I sometimes think my days have 48 hours, but this was one long dweek, curfew notwithstanding. Er … yeah, I had a curfew. Funny story. See I was staying with one of my BFFs and … well, I sorta-kinda have this fear of staying out in the dark and … actually, let’s just leave it me having a curfew, yeah?

The plan was to relax, unwind, get some much needed R&R after two months of ceaseless work. I was hoping for some tweet-ups and some catch-ups with friends, old and new. It didn’t quite go according to plan.

Let’s see now. I was going to do a fun detailed string of who I met where when how, but not everyone is as forthcoming as me. Actually, after last week, even I am not as forthcoming as me.

So. Suffice to say day 1 involved Rezorous restaurant and Battle of the Bands. Fun!! Jason and Jacob Rock. They’re two pretty boys with dreadlocks and falsettos who play a mean acoustic guitar. Dark chocolate. Yum!! I hate it when wrapped, but love it organic 😉 Note to self: no gutters invoked **grin**

Then, M2O are brilliant!! I loved their cover of 18 days. They had some own-compo tracks that sounded like Coldplay, and they have a fun-having bassist and shy-pseudo lead, which is cutely weird. We left before anyone else played, though the Beethogs were noisy and the gothish children were annoying. Kids on booze in dog collars. Tsk tsk.

I got home with a scratchy throat and a slight irritation from … and I had a speed-date-type conversation with an old friend I once had a massive crush on. That was fun. Wish it had lasted longer, and he still gives the greatest hugs 🙂 He was utterly cryptic as always, but it’s been 5 years, and it was really good to see him.

Day 2 was mostly shoe-shopping and bonding with my favourite cousin. Fun!! Learnt some lessons about fish. Actual fish, like in an aquarium. Pretty! Also, the power of a mother. She owned my cousin’s fishes after he stashed them at her place ‘for a few days’, mweheheh. Yes, I know the plural is fish, but fishes just makes the point better. Power to the mother – since it’s her owning that let me see the pretty fishes.

Then came ladies day. Coffee and cake at java, then ‘window-shopping’ at Nakumatt. Got some awesome shoes by the way, yay! Pricey, girly, but nonetheless lovely. I tried them on a few hours ago … two things. One, I rarely wear shoes in Dar, just because. Two, my feet are swollen from humidity and moisture. Pressure too, sth about living at sea level 🙁 My shoes will have to stay in their boxes until … well … until the feet shrink I suppose, though that could take a while. I’m still happy though, coz they’re sooooo pretty.

Evening was tea at T-spot. Niiice! I was fascinated by the touchscreen, and my date and I kept trying to learn the key-code so we could … hehehe … well just so we could. We were seated right next to the touch panel. We ordered mahamri but got cake. We should have eaten it, mwehehe.

The waiters ignored us for a while, both before and after the bill. But they sure looked worried when we left ‘without paying’ … hey, it was dark 🙂 My chai shake had a little too much chai, but the evening was azawise lovely.

Day 3 didn’t start out too well, I got stood up for breakfast and lunch. Sigh. So I parked myself at the neighbour’s digs and played little-big-sister to my bro and friends. Hehehe. That was silly. Fun, but really, really silly. Landed at 9 and didn’t leave till 5. The evening was crammed tight with a last-minute phonecall and two crossing dates. Three actually. Oopsie!!

The first date was made in advance, so that got dibs, solo time and undivided attention. Yay! Java and Dormans were both full, so we settled for Pasara. But with my famed CB [lack of] directions, I ended up at Kapital Coffee House. The company was lovely, the blackforest was huge … and fake. But the pot of tea was an actual pot – well, no, it was a shiny tin kettle, but the serving was of pot-ular proportions, so yay!!

Rounded off the evening at Open Mic with two dates, which was pure awesomeness – the company more than the show, since I’m not really very artsy. One date left early **pout**, but I quite enjoyed the other. They need to serve Malta though. They had Novida, but I didn’t discover it till three days later. Tsk tsk.

