Maria's Blog

Pictures from South Africa! (2/2)

2009-12-18T07:36:00.003+01:00

And here is batch two of the selected photos from South Africa.
This is the hotel we stayed at for almost a week in Kalk Bay. It was great! Small, nice staff, and breakfast was served outside every morning. And yes, they also had a pool ;o)

After wpending a week in Cape Town we headed east in our rented car. A few times while on the high way we passed town ships like the one below. They seemed endless! Thousand of shacks build really close together. While in Cape Town we actually went to visit a Town ship, guided by a young man living there. It was really interesting!

The land scape was amazing! Everything was just big!

We passed an animal on the way were we saw leaopards and cheetahs among others. Amazing animals. The park was rehabilitating animals from the wild in order to let them back into the wild, but had some animals that were to tame to be let out, and they were the ones we were allowed to see.

It was quite an amazing feeling being this close to a cheetah!!

One day we decided to go hiking and went to the NP below. We actually vlimbed the rocks and crossed the beach and went to the point on the far right on the picture below.

The hiking was such fun that we decided to do it again the day after, this time to see a water fall. If you look really close you can see Martin almost in the middle of the photo.

We finally arrived in Port Elisabeth, spent two nights there and then left for Uganda on the 12th of November. Conclusion: South Africa was amazing! More segregated than I'd imagined, but I would love to come back one day!

Hope to put some photos here soon from Tanzania, but we are leaving Masaka today, Uganda tomorrow, so maybe it will take a while!

Till then: Merry christmas and a happy new year!!

Pictures from South Africa! (1/2)

2009-12-16T15:49:00.005+01:00

Here are finally the first photos!
I arrived in Cape Town on Nov 1st and was met by Martin at the airport. Our first tourist thing on the list was to go to Cape Point and Cape of Good Hope. Unbelievable beautiful nature! First we took along walk up to the light house at Cape Point.

Where it was extremely windy!

Just behind Martin is Cape of Good Hope.

And here we are posing for the mandatory tourist photo ;o)

This beach was amazing, I think it was called Nord Hoek, so we had to go and dip our toes in the water. Since it was on the western side of the cape peninsula, the water was freezing!

More photos soon!...

So much to tell! So little time!

2009-12-10T10:54:00.002+01:00

I have not given up on my blog, just very very busy at the moment. But I guess that is my punishment for taking nearly one month off, enjoying Africa.

South Africa was great, Seeing Martin again even greater! Rafting on the Nile in Uganda was so much fun, despite thinking I would die a few times! Driving through Kenya by bus was quite the experience as well; we somehow managed to hit Africa's largest flying bird: A 12 kilo heavy bustard! But we made it alive to Tanzania and went on an incredible safari in Serengeti NP, seeing more than 50 identified animal species including: lion, elephant, leopard, cheetah, hyena, hippos, ostrich, water buffalo, wildebeest, monkeys, birds etc. Continued for 5 unbelievable relaxing days on even more unbelievable beautiful Zanzibar! The best November ever!

I'm now back in Masaka stressing to get the last things done before leaving for home next Friday. I'll try to post some photos here tomorrow!

Data Collection, week 2!

2009-10-25T12:51:00.008+01:00

We have now completed the second week of data collection for our theses which were even better than the first! Probably because we now know what we are doing ;o)

We left Masaka Monday morning, the three of us, the three translators, and Fred, our driver. It took us around 1½ hours to get to Lyantonde where we checked in at a somewhat expensive hotel (Skyeblue) but is was either this or a brothel!... And disregarding the fact that there was no power, only a noisy generator; no light in the bath room; no hot water in the shower; no water at all in the sink; a non-functioning TV: it was indeed worth the money! A very comfortable bed and incredible nice staff! We then continued to Kacheera, a further 40 minutes away, where we met with the chairman for the cooperative (KAFAME) whose members we were going to interview.

We got the member list, selected our 30 members to interview and off we went in our big 4-wheel drive on roads that half of the time were a narrow path...

The region was so beautiful, very green despite the fact that this region also suffers from frequent droughts. At the end of the day we had interviewed 7 members, one more than planned and early! On the way back we stopped to copy the member list and Sara and Sophie grapped the opportunity to share a roasted maize.

We went back to the hotel, talked about the day while enjoying a cold Guinness.

Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday were pretty much the same: Got picked up by Fred, bought lunch (chapati’s), drove to Kacheera, picked up the chairman and two other community guides, and split up with a translator and guide each and a list of who to find and interview that day.

Compared to last week, it was much more organised so we finished early each day and had time to relax a while each afternoon (meaning: reading a good book at the hotel while enjoying a cold beer in the sun).

Students running after the car waving and screaming "bye" at us! We felt like rock stars!

Another beautiful picture of the landscape. Don't you think?

And he I am doing the final interview with the help of my translator Wilson (English-Luganda), another translator (Luganda-local language) and the woman being interviewed.

Me, Fred the driver, Chris (translator), Orgrives (translator) and Sophie posing for a group photo.

Here we are all three of us, trying to take a nice photos sitting on a broken banana palm tree, but it was very slippery!

On Thursday around lunch we had interviewed the 30 people we planned, so we picked up Mountain Dew (Fred bought another goat pregnant with triplets!), left Kacheera and headed back to Masaka. We played some hacky sack in the garden before getting ready to go to 10 tables for dinner. We had decided to invite the field crew (translators, Fred and Cotilda) for dinner as we could not have done the data collection without them! It was a perfect way to finish the two weeks. Not that we are totally done, but for now at least.

So nice to enjoy a glass of Chardonnay!

That's enough time spent on doing fun stuff, have to get back to school stuff!

I'm having a great time here, but I'm starting to really miss you all!

Hugs!

Data Collection, week 1!

2009-10-18T14:13:00.007+02:00

First of all: Thank you for your comments! You made my day! Now down to business!

We have completed our first week of data collection for our theses and it was great! Sara is writing by herself, Sophie and I together, however we collect the data together all three of us.

We left Masaka Monday morning; the three of us, the three translators, Cotilda and Fred, our driver. About an hour later we arrived in Kyotera where we found a hotel. Dropped off our stuff and continued to Kamukalo, a further 45 minutes away. Here we met with the chairman for the cooperation (KAME), the members of which we were going to interview. He briefed us about KAME and gave us a members list from which we selected members to interview and off we went.

The area we went to was very dry compared to the Masaka region despite the fact that it was only 1½-2 hours away. Interesting that the difference can be so big! However, it was still beautiful and the farmers appeared to be coping alright even though some were clearly very poor.

At the end of the day we had interviewed 2 members each, which was our goal. We went back to Kyotera, discussed the day and made a few changes in the interview guide.
Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday had a similar schedule: Went to Kamukalo, picked up the chairman and two other members who were our guides around the area, and then we went looking for members. However, on Wednesday it started raining which was very good for the farmers, but not good for me as I was wearing flip flops and fell on my knee in the mud when trying to get from a house to the car! Fortunately the next stop was Nabusozi, a small village by Lake Kijanebalola where I could go and wash the mud off, while the villagers were laughing at me.

On Thursday it was also raining a lot, so I wore shoes instead of flip flops, which turned out to be a good decision. Even the car had trouble getting around on the small paths that turned into mud paths. There were more sliding and gliding going on than actual driving, but thanks to the 4-wheel function we stayed on the road and reached all our destinations. Around lunch we had interviewed a total of 30 people as planned, so we said goodbye to Kamukalo and headed back to Masaka. Below are some photos from the week! Have to go as we have a lot to do preparing for week two of data collection starting tomorrow, this time in Lyantonde! Enjoy the pics, I’ll be back with more after next weeks data collection.

The 6 of us waiting at the office for the car

On our way to Kyotera from Masaka (the African highway!)

A typical village we passed on the way

The view from the first village we went to. Beautiful or what?!

Sophie and Chris in the middle of an interview in the house of the respondent

Sara and Orgrives interviewing the chairman of the cooperative

How to dry a fish in Uganda... Just put them on the roof!

The surroundings we moved around in during all 4 days

A small village we passed on the way

Me and Wilson finishing our interview with Jane, a very energetic 60 year old woman who talked a lot! But it was fun even though I didn’t understand any of what she was saying. More than once she got up and demonstrated how she did morning gym during some trainings, how the goats moved around etc. I liked her!

