The beauty of the world
I've been thinking (as I very often do) about my motivation to go on every day, the motivation to do my best.
I mean, during all time humans have tried to find a reason for their lives, through religion, through beliefs and codes of honour. Through different life styles and role models. Something that is worth fighting for, something that makes you go on.
The thing that makes me go on every day is the knowledge that wherever I go, no matter where or when, I will always have myself. I will always have my good abilites to depend on.
Most importantly, I know that no matter where I am in life, I will always be able to find a reflection of myself in the world around me. In people, in nature, everywhere. I just have to open my eyes.
As well, where there is no reflection, I will always be able to find that everything that someone needs, another has plenty of. You just have to connect these parts to make the world whole.
The important thing is to open your eyes. To see beyond what you expect. The more expectations you have on the world, the more of it you miss, because you're only looking for a few things. The less you expect, the more open you will be to new things, and things you didn't expect. Life is so much larger than your expectations.
I feel that in one way, it really doesn't matter that I'm in Africa right now. The world is still the same, the people here are still people. I think it's the same all around the world, no matter where you go. It's not where you are that matters, it's what you do and how you look on the world that matters.
Everything really is one, the world is like one big organism with lots of different parts that are all connected to each other.
I mean, during all time humans have tried to find a reason for their lives, through religion, through beliefs and codes of honour. Through different life styles and role models. Something that is worth fighting for, something that makes you go on.
The thing that makes me go on every day is the knowledge that wherever I go, no matter where or when, I will always have myself. I will always have my good abilites to depend on.
Most importantly, I know that no matter where I am in life, I will always be able to find a reflection of myself in the world around me. In people, in nature, everywhere. I just have to open my eyes.
As well, where there is no reflection, I will always be able to find that everything that someone needs, another has plenty of. You just have to connect these parts to make the world whole.
The important thing is to open your eyes. To see beyond what you expect. The more expectations you have on the world, the more of it you miss, because you're only looking for a few things. The less you expect, the more open you will be to new things, and things you didn't expect. Life is so much larger than your expectations.
I feel that in one way, it really doesn't matter that I'm in Africa right now. The world is still the same, the people here are still people. I think it's the same all around the world, no matter where you go. It's not where you are that matters, it's what you do and how you look on the world that matters.
Everything really is one, the world is like one big organism with lots of different parts that are all connected to each other.
The spider that I removed (there are two more left)
Things are happening!
Hello everybody!
Today we had the first rain for almost two weeks, so it was really nice! Specially since I was lucky enough to be inside my room and not on my way back home from a preschool on the bike :)
It rained a lot and there was some mighty thunder as well, so now the maize will continue to grow!
A couple of days ago I removed one of our big spiders, since we've almost walked into the web several times. It was a bit scary, since they probably are poisonous, but I just took a broom and took away the web. Then I pushed the spider down on the ground, and put a bucket over it. After this I took some paper under the bucket and carried it away, although it almost escaped. I think it was a bit sleepy still, because it didn't move so much (which I am very glad for). I will put a picture of the spider so that you can see how it looks.
On thursday the Youth Centre will be opened. We expect 1500 people to come to the Opening Ceremony so we have made a budget for the food and my responsibility is to supervise everything and make sure that if someone has a problem, that problem is solved.
It feels good to be here, I think that I can do lots of good things for the people here. I feel that I'm getting into everything quite well now and that I have some work to do. I finally found my motivation, so I will always do my best.
Today we had the first rain for almost two weeks, so it was really nice! Specially since I was lucky enough to be inside my room and not on my way back home from a preschool on the bike :)
It rained a lot and there was some mighty thunder as well, so now the maize will continue to grow!
A couple of days ago I removed one of our big spiders, since we've almost walked into the web several times. It was a bit scary, since they probably are poisonous, but I just took a broom and took away the web. Then I pushed the spider down on the ground, and put a bucket over it. After this I took some paper under the bucket and carried it away, although it almost escaped. I think it was a bit sleepy still, because it didn't move so much (which I am very glad for). I will put a picture of the spider so that you can see how it looks.
On thursday the Youth Centre will be opened. We expect 1500 people to come to the Opening Ceremony so we have made a budget for the food and my responsibility is to supervise everything and make sure that if someone has a problem, that problem is solved.
It feels good to be here, I think that I can do lots of good things for the people here. I feel that I'm getting into everything quite well now and that I have some work to do. I finally found my motivation, so I will always do my best.
More about Malawi
Today I have a free day, it's really nice just to rest. Now I have been here for more than a week and I'm feeling more at home, although I miss alot of things still... but at least I know that I will return home one day.
The most sensational thing that happened so far was that I ate minced soy without having any allergical reactions! I'm really happy for that, because I'm allergic to the soy bean, but apparently not every part of it.
