day 121: women's day...what!?

today was national women's day here in south africa. what's that mean? i'm not sure exactly what it's supposed to mean, but for US, it meant:

1. YESTERDAY on the way to school we got stopped by the police. they wanted to remind us that since we were fixing to celebrate national women's day that women were important...appreciated even. they wanted to encourage us to report any abuse. they also wanted to search our car for illegal substances. why those 2 things go hand-in-hand i'm still not sure, but with 2 cars already undergoing the search, they let us off the hook.

2. TODAY school was out. so we slept in & ran errands. it was GORGEOUS today so i took my first run OUTSIDE since being here...& almost peed in my pants when VICIOUS guard dogs came out of NOWHERE. oh, if people were watching i'm sure they were amused. i, however, was not.

(left) not a bad view for a run!
(right) don't have a tv but catch up on the local news as
it's posted on every pole...everday!

3. in every store, on every phone call & at every stoplight people were shouting "happy women's day!" i, personally, think we should celebrate women in the US like this too. (minus the car searches of course)

in all seriousness, though, PRAY for the people of south africa. while they celebrate national women's day once a year, it seems far too often men's views of women are anything but what they should be.