Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas 
To All The Party People!

2013 - Year Of My Life!

A Review Of The Year 2013

Today "finally" is christmas. That's the time life shocks me by making it inevitable that the year is OVER.

And you know what? Even if I said this a few times before: 

The past year - 2013 - was definetly the best year of my entire, short life!

No doubts, no regretting. 

Here I've listed a few of my best and worst experiences and moments.

January - Clubbing night 

Way back in my hometown Reutlingen, Germany we have a club/barnight once a year.

When we went there this year we had such a great time by barhopping through the whole town, meeting a lot of new people and friends.

I remember that this was one of the best partynights I had! 

We went to almost all events which were included on the flatrate partyticket 'til the last club closed at 6 in the morning. My best friend Nina and me decided not to go home and to keep the night going.

Soo we went with some newly made friends to a recording studio, where their private aftershowparty took part. It was insane! After dancing for 5 hours in the clubs we continued stepping to electronic music with random people. It was like the night started again. There was barely space for the 20 people of us on 10m^2 but who cared? Huge speakers, a stroposcope and the atmosphere of a never ending night made it perfect.

Nina and me came home at around 10am with hurting feet and blacked out for the rest of the day...

A night I'll never forget... In the middle of the coldest winter...

February - Supplimental Maths Classes

Since it was one month before my final exams in school started, I had to do something about my worse math grades. So me and my parents decided that I'll take part in supplimental maths course - the whole of my holiday. Seven days, each day 4,5 hours of maths in the neighbourtown Stuttgart. 

Me and another girl from my grade were put into the class for the 0-4 credits (worst grades - failed). 

In this class we kinda started maths from the beginning with fractions, variables etc... You should have heard the awesome dumb questions of people in this class, it made me feel like I'm a genious in maths - for real! :D

I was announced with 3 credits, the same as the other girl from my grade. 

The next maths classtest, the last one before the final exam we felt so confident as never before after taking the supplimental.

When the grades came out we both made it to 4 credits! So we paid a lot of money, went through all this agony to upgrade our grade for one single point - which still didn't let us pass the test. :D / :(

At least we still had one month to improve our mathematical skills 'til the finals.

Btw: In german highschools the last two years (form 3 & 4/std. 11 & 12) are fully counted into the final mark. Each and every class test counts, which makes 2/3. The exams at the end are "just" 1/3 of the final grade.

March - Sweet 18th Birthday!

To me it was clear from the beginning my 18th birthday is gonna be BIG! Go big or go home!

In this year my birthday fell on a saturday, the first of the 2 1/2 weeks easterholiday before the final exams started. The best time to celebrate myself the last time before I had to get serious and a perfect occasion to throw a party for all of my friends, which also had to start preparing. 

The plan I made up perfectly worked out:

We celebrated on Friday night in the old driving school of a friends of mine, which was gonna be teared down soon. Surprisingly even old friends from the boarder to France and Switzerland came to stay over for the weekend and made this evening perfect. At 12 o'clock I had all my closest and oldest friends around me, which made me so happy that I started crying. Thank god my friends stopped me from making use of my overage right away to get a tattoo.. ohh Tequila..

On Saturday morning my house was full of people k.o.ing. Which had the effect that we started preparing the big party very late. There were people at my party before I even went there. 

The party took part in the motorbikeclub of my dad, who sponsered the party (what he better shouldn't have done...). It was a good night with all kinds of my friends. There were people from other cities I went to Kindergarten with, friends from camp when we were kids, my physiotherapist as DJ and even a Jehova's Whitness :D Hehehe that party was crazy, there was a fire outside, so huge you couldn't even get close to it, an extended smoking zone (everywhere?!) and alcohol which wasn't supposed to be drunken because it belonged to the club.

In the end PEOPLE WERE WASTED and too many. It was like the most expensive party I could imagine :D I had to write letters to the club and to neighbours afterwards to apologise and pay for stolen wood, demolished fences and snacks/alcohol, which seemed to be hidden.

