One week left!

Now Julie and I have been at Gjennestad farmer-school since monday evening, and it has been really fun! At Monday we arrived around five, and met Anja, Ary, Lalaina and Dafy here, and went out to eat some pizza.. Yesterday we went to pick up my good friend Knut Roger, and drove to Tønsberg. We were going to visit museums, but all the museums we went to were closed, so we went to "Slottsfjellet" to look at an old castle. It was really beautiful there, and Knut were a really good guide. And after that we went out to shop some things for the girls (the boys' biggest horror)..

When everybody was tired of shopping we went to the harbour, because there they are rebuilding a vikingship from scratch, with the same kind of tools they used in the viking-age; a thousand years ago! It was really interesting to see how they could manage to make a whole ship with only a few tools. When we were finished with looking at viking-stuff we went to a really famous American restaurant that my Malagasy friends had only seen on TV.. And that was McDonalds! Qualityfood!

Knut and me:

Slottsfjellet:

Only the people that know me well, will know this joke:

A new vikingship:

Ary at McDonalds:

And this is our house for the week:

- Mary Ann

Home for the weekend

Thursday night I left Hald, and went home for the weekend, to celebrate my mother's birthday. Now it's only 9 days until I leave, and I am so restless - I just want to leave now! But before I leave I am going to visit a good friend of mine in Oslo, and one in Tønsberg; and spend some days at Gjennestad farmer-school. But I think the time will run fast, and suddenly we will be at the airport saying goodbye to our family and friends..

The birthday was great, and I got to say goodbye to my great-grandmother, grandfather and uncle, which I won't see again until next year. Now I will soon go to bed because I will get up early in the morning to drive my mother to the airport.

Here are some pictures from the birthday party:

The birthdaygirl:

My great-grandmother, my uncle and me:

My sister, my grandfather and me:

And my aunt who made a really good cake! :

- Mary Ann

Time flies!

Now it's only 13 days until we will travel to Madagascar, and I have a lot of butterflies in my stomach. It's so much that I am supposed to do before I travel, and I think I won't manage to do half of it. Tomorrow I will leave Hald and go home for the weekend to celebrate my mother's birthday. And after that I will go to Gjennestad agricultural school for a week, and then it's only a couple of days until we leave.. Time is running fast!

There has been so much going on at Hald! We have had a lot of interesting classes (which one of them you can read about in the previous entry) and we have been exercising aerobics and strength, we have been social all the time, and I love it! Last Tuesday we arranged a bad-taste talentshow, that was really fun! Lots of good talents, and not so good talents..

Now I have had a weekend with almost just international students, and it was very quiet here at Hald without all the noisy Norwegians.. Yesterday I was on a trip in Kristiansand with the other Green Network participants, we were shopping a bit, and we also went to a Norwegian nature-museum, it was really fun!
Here's some pictures of what we have been doing since last time:

 Here's from the bad-taste party, as you can see; we had a lot of fun!

 These pictures were taken by Hanna Charlotte ( www.hannacharlotte.wordpress.com )

 Here are some pictures from Green Network's trip to Kristiansand:

 Here you can see a Malagasy farmer at Moods of Norway's store in Kristiansand:

The rest of the pictures are from the nature-museum right outside of Kristiansand:



The museum actually had the biggest cactus-collection in Norway. I just wonder how many Norwegian cactus-collections there is..

 

- Mary Ann

Children at risk

It's been a while since the last time I blogged, and a lot of things have happened at Hald. There has been many interesting classes, the one I liked the most was the "Children at risk" class. In that class we learned about how we should act when we meet children that have experienced sexual assault and violence, and how we can get a good relationship with the children without making them dependent on us; since we are leaving after 7 months. I don't know if I will work with children that much, but it's a good thing to bring with us in our life, also after we get home. Children are at risk all over the world, not only in developing countries as many thinks.. Maybe you think that you don't know any child that are experiencing either sexual assault or violence, but look at this quote from Gro Brækken - Generalsecretery of Redd Barna (Save the children) from 2006:

"Vold mot barn i familien er et omfattende samfunnsproblem også i Norge. Barn blir slått, sparket og brent. Mange blir utsatt for grove, gjentatte seksuelle overgrep. Regjeringen tror at opp mot 200.000 norske barn utsettes for vold årlig."

Translated:
"Violence against children in their families is a comprehensive social problem, also in Norway. Children are hit, kicked and burned. Many are exposed to repeated sexual abuse. The government believes that up to 200.000 Norwegian children are exposed to violence each year."

200.000 children, that means one out of ten Norwegian children have experienced violence in their homes. Probably you know ten children or more. Imagine that one of them is experiencing violence in their home, how do you know? How can you find out if a child you know is experiencing sexual abuse? That was one of the questions the lecturer asked us.. We learned a lot of signs we could look for and things that are often linked to violence in homes. I think it's really important that all students in Norway have the possibility to learn this, and not only people that attend private schools and specific subjects. Everyone should know about these things so that it is easier to prevent it to getting any further!

Sources:
- http://www.bt.no/nyheter/innenriks/faktasjekk/Et-av-fem-barn-kjenner-seg-utrygge-hjemme-p-grunn-av-rus-vold-og-psykiske-lidelser-1930654.html

- http://www.voldsoffer.no/upload/images/13/Diverse%20Tom-filer/200603280833281_Vold%20mot%20barn%20i%20Norge-kortversjonen.pdf

- Mary Ann

Life at Hald

Here at Hald life is beautiful, we have some classes at the beginning of the day, but after school it's a whole bunch of fun! Here are some pictures of what we are doing:

Here is a picture from one of the first days when Doreen taught us how to make beads:

Here is a picture of the room that I share with 3 other girls, from the day we arrived:

Here is me and one of my roommates, Silje:

Some actually have to study, and it's not always as fun as it should be:

And for a weekend we went on something called "Blåtur" that means that you don't know what will happen for the whole trip, you just do what the leader tells you to do. And it was a lot of focus on teambuilding.

This is also at the "Blåtur"

This is my rommate Silje with her hoola hoops

This is my other roommate Sophie who is really cool with my sunglasses on:

My third roommate is Andrea, but I don't have a picture of her yet.. But it will come.

- Mary Ann