Ready to leave Kamukalo. I think school had just finished for the day because suddenly the road was full of kids! Fred bought a goat that we brought along in the car. We named her Mirinda (after the soda).

A typical way to transport Matoke (cooking bananas)

That’s all folks!

Already October!

2009-10-06T14:26:00.003+02:00

During the past 2 weeks, I haven’t experienced that much. It has mostly been school assignments and just hanging around in Masaka. So I thought I would share some of that with you!

The guard at the office. He is very nice but wouldn't smile for the photo;o)

This fall semester consists of to courses, MIDM50 (Sept-Oct) and MIDM60 (Nov-Dec). During MIDM50 we have had 4 assignments, and 3 of those are completed, so there’s only one left. And this one is an assessment of the Uganda office as an organisation. I have to look at the individual level, meaning interviewing the staff and doing personality tests to figure out if the people working there create an inspiring and productive working environment or not. Exiting I think! And if I do a good job, I might even help improve the effectiveness of the office, which feels very inspiring! Finally, a school assignment that can be useful!

Then, MIDM60 is all data collection for our thesis, however, since I’m going to South Africa 1-12 of November, and rafting on the Nile, safari in Tanzania and relaxing on Zanzibar 16-30 of November we have decided to multitask in October, doing the organisational assessment while collecting thesis data. And hopefully be done with everything on October 30th;o) Almost all the logistics have been figured out: We have hired 3 translators, tested our questionnaires at the Agroforestry Training Centre (ATC) on some of the staff members there, our supervisor Cotilda has been to the villages we are going to visit to inform them of ‘when, what and where’, the car is booked and accommodation looked at. So starting on Monday, the 12th, we will spend 2 weeks in the field interviewing farmers. Exiting!

Other than that, life here is pretty easy... We pay low rent in for a big house in the centre of town. And Grace comes every Thursday to clean the house and do our laundry, so no complaints! We also have a gardener Mon-Fri and guards every night + weekends. I have a very big room with a nice big bed. And we have a variety of free alarm clocks every morning: the neighbours’ cow, a few different birds, our guard dog Fanta and a rooster on the other side of the road. So I am usually awake by the time my clock rings. I’m thinking about recording the cow so I can use it as an alarm tone on my mobile ;o) It’s actually a very cosy sound!

In fact, there are a lot of different animals here, especially birds! There is one in particular which is kind of scary: the marabou stork!

It is huge and somewhat disgusting, but at the same time fascinating! It reminds me of a dinosaur and when it flies over you there is an impressing sound coming from the flapping of the wings. Then there’s a funny one always walking around on out lawn with a long beak, and a variety of small colourful birds being noisy and chasing each other around. There have also been a few monkeys jumping around in the trees.

And of course we have the goats and cows grazing on the big piece of land next to our house! Oh, and mosquitoes, flies, cockroaches, geckoes, tiny jumping spiders and other funny looking flying insects!

We do most of our grocery shopping at the local market as they have all fruits and vegetables there, and then buy our powder milk, cornflakes, bread and butter at the supermarket. So we eat breakfast at home, usually toast with mashed avocado and scrambled eggs on top, get tea and chapati (pancake/naan) at the office around 10, eat lunch at home or out at 13, get tea at the office around 16 and then go home to eat dinner. I rarely get hungry in between meals ;o)

Florence, who is the 'mother' at the office, and the supplier of our daily tea dose!

And, we have finally planed our avocado tree that we bought at the ATC a few weeks ago (Ms Njo Njo) in the garden.

I actually took a walk around the garden the other day and realised just how many different flowers and plants we have. It’s quite amazing! Below is a small selection of them.

Hmm, that’s about all I could think of for now. Take care until next time!!

More Uganda updates!

2009-09-23T07:26:00.004+02:00

Time is just flying by! I know it’s because there is so much we have to do before going home AND so much we want to do! Since I updated you last time, I have learned a few things. Among other, the possible reason for the juice we drink in the morning having a bizarre taste and colour as the label on it says: “Manufactured by: Excel chemicals”! I felt a bit more relaxed when reading that it only contained “permitted food colours and flavours”... ;o)

Last week we prepared our in-depth interviews for the 2 groups we have already visited. We went back to the first Thursday which turned out to be a very interesting day. We each did an interview with a group member (with the help from interpreters) and then Sophie and Sara went on to interview another member while I went with Cotilda and the chairman of the group to his house where he showed us the groups pineapple winery.

The Community facilitator and the chairman of the group.
And of course we had to taste it.

Me and Cotilda enjoying a class of pineaple wine!

Later the others joined, the community facilitator got a little bit drunk emptying the half full glasses we left on the table. Hilarious! And interesting to discovery a picture of us and the chairman from our visit 2 weeks earlier on his wall! (In the upper right corner)

The next day (Friday) we finally went to Kampala. We got a lift with one of the employees at our organisation and arrived at our hotel around noon. We decided to immediately go to the big mall 5 min away to have lunch and check out the supermarket! And we all got a bit high on buying each a pair of shoes/sandals! Thus the kissing of the elephant ;o)

Later that evening as we were waiting for Matilda and Lisa (two other girls from our class who are also in Uganda, although in another part) we tasted the different beers available at the hotel and maybe got a little bit drunk. A great evening with many intelligent discussions!

Saturday I was a bit hung over and my stomach was upset about something I ate the day before, but we (Sophie, Sara and I) went on a walk through town, had pizza (!) for lunch, took a nap and then went to see a show on the National Theatre. It was performed by high school students and was a mix of traditional dancing, singing and a hilarious although long play. Then all 5 of us went to an Ethiopian restaurant for dinner. Good, but not as good as the one in Dar es Salaam where I celebrated my birthday last year!

Sunday we did some final grocery shopping (as the supermarkets in Masaka don’t have cheese!) and then began our mission of getting back to Masaka. We ended up on a bus, paid to Mbarara even though we were only going to Masaka, but what did we know! (And they knew we didn’t know!) Waited inside the bus for about an hour (like a sauna full of people selling pants!) but finally went on a death race to Masaka!

Kampala city centre

Yesterday we went to do the in-depth interviews with the 2nd group which went a little bit more according to our plans (meaning no wine!).

While waiting for Sophie to finish her interview I entertained the kids in the village by simply looking at them as they were all scared of me (the Mzungu!). Some were braver than others and even dared to touch we when I stretched out my hand, while some started crying/screaming when getting to close to any of us!... When I wanted to take a photo of Sophie all the kids wanted to be in it as well and one woman even took her child and placed him next to Sophie which he didn’t particularly enjoy.

But we have now completed all data collection for the first school assignment and for the rest of the week we are focussing on getting our background information and data collection methods ready for the actual thesis data collection. We have to have the survey questions ready tonight! The clock is ticking, only 39 days until I’ll be going to South Africa to meet Martin!! I feel a little bit stressed but at the same time, I can’t wait. Time is a funny thing...

Oh, forgot to say: Keep posting comments! I LOVE reading them! Take care

Part 2!

2009-09-13T15:40:00.004+02:00

Have you read part 1? If yes, please proceed ;o)

They have built a model of how a small scale farmer’s plot should look like, with everything from the house, animals, rain collector and of course the small agroforestry area where they demonstrated how a field with banana trees could be improved by planting some tobacco to keep insects away, trees to provide shade for the bananas and to provide timber, vanilla to do provide certain nutrients to the soil, and so on! So simple, but really good for the farmer’s income and the environment.

They even had built a toilet that separated human poop and pee to use as fertiliser, but it was not used here as the farmers living on the demo plot thought it was going over the limit ;o)

Among the crops they had coffee plants, and even though I hate the taste of coffee I really enjoy looking at the plant ;o)

Coffee beans!

We even bought a grafted (two species put into one, you can see the piece of tape holding them together) avocado plant that we named Ms Njo njo. She will be planted in our garden as soon as we get some sandy dirt and some manure!

Friday we went to Kajjalubanda to do our 2nd field visit.

The children playing around while we were interviewing the farmers/their parents.

Sara overlooking the focus group, helped by our supervisor Cotilda. And Sophie interviewing a farmer with the help of Teddy translating into Luganda.

The focus group.

Here, the farmers have had their savings meeting, we have done our focus group and interviews and now Cotilda is giving her comments to the group regarding its performance.

