Morning Madness and Psycho Neighbors

So, you all know how I love my new apartment. Yesterday, I even tweeted how I'm starting to like my noisy neighbor, because she seemed like a nice person, you know, from all the conversations that I hear because of her extreme loudness. However, I spoke too soon.

Last night, her and her friends stayed up till midnight talking, listening to music, watching t.v. Fine. This morning, I guess they went out and came back at around 5 a.m, talking loudly in front of my house. Fine. 7 a.m, there they go again with their loud traditional, weird music. Not Fine. I mean, come on! I slept at midnight, woke up at 5, and woke up again at 7? How is that fair? I mean, I get it, sometimes you're in a good mood and you want to wake up with music blasting, but surely, BE CONSIDERATE OF OTHER PEOPLE, RIGHT? Plus, it was the same weird, traditional song on repeat, over 3 times.

So, I woke up angry and told my Caretaker to handle that. The caretaker, decided to use me a his scape goat, and added a lot more stories to my 9 words, "please turn it down for the next few minutes" you know at least until when people are awake! The caretaker, goes and calls the wrong person, and tells her how I complained that they came in drunk last night, etc, and how she's making my life hell. Which is all true, but, I didn't say all that. My request was simple, "turn it down for a few more minutes", you know at least wait until the sun comes up on a SATURDAY MORNING!

So, the woman, who today I discovered is a total psycho, went, well, PSYCHO. She was up and down the hall screaming, "Why are you telling me to reduce my volume? Why are you telling me to reduce my volume? I'm paying money, not stones!" Now, if you're Kenyan, I'd like you to please imagine with me, a big woman, straight from, "the lakeside", still in her nightgown, screaming very dirty Kiswahili, with a broom in her hand.

The rampage continued to the caretakers house, where she was banging the door calling him, or rather screaming, "You idiot, you cow, all you're good for is eating grass!" Then she went back to the house, turned up the volume to max, and started screaming, "All you stupid neighbors, wake up!" Of course, by this point, I'm totally freaked out, I mean, I'd never seen anything like that. So I walked out, and asked her friend what was going on, and she told me how the caretaker told her, the neighbors were complaining that they came home late. I calmly explained that the music was too loud for 7 a.m and the SANE friend told me she's sorry and that she'd turn it down. At the same time, psycho woman was still continuing with her rampage.

I mean, come on, we all have radios, I mean, I have a pretty rocking sound system too, we all do, but, 7 a.m? Come on? Grow Up! Also, what's up with going psycho over such a small issue?

Anyway, this means two things for me.

1. I'm never spending another weekend at my flat. I'd rather go to my mom's quiet house, comfortable bed. Oh, plus, yeah, maybe my mom misses me :-) Bonus, cuts on my electric bill and groceries, right?
2. As soon as my bills come in this month, I'm moving to the other side of the building. I fear for my life. That's no exaggeration. Just this week, the psycho's boyfriend was fighting with some guy in front of my window, yes at 7 a.m. Today, I honestly thought that she'd attack me. I'm pretty tiny compared to her. I'm barely 5"4!!!

So, I guess the Christian me, should be, you know, praying for her or whatever. I am. Right now though, the prayers are mostly, "Oh God, punish this woman with hell fire and brimstone. Kick her out of my building" I know that's not right, but I can't help it :-)

On a serious note though, God, totally answers prayer, and I know nothing is far from his view, and everything on earth belongs to him, me, that woman, our music, our building. So, I should try to look at it from God's perspective. Not lose it so easily. Maybe God is trying to tell me I should wake up early. Or, trying to teach me tolerance. Ah, it has to be something! I just can't let myself believe that God is just putting me in this situation to get some entertainment out of my exasperation.

Oh, to add on to my "amazing" day, today, I went to town to pick up the car "William Pro" from my brother. This entailed a long, LONG walk from Bus Station to Alliance Francaise on Loita Street carrying my overnight bag and this heavy Dell. William's fuel gauge quit working a while ago, so, I asked my brother before I left, "Is the car fueled?" and he said, "Yeah, I just put 500 bob in the morning" I bet you can guess what happened next...

