O jul med di fråversglede!

Då e jula godt i gang! Regna me pakkane e pakka opp, familieselskapa stende i kø og magane e godt oppfylde…her kjøme ei lita oppsummering av høgdepunkta i mi ugandiske jul!

23. desember, lille julaften!
I dag hadde oss juleavslutning for ongane på FOCUS-prosjektet! Det va utruli kjekt, dei kom oppdressa og flotte, og området va pynta til fest. Til og med et nakke improvisert juletre hadde dei laga. Ongane hadde forskjellige oppvisninga som dans, sang og skuespel. So va det lunsj, som bestod av kylling, chapati og potetet. Dessert va fruktsalat! Nammi!

Afrikansk juletre

Ongane kosa sej

Seinare…
Sia det va lille julaften hadde ej et lite håp om at oss kanskje fekk nakke anna enn det vanlige til kvelds. Og jammen fikk oss ikkje nakke i tillegg. Men oss va nok ikkje like heldige som grevinna e kvar lillejulaften vil ej sei. Trur ho fær nakke som e bedre enn innvollane ta en kumage. Ej holdt mej til det vanlige…

24. desember, julaften!
Droppa kirka i dag, og gikk i stedet ned i et lite befolka bysentrum for å kjøpe bussbiletta.
Heime ijenn fikk ej vere me på kalkunslakting, håpe den smaka meir delikat enn en hodelaus kalkun ser ut! So va det hanen sin tur….
Lunsj…
Kanskje oss fær nakke ekstra til lunsj i dag me? Jepp! I dag va det “pork”, lure på om det e gris…? Det smakte i alle fall godt. Sia det va julaften, og julestemninga glimra me sitt fråver, gikk ej og Kay på supermarkedet for å feire med Smarties-is og cola. Det va veldi godt! Kan anbefalast:) Skeia også ut litt ekstra og snopa Smarties og Skittles. Det e no tross alt jul…
Julekveldn…..
Grillparty la me folk fra kirka ej og Kay jenge i! Oss henta jentne so dei me fekk vere me på moroa. Va veldi kjekt, hadde bli-kjent-leika, sang julesanga, hadde sangkonkurranse og til slutt grillmat. En fole arti kveld! Fikk også telefon heimafrå og litt seinare ringte søstern, det va hinna første jul vekke heimafrå også!

Julemiddagen! Ikkje akkurat det same som heime nei..

Dans og feiring!

25. desember, 1. juledag
Dagen for å feire jul! For første gang strauk ej skjorta mi, etter at eine broren min søsnt den va for gale. Dagen begynte med kirke, der dei hadde julespel, dans og mykje sang.

Gud hadde trone med engla rundt sej

Hadde jentne på julelunsj i dag, som bestod av chips, den slakta kalkunen og hanen, irish potete, bønne og kjøt. Ikkje akkurat julemiddagen ej e vande med, men det venta ej no igrunn heller ikkje. Men det va veldi godt! Kalkunen smakte veldi bra, hanen overlot ej til andre å eite. Til dessert hadde oss is!

Ingrid og Aina kosa sej veit du:) Den afrikaske julemiddagen, misunneli eller?

I 6-tia va jula ferdi, og jentne blei kjørt heim. Sjøl la ej mej på senga for å kvile etter ei hard julefeiring. Fikk telefon heimafrå, alle va samla til juleselskap med mormor og bestefar. I år va der et tomt sete….(ej skulla søte der ja) Va veldi kjekt å få en litn prat me nestn alle. Oskar hadde mykje å fortelle!
Mykje seinare…
Oss va samla I stua sia en av brorane våre og en nær venn av familien hadde hatt bursdag for litt sia. Alle skulle sei nakke om dei to karane og om jula og Jesus før det va litt sang og kutting ta kakene, som alle fikk en bit av.

Min afrikanske bror og mor

I dag...
..e det boxingdag. Nei, ikkje dagen for å bokse, men dagen for å slappe av og åpne pakkane. (for min del gjelde ikkje det siste)
I mørgatila sette Team Kampala sej på bussn. Destinasjon: Nairobi! Mål: EZRA-konferansen 2006-2007!

Ønska alle ei fin romjul, ei flott nyttårsfeiring og et spennende nytt år!

I wish you a Merry Christmas, I wish you a....

Monday evening Audrey took Team Kampala to KPC to see the Christmas-cantata. I wish you could see it too! It was SO good!!

On both sides of the scene there was trees with lights, in the middle they had made a stable and a manger and the choir was placed in back. Right before it started the room was totally dark, only the lights from the trees was on, and that made me realize….It’s Christmas!

