Lunch manners??

So am seating comfortably with my plate piled with assorted warm foods for lunch. Am in a workshop at a hotel that is known for serving fresh food only and so am looking forward to the sumptuous meal, then baaammm....there comes the lunch pooper

You see I had actually sat next to someone who had something negative to say about my choice of lunch from the attractive buffet. Lets call her P for Pooper!

P: Oh you eat wheat

Me: Yes!!

P: wheat is not the best. you should avoid it...and then she goes on to give a detailed account of how her gluten intolerant stomach used to react violently to wheat before she realised, years later, that all the bloatedness was because she was reacting to the gluten

Me (thinking) woah TMGI!!!!!!

Anyways, ever the gracious listener, I listened to her litany of problems related to all manner of foods, when I realised mmmm maybe she is recruiting members to her side so earnestly, since she cant enjoy vyapati like am doing?? LOL anyways,

Jokes aside, some people really react badly to wheat, others like me dont....BUT I am aware that I need to reduce my intake of wheat since it seems its digested slowly and so can cause me lots of other problems.

So I moderate it, but waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa, please, lunch is not the time to talk about bloated tummies!!

Obama Out (mic drop)

After 8 years at the top of the world, leader of free world, as they say, Obama takes a bow. Today he gave his final public address and I was keen on listening to it, until i realised it means waking up at 5am on Feb 11!! so i settled for watching a recorded version instead.

That position must be a very very challenging one, but I understand that the entire team takes all the credit or barbs. So he exits the stage, and though I may not fully grasp the complex foreign and local policies he spearheaded, I must say I still admired him....what he represented, his eloquence, his very public display of affection to this wife Michelle and children, his very visible support to military families and of course, his charm!!

God speed, Jatelo, you did the best you could, and shattered several ceilings while at it!!

Happy 2017

Its a new year!

...and an old friend reminded me of this poem, so let me just hang it here

If—

By Rudyard Kipling           

 

If you can keep your head when all about you   

    Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,   

If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,

    But make allowance for their doubting too;   

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,

    Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,

Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,

    And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;   

    If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim;   

If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster

    And treat those two impostors just the same;   

If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken

    Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,

Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,

    And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings

    And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,

And lose, and start again at your beginnings

    And never breathe a word about your loss;

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew

    To serve your turn long after they are gone,   

And so hold on when there is nothing in you

    Except the Will which says to them: ‘Hold on!’

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,   

    Or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch,

If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,

    If all men count with you, but none too much;

If you can fill the unforgiving minute

    With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,   

Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,   

    And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!

WORDS in my mind

Do you have certain words or phrases that you know exactly when you heard of them and knew the meaning? well here are some of mine!

Gubernatorial - this I think every Kenyan now knows - after devolution this word was often said by journalists and so we came to know that the Governors race is called gubernatorial race..google says this word relates to governors particularly in the US - well I guess we have also adopted it!

Vacancy - when I was in class 3 we had to change schools because of fees and so my mum kept using this word, she was looking for vacancies in other schools for us, and I knew exactly how to use that word!!

Guillotine- now now in primary school some teachers had heavy accents (language interference) and one used to pronounce this word off; however he was making reference to that machine that was used to cut paper. Now now - so this machine is simply called a paper cutter since google says guillotine is a machine with a heavy blade sliding vertically i grooves, used for beheading people - yaikks!!

 

Culvert - this is a a tunnel carrying a stream or open drain under a road or railway/ so being on Isiolo Moyale road a lot, I heard this word - and it was pronounced as caravat; until someone corrected me and told me its actually culvert LOL

Volumetric analysis - so we had a young chem teacher in high school and when covering this topic, I listened to her keenly and wrote it in bold red pen - FORUMETRIC ANALYSIS... can imagine my amusement when I came across the phrase in a text book!! waa....this mother tongue influence!!

Diaspora - one of the dorms in my primary school (Mukumu Girls) was called diaspora. I think i knew the meaning of the word much much later!!

