BASH!!!!

29th October: Belated Birth Day Bash
I Love bashes especially my bash. It was a joint bash with Justine, Ugandan lady who shares a birthday with me. I was looking forward to this. The day began on a wrong foot: too much rain and difficulties at the Lutheran Church because i can't understand much of the language yet.
Nway that aside we held the bash at Esperanza's place(An African from Burundi). Such a lovely person, she helped with the cooking and the music. The venue was perfect. We met with these African people mostly from Burundi: Shaban, Maccas, Omari, Justus, Esperansa, Sheila(Espes kid), Carlos(Angola), Justine(Uganda) and offcourse my team mate Gillian. There was dancing to African music, it reminded me of Africa, i had to dance because it was my bash.
Embarrassing moments: choosing a guy from the crowd that i like. This was hard because i did not know the peopl e so well.
Exciting. Dancing with Maccas to some slow music: i was shy about it but it went okey.
Dislike: Some people took alcohol and that was uncomfortable.
Generally it was lovely to celebrate together with great people and make new friends.
The best weekend in norway so far.

25TH BIRTHDAY

28th October
My Birth Day!!!!
It turned to be such a great experience, one that i will live to remember. I had less expectations being in a small and new place:Stord. Many of my friends remembered and i was so excited. A few people from hald surprised me by calling and texting. They made my day and offcourse my family. Its now i realise how important family is. They always have my back no matter how far iam.
Bowling!!!
Kjell, my pals brother invited Gillian and i to go bowling with him and two other friends. We opted to miss the normal Bedehus meeting and have fun, after all it was my day. Kjell drove us to the venue and we had to get into sporty shoes and for the first time in my life give bowling a shot. Me and Gillian were terrible at it. We tailed but it was fun trying and just being out with youth. I thought of Flintstones(cartoon) where Fred and bunny are usually bowling.
Later on we visited one of the guys at home, had some snaks and returned to our cozy homes. The weather here is dårlig(terrible) so much rain, it's tempting not to go out at all.
What was on my mind at the end of the day, gratitude and anticipation for the sunday Bash with friends. Twas a great day.

Culture

Locals here at Stord are very proud of their culture. This refers only to the older generation because the youth have a modern culture. Last sunday i had the priviledge of attending a cultural mass in a nearby Lutheran church. It was nice to see culture blend so well with Christian music. The songs were sang by the regular church choir and a visiting group accompanied the songs with folk dance. It was so beautiful to see. I din't understand the message of the songs but i really loved the rythm and dances. That marked the beginning of a cultural week here at Stord. It was a special event which is not common in the lutheran(state) churches which are very formal.

Information Systems

Norway has this advanced information system. This is evident by the number of cards an individual has. I have 6 cards: visa, insurance, bus card, student Id, library cards. This is basic for a student so its possible to have more. This makes service provision very effective and effecient(quick).
The bus has this prepaid system which is on a monthly basis. They issue cards which must be inserted a provided slot every time one uses the bus. This makes it possible for an individual to make as many trips as one wishes within the prepaid period in the designated area.
The visa card can be used in the stores and offcourse the bank to withdraw cash. Its really special because you can utilise Atms belonging to other banks other than own at a small fee.
The stores act as banks too because one can withdraw cash as you purchase items. This is a free service if the purchase and requested withdrawal exceed the sum of 300 kr.
I have taken some timeto get used to this because its self service and the instructions at the ATM are in Norshk but am improoving.

STORD

Its been 12days now since i arrived here at Stord.
Stord is a small town to the west coast of Norway. One of the most interesting things is the weather. The locals are crazy about the weather and have so many words to describe it. I find myself freezing most of the time and they remind me that there is NO BAD WEATHER ONLY BAD CLOTHES! Its kind of scary because its now between 12 and 9 degrees centigrades and soon it will be below zero. I try to dress warm and that makes me overdressed most of the time.
It also rains a lot here and the locals are used to it, life goes on. This is unlike Kenya where rain disrupts peoples programs.
It’s now autumn and the trees are beautiful. So many colors on the trees, yellow, red, purple, green, brown, etc. The leaves have begun to fall off in preparation for winter.I have never seen so many colours on the trees before. Its really great to take walks and admire nature.