It opened with some songs all sang together, than a children choir, which were really good, sang some songs, before the actors and the KPC choir entered the stage.

While the choir, consisting of 190 singers, sang songs, the gospel of Christmas was presented in between. The songs were so nice and I’ve never been to a better Christmas play than this. I wish I could just fly down next year to see it, and you can’t say: “But you’ve seen it before! Won’t it be boring to see it this year as well” No! Because the play is never the same, and the songs are new every year! I’m jealous of you that have the opportunity to watch it every year. I got chills down my back while I sat there. It can’t be described with words; you have to see it to realize how good it was! But I will buy the CD with the songs from the play, so next Christmas I can give you people back home a taste of what I experienced.

It’s Christmas on Sunday! Right? I’m not sure how the evening will be yet. But if we’re not going to the village, we will go to the girls’ house and they will make rice-porridge with “mandel”! On Christmas day I’m not sure what will happen. It will a interesting week!

I wish you ALL a Merry Christmas!! Wherever you are:)

To my family: Share my portion of the Christmas dinner. Don’t let daddy take everything...

So this is Christmas….

….2006.

I sat in my room one evening, I had turned of the light and listened to Christmas-music in the darkness to try to get some Christmas-mood. It was nice, but when the computer played “Deilig er jorden” I got a strange feeling of that something was wrong! It was not right to play this song now…..

And yesterday I talked to a person about Christmas. She talked about what she’s going to do, and she said she will go home when Christmas starts at Monday. I said that we celebrate Christmas Eve, and she asked: “Why do you celebrate Christmas Eve? It’s Christmas Day that should be celebrated!” I said no and I felt that I got a little angry, and i thought: “Don’t question my tradition, the one that is correct!” but I didn't say it...

Later Kay asked me; “why do we celebrate Christmas Eve, not Christmas Day?” And I have no idea! It’s just the tradition I grew up with. Do you know why Norway celebrate Christmas Eve?

Heldivis vare ikkje jula heilt til påske!

Lite so sjer, advent, bilde fra Maria, løsta på nakke anna enn loff med smør og jam/nugatti/sukker til frokost ++ = Heimlengsel til mor og far

Ja, ditta her blir en litn klagepost….

Men først ei helsing til næ søster Anne som sei ho starta dagen på kontoret med å sjekke bloggen min. Ønska dej en fin dag på jobb!

Oppgåva e inne til sjekk, bøke blir for trøttende, det regna….he kjeda mej i dag! Og då fær ej tia til å tenke, og då kjøme heimlengseln. Lasta ned bilde fra næ Maria i går, va kjempemange tøffe:oD He sett gjennom dei en del gonga i dag, og trudd det skulle hjelpe, men å sjå tøffen som stende med øreklokke på og et kjempefint ta na Jakob og na pappa jor det igrunn berre verre. So ej begynte å rydde litt, men då fann ej flypapira, der datoen for heimreisa stende, 11. april virka veeldi langt vekke akkurat no:( Prøva å tenke på alt det som ska sje her, og ikkje minst at der e en pakke på vei! Jauda, det ska nok gå bra.

Uansett vil ej ønske dokke ei god helg folkens! Og ei fin adventstid der du e, om d e Sør-Amerika, USA, Asia, Afrika, Australia eller heime i gode gamle Norge:p Lykke til med eksamena, jule-forberedelsa/stress/handel/stri, tentamena osv!

Weekend in Kigali, Rwanda

We had to go to Mbarara to take the bus, so we went early Friday morning. After we had waited for two hours it came; and 6 hours, including the waiting at the border, was ahead of us before we reached the busterminal in Kigali. When we arrived at Kigali Hotel after some negotiation about the price for the taxi, we were soon ready to enter downtown Kigali to get some food. It was a nice city with much less dust and mud than we’re used to here in Kampala. It was good to be tourist for some days! Close to the restaurant we found a supermarket that had many of the international products, and it was funny to see how happy we got as we discovered more and more.

We had only Saturday to do things, and we wanted to visit memorials from the 1994 genocide, so we hired two men to take us to a small city outside Kigali to see the church there where 10 000 people were killed. I got a bad feeling when I walked there, just to know that the room ones was packed with people and all of them were killed. The roof had very many bulletholes, the altar cloth was still on the alter covered with dried blood and the (døpe)font had very many holes. Behind the church, under the ground, they had made one room that was filled with coffins that were full of bodyparts, and there was still space for more as more bodyparts still is brought there. In the other room they had gathered all kinds of bodyparts on some shelves and only heads on other shelves. The guide told us how the Tutsi’s, and Hutu’s that sympathized with them, were killed in the most brutal ways that I can’t even imagine.