Corrugation - back to Isiolo Moyale road....the road was not tarmacked for years and the movement of the car was often refered to as corrugation! the word means the groves/ridges on the road!

Fire - as in to fire someone - so when I was growing up, we had a neighbour whose kids were much older than us...and they had a gardener....and one day the friend declared ' we fired the gardener!' and my young mind was mortified! I had images of him being set ablaze....and wondered to myself why not just let him go as opposed to burning him! much later I learnt the meaning of the phrase...LOL

Anyways, these are just some words that I can pinpoint when i first heard of them!

REPOST....and now we are 8!

#REPOST Dec 2, 2010

My dearest Raha

Today you turn 2!

 At exactly 9.09pm two years ago I was very glad to have a girl…no one believes that curious me didn’t know I was expecting a girl…but that’s the truth, I wanted it to be a surprise…and what a lovely surprise it was! I must admit your Daddy was sure the baby was gonna be a girl while your aunty was convinced I was carrying a boy since the expected weight was 4kg….The experience of having your brother left me saying one kid is enough for me but later we realized it’s very easy to spoil one child and so decided to have another one….then we can balance out the tough love that needs to be given out once in a while.

I always knew for the longest time that should I ever be blessed with a girl her name would definitely be Raha (I was later told it also means abundance in Amharic)

Its just two years and your growing vocabulary amazes us every day;  and how you already have a definite opinion on what you are to wear – I honestly thought I would a few more years of my views on wardrobe reigning supreme…but I was wrong….

Of course Raha you have greatly benefited by being a second child – the way your brother and cousin treat you like a princess….and your parents can now claim not be so naïve about matters children… oh my, we rushed your brother to hospital at every sneeze and later realized its not the best way…so you can imagine our surprise when the government released a whole list of medicines that they claimed were not the best for children and we knew most of them!! But I digress; such lessons are what life is made of…….

My sweet,

May the Lord bless you, and keep you;May the Lord make His face shine on you,And be gracious to you;May He lift up His countenance upon you,And give you peace

 …and may you grow up to be the fiery little Ms Independent that you already are…

Happy birthday Raha!!

 Love and Kisses

Your Mummy :)

This day in 2006

So today marks 10years since we had our wedding!!

All the planning comes to this day...looking for fabric in a road called DuBois (kumbe its pronouced du-bwa)....fabric called crashed tafeta (we didnt get it, and settled for tafeta instead...yeah...there is a difference LOL)....many trips to the taylor in hurlingham....going to almost every shop in town that claims they have wedding gowns for hire (yes for 1 week then you return), kumbe its for size 2 people!! and finally getting one shop right in the middle of town, with gowns that fit!!.....running around town with Sam to literally all the shops that sell suits....waaa.....giving up on finding flowers and finally ordering them from the person on groundfloor where i used to work!! We could not have imagined the details that go into planning for a day like this!! many meetings in a restaurant in Nakumatt lifestyle....all the varied ideas...waaaa...

So the day had finally come....and what a day it was!! I was happy and anxious at the same time, but mercifully everything fell into place as the day wore on.

In the morning, woke up early enough and had a good breakfast, so many people in the house! Aunties, grandmother had come the night before and were all chatting animatedly. My dad and people from Dar also arrived the night before. We dressed up slowly since we had enough time and the church (Our Lady Queen of Peace, South B) was literally round the corner!

The isukuti team came in early and started beating their drums...if jirani didnt know there was a wedding, now they knew. It was a Friday, but schools had closed, so many children came near the house to see what was going on. My lovely aunties sang loudly to the isukuti beat...cant go wrong with that beat I tell you.

A friend had told me she would get me the car that would drive us around, and I told her, thanks. Kumbe it was a sleek black mercedes benz!! imagine that, with a gracious driver to boot.

