My host mother absolutely loves to worry about how much I am embarrassing myself in the community. Sometimes, her concern is beneficial, like when I'm about to go out in a wrinkled dress shirt and she insists that I allow her to iron it first. Other times, it's somewhat frustrating because I don't care if people think I'm crazy for wearing shorts in 25°C weather. This past weekend, it was just hilarious.

I have two pairs of tennis shoes that are the same model, but in different states of wear. Since I only ever clean my shoes if I've stepped in dog poop, they've lost some of that new shoe shine over the years. My mother has thoroughly cleaned each pair, but I can't be bothered to relace the one clean pair, and continue to wear the dirty pair. In addition to being a little dirty, they've grown small holes near my pinky toe.

"Your shoes have holes in them again. It's ұят. You should wear the pair I cleaned."

"I know, but the dirty pair is still good."

"Your feet will get cold and you will get sick."

"Au contraire, the holes help my sweaty feet get fresh air. In fact, maybe we should cut a big hole, then lots of air can go by my feet and they will stay dry. It will be great!"

My host mom is generally pretty good at picking up sarcasm, and I truly thought she understood it this time. But the next morning when I went to the bathroom to get my shoes (I'm not allowed to sleep in the same room as my shoes lest I get sick) I couldn't help but smile when I saw this:

I fail to understand how the two large holes she gouged out are less ұят than the barely noticeable holes from before, so I believe she is trying to shame me into wearing the clean pair. I'm just enjoying how much ventilation I get when I run.