The Cable Guy

Today I had quite an interesting morning the Cable Guy from Comcast came to install cable and cracked the hell out of me..He is a Cambodian and was telling me how he had his first joint last week and in a second he says he felt as though he was in heaven..he ended up driving all the way to the Canadian border where he was asked by the officials for identification and where he was going all he answered was "am driving home so let me through"he was whisked off to the cell faster than he could say Jack Robinson..
So anyway I have had quite a tuliad week the weather getting all winterish and grey.... Christmas is round the corner it is looking so beautiful the leaves have fallen off the trees like completely it is totally cool...

Thanksgiving

Okay so last week was Thanksgiving we had a whole week off school to make merry and eat as much turkey and go state hopping looking for where the party at...I was in Beverly Farms with The Richardsons-my American host family I wanted to experience the real Thanksgiving... kwanza I thought thanksgiving is a dinner affair kumbe its a lunch thing but trust me the turkey took 5 hours to cook so we ended up eating at around 4 but it was such a good time.The whole family had come down from all over the States-Tomy from Florida with his amazing angels-Katy and Kevin,Pamela from Rhode Island with her husband Matt and daughter Amy... Peter from Framingham oh my generally we were so many- around 15-20 at the table there was loads and loads of hams a 30 pound turkey corn on the cob duck meat ice creams pies.... generally so much food and laughter and of course we had to go round in turns giving thanks for anything and everything and I was just glad to have made it to the States and be around such warm people....sniff sniff so am I getting emotional here...so we joked and played with the kids till late into the night..the next morning we continued with a huge breakfast-bacon,sausages..gosh am getting hungry..then we went out shopping we took up about 3vans we went to BJs for shopping then for lunch at some restaurant we had like 4 tables i think we got a quantity discount on the total cost..
So I left later on in the evening took a train to Boston with the guys from the family they were going to watch a Celtics game I was coming back to Lowell so generally that was my Thanksgiving day....

Daisy

Right there at the center is my front deskie for KCSE she is called Daisy Kamal-yeah the full Jango shadiness with their Oprah Winfrey Onyango names.But she is such a sweetie.Here she is at a pals place in Canada - a bash or something..oh yeah she is a party animal - was entertainment prefect back in high school with my other very close friend Lydia-we call each other blondie coz jokes used to be cracked and we used to laugh like 5 minutes later....ahhh good times good times....So right now I am at the CALL center all alone Jay-my boss has gone for lunch Kathleen my other boss has gone home-Friday and suddenly when I am left alone is when the place has become so busy someone wants something done, information on a course and am like AAAAAGGGGH!!!!!!!!!!

zzz.......

hi it has been such a long time since i posted anything..mainly coz I had a dull weekend and second I have had a bad flu can you imagine I already have a flu and winter na bado.... my throat has been so soar and my nose looked like Pinnochios but now I am all good.Right now I am in the IT lab in school I have just got here it is approximately 8;30 the weather outside is so dull and grey I am waiting for 9thirty i enter my shift for the CALL center which is where I work in school I am sooooo sleepy trust me I am not a morning person..The whole arise and shine Wakey Wakey...no I dont feel that vibe I am more a work late into the night/early morning hours sleep at 5 in the morning wake up at ten or eleven..okay right now as you can see I am blabbering on and on about alot of nothing...

'What lies behind us & what lies before us are tiny matter compared to what lies within us'
Ralph Waldo Emerson

Election Day

Yesterday was election day though I havent been such a keen follower of whats happening in and around whose voting who which is which all I can say is, where I am right now-Massachussetes the best man won I am totally a democrat and the brilliant Patrick Deval was last night elected as Governor of Mass.I totally admire his approach as he is Putting the needs of immigrants as top prioroty which is a serious issue that needs to be adressed in the U.S.Factors such as citizenship, status etc below is an extract of a part of his speech and a short clip right herehttp://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid86311306/bclid140822102/bctid192880057...Read