Unfortunately, it is not all peachy here at the moment. When we got to the office Friday, before going to the field, we heard that 3 people were killed in Kampala during riots on Thursday, which is why we are not in Kampala this weekend as we had planned to be. And when we got back from the field visit, the guard at the office told us that there had been gunfire in Masaka while we were away. So we went straight to our house and stayed in the rest of the day. Yesterday we were told by the guard from the office that everything was peaceful now, so today we went to the Tropic Inn hotel, had a nice breakfast, swam in the pool and worked on the tan. Now I have to go as I just got the pancake with icecream I've ordered ;o)

Overall, despite riots, we are progressing well and enjoying being here. It doesn’t feel unsafe as we haven’t heard or seen anything ourselves and everybody else appears to be out and around as normal except.
Oh, and 9 more mosquito bites... 6 of them acquired in less than 5 minutes while working at the office. It’s unacceptable!

Byebyo! (That’s all!)

Everyday life... Plus some fun!

2009-09-13T15:18:00.003+02:00

Part 1!
First of all, we have finally gotten our computers hooked up to the Internet at the office! Progress! Since last time a few things have happened, so here is a short chronological debriefing:

Every morning offers a wonderful view over the Masaka valley, but some mornings are more beautiful than others, like this one!

Last Friday we went to a BBQ at the Danish NGO/Café Frikadellen, where I fell in love with a guy. Don’t remember his name, but anyhow he was a bit too young for me as he was only 22 months old. But so chocolately adorable and already a master at flirting ;o)

On Saturday we booked a car and went to Lake Nabugabo ½ hour away. We went to a part named Sand Beach, despite the fact that there were no sandy beaches but only grass… Well, the bottom of the lake was sand…

Anyway, the lack of sandy beaches did not make the day any less perfect!

Among other trivial things I have read “101 days” by Åsne Seierstad and really liked it! I have also the honour of announcing my new favourite movie: “Breakfast at Tiffany’s”. I just love it! We have also discovered one of the local music stores and bought a CD with Ugandan music, by Ugandan artists singing in Luganda. We have been playing a lot of hacky sack and have decided to challenge family and friends visiting us in November, just so you know it! And I’m getting better and better at juggling. My current record is 37!

Other than that, we have completed and submitted our first 2 school assignments, discovered an amazing restaurant called “Aidchild’s 10 tables” where they serve delicious food, beer and show movies. I have had amazing discussions with Sophie and Sara, sometimes we stay at the table after eating for ages and talk about everything! It’s such a positive surprise how well we get along together!

Regarding what we are here for, I can share the following happy news with you: We have finally decided upon our Master Thesis topic which is (for those of you interested): Can agroforestry be a means to develop small scale farmers’ capacity? And we are really exited about this as we now can start deciding and planning how we will collect the data needed for our thesis. To deepen our understanding of the work the organisation does, we went to SCC Vi’s Agroforestry Training Centre (ATC) on the outskirts of Masaka. It was so fascinating.

Grace, a volunteer at the ATC is telling us about the different trees they have. A lot of them are for medicine, like the one that is suppose to increase womens energy level in bed ;o) And she was laughing while telling us. She added that people had broken in to cut pieces of the tree so they had to build a bigger fence...

Seedlings they sell to farmers or give away during droughts.

very cute goats!

Proceed to part 2 now!

Our first field visit!

2009-09-03T16:14:00.003+02:00

I'm back again!
Finally, We have started doing what we came for: Field work! And it was great! But also a bit strange. We sat on a couch and watched a village group have thair savings and loan meeting, us on a couch, with a carpet and table, and them on hard wooden benches. But I guess it's pretty normal everywhere in the world to give the guests the best.

After the meeting we did interviews with a few of them and had a focus group meeting with the rest. We consider the activities very successful despite having to change a few things to fit the situation. After the activities we all had lunch inside the church as it started raining outside.

The lunch was beef stew in palm leaves served with rice and Matoke (mashed, warm bananas). Afterwards all the furniture was carried back outside and the women sang and danced for us. We are all in love with their dresses which comes in all colours! I'm thinking about buying one as it only costs about 350kr to get it special made... But I can't really see when or where I'll wear it, so probably not. But they look were elegant!

And they insisted on us joining them which was a lot of fun! All in all we learned a lot and all three of us can't wait to go to the field again, hopefully next week to do another survey and more focus groups! And with this happy photo I say goodbye for now. Please send me a comment or two if you read this, as I sometimes feel lonely here in Africa!

Oh, forgot to say: the mosquitos are here now! I hate the tiny buggers, but they love me!!...

Wedding à la Uganda!

2009-08-30T14:18:00.010+02:00

Time for some news from Uganda!

The highlight since last time has definitely been the introduction ceremony/engagement party yesterday, an essential part of a wedding in Uganda. Before getting married, the groom and his family have to go to the house of the bride and ask for her hand. And we were invited to such an event by Cotilda, as her brother is getting married on Saturday. Our preparations began on Tuesday when we went to town with Cotilda to pick out fabric for our dresses.

Picking out fabric with Cotilda's help

Thursday we picked them up and after a few adjustments, brought them back to the house a tried everything on. It was hilarious! We looked like the fairies from Sleeping Beauty. However, when we arrived at the festivities, we kind of fitted in with all the others wearing beautiful colourful dresses.

We left our house at 9am, went to Cotilda's before starting our journey to Mbarara. It took about 3 hours.

The ceremony itself took about 7 hours, just sitting on our behinds watching the traditions unfold. Our team on one side, the brides on another and the bride and her brides maides in the middle, a total of about 150 people!

I think both families are upperclass as the event must have cost a fortune and they have not even had the wedding yet! A few times we had to get up and help bring the presents from the cars to the brides family or to go out to another tent (just the groom's team) to eat.

Standing in line for the buffet which was delicious!

Cotilda, me, Sophie and Sara at the ceremony just before heading home.

Other than discovering Ugandan traditions we have been working on our first project for school in collaboration with the organisation and it's going pretty well. We'll have our first field trip on Wednesday to attend a farmer's group meeting and interview members. Exiting!...

Discussing with one of the staff members, Ivan,,at the office. This is the room we spend most of our time in whn working at the office. You can see the Project Manager, Wilfred, being busy in the background.

And here we are having lunch at the Banana Chick who 'cures hunger'! This is where we go most days when not eating at home.
Until next time:
Bera bulungi! (Be well)

Photos!!

2009-08-25T11:43:00.004+02:00

Hello again!!
It's Tuesday and we're sitting at a Danish(!) café/shop/NGO eating lunch (Danish pancakes with vegetables!). It's delicious, a bit expensive, but free wireless internet and the surplus goes to Ugandan children ;o)
Here are some of the photos from the first couple of days in Uganda.

Sophie and Sara. On our way from the airport to Masaka, we had to stop to change a flat tire in the middle of nowhere when taking a "short cut".

Our house and pavilion in Masaka.

View from the house of Sophie studying and the valley

One of our new hobbies: Joggling! We're going to be champs by the time we have to go home. The same goes for playing hacky sack ;o)

Studying hard!

And here is Fanta!

In the last few days we have been: Exploring the town a little bit more, been to the market, started our internship/data collection period at SCC-Vi, been invited to a wedding which we have to get dresses made for (!), eating great food, watched Topgun, been to the town pool at the Tropic Inn hotel and met a lot of friendly people. This afternoon we have to study to prepare for a meeting tomorrow with a staff member of the Monitoring & Evaluation unit, but at 5pm we have to meet Cotilda (our supervisor at SCC-Vi) to decide what fabric we want our dresses to be made from ;o)
All in all, things are great so far! September and October are going to be busy, but fun and giving as well I think. Hope to have more news fro you soon!
Take care!

By the way, here are my contact info:
Tel: +256 783 86 66 23 (my cell)
Adr: SCC-Vi Agroforestry, Hill road, Masaka municipality Counsil, Uganda
See map: http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msa=0&msid=115227106680888221375.000471f65e2133ddd71a5&doflg=ptm&ie=UTF8&ll=-0.337248,31.737957&spn=0.002865,0.004801&t=h&z=18

Uganda!!

