10 records that changed my life...

I just figured out that since it has been forever since I last updated my blog, I could as well write two blog posts today. Heavily influenced by arts this evening, and after watching two realtively strong movies, I feel like sharing with you ten records that kind of changed me through different phases in my life. I am a child of the nineties, there is no need to hide it. I still believe that the nineties is the best decade when it comes to music. That three of the records I will mention dates back to the eighties is not really a coincidence as they all are examples of musicians ahead of their time, and I guess that's why they are all legends now...

I will try to rank the records due to an educated guess about which records I listened the most to through my lifespan. And at the same time, I feel that I need to emphasise that I actually still listen quite a lot to these records. Some more than other, but still I am pretty sure i listened to all these records this year already. Music is an important thing in my life, and if I were to live without music I would have to replace it with something that I don't know yet if exists.

So lets start at

10. Breach- Friction (1996). This is my hardcore favourite of all times, and even though I had some periods of my life when I could not listen to hardcore, it found a place in my heart. The only band on this list that I actually saw live. In Våganhallen in 1996. It made a huge impression to a young bass player from the band Lofast, but it would not last long until I needed the break from hardcore music. However, a song like "Almighty Generation" still lived on in my head, and when I returned to listening to hardcore again sometime in the early 2000's this was one of the records to be most played on my stereo (that actually dates back to 1994).

9. The Clash- London Calling (1979). Here comes the surprise. Not that I listened a lot to London Calling, but that my favourite track on the record is "Rudy can't fail". Hehe, I don't know why. This is obviously a classic record, and i am not really sure if I listened most to this record or the one called The Clash. These days it's their debut record that is closest to that position, but I wuold think that I played London Calling more.

8. Alice in Chains- Jar of Flies (1994). This is actually the record I am listening to right now. Jar of Flies was given to me as a gift from my mother in 1994. I did of course ask for it, but she managed to find a version with both Jar of Flies and Sap. Something that makes this record even better than it already is. Anyway, in my opinion Layne Staley is the best singer of all times. It seems so easy, and he was a huge loss to the world when he died from an overdose sometime early in this century. This record is entirely accoustic, and that suits this grunge band very well. "Don't Follow" would be anyone's favourite on Jar of Flies.

7. Dinosaur Jr.- Bug (1988). A band I unfortunately discovered very late. I think I bought Bug in 2005 or something. I actually had a Sebadoh record a long time before finally buying Dinoasur Jr. Anyway, this is one of the bands slowly killing the terrible poodle rock thing that was going on in the eighties. "Freak Scene" is the opening track, and oh my God it is good!!!

6. Uncle Tupelo- March 16-20. (1992). An accoustic record from the original No Depression band. One of the bands to combine old american folk music with rock. This was the band that introduced me to Americana or folk rock (if we forget about Neil Young for some minutes). These guys are legends, and now leaders of two very different bands. Jay Farrar plays with Son Volt, a band that still is doing some kind of country rock, and Jeff Tweedy is the singer of Wilco, which is much more famous band I guess. Both are however very good in their own ways. Still Uncle Tupelo is the original band, and the one that has inspired me the most.

5. Sonic Youth- Daydream Nation (1988). At the time of writing my absoulte favourite record. "Teenage Riot" is my favourite. And to be honest with you, and no disrespect to other guitar players, Lee Ranaldo and Thurston Moore playing the guitars together is enough to make a man weep.

4. The Stone Roses- s/t (1989). "I wanna be adored"!!! The band that together with The Smiths probably influenced most of the british indie scene in the nineties. They were funky, they were good, they had an awful singer, a great drummer, they were too good for themselves.

3. Neil Young- Harvest (1974). Yeah, my first Neil record. And I don't think I need to say more. He was more or less the only musician I listened to for a long time.

2. Pavement- Wowee Zowee (1995). I still love this record that I bought in 1995. It sounds quite bad at times, but that was the intention of this band. Don't have a favourite track as I love the whole record.

1. Belly- King (1995). 1995 was a good year. I have everything Tanya Donelly released, and this was what started it. "Red" is and was my favourite, and even though I listen to this record a lot every year, I never seem to get tired from this band. This is by far the record I listened most to.