Hope, vision and hard work

I can still remember when I first came to Massachusetts. I wasn’t a lawyer then. I wasn’t a business leader or a senior government official. I wasn’t a father or a husband and goodness knows I wasn’t a candidate for governor. I was a 14-year-old boy, starting a new life that was as different from anything I'd experienced in Chicago as I could possibly imagine. And I was scared.
But my grandmother had a saying that fortified me: “Hope for the best – and work for it.”
Hope for the best – and work for it.
That’s what I did. I hoped for the best – I learned how not to accept what is right in front of me, what someone else said were my limits. I learned how to imagine a better life and a better way. And I worked for it.
I learned to listen to common sense and wisdom, to be true to my core values, and to ignore those who called me naïve or told me to accept something less.Standing on the brink of an uncertain future, with all the challenges our state faces today, I hope for the best and am prepared to work for it.
And that is why I am running and why I'm asking you to help me become your next governor. I want you to see what’s possible in Massachusetts – and to help me work for it.

A Fallen Hero

On Friday last week I was humbled to attend one of the most honourable funeral services in my lifetime.It was a send-off fit for a king but thats what Anthony Laban Kimungu deserved for the life he lived and the light he brought to this world.After fighting in the US Army marines for about four years he came home two weeks ago with a vow to look after his mother finally though it was short lived..Generally speaking I am at a loss of words to describe this vibrant character that God had to take home.He has a website set up www.askaboutme.net coz really this blog space is just to small to express the loss of such a great brother,friend,son,hero.....Keep smiling down on us Anthony...
"..A candle that burns twice as bright only has to burn half as long..."

Quincy Fellowship

Every other Tuesday I attend a fellowship in Quincy last night being no exception it is such a blessed time.... here are some pics from the Quincy website Deno right there was my first friend in Salem State College who gave me mawaidtha here and there and introduced me to the fellowship.There he is ati fundishaing pool-yeah right Deno you you just wanted to appear next to the preety mama....
Anyway this was Oktober Fest this coming Sato is the amazing race brainchild of the ever so talented Macha-member of Quincy This guy can piga those drums you are left like sawa!!!Anyway this is the place to be every Tuesday from seven to ten oh and then did I mention after that there is "Kahoa" directly translated to mean coffee we go to Dunkin Donuts and have coffee and steakbombs-(trust me I dint know what those were till I joined) and chat and chat till past midnight ..generally its the place to be if you need refreshing ....

"...The pessimist sees the hole the optimist sees the doghnut...."

Witches and Wizadry

Well readers today is officialy Halloween and you will never believe the city I chose to spend my first Halloween-SALEM!!!For all of you who are going like ummmm and the big deal is.....Well Salem is the home of the witch trials of 1692 where about 16 or so witches- am not sure were burnt at the stake for practising Wicca or Witchcraft..You can click right here if your interested in reading more....
Their graveyard church and houses are located right here in Salem so there are like van loads and van loads of tourists from all over the States in a nutshell the city is crazy traffic is crazy...
So anyway let me go trick or treat I have no costume though but I love candy....

Imagination

I came across the album for "Mercy Me" singers of " I can only imagine." and there was a deep quote one of them put down it goes something like...

Maybe God gave us imaginations because He knew how much we would need them on those difficult days when nothing goes right, on those dark nights when it seems like dawn will never come...being able to imagine better times ahead is a gift.Imagination can make all the difference

Oh I also took the liberty of writing down the chorus of that song yani it is just toooo deep for words..here goes..

Surrounded by your glory what will my heart feel?
Will I dance for you Jesus or in awe of you be still?
Will I stand in your presence or to my knees will I fall
Will I sing Hallelujah?Will I be able to speak it all?I can only imagine.......