The altar cloth

After visiting the church we went to a Memorial Center in town where we got more knowledge about the history of why the genocide in Rwanda happened, and it was good to get answer on some of the questions that had appeared in my mind.

We wanted to by some souvenirs, so we found an African craft-shop and bought some small things. In the evening we went to a restaurant to eat before we went home.

Sunday we had to go back. But we hadn’t made any reservation for the bus, and unfortunately it was full! So we had to take an ordinary taxi to the border, than negotiate on the price a little before a guy took us to a city where a bus went to Kampala. It was a slow bus, and after about 12 hours on the road we were home. It was a long trip, but it was an experience, especially the taxiride to the border, it sounded like the car could break down any time, and it was designed to carry 16 people, but we were 20!

It was a really good weekend!! And one of the best things, I got four stamps in my passport:)

Busheny

This weekend Team Kampala and Team Busheny (Kathrine & Anne-Margrethe) arranged a trip to Kigali, Rwanda. Team Kamapla got a ride with a colleague of me and Kay’s hostfather that lives in Mbarara, so we went with him on Wednesday. We were told that we could see some antelopes and zebras on our way, so most of the trip I did something my grandmother tought me when I was younger, and in Norwegian we call “myse”. I “myste” over the fields to see if I saw any exotic animals. And it worked! Suddenly (I think) I saw some zebras! They were quite far away from the road, so it was a little hard to see.

When we crossed “The Line” (equator) we stopped and a man showed us how the water in a eddy went one way on the northside and the other way on the southside of the line, and no way on the line!

Great nature, can you see a zebra?

Busheny was a small cosy town, 30 minutes from Mbarara, and Anne-Margrethe and Kathrine lives in a nice house outside the towncentre. It was good to come out of the busy and polluted capitol and out to the countryside! And one of the best things with that visit was “Helnøttsjokoladen” we got on Wednesday evening. Thanks girls!

Yesterday we had a really good day! Jeb took us to Jinjer, a town two hours from Kampala. We visited, yes; you read right at the top, the source of The Nile, and Nudhagali Falls. It was a really nice trip; it was good to again come out of Kampala, especially since it was raining very heavily there. In Jinjer the weather was good, and the river was really beautiful! Also the falls were really great! The sound of the fizzy water was good to just sit and listen to. It reminded me of our cabin back in Norway, in the middle of nowhere, where we only hear the sound from the forest and some small rivers, there is few places that are better to be if you want to run away from a busy life. We also saw some people rafting and that looked really fun, and there was a crazy man that jumped into the fall with only a jerrican to float on!

The water is angry!

Want a trip on the Nile?

Here does the Nile start!

There the water goes...

Leadership Summit 2006

This weekend about 150 – 200 students were gathered at FOCUS Training & Camping Centre located by the lakeshore of Lake Victoria. It was a weekend I looked forward to with something we in Norwegian call “skrekkblanda fryd”, (Fear mixed with joy). Fear: The toilets were just holes in the ground, and my stomach was acting funny last week, so I feared that it would be that way in the weekend as well, and unfortunately it was. I had to make friend with that hole and the strong smell of “hjortesalt” that hit me every time I went into the toilet. The other thing I feared was the mornings; we had to get up at 5:30 am. Joy: All the students gathered, the meetings, the worship, to swim in the lake and the good fellowship and the good spirit among everybody!
All in all it became a really good weekend! It was so good to get away from the city and the pollution and meet all the students. The worship-part was maybe the most interesting. The Africans are crazy when it comes to worshiping. I’m used to stand still, maybe clap or put my hand in the air and sing. The Africans are dancing, jumping, clapping, running around, and singing.
Surprisingly we got the opportunity to lead a bible study group each, every morning! But it went well; my group-members were good to answer the questions that the brilliant leader asked them. I’m sure of that we, because of the leader, were the best group. As you read this, put your hands together for the leader! (ME!)

On Saturday we got visitors from Norway! Kathrine and Anne-Margrete were in town to meet Eivind and some friends of Kathrine. So they took a taxi out to Gerenge to say hi and hang out. It was good to see them again and hear how they’re doing.
Sunday was just closure day, and “Team Norway” went to town a little earlier to meet the other Norwegians. And that afternoon it was really good to get the message about that we had the day off on Monday!

Another thing I learned was to drink tea. We got tea for breakfast, we had tea break twice a day and we got tea for lunch and supper. And a thing I taught someone was Ligretto! They really enjoyed the game, and finally I won several timesJ PS Marte and Aina Marie! Or others (Steinar)! Please don’t come with any comments about that I won because they were newbie’s. Please let me have this joy.