Before I get to that, in the interest of full disclosure, I should probably confess that I stopped at Capital Center used my weeks savings for coffee and Strawberry Black forest cake. Hey, I had a stressful morning, I needed Chocolate!!!! (By the way, I haven't drank coffee in almost 8 years. It's disgusting! Has coffee always been that bad? No matter how many sugar sachets I put in, it was still bitter. Plus, Dorman's are just a little bit ridiculous with their tiny palm-size coffee cups for 160 bob (biggest purchase regret ever!) The cake however, is still my favorite in the world. Anyway, this is totally irrelevant to the story.

....so, I'm driving back home, and, the car stalls, in the middle of traffic. It just died. Here's the kicker, I was like 2 seconds away from the Petrol Station. Surely William, why do you always stall 2 seconds away from Parking Spots or Petrol Stations. However, since I've become quite an expert with stalling cars, I was able to handle it pretty calmly, despite all the leering men, passing by, saying, "Aww, madam, sorry"

Please tell me this is the worst this week can get.

Fasting?

So, today, with the exception of a couple of episodes of Modern Family, I have watched absolutely no t.v. I'd forgotten how amazing it is to simplify! I feel amazing, and recharged, and you know what, I've made a big decision.

Fasting, has been my biggest weakness in Christianity. Bigger than prayer, which I'm not all that good at, and bigger than reading my Bible, which I am also not that good at.

Excuses Reasons are, in High School and even now at times, I struggled with my weight, and developed a bit of anorexia. I used to binge and starve, and binge and starve, until I got stomach problems, long story later, I'm pretty much used to not eating. So when it came to fasting, not eating, it ended up being the same thing as High School where I'd starve all day, and binge once the fasting hours were over, which brought back the old stomach problems and roused the anger of my over-protective mom. Plus, it didn't really make me feel closer to God.

Yesterday however, with the power outage, I spent more time with God, and prayed more, and felt more connected than I have for the last couple of months.

So my big decision is that I'll be fasting from all things electronic and media. Apart from receiving phone calls and texts, and doing assignments, I won't use any gadget, no t.v, no DVD's, no computer, no PlayStation, no music, no Facebook, no twitter, no blogger. Nothing.

I think that'll work with me, as I work toward the food fasts I mean.

Facts About Raha

1. My name is not really Raha, though, some of my friends call me Furaha both of which mean happiness because I'm almost always smiling, even when I'm mad.
2. Until recently, and on weekends, I live with my mom, though now, I live alone, in a tiny little bed sitter, that I love!
3. I am the worst saver, in terms of money, or any other situation that calls for keeping something for later.
4. I am the biggest romantic. My computer is full of romantic comedy series and movies, and I'm always the one hoping for romantic gestures.
5. I am a very emotional. I'm a pink girl, which is both a blessing and a curse. A curse when I end up crying at the most inappropriate of circumstances.
6. I am a taurus, or rather my birthday is on May 11, and birthdays and holidays are pretty big with me. I am the type who finds every reason to celebrate any occasion.
7. I am a Christian, oops, I guess this should have come first. God leaves me speechless.
8. I am pretty easy to understand.
9. I am young (21) and will always be young at heart, and fun-loving!
10. I am sarcastic, but in a funny way, not a rude way.

What To Do

I'm feeling a little bit like an unfaithful wife, or a neglectful mother...at least I feel a bit like I'd expect those type of people to feel. Honestly I have no logical reason why I haven't been blogging as much as I used to. No excuses, I've just been lazy, in more ways than one. Sadly, also, all the gains in self-discovery I had made, have flown out the door...

Yes, I still do my Mizizi, and Bible things, but not that much, mostly, just when I remember, but, all the other cool stuff I used to do, like...umm, I can't think of any right now but you know I'm a pretty cool gal, anyway all those things I did to mae me feel strong and untouchable, are gone.