Vuta Pumzi

Yes on Sato night I was so ready to vuta pumzi rumour had it the Longombas were around so like a good number of Kenyans were all set but Lo and behold rumour then had it today that they were denied visas and bla bla bla so with all my miotos for going out I said you know what it aint over till its over so i managed to dandia a last minute plan with some friend Muraya and his cousin Macha we were leaving the digz at twelve..talk of "hakuna kulala nyumbani" we had a good time anyway but would have been better with Lovi and Christian in the mix...
Sunday morning was polite was in church like for most of the day....yeah the full irony from the previous night... after the service there was a pre-wedding harambee for some Kenyan couple getting married in Dec it was quite a success-raised over 20k-dollars!!!!!and am thinking wow that will be quite a dope wedding but am sure they will do investments, shares and bla bla fishcake...and that wrapped up my weekend...was so frustrated had left my charger at Kuis-weh Kui bana wsup with the progressive dinner pics???so I was out of communication with so many people leo I get my fone c i was a ka baller with ten voice messages and 5 txts from my gorgeous sister so anyway I really am blabbering useless info....

.....Something special happens when we close our eyes thats why we close our eyes when we kiss, sleep and dream..........

Kaveza

right there is the name of my younger sister it is Luya-God knows what it means-Lunjes and there jisty names yawa!!!So anyway came across this pic of her and her pals in those dingy brown dresses you should see these girls in their normal clad they look straight out of a teen movie-but I guess uniform has that effect am sure you remember the way your uniform could make you look like a "domestic officer" at times!!!Anyway enough beating about the bush yani I miss this girl like crazy-being younger than me I miss someone to tuma tuma no actually come to think about it.... she is the one who sends me around...so gal whereva ya at..miss ya loads...all flash" (its a personal joke we have)
Oh just for the record Kaveza-my sis is the one on the extreme left next to her is Sunneta-cutest dimples then Winnie-even cuter dimples standing behind is Morena-should go into modelling she is tall like wow down there is Stacey-Ms Goldilocks oh and their dingy bus at the back spoiling the pic.....

"..Never be afraid of loosing sight of the shore coz then you will never discover new waters.."

Progressive Dinner

On Friday evening international students at Salem State College-I included set out from the Center for International Education office at the school. We were loaded into vans and cars to begin an epic night of food food and more food in that order.Dubbed the "Progressive dinner"the theme was to visit approximately 5-6 houses of the host families with which the school has "hooked up" international students with and in each house sampling a different meal..
I cant quite recall what we had at each house but trust me by the end of it all I had added like quite a number of pounds.From turkey to chicken to all forms of salads to samosas meat pies it was divine...
It then culminated at the last house where we had a bonfire....the whole marshmallow thing...yeah it was my first time... being the shady Kenyan I am!At the bonfire we sung songs from our countries it was so dope listening to other languages-Japanese, French, Turkish,German and of course you know I gosta wakilisha with "Ee Mungu nguvu Yetu....."Oh yah then we played broken telephone and trust me with all the accents going on ..only a few words got to make it through!!!
It was such a great time and experience halafu we were dropeed off back at kedo midnight.....an yah that wrapped up my Friday night the pics will come up soon if Kui can get off her lazy bum..... okay i got a pic here we are at the first house having starters... me there having an "intellectual"conversation with Yakimoto-or something close to that-I cant recal his name and me doing the marshmallow thing....

"...Courage doesn't always roar sometimes courage is the silent voice at the end of the day saying I will try again tommorow..."

Banana Boy

This weekend i had the pleasure of spending it with one of the sweetest cuddliest babies in the world-Peter O Brien he was celebrating his 3rd party so he had a lovely party at his place and he invited me as the guest of Honour...awwww shame!!!!!I call him my banana boy coz I always ask him .."Who likes bananas?" and in the sweetest voice he screams "peter!"....he loves bananas..So it was preety cool he got so many toys and bla bla bla and I was like Oh my goodness you mean these things still happen??But anyway I love his family so much they have taken me into their home as one of theirs esp Peters mum-Debbie she is such a sweetheart.I wear her peach mutiple sclerosis band all the time to promote awarness of her condition..she is amazing...
Okay right now I have a class in the next like 15 minutes-ENG 101 and there is a CAT we are going to do and I am staring at the book going like ummm....mmmh....so anyway that was my weekend nothing extraodinary happened..oh oh I got my learners permit and I have been practisiing how to drive...i am adjusting to driving on the right hand side unlike back home we do it the British way on the left....so catch you later...

"The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall."