I have to say, the Open Mic crowd are like the antithesis of heckling. They peleka you hiiiiigh! It’s a good place to debut as a performance poet, srsly! And of course, only in Kenya can you hear rugby songs at a poetry night **grin**

Day 4 was probably the funnest day of all. I had a few cancellations, and had to make one of my own coz I couldn’t get from westie to jogoo road in six seconds or less. I found an INFJ though, yay!! And right in my family too!! Great conversation, it was so cool to find someone so different yet so alike. I didn’t recognise her as INFJ. I just tried to figure out what she was and she wouldn’t fit anywhere else, so I had her do the test. Then we just taaaaaalked, funnest shortest hours ever!

Then there was breakfast at westgate, yum!! The company was even better than the food! Great conversation. My Also-favourite cousin dropped by to say hi, and that made my day too, I haven’t seen him since princess was in pampers!

Afte was a hit from T-spot with a long friend, he’s lovely, the chai-mocha was less so. Clearly, I’m not a tea-drinker either. I’ll stick to hot chocolate. Sugarless though [the horror!] coz I really need to cut down on lactose. Today I had my first cup of milkless, tasteless, virtually sugarless tea. **shudder** The things we do for detox!!

Evening was rounded off with coffee at java junction, though I had ice cream. I figured I’d had enough caffeine for the day. Great company, spiced fries, and three scoops of tummy-ache-inducing vanilla ice cream made for a perfect evening.

Spent the night at home with my brothers, which was way fun. They may disagree seeing as I kicked them out of their rooms [more boys than girls means I don’t have to share, mwehehehe] and still snuck into their room at 3.00 a.m for some anti-opti-time-zone web-time. **grin**

Day 5 … let’s see, that was largely a family day. I had a ‘business’ breakfast, which had to be postponed to two hours later – two hours that I spent mostly on Mombasa road jam. Then bro and I lost a bank. Yes, our lack of directions is genetic 🙂 I was asked to go to ICEA but ended up at International house, so he had to come find me – at 20th century. Then we tried to retrace Coop bank City Hall, which took about fifteen minutes of circling Jubilee Insurance … **grin**

Visited my aunt in Calif and bonded with the baby. They have fish as well, the non-eating kind. Preeetty! Saw an album with my mum as a teen. She was hot!! Then had a laid back late lunch with my cousin, mostly catching up and wishing our babies were with us. I suddenly had an hour to spare, so I went to sunbeam and spent way more money and time than is healthy. Fun!! I love shopping. Hot chocolate at Java koinange was pretty good 🙂

Day 6 was BFF day, me and my girl  hit Panari, but we mistimed and ended up in a cleaning session, so we went to Village Market for lunch. We had sth called Shawarma that was totally heavenly, and watched pretty children being silly.

Walked around windowshopping, then walked around some more trying to find a seat [the place gets majorly packed!!] then walked around even more trying to find the perfect birthday present for my favourite sailor … the final walkabout was to find network to receive a phonecall **grin** It was a morning well spent 🙂

Evening was a trot down memory lane [with really nice hair!!] then hot chocolate at twigget central. Hung out with One lovely gent, bumped into three likely others, one of whom has the sweetest smile.  He reminds me of my little brother, but is so wise that he plays big bro so much better; my elder little sibling so to speak **grin** He’s fun 🙂

The drink ended early then it was back to memory lane, Queensway branch for some milkshake and conversation. Excellent. And such pretty hair. Then of course there was a phone call, and Tusky’s, and ice cream, and a really pretty [stalker?] with even prettier hair, all long and wavy **grin**

The wind-down was with Ice Age and family and three different flavours of ice cream. Sheer bliss. Note to self though, ‘Ooh’ vanilla with chocolate chips tastes like medicine. And I mean that in a bad way.