Some of th students

Norwegians!

Breakfast, one cup of tea, one egg and one smultring

An eveningmeeting

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On the move

This first month I and Kay have been lodged temporarily with our boss, Sam. But Friday around noon they came and told us that “you’re moving, now”. One of the sons in the house is here to pick up your stuff and take it to your new home before lunch! So we had 10 minutes to pack our bags and grad our things. So now we live in an area called Mulago, 15 minutes walk from the office, but far enough so we don’t hear the MuslimsJ Our hosts we can say are a couple that are well grown up, they have 5 biological sons and after the wife’s sister died she took care of her kids too. But only one of their sons and some of their nephews live here. And we have two housemaids. The wife is a nurse, something that I would appreciated very much right now if she was home, because I smashed my forehead into an open window and started to bleed, and I’m not sure if it will be ok or if I should see a doctor, but I hope for number one at the moment and will wait and see. The man is a senior pastor in the DeliveranceChurch here in Kampala, both are very busy, so we haven’t got the chance to talk to them so much yet. I and Kay share a room in the “guesthouse”, and in the main house there is a big kitchen, a big dining room and a big living room, a corridor where there is two bathrooms and bedrooms. When the power goes off, they have a big battery that provides power for light in the main house and the TV. Here is a cat, a dog, three turkeys and a cock that likes to crow around 6 am every morning.

My poor forehead

Our thin, ugly cat

The turkeys

Our dear friend and wakeupcall

Our livingroom

Ligretto!!

Today we had no special things to do in the office except from reading our books, and that was what I thought it would be, so I came up with a brilliant idea, we could play Ligretto to get a small break from the reading!! The game brought back good memories from Hald, especially of the Ligrettoqueen, Marte! Looking forward to play it again with you in April! Today’s winner was Aina Marie, but just wait I’ll beat you one day. I hope.

Evening with Norwegian food and overnight-meeting

At Saturday we had the girls over to cook food that we use to eat. The headline is a little misleading, since we didn’t make real Norwegian food. But it became a meal it will take a long time to forget! The girls did a marvelous job in the kitchen; they’re adjusting to the African tradition that the kitchen is the girls’ place very wellJ They made pizza and rice porridge, the two things that maybe are the most common things to eat at Saturdays in Norway, at least it were in my family when I was younger. It really made my heart smile!! Thank you girlsJ

After the meal we had to get ready for the overnight meeting at the FOCUS-office. It was a meeting for FATT-memebers and STEM-workers. We were afraid that we were the last persons to come, because we left home five to nine, but only one of the FATT-members had arrived at that time, and ones again we were reminded on the African-time. So at 9:45 we were almost everybody and the leader decided to start. But none of the STEM-workers appeared, except for us from Norway. It was a meeting where we were told how the FATT-members are working and a little of the history of how it started and the vision about the work. We were told that the meeting was supposed to run up to 6 am the next morning, but they wanted to be finished at 3. At 2:15 I went home, I couldn’t stay awake any longer, so I was allowed to go. Kay said they finished at 4! I thought it would be more prayer and worshiping, since I’ve heard that the name of the meeting is overnight-prayer, so I was a little disappointed, but now I know how those meetings work, and can come to the next meeting with other expectations, I think they use to have these meetings every first Saturday in the month

Us, and our friend the imam

I just have to tell you about our alarm clock. It’s probably the best alarm you can get. Oh, you don’t need to be jealous. Even though it’s a very good wakeup call, I would choose to not have it if I could choose. You see, we are so lucky to have a mosque as our closest neighbor. And our friends, the imams have their first service around six o’clock in the morning, which lasts for about 10 minutes then they have a break for about 30 minutes before the next shouting starts and lasts for another 10 minutes. Unfortunately they have a speaker that points straight to our window, a thing that doesn’t make the situation any better. As I’m writing this they just start a service. Maybe I should take advantage of the situation and learn some Arabic? I don’t think so. But if you wake up at six o’clock, looks at you watch, and thinking, “oh, I can sleep more”, please think of me and Kay.

A little update

The days are passing by. Actually have I started to feel that the weeks are going fast, sometimes I feel that I’ve just taken a malaria tablet, before it is Tuesday again and time to take the next one! I’m not sure if that is a bad sign as the practice period is going to fast, or a good, but I choose to take it as a good sign, and believe that the time is going fast because I’m having a good time.

For a couple of days ago we got some kind of a schedule with Sam. We’re going to spend at least one day at the office, we have one day off, totally free, one study day where we’re supposed to read our curriculum, two evenings at the university, Saturdays is with the children and at Sundays we will go to church and then we have the rest of the day free to what we want, except for some Sundays when there is a meeting.