I guess my sister already knew all of this, but to the rest of you. You need to start listening to these bands!!!

Friendships and a big list of movies that YOU should watch!

So, the following months will give me a lot of time to think... A lot of time thinking is not necessarily a good thing, however I will try to make the best of it. Before I start talking about the topic of this blog post, I will just say that I probably had one of the best months of my life. I've learned a lot of new stuff, and just generally had a good time. Not bad considering that it was January/February, normally the worst months every year due to the dark days and lack of sunlight.

Furthermore, I want to say a couple of words about friendships. To me and I guess most people, friendships is almost like a necessity to be able to live a life that is meaningful. So what is a friend to me? A friend is a human being that you can always trust, a human being that have the ability to turn the bad days that I have into good days, a human being that will be there when you need him/her, a human being you want to spend as much time as possible with, a human being that you can share both good and bad experiences/emotions with and still feel good about it afterwards because you trust each other... This may seem strange to talk about in this blog as it is supposed to be a travel blog, but I just wanted to use my time telling how much I appreciate my friends. And I hope you know who you are. I guess you're not reading this anyway, but at least I tried to share it with you.

Now I feel ready to write what I initially intended, and guess what? It will not be about travels, but about movies. Around two months ago, a friend of mine asked me to write a list of movies that she should watch during Christmas. Lazy as I may be, I did not really ever finish that list, so I decided right here and now to make a list of hundred movies everybody with some sort of interest in political/art or just in general amazingly important movies should watch. These are movies that will make you think, and I am not stealing (or maybe I am) this expression from the blog out there with more or less the same name. You should check it out by the way?

I did not only promise Camilla to write that list. I kind of promised the few readers of this blog to make a list of hundred movies that I think everybody should watch quite a long time ago. To tell you the truth, this is a very hard task. How can one decide which movies deserve to be in that list? Especially when taste changes from week to week this becomes an almost impossible task. Anyway, I will give it a try, and please comment and criticize my taste. I know I am strange, but I am quite proud of it!

I am not going to say anything about the movies except short explanations for the top three movies, so this is a challenge for you to make up your own mind:). So the categories will be as follow: 10 German language movies, 10 French movies, 5 Italian movies, 5 African movies, 15 Latin American movies, 5 Eastern European movies, 5 Nordic movies, 10 Asian movies, 3 Belgian movies, 2 South European movies, 5 Oceanian movies, 5 Documentaries, 10 British/Irish movies and finally 10 American movies. On top of that I will choose my favourite three movies out of all of them and tell you why I like them, the rest will just be boring lists unless you're really interested in looking them up at imdb or something.

So here it is:

10 German language movies:

-Christiane F.-Wir Kinder vom Bahnhof Zoo (1981)

-Der Himmel über Berlin (1987)

-Sophie Scholl- Die Letzen Tage (2005)

-Das Leben der Anderen (2006)

-Der Baader Mainhof Komplex (2008)

-Gegen die Wand (2004)

-Funny Games (1997)

-Nirgendwo In Afrika (2002)

-Revanche (2008)

-Das Weisse Band (2009)

10 French movies:

-Un Prophet (2009)

-Entre les murs (2008)

-La Haine (1995)

-Week End (1967)

-Le Grand Bleu (1989)

-Le Salaire de la peur (1953)

-La Femme Nikita (1990)

-Persepolis (2008)

-Du Rififi chez les hommes (1955)

-Les Quatre cent coups (1959)

5 Italian movies:

-Io non ho Paura (2002)

-Gomorrah (2008)

-Nuovo Cinema Paradiso (1988)

-Umberto D. (1953)

-La Battaglia di Algeri (1965)

5 African movies:

-Tsotsi (2005)

-Heart of fire (2009)

-Reves de Poussiere (2006)

-La nuit de la vérité (2004)

-Sometimes in April (2005)

15 Latin American movies:

-Paloma de Papel (2004)

-Y tu Mamá tambien (2001)

-Central do Brasil (1998)

-Temporada de Patos (2004)

-La Teta Asustada (2009)

-Historias Minimas (2002)

-Oriana (1985)

-Machuca (2004)

-El Secreto de sus ojos (2009)

-Sin Nombre (2009)

