I decided to blow my Idd bonus by getting princess a kiddie laptop and a wooden play set. The play set has a cake, candles, cutlery and birthday favours in a pretty pink drawer. Guess which one she likes more. Here’s a hint : it doesn’t start with l, c or k.

Then we tried our first ever subway. Not the motor, the sandwich. It was cheaper than I expected. 200 bob kenyan for a fancy sandwich and a funky AC. I’ve been seeing a lot of sub adverts on Cartoon Network, but we keep walking past the shop coz it looks, well, it looks like Java, in italian.

When I finally bit into my preeeeetty sandwich, something called a subway club, all I could taste was mayonaise. Fortunately for me, I love mayonaise. And the serviettes have a calorie count on them. Interesting.

[That Cipriani boy is sooooooo beautiful!]

Apparently, the current craze in Poland is illegal street car racing. Big boys take their big toys onto the highways at night and cause mayhem drifting, skidding and crashing. The cops can’t handle them, so they wised up. They built them a track and let them race anytime they want. Why can’t all cops think like that?!

And finally, there’s a princess in Jordan who makes films. Yes Jordan, the arabic country that Rania rules. The princess’ name is…okay, I can’t remember her name, but she’s married to Rania’s husband’s brother. And she used to work for CNN.

These people lead such interesting lives. I mean can you imagine her telling her grandkids how she spent her twenties reporting on the Iraq war, then married Rania’s brother-in-law, then retired and built the Jordanian film industry?

She’s got a programme that’s teaching film to underprivileged kids. The idea is to jumpstart their very own Jordanoliwood. [Forgive the lousy pun, it’s sunday.] Not quite what you expect from an arabic princess…

I think our school system needs to change. In other countries people do so much with their lives. They travel and get apprenticeships and hitch-hike and backpack and get summer jobs. I know at least three people who had toured the world by the time they were 20. They’re all girls, they all travel alone, and they all have uni degress.

One cleared school early, so she got on the job market faster and could fund her trips. The second worked summer jobs and backpacked round the world before settling down for her dental degree at age 22. The third apprenticed to a local TV station and jetsetted on the job. She finally got her degree at 40.

I know a guy too, he’s 30 something, and has had careers in a successful rock band [complete with world tours and groupies], a studio techie and a sound guy. He’s now settling to start a family, in the last place I’d expect !! It’s in Scandinavia, and it starts with an S.

For most of us, 22 means stuck in second year, skiving riots and conning folks for pocket money. But out there, 22 is two lifetimes. And out there, the jobs we dharau here are the ones that pay; nursing, building, teaching, that’s where the money is. Most doctors are drowned in student debt, so their careers aren’t anything like here.

I think given a choice, I’d have quit school at sixteen, trained as a mechanic, built cars till 30 then gone for a degree in languages. But when I think of it, I wouldn’t be so far from where I am now. I can speak tongues, explain how an engine works, and build innuendos from spark plugs…so I’m not doing too badly 😀

AOB

Did you know all those crazy rock chicks have really scratchy fingertips from all that guitar playing?