And still! It was the best party I've ever had for my birthday! Exactly the way I wanted it to be. Chaotic and BIG! :D

Sunday was the day of cleaning up and the aftershow-coming-down with my best friend.

3 days partying hard - that was exactly what I wanted and what I got.

Unforgetable 18th birthday!

P.S.: 3 days after my birthday I went for my tongue piercing, which I've been wanting for 4 years. Evertime I asked my parents: "daaaad, mooom can I have a tongue piercing?" They went like: "Yes of course you can!" Me: "Oh cool!!! When??" -"When you're 18!" -.-

And when the day came I turned 18 they started realising how serious this unnecessary and still so undestroyable wish was. So they started trying to capture me with offers like "I'll get you a festival ticket or whatever you want if you don't get that god damn piercing. Please just don't!!" 

- Hahahahaha parents. No way! :D

(To their amusement it got swollen very, very badly for a week so I was hardly able to speak and eat.. ._.

Life's kinda fair?!)

April - The Final Exams

Whoop incredible feeling. Finally they were there! After 12 years of schooling us guys had to show our un- ähh knowledge. The exams themselves were nice and very patient. I was prepared: enough food, energy drinks, nicotine chewing gums, chocolate. What (except of maths) should go wrong? 

German exam - fair, but not as good as expected. Maths - fail... I went back to my 3 credits I think. English - Easy goooing. It even made fun going through the exam. Politics - I don't know why but most of us didn't do as good as usually, so did I. 

After this exam most people were finished! That was it! Almost the whole grade went to the traditional after-exam-party/drinking in a park. Nearly every pupil from the 6 highschools of my town was there to celebrate and freak out. We've been waiting for that day for soo long!

Now there was just the very final, oral exam left, which was gonna be in June...

Scream Abiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii! (Shortform for Abitur = A-Levels)

June - Last Exam + Bonobo Concert

My last exam was in geography about "urban gardening". It was a very interesting and awesome topic the teachers chose for me. And even though I started preparing it 2 days earlier and the hathred and fear of holding marked talks I got 13 out of 15 credits (like an A).
My neighbours unrolled the red carpet for me when they saw me coming home from celbrating that day.

So touching...!

Bonobo

A very good friend of mine gave me a ticket for the concert of one of my favourite artists for my birthday.

The artist, called Bonobo, makes the greatest, let's call it, "composed electronic music" I've ever heard. 

After I've been waiting for so long that artist to come close to my town for he finally was there! 

The friend of mine was the one, who first introduced me to his music and made me really fall in love.

So this open-air-concert in the nicest mid summer was one of my biggest highlights and gifts this year!

It made my heart jump, for real. Some people know how to make me happy.. 

Magic moments.

July - Prom

Prom always sounds so pompous. Ours even looked pompous in our newly built cityhall.

However it wasn't. Instead it was the most boring prom I've ever been to.

Big disappointment... People had to get drunk to stand the whole rigmarole.

At least me and my best pals of the past 4 years got a pretty picture!

People I really miss :(







August - Rototom Sunsplash Reggae Festival!


After I had worked for 6 weeks in a salad-factory (stupid assembly-line work) I had saved enough money to go to the biggest european reggae festival in Spain.
Two of my pals and me decided to do a roadtrip through France all the way to city located in the south of Barcelone.

It took us three days to get there and when we arrived I thought I've landed in hippies' paradise!
If YOU think you've been to the greatest festival ever, then let me tell you: You haven't!
Forget about beachlife, forget about Ozora, forget about Tomorrowland! Screw them!
If there's any place, which is close to heaven then it's the Rototom Sunsplash Festival.

People from several countries travel there: France, Italy, Marokko, Portugal, Brasil, Jamaica, Palestina, UK, Hungary etc. etc. etc.
You don't need a phone.. You almost don't need clothes... You don't need a tent.... You don't even need a watch!
Just carry a hammock, it's too hot to sleep in tents. If you reaaaally wanna know what time it is -> look up to the sun and guess!

