As far as I am informed, sterlizied cats kill mice and birds because they want to teach you – the dumb human being – how to properly hunt them.

This one survived and was released to the garden….

…while others didn’t make it….(killed a few minutes ago).

“Look, that’s how it’s done, JKE”.

“Must Kill All Humans”

Who needs hunting skills if the cat can do the job?

What you see in the picture above is a huge sign-board put up by (the supermarket chain) Mercadona in Cartaya, Spain, directly in front of the exit (”salida”) from their car park. Hmm….looks like a Eurofail to me. Ama?

A wide variety of Spanish pastries / cookies and mainly different variations of what’s otherwise called a donut. Took this picture in reference to the following from Embu (as seen in this post):

…because there actually isn’t much difference between the Spanish and Kenyan pastries you’ll get. Both countries have all it takes to produce tasty & different cakes, and the Spanish ones even come in different packagings. But still, most of these cakes just go down with a good tea or coffee because they are too dry. Or they are like those BlueBand “butter” cakes you’ll get for birthdays and weddings that look appealing but all taste the same in the end.

If I could start again, I’d probably open up a bakery for German cake in Nairobi or start selling Leberkäse to Nairobi commuters.

As I just can’t remember the correct Spanish names for the different kinds of squids and octopus (cephalopods), I took this snapshot at another local supermarket to remind me of what to order at a Tapas Bar where you’ll get huge plates of fresh fish every evening for a relatively low price.

As mentioned in my last post, we also spent a day in Portugal as it’s just a ~2h drive away from the place we’re currently staying in Spain.

40°C on the way back from Portugal.

Vertical cliffs in Sagres, Portugal.

I have to admit that I am such a geek that I was equally fascinated by these huge antennas:

In Sagres we also visited the Fortaleza de Sagres, a national monument from the 15th century:

It really is a huge fortress but well worth a visit. We later on discovered that the Reggae festival taking place (the same day) in front of the fortress in Sagres actually included 2manyDJs (my fav. mashup DJs from Belgium!).

So we continued our excursion to the next destination: Cabo de São Vicente …..only to find this German snackbar on the parking lot:

Anyone in for a German Bratwurst at Cape St. Vincent in Portugal? Me neither.

The trip to Portugal was very nice and an easy drive with our ugly rental car. Enjoying the luxury of a rental car is just very, very convenient as it enables you to see places you’d probably miss out otherwise. It also enables you to take snapshots like the following I took for my solar friends – showing a solar farm somewhere between Jerez de la Frontera and Seville:

For the remaining days here in El Rompido, I shall enjoy the following view from the very balcony I am currently sitting on, editing this blog post via a free wireless inet connection here (with pre-Seacom-speeds).

Huku ni kuzuri…. the hotel room is even bigger than our humble flat in Frankfurt.

That’s right. Metal detectors that enable the search for metallic objects hidden some inches below the surface. Contrary to other places, the geographical middle of Europe seems to be blessed with archaelogical treasures.

Which leads me to the actual dilemma:

1. I actually don’t have any time to waste on another hobby.

2. There are so many other interesting hobbies I have.

3. I’ve always thought it may be better to limit myself to a few leisure activities (due to 1. & 2.) and focus on them only.

4. Most of my friends are academics or intellectuals who aren’t as geeky as I am and/or won’t have an interest in …strange….hobbies such as using a metal detector to search the nearby forest for Roman coins.

So I did a quick test and asked the freakiest freak-friend of mine who usually rumbles around in military clothes all day long and looks like a potential metal detector freak (he actually looks a lot like Al Yankovic in UHF) if he would be interested in joining me on such a hobby.

“Naa…”, he said, “…not really”.

See? This is the same reaction I received from most of my friends in 1994 when I started being interested in amateur radio. Or fishing. Or guitar playing. Or shooting. Or blogging. Or while repairing my old ‘89 VW Golf. Or repairing electronics with a jua kali approach. Or my recently aquired toy helicopter. Or other handicrafts….

I’ve always been interested in geeky stuff – which isn’t that bad – but I’ve so often been alone on this. And then I’ve chosen those activities although there are other things I would really like to spend more time on. Like improving my guitar playing. Or learning more foreign languages. Reading the pile of books that’s next to my table – not fiction but books related to water & sanitation or political issues.

Well I am not complaining – for I am still free at this (advanced) age to do whatever I want to (uhuru!) and actually created this space in order to enjoy this variety. It’s only that I am wondering why I’ve always chosen such rather geeky hobbies instead of playing soccer with my mates or clubbing with the fiancée*.