2009-08-22T14:28:00.003+02:00

Hi everyone!
Just want to let you know that we have arrived safely to Masaka and everything is perfect! We live in a big house on the top of a hill a few minutes away from the office and overlooking the city and valley. The house has everything we need, but despite having a room each, we spent the first night together in my huge bed just to feel safe. Not that we have any reasons not to feel safe, we have a fence all around the garden and a guard and dog (Fanta) 24/7. But we lost power and beeing in a new house in total darkness on our first night was too much!
I'd planned to but some photos here, but forgot to bring my USB so maybe tomorrow or Monday.
The plan so far is to prepare ourselves a little bit for Monday morning where we are supposed to be at the office at 8am and start our internship/data collection. We are all really exited and looking forward to getting our hands dirty, learn a lot and experience the work of an organisation and its impact. Great!!...
Enough for this time, but I'll be back!
Maria

Summer 2009

2009-07-20T09:41:00.002+02:00

So far the summer has been great! 3 days in London with my two brothers and a week in Greece on Syros with my dad and the rest of the family. Both were great!
Now I'm back in Malmö working and counting days: 3 weeks and 3 days untill U2's concert in London with me in the audience, which means only 4 weeks and 3 days untill I leave for my field work period in UGANDA!!... One minut I'm so exited about Uganda that I almost can't wait, while the next I'm close to panicking not wanting to go at all. Well, the ticket is bougth and it is one of the last obstacles standing between me and a Master's degree so it's a question of just doing it! And I know it's gonna be great!
After 10 weeks of fieldwork the plan is to take a few weeks off and go to South Africa to hook up with Martin! This part I'm particularly looking forward to: an adventure with my man, can't get any better ;o) Then back to some more fieldwork before going home for christmas and for good. Awaiting then as the last obstacle to overcome is my master thesis before I finally can brag about having a master's degree and get the job at the UN I've been dreaming about forever!
FYI, this blog will probably be the only place I'll document my adventures while in Uganda. Hope to see you here soon!

LUMID

2008-09-22T19:53:00.002+02:00

October is getting closer, which means the winter is on its way... The summer was great, despite spending a great part of my time working. But going to Tanzania wasn't as cheap as I had hoped. A few days after returning from the African continent I went to Roskilde to attend the annual rock festival. And as always when I go the weather was great. I also spend a week at our summer house in company of my family and the sun! So nice...
But right now, it is dark and cold and there are still a few more months until it is winter. I've started on my masters programme and after only 1½ week we were told to figure out where to go and what to do for our fieldwork semester. And what topic to write about in our thesis. Panic!! How are we supposed to make decisions like that after 1½ week? We have to go in pairs, which means we have to get to know the wishes of everybody else in the class and hopefully find someone who wants the same as me. Well, well, it's probably gonna work out just fine, but right now it feels overwhelming...
Well I better get back to my to-do-list instead of wasting time here...
Talk to you later (Probably from Africa in a years time)
Maria

Zanzibar!...

2008-07-07T13:53:00.011+02:00

Our last week in Tanzania was spend on Zanzibar. We took the ferry from Dar to Stone Town which was quite an adventure, although not really a good one! We bought tickets for the New Happy which was supposed to leave at noon (on wednesday the 18th of June) and take 2½ hours. But no, it left at 1.30 pm and took 5 hours and was loaded with tons of goods. But we saved 10$!!

When we finally arrived in Stone Town, we find the nearest hotel and went out to get some dinner, once again, chipsi mayai!
We spent 3 nights in Stone Town, shopping, walking around the amazing city centre and enjoying sunset drinks at the Sunset bar while watching the locals practise Capoeira on the grass infront of the bar. After sunset drinks we went to the street food area and had some really nice, local and cheap dinner.
We went on a halfday tour to Prison Island on friday which included some really nice snorkeling and a visit to the islands giant turtoises. They were huge and made weird sounds while they moved around looking for tourists who would feed them...

The view from the island towards Stone Town was pretty nice. The water was SO clear and the colour of it spectacular!

Saturday morning we went on a tourist dalladalla to Kendwa. Or we were supposed to go to Kendwa but all the hotels were full (due to the full moon party the same night) so after arguing with the guys on the bus we finally ended up in Nungwi on the far north of Zanzibar at a place called Casa Umoja recommended by one of the nicer bus guys (Mansour).

Our first priority was to get some food so be went to the local chipsi mayai restaurant in downtown Nungwi. And it was good! Although the first impression of the kitchen was doubtful...
But we ended up eating here a few times during our 4 days in Nungwi.

Saturday night we went to our local beach bar (Cholo's) and had a few drinks. Mansour joined us and spent a few hours talking us in to going to the full moon party. He succeeded... Around midnight the tide was low enough for us to walk alonf the beach to Kendwa, and we were joined with all the remaining guest+ the staff from the bar.

It took around ½ hour and was a really nice walk. We danced and drank until 6am, got on a bus back to Nungwi and went to bed.

Needless to describe how I was feeling Sunday morning when I woke up... And the rest of the day...

Monday and Tuesday were spent on following activities: sunbathing, swimming, eating, and then some more sunbathing, swimming and eating, before heading for Cholo's Bar in the evening. They made the best Pina Colada's ever! And so cheap! And even though I many times have sworn not to ever drink Tequila again we did get a few shots... We also fund out that Malibu and Sprite is not a good combination unless you REALLY like sugar... Nice people, good drinks, the best Bongo Flava music ever (I can recommend Professor Jay!) and a lot of dancing on the sand with bare feet!

So apart from severe sleep deprivation I had the time of my life on Zanzibar. We ended our stay on the island with a night in Stone Town where Mansour showed us a few local clubs with good music! So more drinking, dancing and enjoying Bongo Flava!

Thursday was the day we left Zanzibar for Dar. This time we made sure to buy tickets for the right boat which took a little more than 2 hours. When we finally came back to the house in Dar I collapsed on my bed and slept for 14 hours!!

Friday we went to Mwenge market to buy the last souvenirs before heading to the airport.

Conclusion: Tanzania is an amazing place! There is so much to see and do, people to meet and learn from, and we both can't wait to go back!

What I've written on this blog is only the highlights...

Lise: thank you for the best time ever! I miss you already!

Back from Kigoma!

2008-06-17T13:47:00.011+02:00

Yes, we made it safely back to Dar! And what a trip! It was amazing and I will try to give you the highlights here.We left Dar tuesday last week, on time actually. The train runs 3 times a week and is infamous for beeing late. The standard was horrible, but it didn't really matter to us; we were on an adventure!

The trip was amazing. The train was packed but we had a little privacy in our 2-bed compartment. We stopped at a lot of stations during the 1254 km long trip, and each station was packed with people selling something.

Each station kind of had their thing to sell, like bananas, honey, wooden spoons and so on. At some stations we stopped for an hour or two, got of and bought something to eat (chipsi mayai!) like in Tabora.

We arrived in Kigoma thursday after 43 hours on the train. It's a beautiful city on the shore of lake Tanganyika and we both loved it from the very first minut. And it got better! We should have stayed at a hostel in town, but our cook/guide Abbas knew about a place he wanted us to see (Mkuzi hotel). It was situated on the other side of the bay in a small fishing village called Kibirizi just by the water with a view of the city across the bay. And the people there were so friendly, despite a very poor english. Communication was done with a lot of smile and my swahili vocabulary consisting of about 20 words!

Friday was the big day! We got in the boat and sailed of to Gombe NP. We arrived a couple of hours later, and went on our first chimp trek in the afternoon. And we actually saw one!

The whole of saturday was spent in the tropical forest looking for chimps, which ment sometimes crawling through the bush like Indiana Jones, or Lise.

And we saw more. First some baboons, then a chimp some red colobus monkeys, some red tailed monkeys,

a bunch of baboons and a mother chimp with her baby! But she ran off before we got a change to take photos. We climbed a few mountains (!) to have lunch at a peak with the most incredible view and later to see a waterfall.

When we got back after 9 hours trekking in the forest up and down hills, we walked the 10 meters to the lakeshore with a towel in one hand and shampoo in the other and washed our hair in the lake like the locals. Is was so nice! Beats any shower I've ever had!!

Sunday we left Gombe and went back to Kibirizi, had lunch and the went to Ujiji 10 km south of Kigoma to see where Stanly met Livingstone. A great way to spend the afternoon. When we got back we enjoyed a cold beer on the beach while 3-year-old Neema kept us company.