Day 7. No plans intended before skating at Panari, and that was an after hours date, so the day was meant to be easy except for a lunch at four. Hung out with family and wore my new Chinese top and nude jeans. They’re a brown pair of corduroys that match my skin tone. **cheeky grin** It worked out very well, until we decided to make a detour at Maxwell’s. It took me five minutes and several evil stares to realise my dresscode was wrong. Oops **grin**

Lunch was at Dormans with Also-BFF. Their club sandwich is to die for, especially with cheese. Note, not the best idea to say ‘I love cheese’ though, coz they have several different kinds, and saying you want ‘the kind that melts’ makes waitresses difficult days all the more difficult.

Myubercool date slipped away for a few minutes, and next thing I know some could-be-cute guy got milk spilled all over his laptop and moved onto my seat. Interesting. Luckily [?] my date had left his drink, so when the new guy asked if I was alone, he spotted the fruit juice and left before I could decide on an appropriate response. Sigh. He had a really pretty computer… But my date was way more fun, so yay!

Come 6 o’clock I had to cut it short [sob sob] and dash to Kenya Cinema [what.] to meet my skating dates. We made it to Panari a few minutes late and had a super time of skating and falling and squealing. I’m pretty sure someone had a cameraphone. Then it was pizza, two slices each, since there was, what, twelve of us? Ok ok, we were nine. It was sooo fun. So much fun that I came back the next day, alone. What.

Which intros day 8. Pretty easy, breakfast with family in Ngong was fun, and exercise-some since they live on a high floor of a tall flat at the top of a steep hill. Ironic, yes? Girl is in great shape, clearly!! She looks fab too. Then we hit Adams for some not-so-window-shopping, and Princess called for some mobile homework – she wouldn’t let me text the answers, so I was in the middle of Toy market spelling out the four uses of air. I know!

Then it was drinks at Saapes. Niiice, coz after an entire week of searching, I finally found a bar that serves Malta. Yay! The company was fun too, and they have the prettiest mirrors. What.

After that it was back to Panari, but we missed the evening session. **pout** Settled for football, Chinese, and conversation. Fun!! We ordered … well, I have no idea what it was, but they brought the wrong thing – and changed the platter after one bite! That was way cool of them. I kept giggling coz I’ve never had chinese. Never mind that the restaurant is called … never mind that, the meal was superb, except that the chicken tasted like fish.

My date insisted I finish the humongous portions, but was nice enough to help when I reached eec. He pseudo-watched Chelsea over my head while I pseudo-watched Morgan over his head … there were two TVs. And we ate and talked and drank fake mango juice in a reeeaaaaly pretty glass. Fun! Then he went home and I went geriatric skating, heheh. That’s a post on it’s own.

Spent the rest of the night on the phone [not-so-good] and with Also-favourite cousin [fun! yay!!] watching weird music videos and talking. I love these people I can just talk to, they’re so easy to be around. Just like my Day 4 crowd, which included this same cousin. Yay! yes, I have a lot of cousins – 22 on my mum’s side alone.

Day last was sweet. Late lunch at Vima with a dear friend extended to 6.30. Here, I discovered Novida tropical. Sweet! And that sweet-and-sour pork is the yum! Then drinks at formely-joint-with-a-nice-name that is now Hotspurs, a walkabout in Nakumatt where I attempted to leave the boy traumatised, hehehe. Oh, and I got glasses, yay! I look exactly the same **puzzled frown** So either my glasses are invisible or I always had them mentally **grin**

I was really psyched up for an evening coffee date but it didn’t pan out thanks to a rather nasty Vima traffic jam **pout** but s’all good. The night was packing, bonding with my pseudo-daughter. She’s a gorgeous little girl who looks remarkably like me and who reminds me of princess, so we got along pretty well. I was almost sad to leave, in more ways than one, but I’ll be sure to see Little M again.

And just like that my week at home was over! I made a stopover in Moshi to hang out with ML. Met some interesting Kenzanians, got hooked on Will Traveller and got this awesome view of Kili. Wah!! There was a meet-the-people tour and a proposal of marriage, tsk tsk, and to that I say ‘no comment’.

What a du-week! I’m so going to do it again **grin**

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