10 DAYS full of Peace, Love, Unity and extremely beautiful people!
The daily schedule mostly looks like:
-Waking up at 9, because it's too hot to sleep. -> Go for a cold shower (unisex-showers)
-Walk to the beach.. Stay there until 4 or 5 or 6... There's also a stage/dancing classes/acrobatics/(half)naked people/coktails. Siesta - catch some sleep, go swimming, dancing
- Cook supper... There are large cooking tents with about 50 hotplates. People of all nationalities cook next to each other, help each other with ingredients, smoke up during cooking. A wicked place to socialize and getting invited for international dishes ;)
- Concerts start at 8pm. On the festival area are like 10 stages. 10!!! E.g. There's a Ska stage, Dancehall, Dubstation, Mainstage, African stage, Juanita stage, Black music stage etc..
The curfew is at aroung 6am. Sooo there's no sleeping before because the music esp of the Dubstage is too loud (which isn't a bad thing, not at all :) ).

And after? You'll decide if you go sleep, watch the sunrise or visit your random neighbours, who make their own music.
Some carry guitars, ukulele's, rattles, mini trumpets, harmonicas etc...

This festival is not a music festival. It's a culture festival. You'll find  a meditation area, an art exhibition, a circus, the debating reggae university, acrobatics, massages, shopping... - everything there!
Just feel free as a human being, respect your neighbours, share love.

Four of our friends came later, after they've heard how great this festival is...

This was our whole Rototom crew on our way back in France.

Thank's guys for having made this the greatest holiday in my life!

September - Au Pair In China: Disapproved

Before I decided to come to Kenya after clearing school I had planned to go to China as an Au-Pair for 6 months. 

Many people told me that it would be really tough and I'd have to brave to fit in the traditional chinese family hierachy. Many people told me I'd be insane wanting to live out of my own will under a dictatorship. Many people said I'd struggle with the understanding of the culture and food.

I did not care.

Once I made up that idea of going into this very different country I wanted to try.

I was ready to take all this difficulties as a challenge to widen my perspective.

The application was a lot of work. Almost more work than preparing myself for the final exams.

The application recquired: - school certificates, full medical check, references from the headteacher, the mothers of the kids I've babysitted, the exact number of hours I've ever taken care of children, my criminal record, 2 motivation lettes, 18 pages of application questions, a personal interview and last but not leat an application video.

I did all of these... My application was finished and perfect. My interviewer recommended me with best references and characteristics.

What happened last minute?

I got a call. The german Au-Pair organisation told me they can't take me into the program.

Why?

Because the chinese partner organisation mentioned that people with black skin color don't have (any high) chances to get chosen by chinese hostfamilies.

Bam. It was like - in your face!

This people are racist?

And (most) people in my country don't even know??

Instead of having a lot of anger (which I still have) I'm even more eager these days to find out more about this chinese culture. To understand why they think the way they do.

How can for example Germany work so close together with China and the population doesn't even know about their racial motives?

Anyway it's okay the way it is now, because I'm in Kenya!

And I'll go for an exchange program with China when I'm in Uni.

This might be a different story..

September: Driving License - Gotcha!

Driving a car was one of the most terrifying things to me.

Me and driving? No way this is gonna end in a good way for me or any involved parties.

I tried to slow down the process of handling a car practically as long as possible. 

In the end I  had to take the driving lessons in such a hurry, because of my departure for Kenya.

On some days I took lessons twice a day...

Under pressure. I had exactly one try for the theory exercise and the practical driving test. 

For the theory I even studied more than for some exams in my finals Oo

And I passed! Both!

Not with flying colors but I passed!

Just the day before I came to Kenya :D

September - Niko home: Kenya

The rest of the story is obviously known.

My whole blog tells the story about me being back in Kenya, the country I love.

Each and every single day.

My year couldn't end better than here, with my relatives, friends and a bunch of lovable children.

Thank you for making me feeling comfy!

I'm looking forward to seven more months in Kenya and a  new year 2014. I'm sure it can top year 2013.

I still need to find the big love ;)

But first I wish you all a Merry Christmas!

Actually today's christmas (25th) here.

Can't wait to see the whole of my family later for celebrations.

