Adventures in Africa
Lisa, it's your birthday, happy birthday, Lisa
Published Sunday, February 26, 2006 by orange you glad | E-mail this post
Do you remember the Simpson's episode where the crazy man thinks he's Michael Jackson and Bart gets him to sing to Lisa for her birthday? I always have that song stuck in my head when it's my birthday. Or Birthday by the Beatles.
So yesterday was my birthday and it was quite fun. I did relax for most of the day and got some phone calls from home (which was nice despite the bad connection). Lauren and Jill came over to help me prepare (and go swimming) in the afternoon and that night about 20 people descended on Alla's apartment to celebrate my birthday and drink Long Island Iced Tea and eat chicken kebabs with peanut sauce. It was quite the night. We made it to a bar nearby for more drinks (although sadly the dancing sucked so it was more of a chatting evening than a dancing one).
One thing that put a damper on the evening was when we were entering the club 2 of my Kenyan friends were hassled at the door and told they couldn't' come in because they didn't have proper i.d. They were the only 2 Kenyans with us and were the only 2 stopped and I had to go outside and scream at the bouncer for a while before they were let in and apologized to. This is a problem in many bars in Nairobi and it has lead to many of them being boycotted by a lot of people. Basically, because places want to keep prostitutes out of their clubs, they don't allow black females into their clubs without a guy or mzungu bringing them in. It is an unofficial policy and it is really stupid for them to assume that all African females going into a club without male or mzungu (foreigner) accompaniment are going to prostitute themselves. I was furious and upset. My friends were furious and upset. We won't be going back there but we tried to make the most of the night despite the stupid staff there.
Thanks to everyone for the birthday wishes...
So yesterday was my birthday and it was quite fun. I did relax for most of the day and got some phone calls from home (which was nice despite the bad connection). Lauren and Jill came over to help me prepare (and go swimming) in the afternoon and that night about 20 people descended on Alla's apartment to celebrate my birthday and drink Long Island Iced Tea and eat chicken kebabs with peanut sauce. It was quite the night. We made it to a bar nearby for more drinks (although sadly the dancing sucked so it was more of a chatting evening than a dancing one).
One thing that put a damper on the evening was when we were entering the club 2 of my Kenyan friends were hassled at the door and told they couldn't' come in because they didn't have proper i.d. They were the only 2 Kenyans with us and were the only 2 stopped and I had to go outside and scream at the bouncer for a while before they were let in and apologized to. This is a problem in many bars in Nairobi and it has lead to many of them being boycotted by a lot of people. Basically, because places want to keep prostitutes out of their clubs, they don't allow black females into their clubs without a guy or mzungu bringing them in. It is an unofficial policy and it is really stupid for them to assume that all African females going into a club without male or mzungu (foreigner) accompaniment are going to prostitute themselves. I was furious and upset. My friends were furious and upset. We won't be going back there but we tried to make the most of the night despite the stupid staff there.
Thanks to everyone for the birthday wishes...
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