Yesterday we visited a Care-group, and that was very interesting. For one week ago they had raised the question whether “saved” and “born again” had the same meaning. And it was interesting to hear some answers, and Kay answered that we don’t use “born again” so much in his church, but he meant that if a person is “born again” he has to stop doing bad things if he used to do that before. Other meant that everybody is “saved”, but you have to choose to accept that and then you will be “born again”. And I will say I agree with Kay. Then we sang one song and prayed in the end. A Care-group doesn’t last more than one or one and a half hour. So that will be a good thing to attend I think. And on Monday we will meet with the Care-groupleaders, and I’m not sure what we will do at that meeting, so that will be exciting!

Just a couple of things I have to mention: Yesterday I found a place I can get really good coffee! That made my day perfect:) And today I probably bought the most expensive thing to put on my bread so far, raspbarryjam for 10 000 Ush! (ca. 40 Nkr) That jam better be really good!!

Some of the kids

Fred (in the white shirt and two other of the kids. Fred is one of the oldest at the project. He's going to teach me luganda!


















Hey, take a picture of me!!













Aina fits right into the games:)

Some pictures

Here are some pictures!

Sahara, The big desert!










Me and my friend Michael

Food

I’m a little sad when I’m writing about the food. Because I’m going to write some bad things about it and the fact that we’ve been here for one week now, and have 25 to go. We eat a lot of rise, ugali (banana, looks like mashed potatoes), a kind of vegetables, meat and sweet potatoes. We actually eat that for lunch and supper almost every day. And I’ve started to get a little tired of that. But today we got chickensoup and rise for dinner, so that was really good!! And yesterday we were downtown and we bought pizzaJ Things I miss is spaghetti, meatballs, my own homemade pizza, cereal ( I know I can get it here, but I need cold milk, and that’s not so easy to get) and to drink tapped water from the Alneswater. So for lunch today we didn’t eat that much, so I went down to a local store to find buns or something. It was a little scary to walk by my self, mostly because of the traffic, the guards with machineguns, shotguns and other kinds of weapons that are almost everywhere starts to get quite normal to me.

The weekend

Friday was the waiting day. First we waited three hours for Sam who should come and pick us up. Then we waited 45 minutes at the office before we got some information about what work we will do and how the weeks will be. I will work together with a guy called Daniel, a nice young man. After the meeting we went to Makarere University with Daniel. On the way we went trough the slum, and many of the kids shouted “mosongo” after us. It wasn’t a nice sight and it smelled badly.

At Saturday we woke up very early, the mosque just over the road from our house starts to pray around 5 am and keeps it going for 10 minutes or so. Quite irritating that early in the morning. This day we participated in the child program at FOCUS. We didn’t have any responsibilities today; we just observed the different activities and classes. The kids live in the slum and FOCUS wants to give them a chance to get a better life. It was very interesting! In my class they learned some new English words, about life-skills, sexuality and they had some bible study. In the breaks we played with the kids, games they knew, and football. I got a friend called Michael, a cute little boy at 7 years:o) I learned some Luganda from the boys in my class, and I teached them some Norwegian. It was a really nice and interesting day, though a little hard because all the kids wanted us to join their games all the time. But I really look forward to next Saturday; I think those days will be like a refill after a maybe hard week.

At Sunday we went to a service in the church where Sam uses to go. It was very different from what I’m used to, but I think this service applied more to me than the service at home. We’ve some program later this afternoon, but I’m not sure what it is.

The first days…

Hei! Då he ej endeli fått tilgang på nett Ska prøve å oppdatere så ofte ej kan! Men fra no av kjøme ej til å skrive på engelsk av hensyn til dei internasjonale studentane på Hald. For dokke som eventuelt ikkje forstår, fær høre me nakken ta om å få det oversatt;o)

Finally we got the chance to go to the Internet After 6 days with just a little contact with people outside this group, it is good to read my mails and read the blogs to the other Hald-students! We’ve been wondering how you are doing!

I will just post a summary of the first four days here in Uganda.
It was a little sad to say goodbye to my family and friends in the weekend, but it was really good to start the journey! Me, Kay, Stine and Christina arrived in Oslo late Monday evening, so if was almost just to go to bed when we came to the airport hotel.
We took the plane to Schipol where we met many Hald-stundets, and it was really sad with all the goodbyes.

The flight went quite fast, I slept a lot, and listened to my music. The most fascinating was how long time it took to fly over Sahara! It was cool to get a glimpse of the big dessert I have heard so much about.

