Beachvolleyball Tournament!

This weekend I joined in on a big event. Durban beachvolley club arranged a tournament with national television and R3000 in prize money. That was the first time I joined in for a big tournament like this, and it was great fun. However me and my partner didn't handle the heat that well so we didn't make it to the semifinals. It was around 40C in the sun and that is too hot when you are playing beachvolleyball. But the most important thing was that we had a great time and everybody came on tv! Also hands down for the guy who arranged it all, Lucky!

A simpler time!

Last weekend I didn't experince much, but I do have some experiences that I've gained through weekdays that I haven't told you about and one of them is about the simple life of South Africa.

One day the electricity disappeared and all I was stuck with was a candle. And apparently it will be more often because they have to save their energy.

The other simple thing is eating. I've found myself eating nothing but bread, and drinking water, several times troughout the 3 months I've been here. Also we have been eating just meat. We pay a prize for an amount of meat, they grill it, then we eat it while we are dipping it in salt. It couldn't have been done easier. But that's a part of the South African life, and I'm about to get used to it!

A small defeat, but for the greater good!

As I wrote in the beginning of this adventure I made a promise of experiencing new things every weekend. But during my first 3 months I've come to realize that there are to many factors that needs to work out before I can be able to do it. The availability of different people will not always be at hand, enough possibilities for each weekend might not be possible. But my biggest argument is my own availability. Recently I had the chance to go to Johannesburg for a weekend with a friend. But then I had to choose between work and pleasure, and my main goal down here is to be there 100% for my work. I was able to do something new that weekend, but sometimes work just have to come before my "crazy" goals. And to be honest I feel much better doing a good job, that is my purpose, then running around doing other things for my own pleasure.
Another factor is also important to think about. After it becomes dark it is dangerous to be outside, and even though I've been outside late, it isn't always a possibility. Like last weekend. I wanted to go out on saturday, but didn't have anyone to go with. So I had to stay inside. In a "desperate" attempt to have something to do I tried to put some norwegian mentality (at least a mentality that I know of) into the building. I where able to by some snacks just around the corner and gathered some guys to play some cards. My first intention was to learn them something new, but they quickly showed more interest in the one game they already knew; casino. We tried to play it, but they had to many distractions and didn't show the interest that was needed so I gave up. But no hard feelings. I was able to go to bed a bit earlier, and it was good. It is just one of the many adaptions that needs to be done.
I'm all well and no hard feelings neither towards them or missing out on one of my part-time goals. Hope my readers are okay with it as well!
However I will continue to do new things as much as possible, so who knows how many new things I will end up doing? Maybe in total it will actually be the same amount!
I feel happy about my conclusion and hoping you guys can too!
Take care of your possibilities untill next time!
Vidar

Tensing festival november '08!

This was maybe one of the better weekends during my stay so fare! Beause this weekend Durban YMCA was the host of a tensing festival. And the best part was that a group of norwegians were here! A class from Rønningen folkehøgskule was here on a visit and to join the festival. Every night throughout the festival we played cards. And it was so much fun!
The festival itself was also really good. Everybody who attended had a great time and what a show we put on! We had dancing, singing, drama and poetry, and everything we did had so much energy and joy behind it. An experience for life, most definitly. I will just send a thanks to all of those who participated. Thanks!

Saturday night fever!

This was not about the movie, but about the night fever of Durban. This weekend me and Mr. Thomspon went to the Suncoast Casino to see another part of the Durban night life, as I have experienced Skyy bar before. I must admit that I had a great time even though gambling is a bad thing, but I didn't spend money. So it was really just about being out there and experiencing new things. And also there were enough people throwing their money away anyway so I didn't feel guilty either. It was just a special atmosphere and everybody seemed to have a great time.

Out after 18.00!

Last weekend, Saturday 25th of October, I went to the cinema. It was a nice experience to go out and do "normal" stuff again. As you can tell I haven't been outside that much because it is to dangerous, but this time I just wanted to do something else then sitting on my computer. So I went and watched "Dangerous Bangkok". It was an okay movie, but the best part was to be outside. Hope you guys can enjoy your movies as well.
Vidar

Church in South Africa

I must admit that I haven't been to church much here in South Africa. In fact it was my first service. But hopefully not the last one. It was good to spend some more time with God. He is a helping hand in times of need. I do hope though that the next services will not be like this one. I normally think 1 to 1 1/2 hour service, I were told that this one might last for 2, but I ended up staying there for 3 hours and 15 minutes. A bit to long for my taste. However, it lasted that long because they had some visitors from Germany, two who were confirmed, and one who got baptized. With other words, a lot that was going on. But it did feel good to be at a service again and I'm looking forward to see other churches.
Hope you all are doing well and God bless every one of you.
Vidar

What a SHOW!