We began our journey back to Dar Monday which was a sad experience. We were accompanied by 6 men to our taxi, incl the two boat guys, Abbas, and 2 hotel guys and it was sad to have to say goodbye to all of them.

The airport was tiny, didn't even have tarmac on the runway! but we survived to tell about the trip. Can't wait to share all of my photos and more details with you!

How to spend a weekend in Dar!

2008-06-09T10:35:00.003+02:00

I'm sorry to break the habbit of only writing every other week to suddenly writing 3 times the past week! But I just want to tell you about my weekend before going to Kigoma for a week.
Since two people in the house was on their path to recovery, we didn't want to go to far, so Saturday was spend at the Mwenge market shopping gifts for friends and family (and a few things for me!). We had lunch at a local joint, chips mayai (which is an omelett with french fries, not on the side, but in it!) and a coke and a water for about 1,5 $ and it was really good! Then we went to the Tingatinga center where I bought a nice painting (you can actually see a similar one on the photo posted some time ago of me looking at Tingatinga stuff. It's the black/white with the yellow frame on the wall to the right).
Yesterday, Sunday, we went to Gezaulole a bit south of Dar. Last weekend a local newspaper had brought an article about a Cultural Tourism Program that we thought sounded really interesting; visiting local people, like fishermen, and get an insight in their way of life in a way that supports the local community. But when we arrived at the hotel which was supposed to be the base for the program, the guy responsable for it was in Arusha and in the process of selling everything. So we were 4 girls stuck in nowhere with two guys who didn't speak much english and were really interested in knowing if we mere married and where our husbands were. Not in a creapy way, but more in a tiresome way... We persuaded one of them to give us a lift, not for free offcourse, and went to Mjimwema, to the Sunrise Beach resort where we spent the day on the beach just enjoying life.
And tomorrow we'll be leaving for Gombe National Park, which as I probably already have mentioned, is a 40-hour train ride to the otherside of Tanzania, at the shores of Lake Tangyanika. Hopefully we'll have time to go to Ujiji just a bit south of Kigoma which is the town where Stanley met Livingstone, uttering the famous words: "Doctor Livingstone, I pressume?"
I'll let you know in weeks time how it all went!
And, Anne, unless my flight home is like 10 hours delayed we'll be there on the 28th! Looking forward to it!! And Trine, big, enormous, huge congrats!!
Big hug to all of you!

So much to tell!! (part 2)

2008-06-05T15:43:00.005+02:00

Have you read part 1? If yes, please proceed!
More about the safari: It was great!! A 6-hour drive south of Dar, but absolutely worth it! We went on a boat safari, game drive and walking safari. I've seen so many animals I can barely recall them all, but I'll try: giraffs, impalas, zebras, warthogs, kudus, springbucks, baboons, blue monkeys, birds and "Timon", but the highlight was without a doubt the lion family! And the hippos! Our guide and cook was great, and I'm so satisfied with everything. I have around 300 photos and two videos, but here on my blogg I'll show you my two favourites.

Have to go since I have arranged to picked up by a taxidriver in 10 min. You'll have to hear the details and see photos when I get back (in three weeks). I'll try to update my blogg more often! Don't know what we'll be doing this weekend, since Lise is sick again. That poor thing!But the chimp safari is on Tuesday!

Take care till next time!

So much to tell!! (part 1)

2008-06-05T15:29:00.004+02:00

Hi! Thought it was about time to give you an update on my African adventure! Actually a lot has happened since last time, so I have a lot to share with you!Two weeks ago we where waiting to here from some of our contacts and while waiting we went to a Tingatinga centre (Photo 1) where I fell in love with a painting I have to buy! Sorry Martin!

Thursday (22/5) we went to Bongoyo, the island I went to a few weeks ago, and it was even more beautiful this time. We even got the bonus experience of seeing a green Mamba (snake) or one that looked like a green Mamba! No matter what, it was amazing to look at! Lise got sick and stayed at the Cowi house during the weekend while Mette, Katja and I went to Sunrise Beach Resort at Mjimwema (where I was about a month ago) and I discovered that I have a favourite drink: Vodka Sour! I now understand how people can get addicted to alcohol! We stayed overnight and saw the amazing sunrise over the Indian Ocean! Fabulous! (Photo 2) We spent the Sunday in the sun on the beach… No complaints about the weekend, but I wished that Lise could have joined us.

On Monday (26/5) we actually had our first appointment to go visit a school! It was a small private pre- and primary school near Ubungo in Dar and the kids were adorable! (Photo 3). It was a great experience, and when we after being there the hole day finally hopped on a dalla heading home I felt so satisfied! It felt like the reason for me going here in the first place finally took place! On Tuesday we didn’t do much. Made copies of our photos on Mette’s computer (which took forever!), went to a safari operator to get some information, and then to the market to buy fruit and veggies. Ate dinner at home and then watched a movie.Wednesday turned out to be the most expensive day EVER!! But when the reason is buying two safaris, I can’t really complain ;o) We are going to Selous tomorrow for 4 days safari hoping to see the big five! And then we’ll be going to Gombe on the 10th for a 6 days chimpanzee safari! Can’t wait!!Thursday and Friday we visited two more schools.

On Thursday it was a secondary school in Kibaha about an hour outside Dar. The trip there was as great an experience as visiting the school. Friday we went to a nursery/primary school, also private. Clearly this one was better funded than the others, but it was still great to be there!

Yesterday we came home from the Selous safari, but I'll have to tell more about that later. It was amazing!!

More Dar news

2008-05-20T15:24:00.009+02:00

Thanks to all of you for remembering my birthday! I had a really good day, did nothing much during the day, but went to an Ethiopean restautant to have dinner, and it was SOOO good!! The food (photo 3), the company, the honey wine... We made (me excluded!) all the other people stare when the Swedes sang the swedish birtday song and the Danes sang the danish one, I got to choose two instruments, el-guitar and flute! I laughed so much!!! Friday, I went to the beach, but the sun didn't, and at night our taxi driver Charles picked me up to go to the airport and pick up Lise. She was waiting for me as her flight was early. She's finally here! Saturday we just took it easy, a little sightseeing and shopping. I've bought some really nice Tingatinga paintings! On Sunday we went to the National Museum in City centre and then continued to Mwenge handicraft center where we bought some nice earrings. The others from the COWI house had been to Zanzibar during the weekend and brought back Indian food on their way from the airport. Nice! Yesterday (Monday), we went to White Sands, a resort north of Dar with a nice beach (photo 1) and a really nice pool! We stayed all day and then took two Daladalas to get home ( about 45 min and around 5 dkr for both!). Ate leftovers for dinner and then went to the Irish for another Quiz night, which we didn't win, but could have won had we only played our joker right! Today we have been to the Village museum and to Mlimani City (the newest shoppingcenter in town) and are now at an internet cafe just next to it.I have to go now, cause we have to do some research on safari's! Talk to you some other day!

More DAR...

2008-05-14T13:46:00.002+02:00

Thought it was about time to do some updating on my blog! I'm having the best day ever!! Got a lot of emails from back home, one of them saying that I've been accepted to LUMID at the Uni of Lund which has my dream! More than a 1000 applied and only 40 got in! Including little me!! So in 2 years time I will have a "Master in Social Science with Specialization in Development and Management"!! Great or what!! Moreover, I'm still 27 and Lise is arriving on friday!
What have I been up to the last 10 days? Hmm... Well after going to Bongoyo last saturday, I went home, took a shower and went to a cosy roofparty at the university with all the exchange students. Later a few of us went to a night club called Maisha and dance all night! They really know how to shake it down here!! I'm trying to learn some Swahili since it's supposed to be one of the easiest languages to learn, but that doesn't mean it's easy! I've learned the basics, like "my name is" (Jina langu), "I come from Denmark" (Ninatoka Denmark), "How are you" (Habari or the more casual Mambo or Vipi) and so forth... People here really appreciate it when you try. Often when I catch a taxi the drivers teach me some words...
I've been to the pool at the Golden Tulip a few times since last time, been to one more quizz night at the Irish (although this time with more difficult questions like who sang the original "War... Yeah". I only heard Jackie Chan in my head!), played some Uno at the house, read some good books (I recommend "A Thousand Splendid Suns" and "Half of a Yellow Sun"), been to some nice restaurants, baked a choclad cake with instant cacao which made it taste like caramel. I've been to the cinema twice ("What Happens in Vegas" and "Ironman") which was just like back home except from a large animal crawling on the wall. It was to fat to be a giant lizard, looked more like a giant rat, but do they climb walls??? Well, we took our feet of the floor and continued watching the movie!
I've met with two girls volounteering for Mellemfolkeligt Samvirke at a nursery/pre-school which Lise and I will visit next week, hopefully. The Cowi contact has arranged for us to visit a primary school on monday, so my contacts are starting to pay off! I dont really know what I'm going to do tomorrow during the day, but we'll be going to an Ethiopean reataurant to have dinner (the Cowi house population and the two girls from Malmo). And friday I'll be going to the airport to pick up Lise!!
I forgot to bring my camera today, so unfortunately you'll have to wait to see some photos :o(
Hope you're doing well! Take care untill next time!
Hugs!!