-Amores Perros (2000)

-Birdwatchers (2008)

-El Laberinto del Fauno (2006)

-Que tan lejos (2008)

-Madeinusa (2006)

5 Eastern European movies:

-Vozvraschenie (2003)

-No Man's Land (2001)

-Katyn (2007)

-Kolya (1996)

-Knife in the Water (1962)

5 Nordic movies:

-Ni Liv (1957)

-Piratene (1983)

-Det Sjunde Innseglet (195

-Mies Vailla Menneisyyttä (2002)

-101 Reykjavik (2000)

10 Asian movies:

-Ploy (2007)

-Osama (2003)

-L'odeur de la papaya verte (1993)

-Water (2005)

-Turtles can fly (2004)

-Balzac and the little Chinese Seamstress (2003)

-Waltz with Bashir (2008)

-Grave of the fireflies (1988)

-Ashes of time Redux (2008)

-Shichinin no Samurai (1954)

3 Belgian movies:

-Rosetta (1999)

-Le Fils (2002)

-L'Enfant (2005)

2 South European movies:

-Dogtooth (2009)

-Üc Maymun (2008)

5 Oceanian movies:

-The Piano (1993)

-Rabbit-Proof Fence (2002)

-Whale Rider (2002)

-Once We're Warriors (1994)

-The Proposition (2005)

5 Documentaries:

-South of the border (2009)

-Chicago 10 (2007)

-Man on Wire (2008)

-Incident at Oglala (1991)

-I am because we are (2007)

10 British/Irish movies:

-Fish Tank (2009)

-Dirty Pretty Things (2003)

-Hunger (2008)

-Morvern Callar (2001)

-Slumdog Millionaire (2008)

-Ratcatcher (2003)

-Snatch (2000)

-Lock, Stock and two smoking Barrels (1998)

-Gandhi (1982)

-The Mouse that roared (1957)

10 American movies:

-Easy Rider (1969)

-Kids (1995)

-Milk (2008)

-Elephant (2003)

-To Kill a Mockingbird (1960)

-The Grapes of Wrath (1940)

-How green was my valley (1941)

-The Deer Hunter (1978)

-Memento (2000)

-Wendy and Lucy (2008)

There it is, and now I will not exactly surprise you with my choice of three movies that really means something to me. The list is as follows:

3. The Piano (1993). I kind of like love stories, when they are more than just the normal Hollywood romantic comedy thing... In this beautiful and dramatic movie, you can watch the best acting there is. Holly Hunter won the Academy Award, and she didn't even say one word? She's my absolute favourite actress and you will see why!

2. La Battaglia di Algeri (1965). Possibly the best political movie ever made. Kind of like a mix of documentary and motion picture.

1. How Green was my Valley (1941). Of course this is my favourite movie. John Ford made a couple of master pieces in 1940-1941 with the Grapes of Wrath an outsider for this position. I love this movie about the family life in a small Welsh mining town. Simply beautiful.

I hope someone actually read this blog post, and that I didn?t scare potential readers. Until my next travel I will try to make shorter posts!

Big hugs from big bear...

Lack of updates from the NYC-trip

Finally, almost a week after returning back to Norway, I will update you on what happened in New York City. I will even include some photos. Unfortunately (or fortunately, you decide) this is the only time when no photos of me exists... This is what happens when Lisa or Robert is not with me in New York:p. I also shot fewer photos than usually, something that may be because of the fact that those two took a lot of photos the last two years, but it could also be because of the fact that I have already been there twice before.

So, I already told you about the travel and lack of sleep. That did of course not stop us from doing some sightseeing the first day. We had a walk in Central Park and strolled down towards Times Square the first day, before returning to the hostel and making ourselves ready to go to Jennifer's and Artemus' appartement in Queens. This is old facts I know, but now I will show you some pictures from that first day