Sunday 12th of october, I went to KwaMashu which is a township of Durban. They have their own YMCA group their and they hosted a show. In that show they had drama, dancing and singing, everything put together in one big show/play. I can't really describe how good it was, but the story was based on a true story. It was about how people ended up living there after being chased from their home and to KwaMashu. Even though I didn't catch the whole story because a lot of it was in zulu, I still got the feeling of importance of that story. You could feel the tension in the audience as well as the laughter wasn't fare away.
The way of performing it was excellent and I really wish that there were more shows like that. I must say that this show was one of the best new experince I've had so fare and hopefully I will witness something like it once more time.
Until next time I hope you all will behave..
Vidar

My norwegian friends=)

I've been quite lucky when I ended up in Durban. This is because I found out that a married couple from my home town also were going to move to the same city. I even knew them a bit. And it is always good to meet up with someone that you know especially when it is a bit unexpected.
So on friday this weekend I were invited to have dinner with them. They even had some visitors from Norway and the whole evening turned out to be a wonderful event. I had such a great time and hope to see them some time soon.
Unfortunately I forgot my camera, but will come back with some other pictures later from their home..
Vidar

Durban dance!

My reason for writing last weekend's new experience this late is because I just haven't had the inspiration to write. But I hope to become better at it! And that saying I want to tell you about my last weekend.
Because last weekend I had my first night on a dance club here in Durban. Some friends of mine took me to Skyy Bar which is a dance club at the top of a skyscraper. And as if that wasn't enough DJ Cleo had his new CD release that saturday. DJ Cleo is one of the more successful DJ's in South Africa! Everybody knows who he is!
And with that kind of music playing I had to learn how to dance the Durban dance so that I wouldn't stick out! I must admit it was great fun. Some of the moves they did were brilliant, but to bring them and the dance back to Norway will be a revolution that I don't think I can do on my own. But inside that club everybody were dancing and to see them go crazy were both a lot of fun and also a bit scary. Some of them went a bit fare you may say...
I could say that I wish I had some pictures, but I would be lying. I don't think anyone would understand because we would look like chickens to you even though I think the dancing was cool. Even so I couldn't do it because the flashlight on my camera is broken. But I did try to get some pictures were there was no movement. Hope you can enjoy them instead :)
Vidar

Outside Skyy Bar

The casino

The city

The MTN-cup final!!

On the 23rd of September I joined a couple of my friends to a football final. The teams were Kaizer Chiefs against Mamelodi Sundowns. With approximately 55 000 africans on the stadium the evening was about to become wild! The atmosphere and surroundings were amazing! And what a match! Even though it was 0-0 after 120 minutes the chances they blew away were HUGE! I must admit that this was one of the funniest matches I've ever seen live. Especially because it ended in penalty shootout and the goal closest to where I were standing was used. I think the World Cup will be a great success down here if the atmosphere is the same.

Zulu bryllaup!

Eg prøvar å leve opp til lovnaden eg skreiv på mitt fyrste blogginnlegg etter at eg kom til Sør-Afrika. Og hittil har det ikkje vore noke problem å skrive om dei nye tinga eg har opplevd i helgene.

Heller ikkje denne helga var utan nye erfaringar. Eg fekk nemleg med meg eit tradisjonelt zulu bryllaup både med sermonien og utkledninga. Det var eit langt, men veldig interessant rituale der dei utførte eit slags skodespel (som du kan sjå på det siste bilete der kvinnene er på den eine sida og mennene på den andre). Eg blei fortald at dei ikkje er så ofte lengre noko eg synst er litt synd. Men slik er det no ein gong og eg er berre glad for å ha fått opplevinga:)
Så ta til deg det du ser for det er ei verd i forandring vi lever i.

PS! If anyone need english translation please a comment and I will come back to you or start writing in english.

Vidar

Var det kaldt sa du?

