I'm sorry!

The last two months I haven't been able to keep you guys up to date. I really hoped to be able to write more from my stay, but I've had lack of inspiration. Unti I now read my fellow GoCY'ers blogs. I really admire them. To update with new articles as often as they do is a big job. And I send them my thanks. Their commitment is an inspiration to all.
I could probably write much more about my experiences. But honestly I've had some tough times. No work to do, lack of social activity, and staying to much in my building (because I work and live in the same one) led to a prison-like feeling. And some of these things took me by surprise. During the fall I had more then enough work and much more social activity (as you can see on my blog). But sometimes these tings happens. Different things in life will affect your everyday life, and for me it has been a valuable experience. I've always had people around me that I could turn to in case of difficult times. I do have those here as well, but everything is affected of different culture and settings. And so this year have given me new challenges and some of them I've handled okay, but some of them I can probably do better in the future. All in all I have learned and gained more knowledge and experince that will be usefull in the future.

I can just shortly give you guys a hint of what I've been doing the last two months.
I have been working some, mostly within the computer centre they have at the YMCA. I've also done some administrative tasks and giving some feedback. In my social life I've found some new friends in church. Every sunday we've been gathering and just talking. It has been really some good times, and I will miss them.
During the easter holiday my whole family came down and we had a great time! Experiencing some of the nicest places in and around Durban. We went on safari in Hluhluwe and saw lots of elephants, we went to some really nice restaurants, saw dolphins and sharks at Ushaka, enjoyed the beach, and much more. I really got to enjoy what South Africa had to offer with them, and I thank them for it.

Now it is 10 days left of my stay here in South Africa and I can only thank God for giving me the opportunity to see and experience this country, and to gain the knowledge and experience through my work here. He has truely blessed me during my stay.

Hope all of you are well and God bless you all until next time.

Vidar

Safari in Hluhluwe!

For the first time during my stay here in South Africa I went on a trip outside Durban! I suggested for some of my friends to go away on a safari, and they thought it was a good idea. So on friday me and Njabulo went to the airport to rent a car. I was clever enough to forget my passport so we had to take on more trip, but finally we got a car; the first car ever to be in my name (huge step for me:p). And it was a really nice toyota as you can see on the picture.
Around 16.00 we, as in me, Njabulo, Nathalie, Clifford, Mbuso, and Yoliswa, started our journey by driving towards our destination Cliffords dads house, where we were going to stay over. After an unexpected long, but fun, journey we reached the house at 23.30 and we all were ready for a good night sleep.
As we woke up the following morning and I was looking out, I realized that we were really in the middle of nowhere, but it was nice with the mountains around there and the small society that they lived in. We took some pictures and said goodbye before we headed on the road again towards our main goal, the safari in Hluhluwe National Park. We got there and for R90 we could drive around in the park the whole day. And in the park we were all excited and jumped in the car whenever we saw a new animal. Even when we saw the regular animals we thought it was fun. At the end of the day we had seen giraffes, zebras, baboons, impalas, and warthogs, to mension some. But the most interesting animals we saw was the rhino and a cheetah. Those are two of the big five that I wanted to see so I'm almost half way through. The rhinos we had a clear view, but the cheetah was hidden in the bushes. Even so, it was amazing!
After spending many hours driving around in the park we headed straight back to Durban, which by the way took us just about 3 hours (just a hint of how unexpected the trip up was).
All in all we had a really great time and we are already planning a new trip, but this time to Soweto.. Intersting! We'll see..

God bless you all until next time and enjoy the pictures below:)

I'm back!

As you all can see I haven't been updating my blog the last month.. That is because I've been back in Norway on a summer holiday to visit my girlfriend and my family.. I had one month without any work so I took the opportunity.. And it was GOOD! I landed on my girlfriends birthday and when she came to pick me up I knew this was going to be one of my best holidays ever! And it was.. I got to introduce her to my family and friends as well as spending time with all of them..
I thank God for that because it is not something everybody can do.. My thoughts are going to those who can't move anywhere in Gaza.. It is a sad time and we can only pray that things will get better.. Also my friend, Ragnhild, who was in a car accident.. She is a strong person and I pray God will be with her no matter what happens next..

Hopefully I will be able to bring better news next time I update here..

God bless you all until next time..

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!