I think I already told you about this visit before, but I will emphasise one more time that we enjoyed ourselves, and the continue with Friday's happenings. On Friday we did some shopping as previously described, and Saturday was a sad story of the entire group sitting at the hostel for a whole day, but on Sunday we did one thing that we didn't do my first year in New York, but something I decided last year would be cool to do, mostly because of a visit me and Victor had in Lower East Side two years ago when I had my first tattoo made at New York Hardcore Tattoos. I think an important part of going to Manhattan, is to see the different neighbourhoods, and to see how diverse the city really is. It is so much more than Times Square, and since we didn't live in Harlem this year, it was even more important to check out other areas of Manhattan. So, on Friday I took the tiny group on a sightseeing in the south eastern areas, including Brooklyn Bridge, Chinatown, Little Italy, Soho, Lower East Side and East Village. We walked the Brooklyn Bridge, took some photos, continued walking through Chinatown, and then suddenly we were in Little Italy with Italian restaurants everywhere... Some fifteen minutes after Little Italy we were in Soho... and it goes on and on... It is so diverse and changes from one street to another... In Soho, Torgil did some shopping at Ed Hardy's, while the rest of the group were chatting with the guard that originally came from Poland. A very interesting guy. Then we continued walking towards Lower East Side were I bought my Mammoth at Ludlow Guitars. Finally:) We ended up at Union Square when Torgil wanted to go back to the hostel and Frode needed to go to a toilet, so we decided going back, even though that may not have been what me or Krischan wanted.

Monday, the first day of the seminars started in a very hectic manner. We had to rush from the hostel to the UN, where we were supposed to do a tour. We made it in time, and even had some time to go to the gift shop. For the first time since I started going to NYC, we did not have the Japanese guide. This time we had a Korean guide. And for the first time we could actually take photos in the Assembly Hall. Unfortunately we could not see the Security Council. But that was no surprise as they are still working on the building. How many years will it take???

After the tour we headed to CCUN where we met Jennifer. She was even waiting outside the building. We had a short introduction in the chapel, went to the 11th floor, had some more introductions, and then lunch. After lunch we had seminars with Somen, Peace and Security, and the Peacekeeping Operations. Michel Bonnardeaux of the Peacekeeping Operations made a very good impression on the Peacebuilders. I couldn't witness the dialogue between him and the Peacebuilders as I had to go find Stine who was waiting for me somewhere outside the CCUN, but Frode told me that it was one of the most interesting conversations he had ever had. Obviously, Stine is a lifesaver. The fact that she came made my responsibilities much easier to deal with, and I think she may be one of the best people the world has ever seen (I may be writing this just in case she actually reads my blog, but seriously she's amazing). After a quick lunch with Stine, we rejoined the group to witness a feminist dialogue on militarism that I found interesting, but the group was tired after a long day...



Tuesday, we met a students from the Dickinson College. We were supposed to have a drama workshop with Jeff Flowers, but he was unfortunately sick. However, Jay and Jennifer had a backup plan, and we played some games and had some discussions instead. A good way of getting to know the other students. I was amazed by how good these students were at discussing difficult topics. I wish I was like that when I went to University, but that feels like ages ago now... Anyway, after meeting them, we had to go to another seminar with Boris Dittrich from the Human Rights Watch. It was a seminar on rights of homosexuals. It was a very interesting seminar again, and it is always inspiring to meet people that actually have done something to change the world that we live in. After lunch we left CCUN to go for a site visit. I realise that this may be boring to read, but who cares. I like to see it as my travel diary, and there's nothing wrong with that, right?



Wednesday was strange. The day of terrible weather... We had a storm, and it was quite noisy in the 8th floor of the CCUN. We were all soaking wet when we arrived at CCUN. Well at least Stine, Frode and me, as we had to walk 30 blocks to get to the subway. First we had a meeting with UN Enable that was very interesting. We were all invited to a film festival at the UN on Friday, but only me and Frode decided to join as Friday was the free day I had promised my students. Then, during lunch I had this talk with a man who was seriosly into conspiration theories. He was actually one of the people we were going to talk with after lunch as we had a meeting with Veterans for Peace. Another seminar that made an impression on the peacebuilders, who did not know that the US spends 59 percent of their budget on military. Well, I guess it is shocking for most people, but to tell you the truth I kind of knew that. I don't think the Norwegian government has a lot to learn from a country that uses only 3 or 4 percent of the budget on education... But we can still learn from the people, and there are loads of good people in the US.

