“Guess!”
Oh, the girl has spunk, I thought to myself.
“Brazil?”
“Ha, no, not quite.” she said, as her accent grew thicker and even
more out of the norm.
“Well, you look a bit Spanish… but that’s too obvious, and the
accent is definitely not a fit… how about Italy?”
“No, I’m from Baghdad.”
“Get the (blank) out of here!”
My native New Yorker tongue was making an early entrance.
The moment I said the words, I realized I probably just offended
her entire lineage, despite my noble intentions. Why stop there,
I thought, being the boy genius I am at 7:30 in the morning and
consuming less-than-optimal fuel.
“Okay…where’s your burka?”
Mind you, that was a semi-serious question. Hanan was the first
Iraqi girl I had ever spoken to for any length of time who was not
wearing a burka or, at the minimum, a hijab, the customary Muslim
headscarf. I honestly thought that everyone from Baghdad was, by
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