Taking it day by day

I haven't cut my hair since 1989. You would think it flows way down my back, but huh! It doesn't. My hair just goes slightly past my shoulders. As a child I loved having my hair short. All my mum's attempts to grow my hair went down the drain coz I always chopped it off. Suddenly I decided to stop the hair-chopping madness and let it grow. So I let it grow, and it is growing, at a snail's pace though. It has also been through lots.

I remember my schooldays, it was always cornrows. Either all running down - mistari ya chini, or all up - kilimanjaro. Come holidays, then you could do whatever you want...either pussycat style, lines going up and a part of it running towards your forehead. December was the time for rastas, if you got lucky you got beads done too! The joy of it all was running around and hearing how your beads would make that ka-sound.

Another thing my hair went through was the hot comb. This was done just especially for christmas, or if you were a flowergirl at a wedding. The whole process was freaky. I would sit on a stool, have my mum drape a lesso on my shoulders and then apply vaseline on my kinky hair. The hot metal comb would then be pitishwaad through the hair. It was like frying bacon but hey! In less than an hour I would be having straight hair so no problem. Once we were in shagz and although we had lots of vaseline, my grandma's maid decided that kimbo does a better job. After the process I was smelling like kikaangio cha chapati! Hot comb styles did not last long, the humidity in the air made the hair go back to its kinky state in a couple of days, and woe unto you if you got rained on :-(

Post high school: Feeling very grown-up, I got my second ear-piercing, had my first cream fire a.k.a perm! I was so thrilled with my new straight hair that I spent the first few weeks just curling it up with tongs. For the last 6 years that I've had a perm, my hair hasn't been growing. It is just there...if it grows an inch, I have to cut off the split ends. Frustrating, frustrating.

Since July 2005 I haven't done any re-touch. I am tired of this perming thing. My hair is now always in braids. Tiny braids down my back, braids with my own hair, now big braids. And my hair is growing!!!!!!!!!

I just hope that I won't fall back into the perm-trap when I go home!

I have found the car of my dreams...the nissan x-trail just makes me feel like ohhhhhhhhhhhhhh yeahhhhh.

Some people would rather go for sleek little sports cars but I am not into that kind of stuff....I just love the x-trail, its purrrrfect.

Now let me go work hard and save for it :-)

I am going home in Dec! Yaaaaaaaaaaaaay!!!!! I am looking forward to going home coz its been 3 years 11 months since I was there, so I bet its about time. As I sit here in my warm, cosy room, dreading the weather out there - we are now down to 4°C - I am filled with anticipation, dreaming about the warmth of my beloved country.

I can't wait to see my family, go swim in the sea, eat, eat and eat some more, hang out with my buddies, go clubbing vizuri sana...not like here you go to a club and 95% of the folks are just jumping up and down or doing their choreography thing :-(

I don't know what to expect when I reach there, I know alot has changed but whatever, I am just looking forward to leaving this cold, cold country.

For those going home too, have a safe trip...for those who aren't going anywhere, stay warm, when I am there I will make a point of sending you some sunshine :-)

Today is a wonderful day in Cologne, the city I live in. Its carnival time. Carnival here usually begins on the 11th of November at 11 past 11a.m and goes on till Ash Wednesday, usually end of February/beginning of March. Carnival is also known as the '5th Season' and it is all about getting drunk, getting lots of free sex, fooling around and flipping out. Germans are known to be a little uptight, so during this period of merry-making, they all have an opportunity to let it all go!!!

There are plenty of parties around town. Everyone goes there in some costume. These parties are usually boring. If 20 people have been invited, only 20 people will turn up, and the host will only have bought enough beer for 20. Those of us who like gatecrashing have no chance at all :-) Throw a bash for kenyans, you invite 20 people, these bring a buddy or two along...you know how it goes on! But at least our parties are lively, we know how to party, the music is mzuri sana. Hehehehe German bashes - ovyo tu, guys just stand in little groups talking boring staff and cracking not-so-funny-jokes :-( Don't even question the music, the dancing is even worse, if at all people will dance.