When we arrived it was dark, but really warm and high humidity. We drove to a guesthouse where we slept the three first nights, it was exciting to look out the window, and see all the people that walked by the road. There were many small shops, and they were lightened up by small oil lamps.

The first day we slept until ten before Sam came to pick us up. We drove through the city to the FOCUS-office. It was a little special to see with my own eyes how the slum right by the office is and how they live, as we drove past. To drive in Uganda can be a bit of a challenge. It can look like there are no trafficrules, just some policemen by the largest roundabouts to have a little control of the situation. It seems like you just have to be a little aggressive and drive whenever you get the chance. And for the bodabodas, motorcycletaxis, there are no rules. While the traffic is stuck and you have to wait, the bodabodas drives between the cars, even when there almost is no space. And if you want a pair of shoes, a belt, a newspaper or other small things, you can do it with the guys that walk by the road where the traffic block is biggest. After we had visited the office, we drove into the city to get take out some money and to grab something to eat. And while we were standing in line to get out some money, we met the Act Now’ers that were in Kampala the first three days. Funny!
In the evening we followed a missionary family that live in the same guesthouse into the city, their kids wanted ice-cream. They live in Mbarara, so it would be funny to visit them if we’re going there some time!

The 2nd day we had prayer meeting all day with the FOCUS-staff. They came to pick us up at 7.30 am, and the trip that were supposed to take 20 minutes, took 1,5 hour! But finally we arrived at the house we were supposed, and it became a really nice day where we worshiped the Lord and prayed all day until 4 pm. Then we got back at the guesthouse to relax. On the way back we got a little more information about the work we’re going to do, and the places we’re going to live. The girls will work and live together, they will work at Makarere University, the largest in Uganda, me and Kay will work and live separately, I will be in a university quite close to Kampala, and Kay in a university close to Entebbe. I and Kay will live together with the STAM-staff, but they’re waiting for some things to be ready before we can move in with them, so we will live in Sam’s house the first month.
Back to the 2nd day, after a short break at “home”, we went for a walk around in the neighborhood, and we met two boys that guided us through a suburban area of Kampala. It was an interesting walk; we talked to some kids and got a glimpse of how the one with a little less money live.

Pakk

Då he dagen komt!! HJELP!? Siste inspurt før avreise he begynt, alt som skulle vaskast e reint og tørt, og kuffertn bjønde å fyllast opp!
Sete her på kontoret med litt blanda følelsa. Gleda mej veldi til å kome ut gjennom døra, samtidi som ej gjerne skulla hatt meir tid heime. Men det he vør ei kjekke helg der ej he fått sett dei fleste og sagt hade/på gjensyn:) Kjøme t å savne dokke folkens:/
Fær ta å pakke restn og sjå til at ho mamma stryke skjortene mine.
So blir avskjeds-/pakkehelga avsluttamed festmiddag inn me næ Mormor og na Bestefar der det blir servert potetball! NAM!

Då e det berre å følge med på sidene her, ska oppdatere so sant ej he sjans:)
So sjåast oss til våren!

Last 30 hours...

Når Tone sa disse orda i overskrifta i dag tidli, fòr mange tanka gjennom haude. Det he vør en litt rar dag, men samtidi so he det ikkje heilt gått opp for mej at oss ska reise i mørga, og at ej ikkje ska sjå dei fleste av dei på 6 måna.
Alle linjene hadde samling kvar for oss der oss fortalte kvarandre om en "ting" oss ønska å ta med oss til praksisplassn. Dei fleste sa "the great fellowship". Og det e nok det ej me kjøme til å savne aller mest. Dei utruli flotte folka her. So satte oss oss i grupper, og ba for kvarandre.

No e det rydding, pakking og pynting og matlaging til "Farwelparty-et", som opptæke folk. Ei litt rar stemning i gangane. Men so e det utruli kjekt å vite at oss ser kvarandre igjenn til våren, og at oss fær henge i lag i nesten 2 måna då!

Det var alt for no, siste Blogg-oppdatering fra Hald på dinne sia ta nyttåret e gjort:)

Gratis!? Høyrte ej gratis?!

Stemme det:) I dag satte kaffisjefen "varmedrikka"-maskina vår på gratis! Av den enkle grunn at oss skulle klare å holde oss vokne i timane. For en mista litt ro og søvn når brannalarmen jenge av kl. 23, kl. 00.45 og kl. 05.10:( Og det blir meir og meir erriterende når alle tre vise sej å vere en vrang sensor som sette det heile i gang uten grunn...

Global Leadership Summit

Fredag og laurdag hadde Willow Creek Norge, ei norsk avdeling av den enorme menigheten Willow Creek i Chicago, norsk versjon av den store Leadership Summit- lederkonferansen som he vør i Chicago der 70 000 ledera over heile USA deltok. Det blei to daga utenom det vanlige!