Wherever you are, be blessed!

One last thing: Mum, Dad, thank you for making all this happen!

I appreciate it more than I can tell in words..

I love you folks!

Impressions - Expressions

A motley huge christmas tree I fell in love with!
As we took a pow from the tree for decorating ourselves we got caught and were forced to return it :(
Stealing the tree was impossible...

Chilly Christmas!

It's christmas time! The first time I really realised it was last weekend when I saw this gigantic and incredibly beautiful christmas tree! It kinda made me happy...
In fact I don't like christmas at all. In Germany. Christmas for me is normally associated with cold/snow, exam time and the usual hunt for christmas presents. In one word: Stress.
This year the whole x-mas thing is different. No stress at all. I'm a free citizen without many duties, responsibilities or exams. The weather is mostly warm if not hot and very rainy (mostly at night).
It literally doesn't feel like winter-/christmastime. It's summertime baby! :D
My family or maybe most people don't give each other (big) presents, which takes all the stress and rush from people. Usually our family meets for christmas at a very nice place, where's a lot of marvellous food and alliance for the whole day.
Relaaaaxxeeed.... This way of celebrating christmas is perfect to people like me, who get annoyed by all this christmas pressure, consumption and excitement very fastly.
My cousin told me I'll laugh my ass off when I'll see black men costumed like Santa Claus with a white beard with no big belly at all. Unfortunately I haven't seen one yet but I'm sure it'll look as wrong to me as all this christmas decoration in this sunny season.

The only thing - except of my close family - I'm gonna miss on Christmas Eve is the best party of the year in my hometown. It's called the holy party and takes part in an autonomic club/area runned by young people of the alternative scene. After celebrating with their families on 24th of December many of us youngsters and even old(er) people meet in that club for enjoying christmas with all their friends. That's the date the club is stuuuuuffeeeed! You might don't find space for dancing but all your friends and people, you haven't seen for ages because they e.g. moved away.
In the past three years I always left the family celebrations at around midnight and went there till the next morning.
It's about connecting, drinking, dancing and last but not least about exchanging LOVE.
This year I'll miss it... too bad :'(

Babel

My newest insight: Kenyans cause a lot of confusion!
Someone please answer me a few questions:

- Why are your common oranges not orange?


- Why do you call bags made out of plastic paperbags? Like REALLY?
I used to asked for a plasticbag... Imagine people didn't know what I wanted?! Until I've learned they are called PAPERbags.
No one is able to answer this question...
It's too random!

- What do you think I bought in first place?
I'll tell you: A toothpaste. So I got a toothbrush for free (which actually makes sense) plus three pencils. Hold on five pencils: Because I "bought" three and got two for free. Is there any hidden connection between toothpaste and pencils according to advertising purposes.
Wow and I just wanted a simple toothpaste...


                ?

Karibu, feel free to complicate my life!

Kandanda 

Brian (the male volunteer) organised a football field for the kids next to the childrens' home.

Although the're many stones and dells it's a very nice place.

The surrounding motivates even me to play. 

Haaaa and I'm not as bad as I thought :D

To mark the different teams with watercolour symbols was one of the most simplistic and greatest ideas I had in the past weeks. Now the yellow sun plays against the red heart or the green tree against the blue water etc...

This kids are so awesome! Playing football with them is so much fun. Not (just) because they're good players, but the way they are "playing". 

It happens like a million times in a game that the small boys lose their concentration. Then they take a nap on the field, collect stones, fight with each other, play tag or just stand on the field and have a coffee klatsch.
For example there's a boy called Billy, who went to the goalkeeper Lisa and asked her during the game:
"Do you think this white spots over there are flowers or paper?...Hmm I think I go check..." He went off and came back five minutes later: "They are flowers. Look I got some. This one is for you."

Homelife

one unique UNITY!