I get 6500 kwacha every week as an allowance so that I can buy everything I need, translated to euro it's about 32,5 euro or 325 SEK. Two hundred kwacha is 1 euro, and 6500 is definitely enough for me. If you want to buy a fruit at the local market it can cost maybe 20 kwacha, so these things aren't expensive at all. The guava fruit can be bought for 1 kwacha at some places, which really is nothing.
I'm living together with some animals here too, I have some spiders in my room and some more outside, there are geckos crawling around on the walls on all the buildings and we have a big and really cute schäfer as guard dog at the school by the name Blackie. There's also a lot of mosquitos so I have to be careful. I also saw a dead mamba with a light blue colour on the road one day, somebody had killed it with a stone. If you go to the page http://zuccini.bilddagboken.se you can see some pictures of the animals.
Although I'm in Africa, I can actually buy most things that can be bought in Europe at Shoprite in Blantyre. It's basically a normal supermarket with everything a normal supermarket has. Blantyre is the biggest city in Malawi, although it's not the capital.
I have good access to internet, something I'm really happy about. There is some offices that almost alwats has connection and as long as it's open I can sit there. The connection is a bit slow, but not too bad.
Something new for me is the suntime here, because the sun rises every morning around 4 or 5 and sets every evening around 6. After 6.30 in the evening it's dark, with only the moon and electricity to give some light. The night sky is different as well, since I'm in the southern part of the earth now, so I can see stars that I never saw before.
That's all for now.
The most sensational thing that happened so far was that I ate minced soy without having any allergical reactions! I'm really happy for that, because I'm allergic to the soy bean, but apparently not every part of it.
I get 6500 kwacha every week as an allowance so that I can buy everything I need, translated to euro it's about 32,5 euro or 325 SEK. Two hundred kwacha is 1 euro, and 6500 is definitely enough for me. If you want to buy a fruit at the local market it can cost maybe 20 kwacha, so these things aren't expensive at all. The guava fruit can be bought for 1 kwacha at some places, which really is nothing.
I'm living together with some animals here too, I have some spiders in my room and some more outside, there are geckos crawling around on the walls on all the buildings and we have a big and really cute schäfer as guard dog at the school by the name Blackie. There's also a lot of mosquitos so I have to be careful. I also saw a dead mamba with a light blue colour on the road one day, somebody had killed it with a stone. If you go to the page http://zuccini.bilddagboken.se you can see some pictures of the animals.
Although I'm in Africa, I can actually buy most things that can be bought in Europe at Shoprite in Blantyre. It's basically a normal supermarket with everything a normal supermarket has. Blantyre is the biggest city in Malawi, although it's not the capital.
I have good access to internet, something I'm really happy about. There is some offices that almost alwats has connection and as long as it's open I can sit there. The connection is a bit slow, but not too bad.
Something new for me is the suntime here, because the sun rises every morning around 4 or 5 and sets every evening around 6. After 6.30 in the evening it's dark, with only the moon and electricity to give some light. The night sky is different as well, since I'm in the southern part of the earth now, so I can see stars that I never saw before.
That's all for now.
Finally the electricity is back!
Now I've been here in Malawi for six days and four of those days have been without electricity. Finally, the problem was fixed and now I can continue to write here.
I really love Malawi. It's a wonderful country with beautiful nature and very nice people. Also the food is so good here, I can really feel that it's full with nutrition. Yesterday I ate pumpkin and maize and I really got full, it's amazing.
I got my room now, it's really nice although the mosquitoes come at night. I have some repellant and a mosquito net so it's not a problem and soon they will spray all the houses with repellant.
I have also started to know some malawians, one of them is Shaki Stevens, a former boxer who is working with the preschools. He is seventy years old, but he's still strong and walks several kilometers every day to the different preschools. He was a boxer in England and participated in the OS 1972 (I think), the same year the terrorists attacked. He's a really good man and I'm glad that I will work with him.
So, my work here in Malawi at the Teacher Training College will be to supervise preschools and to start a youth club. Some of the preschools are located by a mountain nearby (although the malawians call it a hill). I will take the bike to one preschool every morning from monday to friday and during the afternoons I will work with the youth club.
The weather here is hot and rainy sometimes, I wear sunscreen so my skin has survived so far. The only thing that is really sad about being here is that I'm so far away from the people I care about. My family, my friends in Sweden, the people in Nordjylland... It feels like I've started from zero again and I miss all the people that I've shared so many precious and wonderful moments with... I miss the long walks with deep talks, I miss drinking tea in my kitchen at home together with someone, I miss a lot of things... Just being with the people I know, being with the people that know me. Some of them I may never meet again and others I will meet again for sure. I hope that I will keep in touch with as many as possible, for sure.
There are nine other DI's here right now, Anna, Agi, Sheila and Zsolt from Hungary, Mitsue and Toro from Japan, Alex from Uganda, Peter from Holland and Lisa from Germany. Lisa will soon leave to the other TTC (Teacher Training College) that is starting up, but still we are many DI's and that is really nice.