Gjengen e klar til neste sesjon









Alle sesjonane oss va på, va videoopptak av talarane som talte i Chicago.
Dei forskjellige underviste om:
Bill Hybels - En leders livssyklus
James Meeks - En voksende kirkes "fiender"
Andy Stanley - Fokusert lederskap
Bill Hybels' eksklusive personlige intervju med Bono om hans forhold til kirka og deira egasjement i den 3. verden
Ashish Nanda - Utfordringer ved å rekruttere talenter utenfra
Jim Collins - Når prinsipper i næringslivet ikke fungerer i kirken
Wayne Cordeiro - Fra utbrenthet til ny glød
Bill Hybels - Kraften i klarhet

Dei fleste sesjonane va utruli interessante, og det va herli å kunne sete å suge inn alt det som blei sagt. Håpe å få me mej neste års summit, kanskje ej kan få me mej en heimafrå? So blir oss to som kan kome heim med glød og iver?

Sunnmørssamling

På en skule som ditta samlast folk fra heile verda og rundt omkring i Norge. Og ej fær stadi høre at Sunnmørsk e den dialekta som e vanskligast å forstå. Nakke ej ikkje heilt ser, og nakke som ijenn skape en smule frustrasjon når ej må sei et ord 3 ganga før ej må sei det på bokmål for at dei ska forstå. So torsdagskveld bleitilfeldivis en herli aften. Oss samla en jeng for å gå å sjå "Over Hekken"¨på kino, og når oss sto på trappa og skulle gå, viste det sej at oss va 4 sunnmøringa og en peruaner, som forresten ikkje e so go i engelsk, so då kunne oss snakke normalt uten å måtte gjenta eller oppleve misforståelsa:) Anbefala forrestn filmen!

Og etterpå heiv ej mej på en anna jeng herifrå og såg "United 93", men det e ei anna historie som ikkje e so spennende. Men at det va en bra film kan no nevnast:)

Nest siste...

Atter ei vike e til endes, og oss e so nært slutten av høstkurset at oss kan sei "neste siste" på dagane i neste vike. Å det e nok ikkje til å stikke under en stol at ej kjenne ei sitring i kroppen når ej tenke på det. Men etter ei vike med bra undervising om kultursjokk og rollespel som oss kan ligne på situasjona oss kan kome opp i der nede føle ej mej litt og litt meir klar for utreise.

Fredag kveld va det duka for African Night med dans og mat i frå den spennende verdensdelen!
Det va veldi spennende,
spesielt å sjå bilde fra Kampala:) Maten va også overkommeli, mykje bønne,
ugali, ei smaklaus potetmoslignende masse, litt kjøt med saus, salat, ris og nakken litt rare lefse.

Maten oss fikk servert

Doris & Rune i klæ fra Kamerun & Madagaskar

Heim, kjære Heim!

I helga so va, måtte alle studentane forlate Hald. Dei fleste norske reiste heim, mens dei internasjonale studentane besøkte praksisplassane dei ska til. Ej reiste heim. Å ej må få sagt at det va utruli deili å komme heim en tur! Til senga mi, til godstolen min, til heimekinoanlegget mitt (fekk ikkje brukt det, men va godt å sjå det), til Oskar og Jakob, og selvfølgeli til mamma og pappa og restn av jengen:)
Etter en litt strabasiøs tur oppover der ej ikkje fekk plass på det eine flyet fra Kristiansand, og so vidt plass på flyet fra Oslo, kom ej mej til slutt heim seint torsdags kveld. Jett om ej søv godt den natta!!

Fredagen gikk med til avslapping, og på kvelden samla vi jengen for å planlegge litt ting til laurdagen.
So va (laur)dagen komen! Dagen da Jan og Hanna skulle gifte sej. Sola sto høgt på himmelen, og alt såg ut til at ditta skulle bli en drømmedag for dei. Og det blei det nok:) Vil forrestn gratulere dokke som nygifte!! Dei fleste veit vel at et bryllup alltid e flott, so ej skrive ikkje so mykje meir om. Men en ting som bør nevnast e talen han Jan holdt. Den va utruli flott!! Den kan ikkje beskrivast faktisk.

Søndagen va det familiedag:) Ej, mamma, pappa og Ragna tok turen ut til Alnes fyr der oss tok vafle og kaffi før oss starta på stigninga opp mot Alnesvatnet. Det va virkeli en herli tur! Strålende sol og oss fekk en hyggeli tur og trim på same tid. Kan anbefalast!