Thursday was the last day of the seminars, and we managed to come late to the visit to the Norwegian mission to the UN due to a delay on the 7 train from Times Square. Anyway, we came only 15 minutes late, and the people at the Norwegian mission did not say anything about that. I remembered Emma, the Public Relations person from last year as a very interesting woman, and I was pleasantly surprised to see that she was one of the people we met this year as well. I don't know if my students agree with me, but I find it very comfortable to listen to her, and very interesting to hear what work they're doing at the UN. Like last year we also met interns, and that is something that makes the students and the teacher better able to understand the work that actually goes on in the UN. Young people are better at telling young people about the work that they do, or at least they make it more understandable for each other because they are more or less speaking the same language. Just a theory I have obviously, but it may well be true...

So, to what I see as the highlight of the seminars. I really really like this woman called Liz Gannon Graydon, and we had a seminar with her and her husband Rob two years ago. "What better looks like" is a project started by these two people, and there is a video of my group and me on youtube from that visit in 2008. She's probably one of the most inspiring human beings I have ever met, and I'd like to say here and now that I wish I had a teacher like her when I was younger. What is funny is that she remembered something Ranjan said two years ago, and if you're reading this Ranjan, you made an impression as well.

The last post on the programme was the reflection time with Kathleen Stone, the chaplain of the CCUN. She read some stories, and at least from Frode's laughter it seemed like they enjoyed the story about "the three little wolves and the big bad pig".

Friday, the free day. Me and Frode rushed to the UN to participate in the film festival, while the others went shopping. Frode and I got our passes, and met this beautiful Maldivian woman from the seminar about UN Enable. It started a little bit late due to a discussion about community based inclusive development, but when it started we saw this beautiful movie from Argentina called "Mundo Alas". A very inspiring musical road trip, with amazing folk music from Leon Gieco and his friends. A movie that one day for sure will be in my collection. The rest of the movies were short films, and some more enjoyable than others. The whole thing took place in conference room 1, in a completely new part of the UN for me anyway. It was nice to experience something new, and there is no doubt that we were sitting in that room with some important people.

We met the rest of the group somewhere close to Borders, a book store. And fortunately they found us, because me and Frode was sitting there waiting for them as we were unable to get down some stairs. Another example about how difficult accessibility in New York is for people in wheelchairs.

Saturday was the big sightseeing day, when the group went to the Statue of Liberty, Wall Street, Ground Zero and Empire State Building. It was freezing cold, but I hope they enjoyed it a little bit anyway.

Sunday, last day of shopping and farewell dinner at Hardrock Cafe. This is a tradition that will probably not change very soon. We invited Jennifer and Artemus, and at least two of us had the salad. Some other people were as unhealthy as they had been on the whole trip... Haha, but the salad was amazing. Seriously. And it's actually one of the things I am really looking forward to next year.

After saying good bye and thank you to Jennifer and Artemus, we went to Rockefeller Center to have a look at the way too big tree. It had so many lights. I keep wondering every year about the amount of money they use on electricity in NY.

The last day, Monday, were mostly spent on the hostel and on travelling to the airport. I sent Stine, Torgil and Krischan in a taxi, while me and Frode had to do the walk down to 72 street on last time. We took the subway to Penn Station, were we catched the train to Newark. It was quite straightforward this time. At the airport Stine helped us check in, and then said goodbye only to meet us again in Oslo the next day. The security check at the airport was terrible. Nobody even tried to help Frode, and my luggage became the victim of a security guy. He was very interested in my new guitar pedals. Anyway, they were cleared, and so the travels begun with the first and only McDonalds meal.

To summarise. We had a very nice trip despite the difficulties of living too close to each other for 13 days, and despite what some people may think. Thank you Stine for making my trip much easier and funnier. I am especially thinking of that great comment. Thank you to my students for another interesting trip to New York. And thank you to Veronika and Stian for meeting us at the airport.

Even though it was a short trip, I missed some people a lot and it is good to be back in Norway.

Thanksgiving and stuff...

One thing I never understood was this thing called thanksgiving, and to be honest I still don't understand it... Some of the people we met says that it is an invention just so they get more time to stay with their family. Can't they do that the rest of the year? Do they really not have time for family? Well, I guess in this country, where career is so important, they have to let go of something... so family life suffers? To tell you the truth, I have no idea whether this is how it really is or not...