Especially on Tuesday, when I was forced to tears by a rude comment, my doctor had made. Can I just say first, that this doctor is a bit of an...he's just a...you know what, he's just not a nice person. He's the only specialist in that field, in a public hospital, so he feels a bit like he's God's gift to mankind, in the worst way. He's worked there for 15 years, he's never taught anyone his skill, probably from his deep seated need to feel needed, and a huge chunk of insecurity, basically, you can tell, I just don't like the guy. Yes, I tried praying for him. I had an appointment with him on Monday, and I got to the hospital at around 8, 9 came and went, so did 9, 10 and 11, at  12, his intern calls me and says that the doctor is probably not coming and that I can continue to wait or come back the next day. So, that day I was full of grace and forgiveness and prayers and humbly came I on the next day,where he was a complete...well  he was rude. He wanted to leave my treatment half way, I basically had to convince him and tell him, HOW TO DO HIS JOB, and offer me the service I'VE BEEN PAYING FOR!!!

I mean, what the heck? Right?

So, the obvious thing would be to report him, but then what, like he knows, he's the only specialist, though his skills are wanting, and if he leaves, I'd be stuck, so what does a Christian do in a situation like this? Blog, hehehe, yeah, this has blown off a little steam. But, really, what does a Christian do in a situation like this?

Confessions

So, the last few weeks have been a bit of a whirlwind. Moving out and getting that done and all sorts of other stuff and I haven't stopped to breathe for a long while.

Can I just say, today I woke up and read this Bible verse, neither depth nor height nor bla bla bla all that stuff can separate us from the love of God. I've always been of the school of thought that God's goodness and providence has always been reserved for "those" people, because, as you know I've had a million prayers unanswered. This week, and for the past few weeks however, some stuff happened like, me feeling guilty when I don't pray or, not being able to miss Church or my Mizizi class even when I absolutely don't feel it, or a bunch of other stuff like that.

Point in case, this past Tuesday, I was in a horrible mood, more on that later, but I totally, absolutely didn't want to go for my class. So, I said...God, if there's traffic, I can't go. Well, there was absolutely no traffic. On Thika Road, Jogoo Road and Mombasa Road at 5-6 p.m which is like the thick of Rush Hour. To add on to that, one of my closest friends from my class just happened to call me somewhere in the middle of that and asked me where I was, and I couldn't lie and say "I'm sick" so I just had to go.

Yes, God's been good to me. Me being good to God, that's another story. I mean maybe in some aspects I've tried but mostly, if God and I were dating, I've been a pretty bad girlfriend. Like I said, not praying as often or as openly as I should, not reading the Bible as often as I should, holding all sorts of grudges, taking God on guilt trips from here to the moon, not blogging as often as I should...you get the idea.

I'm going through my past posts and I'm trying to get back to how it was then. I think it's working, I mean I'm here aren't I? Hahaha.

Love and Blessings





  

Pics!

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My "Create" Application

I'm sitting here in my new little flat/bedsitter, drinking yogurt out of a wine glass that's more of a champagne flute, or somewhere in between, because everything tastes better out of a "wine flute" hahaha, watching Fareed's "Comedy Club Live" on Mnet, and my feet soaking in hot water. I simply cannot think of what would make this day better. I'm totally living the good life at this very second.

I'm finally all moved in, just a couple of things left here and there. I love this house. It's mine. Aaaah!

So, Pastor M just finished the series on Create and this was my Create solution. I mean, the Sunday he preached about how we should look at the systems in place, I was totally worn out from commuting 5 hours every day going to school and I was on the brink of a breakdown, trying to jeep up with classes and studying. Monday morning I realized, why aren't I taking advantage of the system in place, which is off-campus housing.

I can say it was really a message from God, because, I didn't struggle at all. My mom didn't put up too much of a fight and she ended up supporting me. The building I wanted and the house I wanted were all available. The move itself I can say was a lot easier than I thought it would be, I mean it was expensive as heck and it took three trips to move all my stuff in, but otherwise it was good, mostly because my boy BFF did all the heavy lifting. Oh and my aunt gave me a TV for free.

I went shopping for some stuff on Sunday with one of the girls from my Mizizi class and my girl BFF which was tons of fun.

So this is my first day here and I'm loving it so far.