The Reason For the Season

Today I start off on a low note....I was reading the Nation on the web and came across the saddest piece of information..Human Rights Activist ,Director, ABANTU for development Wanjiru Kihoro's time on earth had sadly come to an end.For all who dint get to share in this womans story she was involved in a plane crash about 3 years ago where two Mps passed away she has been in a coma all this time..You can read the story by clicking http://www.iasa-intl.com/folders/belfast/Busla.html....can you imagine hence my title The Reason coz I believe everything happens for a reason and for a season...as it is written "...He sets a time to sow and a time to reap...a time to mourn and a time to rejoice..."So I guess Wanjirus time here was up...I applaud her husband Mr.Kihoro...to find such a man is truly a blessing...staying by her bedside each and every day hoping that she would spring back to life until God finally called her to rest but I guess thats what faith is all about believing in things we cannot see..He even dedicated his Jurist of the Year award to her in 2004...God should send more men like you down here!!!!
Wanjirus story is also dear to me as well coz someone very special to me-my sister went through the same experience....but hers is a story for another day... but all in all lets acknowledge this great womans fighting spirit and know that whatever challenges we face are only for a season....There is a great phrase I picked up somwhere it goes something like...

If you Give up when it is winter
You will miss the joy of your summer
The promise of your spring
Fulfillment of your fall...

Chamchi.....

Chamchi is an Indian phrase to mean............
Today I got to chat with this supulicious mama who enyewe I have mad beef with yani how can you panga with someone vile ati you are going to "live the American dream"pamoja we had even decided ati summer break we are hooking up for a road trip sharing an apartment and bla bla bla then at the last minute the chamchi chomoas for me ati "plans changed" yani Farzana Noorani to the grave I will fuata you ...now I kulad culture shock man solo-lakini its all good aint no shame in my game!!!
Yah oh so this here is Farzana Noorani some crazy ass Arabian Madagscar Indian-really I never gitched where she was from exactly we did internship pamoja at the best place to work-Monier 2000 we had another fabulous time wacha tu...We used to say we were going out to collect "data" for our weekly reports kumbe we chomoka and go to Sarit Village Market you name it oh and kula nyama at Diamond Plaza...lakini it was great....Lakini we had this boss called Rajiv when he was good he was really good and when he was bad he was a beast there was a time we had pangad ati we are chomokaing to watch a movie heh Rajiv kamatad us and told us to clean out some store...yes a store that had not seen a mop in 10 years yani vile we had dressed that day ati "for the movie"-shock! kwanza Farzana had on this white ati silky dress ha at the end of the excersise she looked like she had been swimming in the Saharra si I quacked at her...
Anyway glad I met this mama she is very funny and does not take crap from nobody......yeah that Minnie day...she blasted some mama called Minnie-our other boss who wanted her to beba some things...and here she is graduating looking resplendent.....take care gal and you had better come for my grad-its the least you can do after standing me up like that!!!!

"Chase the Dream Not the Competition........."

I Love you to the moon and back

Yup that was the title on a baby nib at a baby shower I attended with Jessica...We arrived fashionably late like an hour...we had potead and overslept after the previous night wedding and Hennesey...but it was such a sweet baby shower with everyone going oohh ahhh the baby is due in two months exactly from kesho...which made got me thinking how I cant wait to have a few brats of my own ...when the time is right and I can support em and be the second best mama in the world after my dear mommy.....