It has been more than two days since the last blog post and that is mainly because of lack of time or internet problems. It is not only in Soltun the internet is not working properly. What have we done? Lots of walking and some shopping. To the degree that the one that is not walking is so tired that he wanted a day off. Meaning that him and I have to stay at the hostel today. The rest of the group is free to do whatever they want.

On Thursday we started by eating a nice breakfast at the hostel, then walking through most of Central Park... A nice walk in the park for almost two hours. Fresh air, or probably the closest you get to fresh air in a big city like this. Afterwards we started walking towards Times Square. Had a stop at Starbucks, a photographer's store, the MacDonalds (to go to the toilet), and a great music store with lots of tabs for all kinds of music. Officially one of my favourite stores in New York:). We walked around Times Square for a shorter time, and then took the subway back to 72nd Street. We do actually have to walk 31 blocks everyday just to get from the hostel to the subway...and 31 blocks back. We had a short break at the hostel before going to eat pizza (again), and go visit Jennifer and Artemus in Queens. The travel to Queens was supposed to be easy, but we ended up going off the subway too late and had to continue with the next train to a subway stop that had an elevator. When we got there, this elevator was not functioning, and we had to go further. Eventually we found a station with an elevator, and started going in the opposite direction. We managed to get off at the right station, and started walking towards Jennifers appartment. Right outside the appartment we were approached by a stranger, and just continued walking. He continued talking and I realised that it was Artemus. I have been friends with him on facebook for two years, but never met him so to recognize him was not easy. Anyway, he helped us carry the wheelchair up some stairs and we took the elevator to their appartment. At Jennifer's and Artemus' we got some Turkey leftovers and a pumpkin cheese cake, and Frode got a new friend in Marley, the dog. It was a nice appartment, and we enjoyed ourselves. The trip back was ok, but we were so tired. Couldn't think about anything but the bed. I was the last in bed at around 2:30.

Next morning I woke up at 6:30 due to a call from Stine. I didn't respond, but took the phone with me to the hall to call her back. She had amazing news. She's coming to New York on Monday, menaning that there will be more help and I may not destroy my back. I continued sleeping and we were not up until 11:00. We didn't do much interesting except shopping. It was Black Friday yesterday. That is the main shopping day in the US. We went to a sports shop, and the NHL store, and Staples... and ate dinner at Wendy's, which is now my favourite fast food chain. The burgers were really burgers. Not like at Burger King or MacDonalds. Another day in the area around Times Square, and we're already tired of it. There were far too many people yesterday, and they are not really paying attention to wheelchairs. On the way back we took the subway too far (again) and went of at 168th street which was supposed to have an elevator (unfortunately just for the two other subway lines going there). Instead of taking the subway all the way to Bronx to change trains, we decided to carry Frode over some stairs. It was really difficult, but could easily been solved if Glenn was here. However, we managed, and went back to 72nd Street. We were all very tired, but only Frode went directly to bed...

Ok, so now you know that this is a day that will not be spectacular. Tomorrow we will go to another area of Manhattan. The Lower East Side, Soho, Chinatown, Little Italy and Brooklyn Bridge. That should be exciting, and I will make my students even more tired. Isn't that why we're here???

Until next blog post...big hug from Øyvind

My third visit to New York with Peacebuilding...

...and never have I been more stupid... I will tell you about that later:p

We did kind of expect it, but it was shocking anyway when we learned that the police screwed up for Glenn. He was supposed to join us for the trip, but simply couldn't get the passport in time. That means for the first time that I am alone in New York City, with three students... We still hope that Glenn can come in a couple of days, but there are no guarantee, and we just have to make the best of what we got. That means me...

Back to what was stupid.... all the peacebuilders did not sleep the night before we left. Stupid? Yes, because we're all devastated now.I can't remember the last time I was this tired, but a qualified guess would be sometime during my struggle with the master thesis. However, it was not a bad night, and really nice to spend time with some people that I care a lot about.

The travel was quite straightforward, but almost as expected the security at the check in to Continental Airlines was terrible. They used a lot of time on us, and treated us as they would probably do with criminals...however they didn't know that we're peacebuilders. Torgil was even chosen for a "random" test of his luggage...