A few words...

2008-05-03T16:58:00.002+02:00

SO nice to read your comments!! Keep'em coming!
I don't have much time, but just want to let you know that I'm alive and well! I've had a cold this week, but it's starting to go away now, thank god!
Highlights of this week are: moving to the house where 3 others already live (Danes), sushi at the Kilimanjaro hotel downtown, spending wednesday by the pool at the Golden Tulip hotel (SO nice), eating homecooked meals and fresh passion fruits, and spending today with Louise and 8 others from the uni on the beach of Bongoyo Island. Have to go now, got 9 people waiting for me ;o)
By the way, we didn't win quizz-night :o( but is was fun!
I'll be back with more details later!
Big hugs to all of you!

Mjimwema

2008-04-28T12:32:00.004+02:00

I've just had the best weekend! I went to Mjimwema with 4 friends, which is just south of DSM, a ferry and then a daladala (minibus) ride away. We got caught in the rain twice on our way, but finally made it to our destination, a resort called Sunrise Beach, with a big restaurant and tent bungalows on the beach. Had some lunch and when it didn't rain, laid on the beach. We met 4 guys, 2 from Israel and 2 from South Africa, who we joined in a game of beach volly. We decided to spend the night in one of the tents, so we also had our dinner and later on a couple of beers on the premises.

I began my sunday with a dip in the indian ocean, relaxing on the sand for a while and then a nice breakfast buffe. I discovered the very tasty chapatis, which is a sort of pancake. Then another game of volley, this time a bit more serious as we played Scandinavia vs the world (ie. girls vs guys), and unfortunately we lost... We decided to head home, getting on the daladala (28 people, 3 chickens and 2 scapi/lobsters, all alive), then on the ferry and finally a short walk to the hostel. A really nice weekend which resulted in my feet having the same colour as a danish mailbox (ie. very red!)

Today (monday) I went to talk to Cowi and they were SO helpful. I'll be moving into one of their guesthouses tomorrow, where I can stay for the remaining of my trip (and Lise as well when she arrives in 2 1/2 weeks time). I also got in contact with an employee there who can help us arranging visits to schools, so everything looks great right now! Tonight I'll be going to quiz-night at the Irish pub with the girls from the weekend. I'm trying to get some photo's here too, but dont know if it'll work. Time will tell...
That's all folks!
Maria

Nothing much...

2008-04-24T11:59:00.003+02:00

It only took me 18 minutes to get to this page where I finally could start writing! In other words, the internet is a bit slow (actually SOOO Slowww..), but I guess that's part of beeing in Africa! I still cant really crasp the fact that I'm sitting in Tanzania near the equator, it's a bit weird. But I'm here! It has been quite calm the last few days, I haven't done that much, walked around town to get to know it, prevented two guys from actually stealing something from my bag although they both had their hands on it, experienced a totally dark Dar Es Salaam when the power went out last night and I was stuck at an internet cafe, and emailing some people about housing and visiting schools.
So far I love Dar, the smells (not of the traffic), the sound of the mosque a few times a day, the friendly people (the pocket thieves not included), the delicious indian inspired food and the temperature (around 30)... I've been hanging out with a guy from the States, Tim, who's been here for a while. During my first two days here he had to go a couple of embassy's to get visas and I tagged along to get some sightseeing done from the taxi rides back and forth. He's really nice and we've had some discussions about development, american politics and drinking games although I have yet to taste a local beer! And tuesday night I had dinner with Louise (from the Red Cross in Malmo) and Maria from Malmo, so I'm not totally alone in this mysterious country far away!Despite this I still hope to hear from some of my contacts tomorrow, otherwise I might head out to Zanzibar for the weekend...
You'll have to wait a bit longer for photo's, I need to find a better internet cafe since there's a limit to my patience! I haven't really that many photo's to show as I'm kind of an easy target as it is without me having to pull out a camera, simply by beeing a white girl travelling by herself.
Jambo Inn is a nice hostel in the middle of everything, with a good but pricy (meaning 9 usd for dinner and drink) restaurant next to the reception. The only annoying thing is that something is dripping constantly right outside my window driving me insane when have have to go to sleep at night. I gues I'll get used to that too.
Well, to sum up, not much has happened other than me trying to adapt to my new surroundings and making contacts!
Talk to you later! (thanks for your comments!)
oxo Maria

By the way, I've got a tanzanian phone number, if you want it just write me an email!

DAR

2008-04-20T13:51:00.002+02:00

Just want to let you all know that I have arrived safely to Dar Es Salaam, more specifically Jambo Inn on Libya street. It's hot and humid and the rain is pourring down. Moreover, I'm hungry so I'll have to get back to you later!
Maria

Zurich airport

2008-04-19T07:24:00.002+02:00

Nothing exiting has happened yet, I just have 4 minutes left on the internet and wanted to use them! I have spend the night at an uncomfortable bench so I'm a bit tired and still have to wait 3 more hours for my next departure. I just received an email from my hostel in DAR confirming my airport pick up so that's nice! Right, Anne? I'll be back with more info later! Times up!
Ciao!

My next adventure...

2008-04-09T10:30:00.003+02:00

Just 9 days left before I once again head out to discover the world! This time my destination is Tanzania, Africa. I have really ambivalent feelings; I can't wait but at the same time I'm terrified! Exited could be an appropriate word to describe my feelings...
Anyway I will be updating my whereabouts here, so if you are one of my curious friends interested in knowing what I'm up to, just visit my blog and you will know!

Some info about this trip:
I have been studying developing countries for the past 2 years the result beeing a bachelor's degree in developing studies. In other words I know a lot about developing countries in theory and going to Tanzania is then my attempt to obtain some practical knowledge as well.
Tanzania will be my home for 10 weeks, mainly Dar es Salaam, but I also plan to discover other parts of the country and its population. Obviously I'm planning to go on a safari at the Serengeti and Ngorongoro as well as trying out some beaches on Zanzibar... Only time will show what else will be added to my list!..

Can't wait to read your comments here in the future!
Take care for now!
Maria

Update on my life...

2007-03-05T21:31:00.000+01:00

It's march and spring has really showed its arrival... Nice! What's new... Hmm... I've spend a lovely christmas at my dads house the real traditional danish way of doing it. Maybe a photo of it will show you what I mean:
I just love christmas!

New Years Eve was great as well. It was nice to have a few days of, since my head was tired of all the learning at school.
But I did compleed first semester and I am now on my second. I actually turned in an application today, applying for 8 weeks scholarship to go to Cameroon to do my research for my 3 semester paper. We'll see next week if I get it or not!

Talk to you then!

Still here!

2006-12-15T09:42:00.000+01:00

It's been a few months and thats cause nothing speciel has happened... If I'm not studying, I'm working! But it's worth it. I find my studies SO interesting, it feels like I've found what I've been looking for! Who knows, maybe I'll end up in the UN headquarter in Nairobi or something like that! It would be so cool! I still got a few more years of studying though...
Here's a photo of me and Martin strolling in the park a sunday afternoon in october... It's still unbelievable warm for this time of the year, around 10 degress celcius. Usually it's below zero... Global warming probably...

Better go now, I got a big assignment for school that has to be in this afternoon. Take care, merry christmas and a happy new year!!

Malmö...