Sam and his group were in Golden Gate getting ready also and he was driven to church by his cousin...apparently they had agreed a long long time ago, that during his wedding, she would drive him to church.

Mass was lovely....Fr Clement  Alekwe (may he RIP) was solemn during the whole occasion. I think he had another appointment, because he left soon as after mass was over (before we could take a photo with him!)

Anyhoo, photoshoot outside the church and off we went to Nairobi safari walk for more photos. Reception was indoors in south C because November can surprise someone with showers and thunderstorms...less speeches at the venue, some dancing and it was a wrap!! In all the planning we totally forgot to have a designated car for gifts!! but a friend quickly offered her car to carry them home...phew....The gracious driver dropped us back home at 6pm and he was like this is the earliest he has ever dropped a bridal party...hehehehehe.

Night dancing was at Club Afrique huko Westlands :)

We were so so happy to see friends and relatives celebrate that day with us! Thank you to all of you who turned up - for your positive thoughts and prayers...for stepping in to fill the gaps we had not anticipated. One friend took photos on the side and gave them to us a gift...was so lovely & thoughtful since he captured almost everyone, as opposed to hired photographer who concentrated on the 'high table'!!  The little gal who walked in front of us (my cousin) sat her KCPE this year and the little boy (my nephew) seats his exams next year....yeah, its 10years alright!!

Cheers to many more memories and years together P!!

Amen!!

Marriage and young minds...

So I was in a forum recently and a young lady and I took to each other and she was comfortable talking to me for some reason - me the one who doesnt talk much! anyways, she was giving me some tips on my hairstyle and how I can rock a different one given that my hair is natural and this product is good...and dont wash with that else.....she was very knowledgeable I must say...about hair then out of the blue she starts this conversation on marriage...

so how is it being married??

its ok...great actually!! why??

you didn't fear giving all your power to someone else?

am like, eh...(in my mind - that sounds so serious when you put it like that)....its a thought but you make a decision and make it work

We talked some more...her main concern was having to rely on another person 100%....power balance issues.....it got me thinking, mmm...whatever her reasons for thinking that way about marriage, her concerns are valid. So let me put on my Big Sister hat and dish out some thoughts.....so here it is ....to all my young sisters

1. Marriage is interesting - interesting since you are two very different people, from different homes, different personalities, different experiences, different values and now you are together. Considering that what we hold as true has been moulded for say 25+ years and now trying to make new memories together - that's a recipe for something interesting if I dare say so myself...all depends on how you look at it, right?

2. Marriage is challenging, some periods definately more challenging than others....one can even begin to doubt the decisions they have made......and you can have egos blocking what you want, but never loose focus of what made you want to be together. Hopefully you are not both strong willed since one or the other has to back down for the sake of the union....however, of course there could be a bigger problem is you are the one constantly stepping back!!

3. Marriage is about two people - two complete people decided to come together and make a perfect union; defend it - don't let others into your space, whether emotionally or physically...there are too many vultures out there!!...eh, now more than ever, the vultures can also be virtual!! internet things!!. Hopefully both of you want it to work, so both will defend it.

4. Marriage is dual submission - #hiding - and that's my humble submission

5. Marriage is a project - it has to have a joint vision and of course the resources to  actualise it - resources is not only cash....time, energy, enthusiasm etc....can all be resources as well!!. These have to be clear for both else it gets counter productive -so communication is key---so better if you are good friends to begin with right??. If one doesn't like how the 'project' is headed, better say it while the issue is still hot else you boil inside you and maybe there was a good explanation as to what happened!!. For instance, I once heard a priest say, if one of you doesnt want to offer sadaka, better don't offer it than offer it in hiding!!

6. Marriages do last!! we have many examples around us.....so no need getting all cynical that it doesn't work....ask God for the grace to make yours work!

7. Marriage is ordained by God himself.. so it goes without saying that prayer is central to the union....

there is much much more I can say, but since 7 is a perfect number, so let me leave it there


...and this I know for sure!!