Excuse Me Ma’am, Your Hair’s In My Tea:

In the past three weeks all of us have had our fair share of embarrassing
moments. They come quite generously, especially to all of us Americans.
However, this particular night brought an experience that many of us will
continue to remember for years too come…

First… A little background… The weather in Kenya has been rather bipolar for
quite some time… It rains, shines, freezes, scorches, all in a day’s work.
Because of this, many of the girls had tied their hair up to a bun or
braided them in a Kenyan style. Jackie responded to the weather by braiding
her hair into two long pigtails that gave her a young schoolgirl look.

We had sent the campers to the cafeteria for dinner when we filed into the
staff meeting room to enjoy a dinner of our own. Julie and I had grabbed a
cup of tea and sat down to our meals (the usual meal… Potatoes, beans,
spinach, and ugali)

Jackie, being the little chatterbox she is, walked around the table, with
her own cup and plate, eavesdropping in our conversation. She set her plate
on the table and then began to respond to something either Julie or Norma
had said…

She sat down obliviously and then all of a sudden…

*PLOP*

Sure enough, one of her pigtails had launched a precision strike on the cup
of tea that she had set down just seconds ago. The room broke into
laughter.. And thus the expression born: “that’s so Jackie.”

- Greg Pollock