Orientination in Paarl

Over two weeks have gone by here in Paarl, about 40 min outside Cape Town, and tomorrow I am heading to Windhoek in Namibia. Where another week of facilitation and participation is waiting. This is more country-specific and on August 3rd they are telling us what community we will be placed in!

These last two weeks have gone by pretty quick if you leave out the terribly long sessions of discussing and analysing the concepts of culture, development, facilitating, and role of a volunteer... "there are no right anwsers, but still you are right... and wrong". There have been fustrations over people taking baths in the morning leaving no hot water for the others, and also the "African time" concept has taken much pations.

But other than that have gotten to know some really cool people from southern Africa and gotten to know the Norwegians (and swede and a danish) better! I shared a room with Moira. A reall cool and bright young lady from Zimbabwe. I know she will do a great job in Zambia. I wish her the best.

Today was a quite sad morning as all the guys going to Zambia and those staying in South Africa left for their country-specific orientation. So what is lest a group of ten guys and girls leaving for Windhoek tomorrow morning.

That was all for now :)

Stine

Hard to describe

My feelings right now are hard to describe and put into words. People ask me if I am excited. Of course I am, but I am so much more than that too. What it is, I dont know. Something like a mix of scared, excited, butterflies in the stomach, confused, happy, and sad.

Sad to once again leave friends and family behind, but happy to meet new people and a new culture.
Confused because I have not really any idea what exactly I will be doing in Namibia. There will be a job descripion waiting for me there, but I have a feeling it is very difuse, and basically I have to figure it out by myself.
And butterflies is something I always have before traveling :)

3 days left...

Stine

London

I love London! It took me 3 trips to discover the good stuff in England's capital! Camden Market, Brick Lane Market, Notting Hill, Hyde Park, and Portebella are all great places to see and visit. Great shopping, and the tourist crowds that are at the typical tourist sites are not as big. I also liked the area around Angel subway station. No tourists at all!

It was a great trip with my best friend and some of the girls she studies with. The Hard Rock calling festival was amazing, and the mood was so cool. Hanging out in Hyde park is a great way to relax after lots of walking and shopping.

Tomorrow I leave for Bergen to visit my mothers mother and that side of the family.

The weather is crazy warm here in Norway, and I am looking forward to the cool weather in South Afrika!

Stine

Stine

Getting Excited!

So the date of departure is getting closer! So much closer, and before I know it I will be standing at Gardermoen airport with my 20kg or so bag ready (?) to go.

20kg or so was what I had packed when I went for a little holiday in Cannes, France last week. How in world am I going to pack for a whole year only being allowed 20kg?!? This is a mystery to me...

As I mentioned I was in Cannes for a week. It was great!! I also had a couple of sports volunteers with me (øyvind and Bjørnar) and a friend of one of them. We went to Monaco, and spent alot of time on the beach. Just what I needed after a stressfull semester with school and work.

On Thursday I am leaving for London with some of my girl friends. We will be going to a festival in Hyde Park http://www.hardrockcalling.co.uk/home/ two of the days, and sightseeing and shopping the rest of the almost 5-day weekend.

After the London trip I will be going to Bergen to visit my grandmother, and some family on my mom's side. I haven't seen them in a while, and if I don't do it now, it will be very long before I get to see them again.

As you can see I have enough to do before the departure to South Africa. Hoping this will keep my mind occupied so I don't get to nervous!

-Stine

ps. new msn: stinhes@hotmail.com, and new email address:shestdal@gmail.com

I can't remeber some passwords and stuff, so I had to make a new blog. This one will be sooo much better :)

Here is the first posting from the other one: "Namibia it is"

Hello!

So I am still postponing growing up and getting a "real" job...

For those of you who like to follow my travels, I have created a new blog as I am going to southern Africa this time to do some volunteer work. To be more specific I will be working in a rural area in Namibia. Here I will write about my experiences and post pictures.

I will be working as a sports volunteer throught NIF, The Norwegian Olympic Committee and Confederation of Sports, The FK, Norway, and in southern Africa the partner organization is SCORE Changing Life Through Sports.

I am not quite sure what kind of work I will be doing yet, but I know I will most likely be working with children and youth and sports and physical activity.

I applied for the job in Febuary, and in March there was a seminar with about half of the people that had applied... Like an second round interview. We were 22 at the seminar, and 18 of us was chosen to work in southern Africa. About a week after this we went to Horten for a 5-day long seminar for FK, Norway. We were about 50 or so in Horten. Some were from Africa coming to do volunteer work in Norway, some were from Africa going back to other places in Africa to work, and some were like us. Going from north to south.

This spring I have also taken a class at The Norwegian Scholl of Sport Science called Sports, Culture and Development Cooperation. We gathered for 3 weekends during the semester, and the last Sunday we had our exam. Everyone passed the exam! Our year abroad will count as our practicum.

Between March and May we have waited to find out in witch country we would be placed. The options were Zambia, Namibia, and South Africa. The wait was terrible! We were told fro two months that we would get the information "next week".

Now I know where I am going, and I am excited! We are 6 people from the group of 18 going to Namibia. What a great group! We leave July 10th.

Namibia has a population if about 2 million. Their official language is English, but they have many tribal languages that a more common in daily life. Also, Namibia was a German colony, German is also spoken. I don't know German... or any tribal languages for that matter.

I will be living with a host family. I have done that before, but I have a feeling a host family in the US is not quite the same as in Namibia... But you know all families have their own traditions and way of living that is not like any other.

Well I have an exam tomorrow in International Economics... I should get back to that :)

I will be very happy for all comments and feedback!

~Stine