Are those shorts or a bathing suit?

Some of you may remember that Tanzanian women aren't supposed to show their knees. When I first arrived it seemed strange to always wear longer skirts and dresses when it was always so hot. Over time I became used to the Tanzanian way of dressing and actually enjoy wearing skirts and dresses most days. It usually is much cooler than shorts, capris or pants would be. I spent my first week in New Mexico with Kerry and Nate. She was nice enough to give me lots of clothes to wear while I'm visiting including capri pants. Wearing capris daily was strange and an adjustment but nothing compared to the first few times I wore shorts. (The shorts I'm wearing are the long kind that end right above my knee.) I would look down, notice my knees and think about how strange it was to actually see them! A few times I even tugged my shorts a little to see if I could make them longer. Of course after a few weeks wearing my long shorts no longer bothers me. However I have some remarks to make about modesty in the United States. Clothes trends really haven't changed too much while I was gone, but I notice more now how short shorts really have become. I was standing in line at a gas station somewhere in Indiana waiting to pay. There was a teenager and her boyfriend in line in front of me. She had on these extremely small, shiny shorts. When I first saw them I did more than a double take! I was trying to figure out if it was a bathing suit or actually a pair of shorts. I had just about decided that she was wearing a bathing suit when I noticed another woman wearing similar, non-shiny jean shorts also waiting in line. When did girls and women start thinking it was awesome to show as much as possible of their bodies? Where are these girls mothers and fathers? I know my parents wouldn't have let any of us out of the house wearing many of the outfits I've seen since coming back. Why is it that sexy in American culture is being interpreted by a generation of girls as being practically naked when they go out the door?

Food

Some of my friends have been getting after me for neglecting to update my blog recently. So while I'm visiting the U.S. I'm going to try and write about the things they suggested, starting with food. I've been asked a lot about what foods I've missed, what food is like in Tanzania, etc. The first time I started listing all the foods I missed I was surprised by how big it was. Good tasting meat, blueberries, peaches, raw veggies like salad and carrots, sweet corn, broccoli, ice cream, cheese and lattes. There was more to the list, but that is long enough to make my point. It isn't that food in Tanzania is terrible or that I don't like to eat it. It is more that there is a shocking amount of choice here in the U.S. Most supermarkets have access to foods from around the world. In any given week you can decide to cook or go out for Chinese, Mexican, Indian or Italian in addition to having typical 'American' foods. The number of options for many foods is staggering. I was grocery shopping with my sister and she asked me to pick out a box of cereal. She was trying to give me the opportunity to pick out something she knows I rarely get as cereal is usually fairly expensive and not something I buy when I'm at home. The cereal took up almost both side of an entire aisle. At a quick gland I saw at least 10 kinds that I liked and would have happily eaten. For me making those kind of decisions is hard. There are too many choices. I would have happily eaten any cereal she picked out and thought of it as a treat. The same thing happened when some friends and I went out for Mexican. The menu was about 6 pages and offered me more choices for one meal than I usually have for a week. Even going out in Tanzanian is different. Some menus may be as large as the Mexican restaurants, but usually they only are able to cook part of what's on the menu. For example I may go and order something with paneer and rice only to have the waiter come back and tell me that there isn't any paneer today. Then I may try ordering pizza, only to be told that pizza is also unavailable today. This is normal and usually when I'm out I have 2-3 choices picked out so if the waiter comes back to tell me my food is unavailable I'm ready to quickly order something else.
So far the 2 foods I've probably had more of than I should is ice cream and coffee. I love having coffee with flavored creamer that I didn't have to mix myself first thing in the morning. Since the flavors here are different than what I make on my own I usually end up having 2 cups. Then if I'm out later in the day it doesn't always take much to convince me to pull in somewhere for a latter or mocha. The same thing happened with ice cream once I reached my sister's house in Chicago. I started eating ice cream every day there! Unfortunately my love of coffee and ice cream isn't going away and I will probably continue to over indulge in these treats until I'm back in Morogoro.