This year we landed in Newark, New Jersey for the first time. The security there was actually very nice. What was not nice was the personnel at the airport confusing us and telling us that we should not take the train. Eventually it lead to me sending Krischan and Torgil alone to the hostel in a taxi with most of our luggage. The rest I carried while walking the wheelchair of Frode. Me and Frode took the train, and that was actually very nice. When we arrived in Penn Station we couldn't find an elevator, and when we did I decided to walk all the way from 31st street to 103rd street. That was a major mistake. It took forever as we managed to get a red light in every pedestrian crossing. We finally arrived at the hostel 3 hours later than the other guys... Frode with a sore neck, and me with the worst pain in my back since carrying a student last year. We were all very tired, and just put our stuff in the room and went for some big pizza's that we couldn't eat. At nine, Frode, Kriscan and Torgil was in bed... Exhausted... I am writing this blog post, and really have a messed up mind now. So good night, sleep tight and lots of love from Øyvind

By the way, these are some pictures of tired peacebuilders

...so it is only one week until we go to NYC

As most of you know, I am working as a teacher in Peace Building at Soltun Folk High School in Northern Norway. Part of the programme during the school year is a class trip to "The Big Apple", New York City. I have done this trip twice before with bigger yet small groups. This year we will be only 5 people, and it means that we will probably get on each other nerves a lot of times. However, it will also make the group come closer to each other, and even though I don't look forward to the screaming at night or struggling to get people to get on the stage, I think it will be a nice trip.

We have a lot of things planned already, and I would think that is getting more and more of a positive thing to be familiar with the city. We will not waste much time looking at maps, or figuring out how to get from one place to another. I guess it will not be that interesting for me to see sights like The Statue of Liberty and Empire State Building again, but the students will love it, and that's what is important. I guess I look more forward to spending an hour in the NBA store and Ludlow Guitars, or just wandering around in Lower East Side... Hope I get at least those two hours of free time:p

I will not get a new tattoo. I promise. I don't have a design, and no ideas about what more art to put on my huge body... Maybe in Germany in February or March instead.

As for the programme, Jennifer has already given me a draft that is very interesting, and we are even invited for thanksgiving dessert at her place in Queens. I can see that the students are excited, and we all look very much forward to everything, but we also know that we will miss some people during our short visit to the other side of the Atlantic. But don't worry, we won't forget you, and you may want to look forward to getting postcards from NYC:)

I will end this blog post by showing you two nice photos of my group from last year:)

Until my next blog post... big hug:)

Revisiting the Africa trip

I just realised that it has been too long without updates on my blog. Now, more than two months after the last blog post, I finally have the trip on a distance, and can start thinking about what was good, and what was not as good. To be honest with you guys, and it is probably not a surprise, there were a lot more positive than negative incidents on my trip. I am a lucky and fortunate guy that have the means and time to travel this much, and I am already starting to plan my next travels.

I will try to tell you chronologically how I experienced travelling in Africa alone for the second time. It was indeed a very different experience from the last travels in West Africa. Maybe because I already knew some people in Ghana, and because I was staying more or less in the same two cities thoughout the three months in 2004, while I was using much more time moving from one place to another this time.

Malawi, the warm heart of Africa, kind of deserves it's reputation as a very friendly and easy country to travel in. However, I found it to be a little bit more problematic than Uganda because of all the people that always wanted to talk to me. In Uganda, I could walk around freely without ever having to have conversation with everyone I met on the streets. This is probably one of the things that makes Malawi interesting if you look at it that way. I had a nice time in Malawi, but it may have been better to end my trip there. It takes some time to get used to the African mentality, even though I have been on the continent before.

What was easy in Malawi was that the distances from one place to the next were relatively short. I come from Northern Norway, so I am used to distances. Malawi was easy to travel in. The pain of Malawi however is public transport. I really like the Matolas and sitting in the back of pick-ups. However, the buses are quite painful for a guy that is at least 10 cm taller than normal human beings. What made my impression of the buses in Malawi worse, was of course the tragic incident of a child pissing on me. I can of course laugh about it now, but at that time I was more interested in getting off the bus. It made me book a room at a hotel, something I only did once afterwards...