Babieees... If I could adopt any children I would definetly adopt Wanjiku and Joy in first place. They're like the jolliest kids on earth!
Omg especially Shiku is ALWAYS laughing and making fun.
She makes my day ever single time I look at her.
Everytime the babies see us volunteering girls they run for hugging...
I'll miss that so much when I'll be back home.
Who'll give me all that love and hugs?

crazy banana Shiku... pretending to wipe the floor :D

back in the bush!
Here's the calculation of this time:
2 1/2 Mzungus + 1 1/2 Blacks =  4 Germafricans

We've been preparing a banner for the fun- and fundraisingevent on next Saturday. 

All the handprints + photo  will be put on a sheet.

People, who'll want to donate for a kid will have to put there handprint under to "confirm" their sponsoring.

Chaotic action!

I think it's not hard imagining how our dorm and we looked like after O___O

Another preparation for the funday is a german song!

While Lena and Lisa teach them the pronounciation and singing....

....I teach the fluteclass the melody...

When the rooms got sprayed with some pesticides against insects everything had to be moved out of the rooms.

The following hours cockroaches kept on running out of the dorms.

Grrr worst thing ever.

This things are SO fast!

Animalistic Deaths

It already was incedibly sad when two dead puppies were found outside last week. Surprisingly it seemed to be only me who was felt down about the news and started the initiative to bury them.

The children here are so tough. They don't even care. No respect towards death animals.

You'll see them walking around with frog cadaver and chicken embryos in their pockets.

Or petting and teasing the dead bodies of the small dogs. They don't know any tabus.

It shocks me every single time... 

Today the kids told me they even buried puppies ALIVE because they were sick. 

What's wrong with the world? This kids are so infiltrated by religion and god and they don't even know how to respect animals? NOT AT ALL?

Imani and Amani... They loved each other soooooooo much!

When we were taking breakfast this morning one of my cats died...

While it was chasing a rat it ran into an electro wire and got shocked three times.

Amani is deeeeead! And Imani is alone now :(

The kitties death really hit me.

That day was aweful....

I think it was the first time the kids saw someone being in mourning about an animal.

As I made such a big effort to bury the kitten nicely they started realising.

Their behaviour turned from making jokes and being rude into appropriate funeral manners.

They even started bringing flowers and singing songs and consoling me.

Rest In Peace lovely 4-month-old kitty :( 

We'll miss you... Even the kids - I'm sure.

Rain - Mad - Mud

Usually it rains at night... Today it started during the day.

Possibly the sky was crying for the cat? 

Oh and there's a part in the building which is completely opened.

So the whole girls' staircase and partly the dining is overflowed.

Can you picture how it must be having the feeling that you should were gumboots in your own house? 

Anyway we prefer walking barefoot.

No matter of inside or outside.

The weather really underlined my mood of the day.

Normally I have like one bad day in a month (maximum).

 Then I'm really grumpy, pissed and obnoxious.

Today I somehow got up on the wrong side of the bed.

I even pissed myself off that I was in a really bad mood,

which obviously didn't help me to get out of that situation. 

Lisa goes African :D

creativity never stops..

At least the mud made my day! Lisa and I decided to go outside to play in the mud.

Yes we are still children.

The kids of the children's home just stared us thinking "what the fuck are this silly mzungus doing out there?!"

It was such a big amusement dancing and hopping around :D

wir zieh'n den Karren aus dem Dreck...
Warum?
Weil wir es können!

I don't care if my friends back home in Germany are playing in snow right now. I enjoy what I have - even if it's just mud. A "mud-angel" can look as good as a snow-angel don't you think? :D
And the rainy season should be ending soooooooooon!!!

...when struggling for a magic grain
we throw our life to the winds like rain
for godness sake
spare your failings and take the ability
to strengthen
no spirit can stimulate all minds
blossoms of days to come... 

Jua

...If there is anything in this entire world that can cure me from physical or mental sickness then it's the power of the sun and mother nature...

Family Deluuuuxxeee

Ama - Mama feat. Baby Kalila
#Swaaaag!

Family is the most precious thing in life.

Once again I had the opportunity to realize that (some people never do).

My parents are the most important persons in my life and I appreciate the way they raised me every single day. The older I grow the more I can see where my character, humour, looks etc. come from. 