What a luxurious dilemma this is! Get a life…

I know. I’m just sayin, u know…?

Oh, and btw, would you join me on a walk to the forest? Hey this is really cool, we can find great stuff!

*fiancée isn’t into clubbing and also says that metal detectors are for Spanish grandmothers who are combing the beaches, improving their pension.

[Disclaimer: I am yet to decide whether my I can afford to cough up USD 200 on such a metal detector if in the end I'll only use it about 20x and then sell it on eBay...]

Diagnosis: a spontaneous venous thrombosis on the left leg, partly inherited from my family, partly due to sítting too much time in front of my computer.

So I spent the best part of the week enjoying this view:

..or taking snapshots like this one:

This is actually where I was waiting for gastroscopy where this woman next to me asked the doctor for colonoscopy, telling him that she had too much anal intercourcse lately. Well….

Staying in hospital is ok – at least you’re provided with free food and I didn’t have to pay for anything. Now compare that with hospitals in Kenya and you know what’s better about Germany. Really, the health care system may be far from perfect, but it is better than in other countries.

Eventually, I was given these tights which are really *tight* but also help putting some external pressure on the veins.

The irony is that they’re selling this colour as flesh tone. It’s the moment where your mind goes: WTF?!?!?! U guys can’t be siriiiaaaas?!

But they are. These tights also available in black or white – and I will order a black pair asap. Will have to wear these for at least 6 months, probably even longer. Yes, I know, many women have been wearing such special tights for the last 30 years or so, but I am a man and just not used to such special underwear. It could be worse.

One reason for blogging all this is to remind you not to spend too much time seated (this also happens during long flights, btw!) – or else a thrombosis is what may follow. They do all kind of tests with you to exclude a tumor (which may be another cause for a thrombosis) and that ain’t nice.

The other reason is that the Angiological department at the Uniklinik Frankfurt shares the same building with the Infectological dept – where all HIV-patients are treated. You end sharing the place with other patients who are about 1/2 of my weight and who probably won’t survive another month. Makes you appreciate life.

Another positive aspect of all this is that your body is checked upside down – so it’s good to know (that) the rest is all well!

Coke light for her.

A salad made out of parsley, lovage, coriander and fresh white cheese for me.

Bread.

A huge Kikoi blanket from the shores of Lake Naivasha.

Sunshine.

I sometimes wish proper sanitation would have the same media attention.

Moving my stuff from place A to place B.

Turns out these 0,99 € bags are the best investment to carry my belongings because they are small and light enough to be stuffed into the trunk of a horribly over-priced and thirsty ML 320CDI 4MATIC for guys like me who like to enjoy 510 Nm at least once a year.

We don’t have a car and normally don’t need any, so we were forced to rent a vehicle for the trip down to FFM. One generous soul from the extended family was kind enough to cough up some mbeca for this speciality though, which is why I got to enjoy this special pleasure for at least a day.

It’s while driving such cars that you get to understand HipHop styles, with the gear shift right behind the steering wheel, leaving enough space for the over-sized cup holders. Next thing you realize is that this line is actually built in Tuscaloosa/USA - hence the cupholder and other extras most customers in Europe would find a bit irritating. But maybe that’s the norm these days and I am just too much into more conservative HZJ7x LandCruisers and other serious 4WDs that were built for real life and not smooth tarmac roads.

The ML320CDI is a nice & powerful car, but I would never want to own it - also because I could instead buy three of these:

…and would still pay less than what I had to cough up for a tank load full of Diesel.

(Cars are like digital cameras these days - you’ll seldom find good technology for the right price & size. Why??)

Wird das dann irgendwo angezeigt oder bekommt man es gesagt?

Neulich stand ich in einem Laden und sah eine sehr schöne Lederjacke. “Boah, die isset…”, dachte ich mir, “…aber der Preis…naa…kann ich mir nicht wirklich leisten”. Angezogen sah sie aber wirklich gut aus und war genau (!) das wonach ich geschaut hatte.

1 Woche später habe ich sie mir dann gekauft und bin seitdem glücklich damit.

Geht das auch so leicht mit Beziehungen? Wann weiß man, ob es die richtige Partnerin ist? Wenn man sie mit den Exen vergleicht? Oder mit der erstellten Liste der Traumfraumerkmale? Und was ist mit den christlichen Freunden, die irgendwie alle schon so (gefühlt)vorzeitig heiraten? Haben die ihre Wahl jemals bereut?