The places I visited in Malawi were very different, but except for Lilongwe, I found them incredibly beautiful. Zomba was the place that reminded me the most of my beloved Cape Coast (Ghana). It had the same athmosphere of a student town, and a beautiful setting just below the Zomba plateau. Cape Maclear is heaven on Earth as I have described in an earlier post. While Lilongwe is a bit messy, and people are trying to sell you anything for Mzungu price. The hostel in Lilongwe probably has the best showers in the whole of Africa though.

Last, but not least. The people I met were truly amazing. I made some friends while at Cape Maclear and I talked to all these interesting people with names such as Gentle Charles, Jon Banana, Born Africa, and the list goes on and on... It was also fun watching the World Cup on the beach of Lake Malawi... The only thing that sucked big time in Malawi was that I couldn't meet Thokozani while in Zomba.

The next country was Zambia, a country that I didn't plan on visiting initially. However, I do not regret going there. Central Lusaka was the city I found easiest to be a tourist in on my trip. The hostel was not very good, but at least I met this German guy that I spent the days with. Zambia will always be the place where I bought my Ryszard Kapucinski book, and what a revelation that book is. It made me realise that my impressions of Africa and Africans is correct. At least in someone else's mind. It is officially one of my favourite books now, and it is still haunting to think about how much I could see of myself in that book.

The highlight of Zambia was however to meet Ephraim again. Five years after we went to school together in Trondheim.

So to the experience I would least want to remember. 31 hours in a bus from Lusaka to Dar Es Salaam, and getting to Dar after twelve o'clock in the night. First of all, this was the most painful busride in the history of my life, and I have travelled over night sometimes. Still remembers Seattle-San Francisco, Merida-Coro, Accra-Ouagadougou as quite comfortable bus rides... Anyway, I could of course not sleep, didn't have food, and not enough space for my feet. Dar Es Salaam is my least favourite place in the whole world. I could not easily find a hotel, and when I did it was a quite strange place. When I left it the morning after, I couldn't imagine that I would use several hours just trying to find it again. Downtown Dar Es Salaam was however quite nice.

Kenya is probably the most modern country in Africa south of the Sahara, except South Africa obviously. I did not see too much of Nairobi, but I had a wonderful time at Nuru. All these lovely children and the fantastic guy Stephen that runs the place, made their best to help me have a good time. Perfect food, a nice place to rest, and a very friendly atmosphere. I had a very good time, but it was very cold in the mornings.

Uganda was the highlight of my trip. Kampala is very close to becoming one of my favourite cities in the world. It has a beautiful setting with numerous hills and even some wonderful architecture. The second biggest mosque in Africa after Cairo, and the least annoying city centre you can imagine. I even liked the one hour hike every day from the hostel to downtown Kampala. Taking a boda-boda was something I found scary the first time, but I started liking it quite soon. They drive like maniacs, but it is so effective in a city full of traffic jams. The drivers are so friendly, and we had many nice talks. I just had to like the hostel too. Very friendly staff and nice quiet rooms with nice looking lizards. I left Kampala twice just to return to the same hostel. I made the right choice of spending half of the trip just in one country. Got to relax and breath after some long travels the weeks before.

The highlights of Uganda was the city of Kampala, the safari in Murchison Falls with all the great people, the chimp trekking and spectacular water falls, the amazing trip to Lake Bunyonyi with Yvonne and Maria, just meeting Roland the strange Dutch guy that ran one of the camps, eating the best ever chocolate banana pancake, and enjoying my life. Downsides of Uganda was the worst infrastructure I ever have seen, waiting outside of the airport for many hours because they wouldn't let me in, and the bombings of Kampala. It was such a nice day at the Dutch pub until we evacuated.

I kind of feel now that I summarised quite well, even if it looks quite not organised. I had a wonderful trip, but it was exhausting. My next travel will be to NY with my class, then hopefully Germany in March, and Japan or Ghana or Argentina/Uruguay/Paraguay next summer. Until then, I plan on writing a big list of 100 movies that I would like to reccommend to whoever reads this blog... :)

For now, thank you for reading.

Big hugs from Big Bear:)