As of late, I've been sporting the Israeli Tichels that I bought from The Tichel Shop and I absolutely LOVE them. I've been trying different ways to spice it up and am looking forward to adding new tichels and pashminas to my collection! One thing I am having a difficult time with is the social element. Living in Europe is not an easy thing if you want to be different than the majority of individuals. I am not sure what people think of me in the predominately Catholic community where I live but people openly and unashamedly stare at me with a confused and sometimes disgusted expression on their face. Others look at me and quickly look away as if they don't want to stare and if they don't look down immediately they would. There have been beautiful spiritual benefits and surprising health improvement results since I started to tie the tichel over my hair. I just have to be brave enough to ignore the "looks" and "gawks" and even some giggles when I walk past. As I get older and hopefully wiser, I am learning to not care so much what people think of me. If someone wants to assume and you know what ass-u-me'ing does (wink wink) and they don't bother to ask questions to get to know me, then obviously it's just another passing moment that will be but a wink in time but my spiritual walk with HaShem shall endure indefinitely like an undying flame sparking near a blazing bonfire of eternal essence that is unknown and unseen by the masses. As Pesach draws near and we cleanse the chametz from our lives, I too am seeking to break the chains of slavery to this world's hunger to oppress and enslave my soul. Baruch HaShem!