Not that I haven’t made up my mind on this. Ich glaube aber im Leben eines Mannes gibt es diese “George Clooney-ich-will-mich-nicht-festlegen” Momente. Ob das gut ist? Keine Ahnung.

Die Erkenntnis jedoch, dass man mit einer Person wirklich bis zum Ende zusammen sein und alles teilen möchte - das ist meiner Meinung nach genauso wichtig wie über evtl. Zweifel zu diskutieren. Daher die Frage: inweit darf, kann oder muss eine Entscheidung zur Partnerschaft eine Bauchentscheidung sein?

Oder anders gefragt: welcher Maßstab muss zur Beurteilung des eigenen Befindlichkeitzustandes angelegt werden? - Wie weiß man, wann es einem gut geht?

2 Days in Paris - a wonderful movie on sex, food and relationships.  And this although it beautifully covers the cliché of both the French & American’s inability to communicate in any other language then their own, the cliché of the French(wo)men always talking about sex & food, racist tendencies in a multicultural Paris (~ taxi driver scenes), the freedom of soixante-huitards and all of this embedded into never-ending neurotic conversations between all actors.

If you already liked Before Sunrise & Before Sunset, you’ll definitely like this one.

Here’s the final scene:

I especially liked it being in both French & English, even the German version is in German and a subtitled French (that’s btw one thing I will never understand about Germany: dubbed movies. They usually dub all of them - which is also why most Germans have such a bad pronounciation of English words. If you never get to hear the original version, there’s no real comparison possible…sigh).

WTF, really.

“OH, so what have you been up to during all those years?” - “Well, I have been online since then, waiting for you ******** ********* joining this online world and now the dumbest social network of all (besides of MySpace) with its walled garden policies and overrated hype eventually gives you reason enough to jump on the bandwagon?”.

filed under: I am cool & u r not. sigh.

Q: At 24, you are probably one of the youngest CEOs in the region. Has this been an obstacle in your quest to market the company?

A: Yes, it has. As a young entrepreneur maketing a new concept, I faced a lot of challenges, with some prospective clients not taking me seriously. But once I proved my worth, people started respecting me, especially when they learnt that at my age, I have 45 employees. I believe it is the youth who will lift Africa out the yokes of poverty.

(Nadeem Juma, CEO, E-Fulusi (T) Ltd.,
ex: “Q&A”, The EastAfrican, No.682, Nov 26 - Dec 02, 2007, p. 23)

My Indian colleague at work who is currently writing his master thesis and, at his age of 22, also is the youngest intern at the GTZ, recently introduced me to one of his friends who - at the age of 28 - is currently setting up a branch of a well-known Indian bank in Frankfurt. And I was told that an Indian guy has three things to achieve in life: a very good education, getting married and buying a house.
Now compare that with what the average German wants to achieve in his life…hmmm.

As for that quote above: Nadeem’s company in Tanzania, E-Fulusi, offers mobile banking services - operator independent!

———

The purchasing agents of Father Christmas recently approached me and asked, what I would like to receive as a xmas present. Well…

I’ve been living out of two suitcases for the past 1,5 years - and it feels good. As long as the battery on my N95-phone/mp3player/webthing is fully charged, I’ve got a comfy bed to sleep in and access to a broadband inet connection, there isn’t much else money could buy for me.
As for the other, unmaterialistic stuff: good health can’t be bought, 8h of sleep every night neither and love….well…it’s always good to be loved! :-)

This shall also answer the usual “…so what’s your plans for NewYearsEve this year?” questions.

Seriously,  the “season” hasn’t yet started for me as I still haven’t heard this. Anyone?

…which instantly reminded me of last year’s WAD and when I was given a cap by the staff at MW&I in Kenya. Last year I blogged about this - and at the same day also put a snapshot of the changed layout of the Daily Nation newspaper online.

Free caps, pins, condoms. Great! Now this will help to combat the virus…

Catedral - the third largest cathedral in the world.

Took a Ryanair flight to Jerez on Furahiday Nov 2nd - and from there a bus to Sevilla for a week of sunshine, a gas stove in the kitchen (= cooking is much more fun with gas) and for that special feeling of being on the road again. Low budget, that is.