And I'm proud. 

It's not like we always had/have a peaceful family life. In fact we have many disputes and discussions but if I had to choose role models I would definetly pick my parents.

It's such a privilege to have a mother and father. Since I'm living with orphans I know this even better.

It makes it hard talking about (great) family life knowing they never had the chance to live the same way.

At least the good thing is that my parents and my surounding always gave/give me enough love, so I have a looooooot of loove I can pass to them. 

I really hope these orphans will have their own gorgeous and healthy family life one day.

Even though they're sometimes smart-alecky, chaotic and too busy to care about my problems -

I would NEVER trade the world for my parents.

"...Sie hat alles im Griff, meine Mutter ist ein Wunder. Ich denk kurz ich bin der King doch dann holt sie mich wieder runter." (Sido ;) )  

In the end family is more than parents... Especially in countries like Kenya.

Family constellations are easy to explain:

Your grandma (shosho) is not just the mother of your mother.

All brothers and sisters of this shosho are also your grandma's and grandpa's.

And it goes on... My cousins are not just my aunties/uncles kids, but also the grandchildren of the other shosho's & guka's (grandfather). 

cousins, guka and shosho's. From the left:
Waithira, me, guka, shosho's sis, shosho, shosho's sis, Wanyamu, Muthoni, Kinyanjui

Sooo last weekend I was invited to a family-get-together at my shosho's sisters' place.

What happened: I hardly knew anyone. 

It was a lot of fun meeting my cousins and aunties from another shosh!

There was a lot of food and drinks and introductions so that everyone got to get an orientation of the family.

I even met my auntie (my mom's cousin) from London with her newborn. When her first daughter was born four years ago I went many times to England to babysit, for the first birthday, the christening...  Now after we haven't seen each other for long we met at the family-get-together. It was so nice! And she's like the coolest auntie ever!

Cousins from three (of six) different parts of the family... Not sure if we look alike... But we're all pretty ;)

Except of the big family-thing in the last week didn't happen that much... Or hold on!

My cousins' baby was finally born! We spent the whole weekend waiting... Nothing happened...

When we went to the hospital for the check-up on monday they told us the baby is too big to get pushed.

It's a babygirl! Called Kalila and or Salima :)
Bless this baby...! 

Means: They booked her a scisserian for the next day. No one was (mentally) prepared for this step.
My cousin didn't even had time to think about it. We brought her back to the hospital two hours later in expectation to come back the next day in the morning for (baby) visiting hour after everything's done.
The baby however decided to want to come out at night. We got the message that my cousin's gone into labout at 1.10 am. When we reached the hospital 1.35 the baby was already born. We heard the baby crying somewhere down the hall and couldn't believe it.
It was a moment full of joy and happiness. My auntie, cousin, Salim (the boyfriend) and me where so relieved that we all started crying..
Of course we weren't allowed to go into the maternity to see the baby or my cousin.
Luckily she called us right after to tell everything went well.
The rest of the night was so random... We people couldn't stop celebrating till 6... Dancing to bredda Bob Marley :D

My cousin (Ama Waithira) was allowed to go home today with the baby. Everything's fine and mother + baby are healthy. I'm so proud of her! Imagine she's also only 18!

Rongaii... The place I've been staying quite often the last weeks. It looks so typical kenyan :) Crowded, dusty and chaotic. And SO LOVELY!

For the moment my family is here in the childrens' home. Such as the other german volunteers and of course the children.
Sometimes I think they couldn't be luckier than in this home. They support and console each other, share their knowledge and love. Many of them have some/all of their siblings there so they're not all alone. And even if they have any they have like a 130 brothers and sisters around.
This kids are one unity. More than many family with parents are.

Lena, Lisa and mee... on the right with the watchman (soldier aka soldjaah) and Felice. 

Being with this kids gives us so much... impossible to describe...

I don't wanna leave them. Not now, not next month, not in half a year.

I already miss them when I leave for the weekend and it's beyond words how it feels coming back home getting run over by a bunch of children yelling my name and hugging me. <3