Here is a story I came across to acknowledge our mamas show some love and read it ...hope it doesnt bore you stiff!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Why are you crying, a young boy asked his Mom? "Because I'm a woman," she told him. "I don't understand," he said. His Mom just hugged him and said, "And you never will, but that's O.K."....... Later the little boy asked his father, "Why does Mom seem to cry for no reason?". "All women cry for no reason," was all his Dad could say...... The little boy grew up and became a man, still wondering why women cry. Finally he put in a call to God and when God got back to him, he asked "God, why do women cry so easily?" GOD answered...... "When I made woman, I decided she had to be special. I made her shoulders strong enough to carry the weight of the world, yet, made her arms gentle enough to give comfort... I gave her the inner strength to endure childbirth and the rejection that many times will come even from her own children. I gave her a hardness that allows her to keep going and take care of her family and friends, even when everyone else gives up, through sickness and fatigue without complaining.... I gave her the sensitivity to love her children under any and all circumstances. Even when her child has hurt her badly.... She has the very special power to make a child's boo-boo feel better and to quell a teenager's anxieties and fears.... I gave her strength to care for her husband, despite faults and I fashioned her from his rib to protect his heart.... I gave her wisdom to know that a good husband never hurts his wife, but sometimes tests her strengths and her resolve to stand beside him unfalteringly.... For all of this hard work, I also gave her a tear to shed. It is hers to use whenever needed and ! it is her only weakness.... When you see her cry, tell her how much you love her, and all she does for everyone, and even though she may still cry, you will have made her heart feel good.

Each day is a mountain that must be climbed; with courage each step gets easier.

Love your Mother Always
and keep her Smiling

Cambodian Experience

This weekend I was honoured to attend a friends friends wedding.The chap is from Cambodia so he was marrying a fellow Cambodian mama who I can assure you looked gorgeous..like this tiny preety china doll...It was a glamorous affair yani I thought India has the preetiest mamas but trust me after Sato night I can think twice...just for the record...I am very straight....I dont swing that way.....
So anyway it was an 8 course event food came and came and came all sorts of meats and rices and birds and breads and sweets.....you get the picture..but the most interesting part was the bride and groom and their 8 outfits as well canyou believe they had a dfferent outfit for each event...to welcome the guests,to open the dance floor,to take pics and each time the dresses looked like a million bucks-gold encrusted stuff...man just watch this space for the pics coming up soonest....Oh oh halafu they had to go round each table-the bride and groom saying a Thank You to the guests and on each table they had to take a shot of whatever drink-vodka Hennesey the works and trust me there were like 50tables by the time they finished they were singing a Cambodian version of the Luo ."I am not Sober"............

"..If you love something let it go if it comes back its yours.."

Tutaweza kweli???

Oh here is one more pic from the camp I went to in Maine we were at one of the ropes courses you had to "walk the line" as a team and make sure no one fell off but unfortunately we dint make....but hey look at how thin the ropes are and we had just had a heavy Texan bbq lunch so we had put on a few extra pounds.....I give props to those guys for the circus enyewe you guys are winners!!

"..All men dream but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that it was vanity; but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dream with open eyes to make it possible. .."
T.E. Lawrence

The Camp in Maine

Oh I went for a great camp last week up in Maine we actually passed the real Shawshank Redemption prison on the way there-it was really cool- here are some pics we took.Though it was like sooooo cold but beautiful with the fall season and all the leaves looked amazing but cold....There I am feelangaing "follow the leader leader" and just after this pic we all fell off.........

"Breakfast At Tiffany's"

I have decided I will pick up from wherever I was and skip all the nitty grities...
In a nutshell I have had quite a crazy month-meeting so many people seeing so many new things...
I have grwon so close with the host family-The Richardsons they are absolutely amazing such wonderful people sent to earth..Debbie Bethanie Amy Banana boy-love you loads...
So I managed to enroll for classes and it is going preety great actually have made friends with loads and loads of people but the all time favourite is my Pre Calc class deskie-Adrian tells me he is a pro tennis player but the few times I have passed the tennis court I have never seen that boy so who knows???but hey always have our after class pasta ritual at some Chinese restaurant...
I have also gone for a camp with the church I attend sometimes with my host family-North Shore Baptist.The camp was up in Maine-it was so coooold but beautiful coz it was the fall season so the leaves were all yellow and we were in the cabins oh it was divine...but cooold... actually here are a few pics at the ropes course

Writers Block....

today I think I have writers block I am so totally not up to writing anything much so let me leave it here but will write something tommorrow.... no actually the real reason is I have been typing some long assignment and my fingers feel ike they are going to expold any moment now....
But there is a great book I am reading ...by Maya Angelou-actually her autobiography "I know why the Caged Bird Sings" and her introduction goes something like
"...This is for the black birds of promise who defy the odds and gods and sing their songs.."
I think thats preety deep...so if you have time try pick it up...