Weiberfastnacht (women’s carnival night) is the Thursday before Rosenmontag, and it is tradition that women are allowed to cut off the tie of any man within reach, and to kiss any man they want to. This day also signals the beginning of the five days of Carnival with nearly 50 processions leading up to Monday's Rose Monday Parade

The Monday before Ash Wednesday is the big day, called Rosenmontag (Rose Monday). The big official parade, with lots of people in colourful costumes are just worth seeing. During this parade through the city, sweets and chocolate bars are thrown out to the waiting masses!!! You should see how the masses scramble for them. Ahhhhhh!!!

After all that partying, everything goes back to normal. Same old cold and uptight people, waiting for the next opportunity to freak out.

KÖLLE ALAAF!!!!!!!!

I was waiting for the tram today, when I decided to sit next to an elderly caucasian man (let's call him Hans) he was maybe 45, looked older and reeked of beer (this hit me later). Two seconds after settling myself, Hans looks at me and says, "Oh!!! Beautiful!" This is when the stench hit me. I looked at him vaguely, thinking whether I should stay put, or just get up and leave - well, you never know how a drunk may react. For some strange reasons, I decided to sit there. And that is when it started pouring!!

Hans starts mumbling how his girlfriend has been cheating him all along. Hans pulls his glasses off and starts wiping his eyes. Hans is crying!!!! Oh, Heck! What do you tell a crying stranger whose girlfriend has been conning him??? Pat his back and tell him sorry, he deserves to be loved and he will surely get another mama??? Start crying too, because you don't know what to do??? Look the other side, pretend you did not hear a thing??? Sit there frozen, look at him and wonder why the tram is taking long??? Well, that is just what I did, I sat there frozen.

I get confused when people start crying, I usually don't know what to do. If a man starts crying, the confusion doubles. Hans sees this is a nice opportunity to cry his heart out, and he is not secretive about it. People start turning around to see what is happening...but as Germans are, they just look and go back to what they were doing - namely, waiting for the tram (while listening).

Hans continues to say that his heart has been beating just to be with an african woman, and then this woman asked for an invitation letter so that she could come visit him, and that he had to go to Western Union to send her some money, and he just found out that she was cheating on him all along. Now the strange part comes - this woman is from KENYA. ololooooooyayeeee!!!

Hans asks me if I am from Kenya too. In the state that he is in, I trust him to bash my head the minute I say 'oh yes! I am a Kenyan woman!' I therefore deny, and in my mind, I have TANZANIA ready, if he asks where I come from. Hans asks me what my name is, I lie...as usual... this time I blurt 'Jacklin'. Hans wants to know where I live, and if he can hook up with me! Aishhhh!!!! I thought the man is soooo heartbroken, but hey...stand up and move on is his motto, it seems.

The tram comes, though not the one I am supposed to take...but I sweetly say bye-bye to Hans and hop into the wrong tram, ride 5 minutes more than I would have if I would have taken the right one. But is all good! I managed to get away from Hans the crying stranger!

I am not posting this to diss my friend. I am just wondering where this smart girl left her brains when she started doing what she did.

Asunta* is a friend of mine, we know each other for a couple of years, she is quite ok. We hang out alot and we tell each other stories of our love-lives. Two weeks ago, Asunta went out clubbing, I was too tired to join her so she went with other buddies of hers. This is where things started going haywire. Asunta met Zush*, a guy I know from university. This guy is married and has a kid. He was also having fun at the club so as things go wakenya wakapatana. Zush started hitting on Asunta. (remember wife + kid)

Asunta was feeling the vibe, so she tumbukiad into his sweet nonsense. They exchanged numbers and the whole week after that Sato nite at the club Zush kept calling Asunta. Well, Asunta told me sometime during that week how it was at the club and how she met a hunk called Zush and bla bla bla. lol......I asked 101 questions mpaka I was sure that this Zush from the club was the same Zush from uni. I kindly told Asunta that this chap had a wife and a kid, she should leave him alone. She could not believe it, so she decided to ask Zush. Zush denied, claiming that 'watu wanamuonea tu, he has neither a wife nor a kid'. To add insult to injury, Zush told Asunta that he is a virgin :-) I tell you this world is full of lunatics.

