Christmas is Coming Up!

Short update before Christmas, visit from Norway and maybe the last post this year! yikes!
I have finally got crutches, so now I can walk more easily! ;)
I have been to town today to buy Christmas presents. It's fun! :) I am getting the Christmas spirit; great listening to Christmas carols and songs and beeing with good friends. We are still looking for a Christmas tree, though. Maybe we will end up just taking a branch from the Letchi tree! ;) Of course there is no snow here - that makes Ola and Eline wish for rain and thunder on Monday (which is when we will celebrate).

We have baked some Christmas cookies (Norwegian tradition) and we have done the big shopping. Or more correct; the others have done the shopping. I didn't have crutches at that time; so I was in the house. But I got to clean the kitchen very nicely; so now we can really have a nice celebration! We have bought Christmas crackers for the table, witch is my contribution of the English celebration I'm used to. I'm also responsible for collaborating with Father Christmas so the Christmas stockings will be lying on our beds on the 25th. It's all very exciting!

I miss people at home a bit; but not as much as I thought I would do (sorry folks). I know I am with very special people here; so I don't mind. It's great to celebrate Christmas in a new way with new people!

NowI would like to wish you all a very HAPPY CHRISTMAS and A HAPPY NEW YEAR! Have a great celebration wherever you are. Make the last days of 2007 special. If you can't be with the one(s) you love - love the one(s) you're with! ;-)

Time for In-field

Wow. I haven’t had internet for a month. So much has happened since then. I have really experienced life in Africa!
We have taught in the children schools only a few times – sick teampartner/no car/bad communication possibilities etc. There was always something in the way…

Some weeks we’ve had to put up with the frustration of not having ANY ways to communicate with the rest of the world. Not only once have we experienced that what we planned never happened. We have had to realize that what you don’t plan – that’s what you’re suddenly thrown into! In short – Malagasy culture is very different to the Norwegian one, in many ways… It’s interesting and fun to experience, but sometimes it gets a bit tiring.

So when the time for In-field came, I was ready for a break.

This is our messy kitchen and us getting ready to leave Fandriana

To be able to have a conversation in my mother tongue without having to concentrate to understand every sentence was like a dream. We rented a car with a great driver. He took us all the way to Toamasina on the East Coast. We had some relaxing days there by the beach. Slept in a bungalow. Swam in the pool. Snorkled on the coral reef. Had Bible study. Counselling. Evaluation on our personal growth so far. Enjoying the company of Agnar, our teacher from Hald.

buying fruit on the wayWe stopped in Andasibe for lunch and a walk in the rainforest on the way to Tamatave
Bible study in the shade

Decmber relaxation

But working with the Malagasy culture hasn’t been the only challenge. The past two weeks, I have been a crippled vazaha limping or jumping around on my right foot. The reason: a bad left knee caused by more exercise than my poor knees are used to. Not making matters any better, there is no milk in Fandriana, so perhaps my calcium level is a bit low. Our trustworthy driver managed to make me a crutch out of metal, so I’ve been walking around like an old lady, becoming the laughing stock for all Malagasy people. Great. But apart from this, I’ve still not been ill, so I’m happy! Mbola faly aho!

My walking stick

Now comes the time for Christmas holiday and celebrations, which will be interesting as it is my first Christmas away from my family. Two Norwegian friends, Maria and Ellisiv, will visit me for two weeks and a half, coming on the 26th of December. I am looking so much forward to that! Can hardly wait!