2006-09-18T15:01:00.000+02:00

There's no place like home!
And that's where I am now. I've returned from the States and have started school. This time it's not french I'm studying but underdeveloped/developping countries and environmental studies. It is SO interesting! I really feel like I've found my calling! Let's see if I feel the same a few weeks from now... I think I will though.
I miss the kids in America even if I was only there for 4 weeks. But it's nice to be back as well. I dont think I'm going travelling much in the near future, so this blog is going from travelblog to everydaylifeblog. Just so you know it! Thanks to all of you for following my adventures in the States. Now I offer you the opportunity to follow my not as exiting life as a student. Which reminds me that if any of you wants to know about the really, really bad situation we ( the earth and all life on it) are facing in the future, then go to the library and ask for Knud Vilby, Den globala resan/Den globale rejse. There's some scary stuff in there! Or talk to me!
Ciao!!

Philly!!

2006-08-21T16:38:00.001+02:00

Hi again!
It's monday again which means I've had yet another weekend to do some sightseeing here in the eastern US. First I have a few more photos from last weekends visit to New York:

This is me standing on the Brooklyn bridge with the New York skyline behind me. Fortunately there are always some nice old ladies I can get to take my photo!

And the photo below is the amazing view from Empire State building! It was really something!! If you know where to look you can actually see the statue of Liberty on Liberty Island far to the right...!

This weekend I took a one day trip to Philadelphia to experience the largest city in the colonial days! And there was a lot of history to see and experience! I now know everything about Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson and Betsy Ross!!
These 2 towers are the first you see arriving in Philly...

This is Carpenters' hall where the first continental congress met in 1774 when they felt threatened by England! And I thought America had absolutely nothing of historical interest! I was wrong!! It's my guide in the white t-shirt!

And of course I had to go see the Liberty bell! It was smaller than I'd imagined but it was great to see anyway! And as you can see I ran into another nice lady!!

Philadelphia city hall!! A beautiful building so much bigger than what this photo shows. Philadelphia is actually a lot like New York, only smaller! There is also a china town, a finance district and some really nice and cozy areas. South Street was probably my favorite area, with lots of small interesting boutiques. The kids are calling; so I'd better go now!! Have a nice week!!! Kram!!

Pics!!

2006-08-16T16:30:00.002+02:00

Hi again!!
I think I now know how to put some photos here from this computer!! So here they come:

As you can see, I've been to the big apple!! And it was amazing!! I was only there for 2 days, but I did see a lot, including Times square!! So many people and so many lights!! But it's a place one has to see!

It's also a must to take the free ferry to Staten Island from which there's a beautiful view over the city and the statue of liberty! (She's not on the photo)

And of course, I did do some nice shopping on fifth avenue, went through central park, walk on Wall street and saw ground zero. I also took a stroll through Little Italy, China town and Greenwich village. All amazing places but very different from one another. Oh, and I almost forgot, I did go up the Empire state building! And the view was indeed magnificent!!

And here they are; Emma and Lucas as clowns! And me as the artist! Yesterday we went to the discovery museum which is a big indoor playground with all kinds of activities. They loved it!!

Today we'll go to the library to play and to get some new DVD's. Next weekend... Who knows! Maybe New York again or Philadelphia... Till next time: Take care!!
Kram!!

Au-pair!

2006-08-10T16:13:00.000+02:00

Hi everybody! I think it's about time to let you know what I'm up to! Right now I'm sitting in Mount Laurel, New Jersey, listening to Emma and Lucas playing in her room. They are all over the place most of the time so I haven't really had time to update the blog, but I just found 5 minutes.
The family is so nice and the kids are great except when Emma is tired, cause then she gets really upset, but fortunately it doesn't happen so often !
I arrived friday and just took it easy, going to the pool with Birgitte (the danish mom) and the kids, Hervé (the french dad) joining us all later.
Saturday we all went to Philadelphia half an hour away, took a walk around and had lunch at a french restaurant, Le Jardin. I saw the building where the keep the Liberty bell but didn't had time to go inside and see it but maybe I'll spend a weekend in Philly.
And we spent sunday on the beach. Mount Laurel is only 1 1/2 hour from New York and 1 hour from the coast. We went to Avalon like hundreds of americans and then had to pay 5 dollars to get onto the beach! But it was so nice!! Too hot on the beach but SO nice in the water!! And now I've started working!
A typical day looks like this: I get up at 7, the kids between 7 and 8 and then we eat, play, eat, play and then play some more! We've been to the playground, to the pool, the supermarket and today we might go to the childrens library.
I better go play with them now! I'll get back to you later! I think I'm gonna go New York this weekend but we'll see! Take care!!!

Home...

2006-07-12T11:48:00.000+02:00

I just want to keep this up to date, so that's what I'm doing!
The last few weeks have been nice. Not great like the States, but really nice... I'm unemployed and have had time to enjoy the summer, one week at our summerhouse in Jylland with Martins family and the week after at the Roskilde festival with my friend Emma, enjoying sleeping in a tent, beer and concerts!
I've actually been trying to get a summerjob, but I suddenly got an offer I couldn't resist so I'm gonna stay unemployed all of july and then I'll be going to the States again in august!! Yep, I've got a job as an au-pair in a danish/french family from august 4-31, 1½ hour from New York and I'm really exited! The have two kids, Lucas 5 and Emma 3, and seem really nice!
And I've just learn that I've been accepted at the university in Lund to study "underdevelopped countries " starting sept 1st!
And that's pretty much what's been going on in my life the last couple of weeks... See you soon again!
xoxoxo

New photos

2006-06-17T00:43:00.001+02:00

Hi again!
Better late than never, right?!! Here's some more photos from my trip to the US. Tomorrow I'll be going to the Roskilde festival so maybe later you'll hear about that!!

Me, in Laguna Beach, CA

Baywatch or what!! You can see Santa Monica pier in the background!

An example of the interesting/weird architecture I saw in Venice Beach!

And yes! This is me!! Cool or what!! A real surfer chick!!

The coast between L.A and San Francisco. It was more beautiful than you can imagine!!

This is the flying "thing" that hit us while driving on the freeway!

Golden gate bridge, San Francisco!

Our beautiful hostel in Sacramento, CA. Martin is sitting on the porch in the red t-shirt...

Oak greek Canyon, AZ. Sorry, dont have any from Grand Canyon!

I'm actually in the pool, but right behind the chair! At Eva's parents' place in Phoenix, AZ.

Take care and I'll see you all after Roskilde!!!

Back home...

2006-06-12T21:19:00.000+02:00

Yep, it's all over, I'm back in Sweden. But actually it's not all bad. The weather is really nice and next week I'll be going to our summer house!
I just want to tell you about the last few days of my travelling.
After Flagstaff we took the long drive to Phoenix through Oak creek Canyon which was really beautiful but nothing speciel compared to Grand Canyon. We arrived in Scottsdale, Phoenix around 6 pm monday and went to Eva's parents. ( Martins family) They had a really, really nice house and a really nice pool which was necessary for my tanning! It was so unbelievable hot! 40 degrees and up and no wind at all!
Her mom made us a delicious dinner and we watched King Kong! Most of tuesday was spend in or by the pool, spiced with a tiny trip to Victorias Secret, nice dinner at the house and then we went out to have a beer and a chocolate martini with Eva's brother Sal! It was better than I thought!
And wednesday was the day we started our journey home. First a 4-5 hour drive to L.A, where we hooked up with Mattias and went for thai food. We slept at his place, right until thursady morning at 6:30 am. We got up and got to the airport where I cought my flight and now I'm home...
It has been a great travel! Just let me know if you wanna hear more about it!!
The last thing I need to do is to put the best photos here as well.
I'll be right back!

Flagstaff, Arizona...