Heathrow......

Well dear reader thank you for taking the time to continue with my epic adventure globe trotting....so where was I oh yah so we landed at Heathrow Airport and I was going goo goo ga ga at the size of Heathrow..though it was a week after the bomb scare so security levels were high-critical actually..Oh oh oh there was this poor guy of Arab descent and my my he was being thrown sidelong glances by all the passengers at the waiting area with looks in their eyes like "Hope your not strapped with a bomb" or "Hope your not with Al Qaeda" which is just a shame coz after 9/11 most Arabs are now stereotyped as a whole network of bombists that is just too sad...So anyway the transit time was like for 4 hours I changed 1000kshs to send email and almost rolled over when the lady at the bereau-{have never been able to spell that} gave me like 3 coins I went like Whaaaat?????where is my money??and she is like yup thats all you get.....wait the story gets better so I pop in the coins to send my peeps back home emails and goodness in like 20 minutes the money was done am like your kidding me....1000Kshs would have kept me surfing for a year at home!!!!!!!!so that was mother nature screaming at me "Welcome to the world out here!"...so afterabout 4 hours of ngethiaing at the airport we boarded...another BA flight..yup thanks sis I got an aisle seat again so thanks to you I will never know how Britain or the States looks like from a plane.....so we took off it was a shorter flight this one thank God and landed at Bostons Logan International Airport at around 1:30......the check in lines were so long, the skies were grey it was so chilly I was jetlagged I remember asking myself mmmhhh are you sure about this??...after about 45minutes I manged to get my luggage through customs..which reminds me I need to file a suit of complaint for damages.. one of my tyres on my smaller suitcase was broken the only thing is I wonder where it could have happened,Kenya UK or US...which do you think???
so anyway i check out of customs and see the sign Salem State College with two gleaming faces an elderly jolly looking fellow with what I assumed was his grandadughter and the man asks me are you Peniiinnaa and am like yes I am Peninah..and there begun Chapter 2 of my Boston Experience.......aluta la continua..........

The Boston Experience-Chapter 1

Hi blog or is it hi viewers of the blog..today the 2nd of October marks exactly one month since I landed at Bostons Logan International Airport on a chilly Saturday afternoon.....so here I am brodcasting live from a lab at the school I attend-Salem State College at about 7;55pm waiting for my ride home and I thought hey you know what lemme see what my blog has been upto...
So I think it is unfair to jump the gun and go one month forward so let me tell you how this month has been... I want to make this is brief as possible -being the woman of few words that I am -ahem ahem...
So a month ago on lovely Friday night I left my lovely "Green City in The Sun"- Nairobi in search of "The American dream"-(sic) So it was the usual moans and tears just before the airport with the usual advice "Take Care-this is America", 'Dont move with the wrong people" I dont have pics to put up of that but I can assure it was emotional-I felt like a soldier going to fight in the war-literally!!!
So after a the usual cabin crew announcments "Thank you for flying British Airways" bla bla bla-in essence what they are really saying is"Thank you suckers for spending so much money for a few hours in the air"we jetted off into the horizon and I was cursing my sister for telling me "Nah dont worry you will get a window seat" Thanks alot I got an aisle seat!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!So after a few hours of being airbone, sleeping, waking up sleeping some more, watching endless endless replays of Sweet Home Alabama-trust me I know the words to date-Reese Witherspoon I can play your part!!! we landed at Heathrow Airport...and that begins chapter 1 of my "Boston Experience"....enjoy the read...........

The Alpha

Yes the title is one that makes you go like huh??????but yes it is the Alpha to simply depict the beginning of great bloggings and postings to come...I had started a blog some time back then I forgot to do anything with it , have been on the computer for the past 3 hours then i remembered haiya c i update my blog so I tried accesing it but Lo and behold it was null and void.. so to cut a long story short.. had to go throught the whole process again...and now I am back in business.......
As warner brothers would put it.....Thats all folks...........for today...