The "Courage to make someone happy day"

About a week back my facebook informed me that 23rd of November is the national "Mot til å glede-dagen" eg. "Courage to make someone happy day". The concept is started by the organization MOT, which works to combat substance abuse and bullying in schools. On this day they encourage everyone to make people around them happy through small gestures such as smiles or a helping hand.

(The organization behind the day, which by the way also has sponsored my basketball team for years: thanks!)

Some friends of mine and I decided to take the challenge. And so on Tuesday Natasha (Connect China last year), Katrine (Act Now Peru last year), Carol (Focus Bergen now) and I headed to downtown Bergen armed with loads of coffee and banana cake. Target: foreigners waiting in line on the curb outside of the immigrations office.

(This was more or less what we expected to find at the immigrations office in Bergen, allthough this picture is from Oslo)

Well, I guess God had other plans for us. For would you believe that for the first time in history there was absolutely NO line there. Not a single freezing foreigner in need of coffee. Oh well, we thought.. Good for them, and there should be other cold people around. We started walking around town, offering coffee and cake to street magazine sellers (who generally told us they didn't have time to drink coffee) and foreign people sitting around asking for money.

Especially one Romanian lady made an impression on us. She looked like the sweetest grandmother, in her coat and coloured head scarf. She gladly shared a cup of coffee with us, and told us in broken Norwegian: "My hands were so cold, but now Jesus has sent me a cup of coffee to keep me warm".

After rounding up basically every street magazine seller and beggar in the city centre, we still had lots and lots of cake and coffee left. We decided to widen our search and went to the main square, where we occupied a bench, put up a small sign and started asking people passing by whether they wanted coffee or cake. We had lots of different reactions:
- How much is it?
- Who are you collecting money for?
- Which organization are you from?
- Which church made you do this?

We tried our best to explain that the coffee and cake was free, that we did not want any money, and that we were doing it on our own initiative. Most people didn't believe us and some even started looking for hidden cameras, thinking they might end up being the highlight of some comedy show later that day.

Some people still came to share a cup of coffee with us, and we soon discovered that love is a more powerful currency than money. When love takes the place of money, big things start happening. We saw an old, respected baker engaging in a 20 minutes' conversation with a lady selling street magazines. He ended up buying one of the magazines, paying twice what it was worth. We saw a man confessing to have social anxiety come over and share a piece of cake and a conversation with us. We saw beggars dancing off down the street. But more importantly we saw people having their eyes opened to the joy of making others happy; not simply by giving off a coin or two but by spending time seeing, loving and serving others.

For me the whole day turned out being an experience I really needed. I needed to see that there is still room for community in Norway. I needed to see Norwegians laying down their scepticism and individualism and daring to receive. The awesome thing about God is that He usually doesn't send one person to help another, but two people to help each other. I have regained some of my faith in the Norwegians. I guess all we really need is for someone to take the first step. 

Introducing: The green kitchen!

After a few weeks of cleaning, painting, carrying furniture and other stuff from the attic, convincing the teachers and just plain going creatively crazy, we are proud to present the result: det grønne kjøkkenet, la cocina verde, die grüne Küche, A zöld konyha, THE GREEN KITCHEN!!

All put into life and action by:

(made by Maybrit)

(made by Maybrit)

(made by Maybrit)



God's jigsaw puzzle

To any international readers, bear with me. But I found this Norwegian poem in the street magazine of Oslo and I really wanted to share it:

Vårherres puslespill

Når verden legger puslespill

med jevne, fine brikker

får alle mektige sin plass

som avtalt, vær du sikker.

Reklamepent står bildet der

som Adams drøm om seier. 

Men brikken min ble skubbet bort,

det gikk nok som det pleier.

Jeg passet ikke riktig inn

i denne verdens ramme.

Ja, mange av oss går omkring 

og føler seg til skamme.

Men engang kommer Herren selv

og Han forandrer rammen

og legger brikkene på nytt

og se! De passer sammen. 

Det bildet som da stiger frem

med stråleglans fra himmelen

består av alle verdens små

som ingen så i vrimmelen.

Vårherres eget puslespill

av verdens glemte brikker

har også plass til deg, min venn.

Han ser deg, vær du sikker. 

Per Gundersen

European invasion at Hald

The European Voluntary Service is the organization which has blessed us with Maybrit and Zsofia, and so we're big fans of them. So when they gave Hald the opportunity to host an On Arrival Training for a bunch of their volunteers, there was no way we would pass it up.

(Picture by Ulas Korhan)

That is how Hald ended up being invaded by a batallion of Europeans last week. 24 young volunteers from Sweden, Germany, Lithuania, Czech Republic, Austria, Bosnia, Macedonia, Bulgaria, Romania and Turkey brought Hald back to life for a short while, as they were learning the basics of cross cultural understanding.

(Picture by Ulas Korhan)

Nights were spent doing all kinds of fun activities: tran-drinking competitions during the Norwegian evening; laughing and breaking of chairs during fun and games; Norwegian we-were-so-nice-and-heroic-during-the-war propaganda (Max Manus) at movie night and teaching of new steps and rhythms by Hald student and buddy Julio at salsa night.

(Picture by Inga Koch)

The whole thing was topped off by a trip to a local light house from Friday to Saturday. There was no electricity, no water and apparently shortage of firewood, so it ended up being a cold experience. Nevertheless, it was one of the most beautiful sites I've seen in Norway, and well worth the trip. The students also had a great time, despite the cold.

(Picture by Inga Koch)

All in all, a week of lots of entertainment, good conversations, funny Germans ("Nai tak, jai er ike so nazi i dak"),  and new perspectives. I would like to thank all the EVS guys for your enthusiasm and good mood during the week; hope to see you again. :)

Hald is a really big place...

It's been two days since the last Hald student left us and Zsofia, Maybrit and I are doing our best to cope with our new, noiseless lifestyle. After several scavanger hunts to the multiple basements and attics of Hald our kitchen and rooms are coming together and our "apartment" is starting to feel a bit like home.

(Our newfound favourite beverage: Ginger drink)

The last few days have been spent baking (both my lovely roommates have bakers in their families), drinking thai ginger drink (which we found in a corner in one of the cupboards of the student kitchen, amidst fish sauce, soy, green curry paste, tea masala and other exotic leftovers which will be put to good use - thank you international students!), reading "The Irresistible Revolution" and longing back to Kenya and the simple life.

(Haven't read this book yet? Go read it, and be impacted)

But what is a lot more exciting right now is that 46 Norwegian Hald students have just arrived in what will be their homes for the next six to seven months! Today they have woken up in a new bed, to a new climate and new sounds, realizing that they are about to begin what is probably their greatest adventure so far. I want to wish every single one of them a blessed stay. Absorb as much as you can: language, knowledge, wisdom, stories. I'll be praying for you. :)

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