Ndiyo wasichana wanaweza!

So on Monday no one showed up for running except the guy. He apologized and today morning 2 out of the 3 gals (these are the faster women runners at the institute) showed up! We ran about 8 kilometers and it was awesome! I really want to encourage them to keep it up and I really want us to run in Moshi next year. In TZ running is not the norm..it is not like Kenya or neighboring African countries. Women are not running here as there is some stigma with it..I haven't understood it though as it is not seen as a bad thing..just not done. So for that reason I want to encourage these gals to run for health and for competition. Although some of these gals run in jeans or shoes that are too tight. If anyone out there has any old running clothes or running shoes that they no longer use (as long as they aren't broken)..please send them my way! Let me know by email...I think there are flat rate boxes for $11 to send international stuff in. My address is to the right.

On another note, yesterday I invited my neighbor to my house and I cooked us Indian food. I plan on eating with her again tonight as she is staying alone like me (she is a mama..older than me) because her daughter is in boarding school. We had some interesting conversations..she is an electrical engineering lecturer at the school and she raised her children on her own (she has 2). She put her daughter in the best boarding school because she thinks if a girl goes to day school than they can get into trouble (lot of men chase after them)..so it is better for a gal to go to an all girls boarding school so there is no trouble. Like I said this woman is awesome and she is a modern woman. I seem to meet alot of them around where I live but it is not suprising because I teach at the institute.

There is another couple that I visit frequently both have PhDs with a strong woman in the family. The man is so funny because he complains that his wife is so busy working (she has a high position at the institute) that she doesn't have time to cook for him. But he is joking..of course, I can see that he loves her. :) And she doesn't put up with his joking, she is a strong woman and stands up for herself. At the same time he cooks or helps around the house sometimes when she is busy. They remind me of some people close to me in the States...