2006-06-05T20:14:00.001+02:00

... is where I'm at right now. A small western town with some really noisy trains coming trough all the time, but besides that, really charming.
Hmm.. Have to think now... We left Sacramento really early tuesday morning heading for the American river, South fork where we went White water rafting. (Martins birthday present to me) It was awesome! The water was really, really cold, but the sun was burning and the rapids wild! Afterwards we got back in the car and drove to Yosemite National Park where we stayed a night and the moved on to see the huge seqouias (trees) in Seqouia NP, which can reach an diameter of 40 feet, 12 m, and was about 1700 years old!! Fantastic!! We spend the rest of the day driving, wanting to be in Vegas for the night. So we drove through the desert, passed the state line to Nevada and arrived around midnight in a glittering Las Vegas. The next day we went Casino watching. It was so hot, around 40 in the shade and no wind... So it was just heaven going in to an airconditioned hotel/casino and gamble a little. We won some and lost some, but it was fun! The hostel had a really nice pool where I spend some time... Saturday we went to Mesquite so Martin could get his birthday present from me, a skydive! He went up and came down and thought it was briliant!!
We got back to Vegas, found out that my account is empty... :o( so we went to a supermarket to get some cheap lunch. But in the middle of our shopping a lady announced over the speakers that everybody had to leave, some kind of emergency... I thought a fire alarm had went on but no, it was a bomb threat.. Nice! So we left quite fast!That night we went back to the Casinos: Paris-Vegas, Bellagio, MGM, Venetian and so on.
But sunday morning we'd had enough and left. Drove to Hoover dam which was impressive and continued to Arizona and Grand Canyon which was absolutely amazing!! It's SO big!! Really breath taking!! Just the colours and the Colorado river at the very bottom looking like a snake trying to find its way out... What a metaphore!! It was really great! And leaving Grand Canyon led us to Flagstaff. Today we're gonna take a walk here, then get in the car and go to Phoenix where we're gonna stay with Martins bigbrothers wifes parents!
Oh and we got a new car. 20 miles north of Fresno an indicator in the car started blinking and when we called Budget they told us to go to Budget in Fresno and they gave us a new one. Same same but different: its green...
Have to go now, promis to have pictures next time!
Hope you're all doing great!!

Big tree in Seqouia!

Big trees, small car...

Entrance to Treasure Island Casino in Vegas!

Martin right before he went up!

Sacramento, CA

2006-05-30T05:47:00.000+02:00

Right now I'm sitting at the best hostel ever when it comes to charm! It is so cosy, like a really old southern house with a porch and everything... Well, since last time there has actually been some action! We left L.A really early saturday morning and took the pacific highway ( #1) towards San Francisco through Malibu, Santa Barbara and Big sur. It was so amazing! The coast line was so beautiful, it took forever but was absolutely worth it. Then about 2 hours from San Francisco we almost got killed on the freeway. Not a very nice experience but we're allright. A car in front of us ran over a big piece of metal that flew up and right in to our grill were it got stock and damaged the cooler. We thought it was just a piece of tire or something but a highway patrol officer called us over his speakers while we were driving 65 mph and said: You know you got a huge piece of metal in your grill? And I just nodded... Then when we got to San Francisco and got out of the car, we saw it and wondered if that piece had hit the windscreen it could have been the end... We took the car to Budget and the manager ( a woman knowing nothing about cars) said it was just cosmetic! The mecanic pulled it out and said: She's the boss while he shook his head... And if anything happens we got a number to call!.
San Francisco was great!! I love it! The hills are incredible!! Got some great photos that I'll show you later... Today we left San Francisco, drove over the Golden gate bridge and had some lunch in Sausalito. Continued to Napa Valley and went to a winery where we tasted some wine. I felt very sophisticated! And after a really nice day driving around with the roof down and enjoying the sun and the views we're now relaxing in Sacramento. I have to go and get a shower now!!
Martin sais hi to everybody! Take care and write a comment or two!
The surf chick!!

Bye bye L.A!!

2006-05-27T04:14:00.000+02:00

Here I am, back again! Sitting at my favorite cafe (Alibi) enjoying a cup of tea and looking so much foreward to our roadtrip which begins tomorrow morning at 5:00 am. First stop: San Francisco!!
I've been spending most of my week in Venice and Santa Monica, getting a tan and learning to surf. It's been great!! I've had three lessons and I actually got to stand up on the board! More than once!! And I got proof, gonna post the photos here as soon as possible, so you guys can be impressed! Two nights I've been staying at hostels in Venice Beach, one better than the other, but both pretty okay. The one I stayed at last night had tv and video so I watched Gremlins with some weird/funny americans! Shared a room with three guys, one of them used my towel when he showered... Not so nice...
After the beach today, I took a bus to the airport, met Martin at Budget and we picked up our vehicle for the next two weeks: a chrysler convertibel! Which means that we can take the roof down!! SO COOL!! All that's left to do is the laundry and a lot of packing...
Hope all of you are doing great!!
Hugs!!

San Diego!

2006-05-23T04:24:00.000+02:00

Back again!! And yep, we finally went to San Diego... It took us 4 1/2 hours to get there since we took the pacific highway insted of the freeway but it was absolutely worth it!! Beautiful beaches, especially Laguna beach, amazing nature and so many cars and houses everywhere!! And when we finally arrived at our destination, it was worth the long drive! I love San Diego!! We only had about 3 hours there but it was so non-american in a way. Cosy but still a big city! I bought some really cool sun glasses and some fish'n chips and then we got back in our Buick!! (free upgrade) and took the freeway home... 2 1/2 hours...
Today was the very first day in my surfing career! Or it was supposed to be... After 3 hours on different busses, I arrived in Santa Monica, went to the beach to find life guard tower #26 where there were supposed to be some big colorful umbrellas and some surf boards, but I found nothing! Just miles of sand and a good looking life guard! So I walk around like a confused pinguin, decided not to let it spoil my day and threw myself on the sand! I'm starting to get a tan!! Hihi... Now I'm sitting at cafe Alibi, have just read an email from Martin saying that some surf girl called him after I left this morning to tell me that all surfing was cancelled today. The reason: The water gets so polluted after the rain ( it rained this morning) that you can get sick from being in it! Nice or what? So maybe tomorrow... And I promis to get some photos of me as a surfer chick on this blog!! Dont stop to write comments! Oh, I better be going home before it gets dark... They got some spooky areas around here!
Kram kram!!

Photos

2006-05-21T19:22:00.003+02:00

Hey everybody,

Here's a few photos. Don't have much time to write now, cuz' we're going to San Diego. Just have to pay the bill at the cafe, and we're on our way. So, take care and I'll get back to you soon!

Cafe Alibi, Pasadena. Our absolute favorite cafe!

Trying on my new shoes in Griffith Park. Thanks Dad!

Look really close, and you can actually see the Hollywood sign!

The very top of Mt Wilson. Yes, it is LA you can see 5200 feet (1585 m) down!

To end a great day we went to a landmark theatre to see the DaVinci Code.

Pasadena!

2006-05-18T22:26:00.000+02:00

Hi everybody!!
Where to begin?! I'm in Pasadena (greater L.A) and I'm doing great! If not considered the fact that I can hardly sit because of a bad sunburn! The weather has been great, I've been doing some sight seeing but it's not the easiest thing to do in the US when you dont have a car! Hollywood is an hour and 1 bus away, so I went there monday (on my birthday!!!) took a 2-hour sigth seeing tour and I now know where Britney, Christina, Paris and all the others live!!! And I've decited to get a house in Bel-air! Really nice real-estate there!! Santa Monica is 2 1/2 hours and 3 busses away, but I went anyway this tuesday... Decided to spend an hour on the beach next to the lifeguard! thus the sunburn!! But I did see the pier and bought a t-shirt so it was a perfect day! You might be wondering why I'm doing everything on my own, but Martin still has school from 9-5 and Pasadena is not that exiting a place! It's really nice and has great shopping possibilities but thats about it! This weekend we're gonna rent a car and maybe go to San Diego. Depends on how much we want to do and see in L.A. And next week I'm gonna learn how to surf, but I'll let you know more about that later! An hopefully I'll show you some photos as well!! Take care and a special thank you to those who remembered my birthday!
Big hug!!

USA!!!

2006-05-11T21:56:00.000+02:00

Tomorrow morning I'll be leaving for the States! 4 weeks in sunny California, a trip to Nevada and Arizona and lots more!! I'll let you know here what I'll be up to! And I'm gonna write in english due to my friends of different nationalities!! Be sure to write a comment or two! Take care and I'll see you all later! Cheers!

2006-03-04T21:25:00.000+01:00

Roskilde -05. Junior Senior koncert... hmm...

2006-03-04T20:47:00.000+01:00

Roskilde -05!! Dejligt dejligt!!

okay...

2006-02-26T20:00:00.000+01:00

Ja, egentlig har jeg jo ikke så meget at sige lige nu, men nu har jeg da i hvert fald endelig fået taget mig sammen til at få oprettet denne.... Måske dukker der interessante ting op her i den nærmeste fremtid. Man ved aldrig!!