Despite of the pleasant climate, there are some other factors here that remind me of Nairobi:

Sevilla is a dusty city where almost every inch of soil has been sealed with stones and thus turned into an enlarged pavement. While that’s different from Nairobi, it’s still strange to see this kind of “waste” within Europe. Well, Spain… (*sigh*)

Maji ni maisha. Water is Life, especially in the dry south of Spain. Looking out of the window, I get to see this:

See any trees? Yeah, those few on the left side are already considered a lot! There’s something like drip irrigation all over the city for the few trees found in this city.

Talking about water: I still haven’t found any water filter candle so far, but am very tempted to build my own (approved) filter as drinking water is bought in 5l bottles. Tap water is a bit too chlorinated…

..which is why it reminds me of public swimming pools - which seem to be lacking around here in this area. “Only to prior appointment”, I was told, which means that you’ll have to be a member of a swimming club and register for empty slots in the morning hours. Much like Nairobi, I guess. There’s a market for public swimming pools. I bet!

“Ndugekire maguta mengi irio-ri“, I am often tempted to say here, “don’t put too much oil in my food”. If you’re into oily food, this is the place for you.

torta de aceite (handmade cake with oil, typical of Seville)

Eating obviously includes the consumption of other stuff…like Marijuana. You know Marijuana is sold in Amsterdam in The Netherlands but here it is smoked in public in huge amounts. This really reminds me of Nairobi.

There are lots of commercials on tv for cars - much more than in Germany (which is a car building nation, I’d say). There are many new cars on the road, and while this may be limited to the city only, I hardly ever see older cars here (> 10 years). An indicator for the upcoming middle-class?

My perception is that peoples living in hot climates hardly ever have a (good) taste when it comes to interior design. This is also why IKEA comes from Sweden! Now, while the typical Spanish living room may look like any other living room in countries surrounding the Mediterranean Sea, this awful assortment of styles often still costs a lot of money (or am I just too German on this? :-)

Came across this ad on the limited usage of plastics in the environment which end up in the sea. Well….they certainly need some awareness for the environment with all those plastics here and there (water bottles, plastic bags, everything sealed 3x in plastics, etc.) so this looks like a good initiative to me.

Will be heading home tomorrow evening, from sunny 24°C to a rainy 3°C with snow and ice cold wind….argh!

Mareva poil au bras

Happy Bday! :-)

“What’s the story on this one?”, I asked the couple that owns this house full of interesting stuff. “Aaahh….we got it some 15 years ago, inherited it from an aunt who loved playing it and since no one’s playing guitar in our family, we just kept it in the basement for no particular reason. Actually, we already wanted to throw it away…”. - “Well, I do play guitar..”, I replied, “is it ok if I have a closer look at it and, uhm, maybe refurbish it?” - “Yeah, sure, go ahead..” - “Coooool…”

So I rescued it from the moisture downstairs and completely dismantled it, cleaned it with some basic tools and tried to repair it by stapling the crack on the back and adding a new bridge + 1 new bridge pin.
[guitar owners & luthier - pls look away now :-)]

Lot’s of fun for just EUR 7,20 and, best of all: a working guitar with a superb sound that helps me enjoying those particular moments when I just feel the urge of playing along to my most favourite tunes…

Then, at 11 am, a meeting with smart ppl left me a bit frustrated, as these dudes & dudettes once again celebrated and elaborated on e.g. how to define an expression like “capacity building” on their sector for the interested public.
Well - working in this dev aid environment sure is an interesting opportunity and I really love what I am currently doing (because of the sustainability background & involvment of IT & environmental engineering), but a lot of these things - these things that involve the production of unimportant papers and justifications for various actions taken - are just as obsolete as the thousands of other bureaucratic barriers the world doesn’t really need. Because there’s no positive impact. It doesn’t make a difference. Those targeted don’t need papers with explanations.

Anyways.

Bill of “Jewels in the Jungle” actually sumarized it pretty nicely - on one hand the G8 meeting in Hooligendamn, and on the other the ongoing TEDGlobal2007 conference in Arusha. Two worlds?

Interestingly, the very same smart ppl as mentioned above from my meeting here this morning - those who are making plans for developing countries nations - never even heard about TEDGlobal.  Ignorance, as mentioned before?

I just told my one Israeli colleague “uka haha”, which is Gikuyu for “pls just come here”. After realizing that he didn’t understand a single word, I decided to blog this frustrating day - hoping it would have a therapeutic effect on me. *sigh*

But then,I still can’t lose the feeling that the Eurosphere has (at least) a slight ignorance for the Afrosphere - which would be a big mistake, I think.

Heute in meiner alten Grundschule entdeckt.  :-)