The Adventures of a Xhosa Princess

A generation or two ago, many young people of African descent - both at home and abroad - lament their parents' prudish attitudes towards sex. Most of them grew up around parents who never displayed their affection for each other in front of them, parents who never talked to them about sex except to warn them to abstain before marriage or they would be disowned. Sex was generally not spoken about in public, that is unless it was in socially sanctioned public spaces, but these spaces were very important. The spaces tended to be initiation ceremonies, where the youth officially became adults and had the knowledge and expectations of society imparted to them. Or they were marriage rites, in which pretty much the same thing happened. These initiation ceremonies were like schools in which the youth were taught society’s rules, culture and even history. The sexual aspect was just one part of it. This form of education took on various forms, but one similarity between them was that the...

... was ist das?? I´m here to tell you all that my December 2018 was cancelled, and the universe didn´t even have the nerve to inform me before time. Christmas markets in Germany are all that people rave about when they think about spending their December holidays here. I remember seeing videos and pictures of these markets on-line and thinking ``yeah B! that´s going to be my life, and I´m going to the market every single day for the food and glühwein (warm spicy wine)``. The excitement I had when I learned that one of the Christmas markets is 100m from our front door - I could even smell the spicy air and taste the glühwein before the market was set-up and opened. It was all fun and games till I learned that everyone forgot to inform  me that no one really gets to enjoy these Christmas markets because EVERYONE works till the 23rd and is back at work or school on 2nd January the following year - that´s literally just enough time to go for a coffee or smoke break! I don´t even ...