Asunta chose to believe him and not me (remember I am the friend here). Last week, Asunta spread her legs apart for Zush!!!! Damn, then she comes and tells me how good it was!!!! I did not know what to tell her, she seemed so pleased with herself.

Yesterday I talked to Asunta. Apparently, she now knows that Zush has a wife. Ask me how she found out. Zush told her, and even showed her pics of his ka-mama, Asunta had gone to pay him a visit in his marital home!!!!!!! I was wondering where this wife was, cause she can't have been out of town, ataenda wapi and the whole family is living in the same town and she has a small kid????? Asunta is courting trouble :-(

Zush called Asunta today to tell her that she is an asshole!!!!!!!!!! oishit :-) Asunta had been elezaring another friend of hers how bibi ya Zush looks like (I know what Mrs Zush looks like, but I will not disclose anything), all that time she was talking to this friend of hers, Zush was still on the line, coz she had been talking to him and had forgotten to hang up!!!!!!!!!!! Then Zush calls Asunta telling her she is an asshole and that he had trusted her enough to show her the pics of Mrs Zush!!!!!!!!!!

Now Asunta is feeling down and blue :-( I asked her what she plans to do, she still doesn't know. I feel like telling her ' I told you so!!!!' but nahhhh, I will shut my mouth. It won't be a while before I hear that Zush apologized, and that Asunta accepted his apology two or three times ;-)

* Names have been changed to protect identity :-)

For the last 14 days, I have been trying to get a computer into my room, and get internet access. It all began some time ago when a friend of mine told me how she had managed to get a PC for an amazingly low price (65€ incl. monitor) so I thought hey, why not!!!!

I waited for a couple of days so that my PC could be 'built' and after that, I had to go through the harrows of finding someone who had a car and 30 minutes to help me transport my PC! Now, if that office where I was going to pick the PC wasn't that far from the tram station, I would have asked a girlfriend of mine to accompany me - no problem, but as fate would have had it, this office is situated 20 walking minutes from the tram station! Carrying a PC+monitor would certainly have broken my back.

After calling my few friends who have cars and being turned down, I turned to one oga-oga brodah who thinks I'm the best thing since sliced bread! The dude was happy to help me out, and voila! PC got home safe and sound!

I live in a hostel, now the silly thing about that place is that the administrator's office is only open 3 times a week for a couple of hours. I sat from Thursday evening till Tuesday evening with a computer but without access to the internet. Tuesday evening, I rushed to the administrator to tell him I need a modem. The chap tells me that I need a sheet of paper showing some number/code for the modem that I am supposed to get. I tell him I don't have one, but he insists that I do...I tell him I know I what I have, and what I don't. He refers me to the main office, which is closed at this time already. Tuesday night, no internet still, sad.

Wednesday morning, I woke up early, went to the main office, got my sheet of paper with the code and rushed back to the hostel. The chap who was there looked at it then asked me if I already have the modem in my room!!!!! Halllooooooo? Would I go ask for a modem if I had one in my room???? I swallow, and just say no. The guy goes ahead to say, " Maybe the chick who used to live there before took it." oh really?????? Does that mean that I am not getting a modem or what?! The silly goat goes ahead to say, although he hasn't searched, that the modem is not there and that I have to be going to that office very often to remind him of the matter!!!!! hehehehehheeeh...Wednesday night, no internet still, sad, so sad.

Thursday midday, I go back to the admin. office, luckily I find a different chap, so I tell him about my problem, he tells me wait a minute, he goes to the cellar and guess what??? I get a modem! I am thrilled, but that is not the end of the story, I have to go to the university, get an account so that I can get log-in info - so that I can access the www. This I do on Friday, and when I get back home I fix everything sawasawa (failed a few times though lol...) then I was in the www!!

Now I am connected! 24-7! This is great :-)