I will put up some pictures here later, but I didn't upload any from the camera yet.
I'm really glad that I'm here in Malawi and I know that I want to return here sometimes, even if it's just for vacation!
I really love Malawi. It's a wonderful country with beautiful nature and very nice people. Also the food is so good here, I can really feel that it's full with nutrition. Yesterday I ate pumpkin and maize and I really got full, it's amazing.
I got my room now, it's really nice although the mosquitoes come at night. I have some repellant and a mosquito net so it's not a problem and soon they will spray all the houses with repellant.
I have also started to know some malawians, one of them is Shaki Stevens, a former boxer who is working with the preschools. He is seventy years old, but he's still strong and walks several kilometers every day to the different preschools. He was a boxer in England and participated in the OS 1972 (I think), the same year the terrorists attacked. He's a really good man and I'm glad that I will work with him.
So, my work here in Malawi at the Teacher Training College will be to supervise preschools and to start a youth club. Some of the preschools are located by a mountain nearby (although the malawians call it a hill). I will take the bike to one preschool every morning from monday to friday and during the afternoons I will work with the youth club.
The weather here is hot and rainy sometimes, I wear sunscreen so my skin has survived so far. The only thing that is really sad about being here is that I'm so far away from the people I care about. My family, my friends in Sweden, the people in Nordjylland... It feels like I've started from zero again and I miss all the people that I've shared so many precious and wonderful moments with... I miss the long walks with deep talks, I miss drinking tea in my kitchen at home together with someone, I miss a lot of things... Just being with the people I know, being with the people that know me. Some of them I may never meet again and others I will meet again for sure. I hope that I will keep in touch with as many as possible, for sure.
There are nine other DI's here right now, Anna, Agi, Sheila and Zsolt from Hungary, Mitsue and Toro from Japan, Alex from Uganda, Peter from Holland and Lisa from Germany. Lisa will soon leave to the other TTC (Teacher Training College) that is starting up, but still we are many DI's and that is really nice.
I will put up some pictures here later, but I didn't upload any from the camera yet.
I'm really glad that I'm here in Malawi and I know that I want to return here sometimes, even if it's just for vacation!
Malawi, the warm heart of Africa
Finally I have arrived to Malawi, after almost two days of travelling. There were no problems to get here and I'm really glad for that. My guitar survived with no damages although I couldn't take it as hand luggage. I also got the opportunity to look around i Amsterdam since we were waiting there for about twelve hours. The travelling in Malawi was really organized and I'm at the Teacher Training college right now. I haven't got my room yet so this night I slept in a guest room.
It's very nice here, around 25 degrees, raining now and then and a cloudy sky. I think it's perfect because the sun isn't burning so much because of the clouds and the rain is warm.
The people of Malawi are really nice also, that's why they call Malawi "The warm heart of Africa", because it's so peaceful and friendly here. If you ever plan to go to Africa for vacation, I can recommend Malawi.
I guess there's a lot more to write, but I really haven't got everything together in my head and I'm going to eat some lunch now, so I hope I wil be able to write again soon!
It's very nice here, around 25 degrees, raining now and then and a cloudy sky. I think it's perfect because the sun isn't burning so much because of the clouds and the rain is warm.
The people of Malawi are really nice also, that's why they call Malawi "The warm heart of Africa", because it's so peaceful and friendly here. If you ever plan to go to Africa for vacation, I can recommend Malawi.
I guess there's a lot more to write, but I really haven't got everything together in my head and I'm going to eat some lunch now, so I hope I wil be able to write again soon!
Four hours left!
Now it is almost four hours left and then I will leave this place and go to the airport in Billund. From there I will go to Amsterdam and from there I will go to Nairobi in Kenya. Then I will go from Nairobi to Lilongwe and from Lilongwe to Blantyre, so it will be a really long journey. It will take approximately 30 hours.
It's still not real for me that I'm going to Africa, I guess I will really realize it when I'm on the plane. It's going to be so nice and fun!!!
Now I have to re-pack my bags one last time and then I will sleep some.
It's still not real for me that I'm going to Africa, I guess I will really realize it when I'm on the plane. It's going to be so nice and fun!!!
Now I have to re-pack my bags one last time and then I will sleep some.
Cloverfield
This evening I watched the movie "Cloverfield" and I must say that it was one of the best movies I've ever seen.
It's a horror movie and I think they made it very well... I don't want to reveal to much about it, I will only say SEE IT and go to the biggest cinema to see it, because it's really going to be worth it!
Oh, and I now know that I'm leaving to Malawi the 6th of february, so I'm getting really nervous about it!
It's a horror movie and I think they made it very well... I don't want to reveal to much about it, I will only say SEE IT and go to the biggest cinema to see it, because it's really going to be worth it!
Oh, and I now know that I'm leaving to Malawi the 6th of february, so I'm getting really nervous about it!