Ragna og Mamma ved Alnesvatnet, litt av Storhornet bak


På ettermiddagen va det god middag heime, og Oskar og Jakob kom en tur. Utruli kjekt å sjå dei atte! So va helga va over og ej måtte begi mej ut på flyplassn for å reise til Oslo.

Der fekk ej overnatte med Janelia og Mari. Fokus-studentane skulle møte opp på NKSS sitt hovedkontor mandagsmørgan.
Det blei en interessant dag, oss fekk møte mange av dei som arbeida der, oss fekk en del informasjon om Laget og nakken tips til informasjonsarbeidet, bl.a. om korleis oss skulle skrive en bra artikkel, eller et interessant reisebrev og litt om blogging.
Når oss va ferdi der gikk ej og Kay opp til Gunhild for henge litt att me ho, før oss måtte gå ned til bussn oss skulle ta "heim" til Hald.

Møtet med Sam

Ej skulla vel igrunn vøre letta og klar for å reise når ej skrive dinna postn her.
I dag hadde oss møte med sjefen for utvekslingsprogrammet mellom Laget og FOCUS. Oss stilte spørsmål og han svarte. Nakken ta tinga oss fikk svar på: Alle skal bo og jobbe i Kampala, ej og Kay ska altso ikkje til Mbarara, alle skal jobbe på kvart vårt universitet, på laurdagane skal oss jobbe med barn fra slummen rundt hovedkvarteret, lære dei bl.a.; "lifeskills", engelsk og hygiene, oss skal vere med i bryllupet til Sam og litt om ka klæ oss bør ha og slikt. Korleis oss skal bo va ikkje heilt avklart enda. Men oss skulle mest sannsynli bo ei stond med vertsfamilie, der oss blei en del av familia og ei stond på internatet tilhørende det univeristet oss jobba. So fekk oss vite litt om arbeidet og ka dei forventa av en muzungu som mej. Spennende? JA!
Men ej vil ikkje sei ej e so veldi letta, men kanskje ej e litt meir klar til å reise.

Oslo-helg

Etter å ha hatt en utruli interessant dag om barn som kjøme fra ødelagte familie og he det vanskelig, fylte vi en bil og satte kursen for Tigerstaden:)
Det blei ei helg som hadde mykje kjekt å by på!

Etter å ha lagt fra mej bagasjen i Kirkegata 108, rusla ej og Camilla til Gunhild for å sjå Criminals. Ej søvna som vanli, men ej fekk me essensen, og kan sei at det va en bra film.

Laurdag hadde ej og jentne en kosli fellesfrokost før ej rusla ned i by'n. Der va det strålende sol, vamt, Høstfestival og god stemning! Fekk etter kvart selskap av Janelia, so oss jor onda litt skohandling før oss tok burger på Aker Brygge:) Etter litt meir gåing tok oss trikken heim til ho, so diska ho opp me risengrynsgraut ute i bakgården. (so va den laurdagen redda). Skikkeli herli!
På kvelden stakk oss på møte på Misjonssalen og fekk oss litt åndelig føde, før magen ijenn skreik etter fyll, so då va Bislet Kebab (Best i test) neste stopp. NAM!
So jekk oss kvar våre veia for dinna gang.

Søndag våkna ej ijenn til strålende sol:) Frokost la me jentne. På en slik dag kunne oss ikkje sete inne, so ej, Merete og Dag Filip tok t-bana til Sognsvann, i likhet med mange andre. Det blei en ei herli utflukt i naturskjønne omgivelsa, langt fra trafikk og bylarm. Når vi kom heim, hadde Camilla, som måtte lese mens oss var på tur, diska opp med spaghetti og kjøttdeig (som ej hadde bestilt før helga). Utruli godt!! Deretter sto G2 for tur, en god og litt annaleis Gudstjensteopplevelse. So, etter å eite enda en Bislett-Kebab, satte ej, Finni, Steinar og Marit kursen for Mandal og Hald.

Kan med tre ord oppsummerast som "ei herlig helg"!
Vil takke jentne som lånte mej husrom, Camilla, Kjerstin og Merete:o)

Fotokurs

I dag he oss lært om fotografering. Mange gode tips om ka oss ska vere obs på. Blant anna korleis oss kan jere bilda meir spennende enn et "rett-framafrå"-bilde e, ved å ta et par skritt til ei side, ta oppafrå, nedafrå osv. Og jett om ej he god bruk for det oss lærte i dag da!:p

Et par eksempel

Rafaela og Christina

Norge - Ungarn

Jada, laurdag kveld va oss samla en jeng på den lokale puben for å kose oss me cola og fotballkamp:)