Party at the nursing home!

One thing I have come to love about this year's Hald students, is that they are extremely creative and enthusiastic. Green and yellow hats have been generously distributed to this crowd, no doubt. I usually say that if one of them were to suggest they all throw themselves from a cliff, the responses would be something like this:
- Hey, yeah, that sounds like a lot of fun!!
- We should do it every week!!
- I have a really cool "running off cliffs-song we could use!"
- Let's not run, let dance off this cliff! That would be even better!

My kind of people, no doubt.

(Photo by Kristine R. Møskeland)

The last idea this crazy bunch of people came up with, was named a "party at the nursing home". The student board introduced the concept and not to our surprise, people were soon running up and down; looking for hideous skirts, old glasses and someone to draw wrinkles on their otherwise excited faces.

(Photos by Kristine R. Møskeland)

The party was a hit. People played their parts with excellence and the place ended up looking more like a zoo than a nursing home. After an hour or so of handing out medicine, taking people to the bathroom, carrying dead people out of the room and so on, we enjoyed activities such as a quiz, bingo and old folks' gymnastics. The whole thing ended, like most of the Hald initiatives, with a session of dancing. And when I went to bed, tired and sweaty, I thanked God once again to get to spend a year together with this lunatic bunch of people.

(Photo by Kristine R. Møskeland)

Cultural blunders of a Hald-returnee

By now it's safe to say that I have landed pretty well after returning from Kenya. Sometimes I think I have even landed a bit too well, and so I try always to be on my toes about keeping my internationalism. But in any case, I am now at the point where I can look back at my reversed culture shock and laugh, and I would like you to laugh with me:

Cultural blunder #1: Stopping in the security control in Amsterdam to have a chat with the security guard about the very interesting new high-tech security system, only to have a folder shoved into my hands and politely be asked to keep moving because I am blocking traffic.

Cultural blunder #2: Saying very loudly that "those wazungu over there smell like cheese!!", only to discover that they were Swedish and understood very well what I was saying.

Cultural blunder #3: Standing up when my friend's mother came into the room, shaking her hand and giving her a hug, even though I don't really know her very well.

Cultural blunder #4: Saying very confidently together with my Norwegian friends: "I am so happy that I'm a Christian, it makes life so much easier!!".

Cultural blunder #5: Wandering around Bergen for 3 hours trying to get hold of a bus card, frustrated to tears because it's expensive, people move to fast and noone is willing to take the time to help me out.

Cultural blunder #6: Smiling intensely at people in the street, only to have them walk in a big circle around me. 

Cultural blunder #7: Shouting at a beggar in the streets of Bergen that he should put on a coat because it's raining and he'll get sick.  

And some from my beautiful team mates:

Cultural blunder #8: Audhild and Ragnhild walking around Amsterdam holding hands and not understanding why people looked at them funny untill they remembered that in Europe there is this thing called open display of homosexuality.

Cultural blunder #9: Miriam standing in line at Starbucks, her eyebrows almost touching the roof. Now how is it possible that the clerk didn't know that raised eyebrows means "yes" in Kenya?

And now, reflection time:

Because who am I to call these blunders? Who says these are things that should be laughed at, forgotten and shrugged off? Of course, from time to time I have been frustrated, and I have frustrated others. But at the same time I think some of my "blunders" are very much needed in this cold corner of the world. And so this goes out to my fellow former Hald students:

If people are still laughing at you, looking at you weirdly or getting frustrated with you, don't be discouraged! Only dead fish follow the current, remember?

(This is the first thing that appears when you google "crazy")

I hope people will never stop looking at me as weird, stupid or crazy; because crazy people change the world! 

Song recommendation of the day: Lifehouse - Fool