Hurra for 17 mai!

The Norwegian national day, celebrated in Nairobi. Breakfast with some friends in the morning. Parade, speaches, singing, games, hotdogs, icecream, cakes, rømmegrøt, vaffel and browncheese, at the Norwegian school. Almost as if I were at home. And in the evening, dinner at the residency of the Norwegian Ambassador.

17. May, feels even more special when outside Norway.


The parade

Hilde, on her last day in Kenya.



It is not only in Norway we have bad weather on the 17 of May.. The rain was pouring down, and after running from the car to the house, I was dripping wet. The rain is a lot worse in Kenya!

Legal!

Sometimes one might wonder.. Trying to give a meaning to things around me, this has been troubling my mind a bit. On the ferry to the south coast of Mombasa, you can see the following writing on the wall; "Hawking, begging, preaching is prohibited." Okey, this kind of makes sence.. At least until I'm told that whenever someone are caught red handed, trying to steal from tempting pockets around them on the ferry, they are most often killed at the spot. And the murder is performed by the people around, normal people travelling on the ferry.

Justice..

Maybe the writing should be more like; "Hawking, begging and preaching is prohibited. But feel free to kill anyone who tries to steal." This makes sense doesn't it??


Preach it brother!!!!!

So it is not always easy to understand what is legal and what is not. But at this time; I AM A LEGAL RESIDENT OF KENYA! Yeah! Finally, today I actually got my work permit, though I got a bit disappointed when it turned out that what actually shows this, is just some scribbling with pen in my passport..


Pictures from my second trip to Msambweni, this time travelling with two new students; Karis and Wambui.


Ahh, my friend from last visit. I'm a bit happy these friends don't show up at my doorstep in Nairobi.

Alien in Kenya

I'm an alien, and we aliens have to go through a lot before we are approved. Not that this is any different for other aliens around the world..

Do I like walking down the streets, being stared at, shouted at, whistled at, or asked to be someones wife? Do I like not being able to walk alone after 7 in the evening? Do I like always having to explain things over and over again before anyone even have a tiny idea of what I'm talking about? And do I really like running up and down, in and out of different offices and banks, using more than 7 months, after having paid an enormous amount of money, just to be allowed to work as a volunteer in a country?

Yes, I'm an alien, just about to apply for my alien card, struggling to be a part of something different. And no, I don't like all these things.. But why then do I get sad when thinking about leaving this country? And why will I most likely join the group "I'd rather be in Africa", when I return to Norway?