Fyrst vil eg berre benytte sjansen til å beklage for seint innlegg, men av ymse årsaker har eg vore nøydd til å utsetje det. Men no vil eg fortelje dykk om ei heilt ny oppleving eg har fått her nede.
Det heile starta med at eg skulle bli med på ein "imbizo" som er eit møte der alle YMCA gruppene i KwaZulu-Natal (provinsen eg bur i) har ein eller fleire delegatar for å lære om eit tema og også velje eit nytt styre for regionen. Temaet var "From subject to citizen" som gjekk ut på at ungdomen i Sør-Afrika må i staden for å stå og sjå på at samfunnet endrar seg, ta i eit tak for å bli meir delaktige. Heile helga gjekk til dette der temaet var på laurdagen og valget på sundagen.
For meg var dette ei veldig innhaldsrik helg noko ein eigentleg ikkje skulle ha trudd ettersom at alt føregjekk på zulu. Eg ville ikkje bryte inn heller fordi dei kommuniserar tross alt betre på deira hovudspråk. Men det som gjorde denne helga so innhaldsrik var å sjå korleis ting vart gjort både i presentasjonen av temaet og når dei skulle velge styret. For å gjere ei lang historie kort om presentasjonen så vil eg berre sei at folk gjer det forskjellig! Valget av styre derimot var litt artigt. Det blei gitt 15 sekund på å tenke over valget av kandidaten, 15 sekund på å skrive ned valget, og 15 sekund på å levere inn valget (visst eg skjønte det riktig). Og slik gjorde dei med alle moglege stillingar. No er eg ikkje sikker på korleis det blir gjort i Noreg, men eg synest i alle fall at det er ein glimrande idè.
Hovudsaka mi er allikavel ikkje dette. For på laurdagen var det nemlig så kaldt at det starta å snø på fjelltoppane. Eg fekk aldri sett at det snødde, men ein ven av meg fekk sett det for fyrste gong i sitt liv. Og han er 27 år. Men som de ser så fekk eg sett snøen på toppane når vi køyrde heim att dagen etterpå. Og gjett om det var fleire som gjekk amok med kameraet på bussen når dei såg snøen! Men eg ville aldri ha trudd at eg pakka så feil når eg skulle til Sør-Afrika. Satsar forøvrig på at det var fyrste og siste gongen det skjer.
Håpar de andre har det godt og som forventa.
Vidar

21 år gamal? Feir den i Sør-Afrika!

Mi nyaste erfaring var å feire 21-års dag her nede. Ikkje at eg blei det, men nokon. Dette er ein stor ting her nede. Mange folk frå heile nabolaget kjem inn til den store festen. Eg må ærleg innrøme at eg trudde først at eg kom til eit bryllaup slik som alt var laga til. Og folk holdt talar i mangfold, både som eit godt ord på vegen og som ein vits med ei lita meining bak, men slik at folk fekk seg ein god latter. Og slik dreiv dei på, byta mellom litt musikk og talarar, til rytma tok heilt over og det blei stor ståhei.Ein av bakdelane ved desse festane er at dei varer utover kvelden noko som igjen fører til vanskar for å kome seg heim att. Noko som eg fekk oppleve då dei sa til meg i bilen eg satt på med at eg måtte overnatte ute den natta fordi der ikkje var transport inn til byen. Og slik fekk eg opplevd mi første natt utanfor YMCA huset i Durban sentrum. Litt skeptisk i starten, men fekk sove ganske greit etter kvart.Det har skjedd mykje den siste veka noko som har resultert i meir ansvar i det arbeidet eg driv, fleire venar, og eit større perspektiv på livet. Eg sit att med mange opplevingar og inntrykk som eg framleis må fundere over før eg kan gi eit klart svar på kva eg eigentleg tenker om dei. Dette verkar veldig djupt, men der er faktisk mykje ein kan stille spørsmål ved når ein er ute og reiser slik som eg gjer no.
Håper de alle har hatt ei fin veke og ynskjer de ei fin veke som kjem. Til neste gong vi snakkast;
Mvh
Vidar

Mi første veke i Durban!

Hei, alle saman!
Eg har no budd i Durban i ei veke og eg sit att med mange nye erfaringar og opplevingar. Det største av alt er kanskje ein tradisjonell zulu-sermoni som eg fekk med meg denne helga. Eg fekk vere med på både delar av førebuinga, som var slakting avdyr, og sjølve sermonien. Slaktinga blei gjort på ekte zulu vis. Og som de kan sjå på bileta så er ikkje dette nokon leik. Eg fekk òg bli med på sermonien som eg sa, men det var ikkje stort som skjedde. Det var eit godt måltid med dei dyra vi hadde slakta dagen før og så var de sosialt samhyggje etterpå over litt kveitemjød og øl. Brusa var til meg og den yngre garden:)
Eg har òg fått oppleve delar av Durban. Eg har vore i den botaniske hagen, på kasinoet, på det største kjøpesenteret, og eg har fått sett den flotte stranda dei har. Og det er mykje å ta seg til. Eg har til og med fått meg ein del nye venar og eg har allereie fått laga ein avtale på at eg skal få noken nye erfaringar kvar helg:) Er veldig spent på om dette vil skje, men eg skal skrive eit innlegg etter neste helg så de kan få ein bekreftelse på om vi faktisk skal prøve:)
Det eg ellers driv på med er ein del kontorarbeid no i starten, men eg skal etterkvart kome meg ut og bli me i praksisen på nokon av prosjekta som dei driv med her nede:) Veldig nyttige prosjekt for samfunnet der dei gir ei hjelpande hand til gatebarn, tidligare kriminelle og andre som må streve med det dagleg livet.
Det er med andre ord mykje å sjå fram til, både for meg og for dykk som les her:) Så spend dykk fast for nye spennande historier her på "Vidar's eventyr".
Her kjem ein del bileter, men eg håpar de vil nyte dei og tenke at dette er berre starten:)