CONFUSION; THE ONE HOUR SHIFT.

It has beet a bit confusing at times since I came to Norway. But not as confusing as Sunday. Tom, a friend of ours was supposed to get us at 1315 so that we go to attend a Sunday service. Yes; a Sunday service. The church we were going to normally has services at 1400 hrs.

I woke up in the morning and checked my watch. I switched on the computer to listen to some music. When I looked at the clock, I realised that there was a difference of one hour with my watch. I suspected that something was wrong.

At 1345 when he was supposed to get us, my phone rang. I didn’t expect him to call at that time. What we expected was the doorbell. All the same, he said that he will be getting us in one hour. I immediately thought the service had been moved by one hour. No! The service was still at 1400hrs! Time had just been shifted by one hour.

What was the most confusing was the way time had shifted by one hour. I have studied physics and I know the time regions and the accompanying dynamics in time determination. I just couldn’t understand how one hour can just be lost like that!! I tried to get a scientific explanation to no avail. I was trapped. I just couldn’t buy the one hour shift business. It was scientifically impossible!!!

I had to send a text message to a friend in Kenya to confirm what time it was. This was after checking the internet and confirming the tImes.

All the same, the explanation was so simple. On every last Sunday of October, the time is set back by one hour. This is to deal with the coming winter-more light. The same is done towards the beginning of summer-they add one hour. I have never been this confused!!!

It was a human explanation and not a sceintific explanation after all.

BIRTHDAY BOY, JOSEPH.

I celebrated my 25th birthday yesterday. It was a good moment of knowing the far that God has brought me. It was a nice time to celebrate my birthday away from home. It was so different. I celebrated the birthday in the office with Sammy, Gunn Elin, Sigurd and other staff members.

At the house, I celebrated with my housemates; Einar, Finn, Sverre and Ingunn. Tone and her husband Leif joined us as well.

It was a solemn party, bearing in mind that am now a quarter a century old.

The birthday cake.

The birthday boy cutting the cake

I received a number of gifts from my friends. Tone and her husband bought me two movies. Thye are very good!! My housemates bought me two tickets for the Cinema, which is called Kino here. Last but not least, the Laget students bought me a fishing line. I hope to go fishing one of these days. We just live by the ocean



Me, the proud owner of a fishing line.

My prayer is that God will continue to be gracious to me and he will enable me to live to fulfill His purposes in my life.

Knowing Stavanger.

We had a long day tour of Stavanger. We were taken around by a friend of ours called Tom. He is a great guy. He works as a cabin crew with SAS. We were able to visit different places within and without Stavanger. The tour is shown below in pictures.

The beginning;

The trip begun with a drive,

Then the first stop; in a myriad of boats. Norway has alot of waters. This has necessitated Norwegians owining so many boats. There are boats almost all over the coastline and many household own boats. Norwegians also do alot of fishing. Some bigger boats are used for fishing, either for fun or for commercial purposes.

Then came a number of stops. These stops were for for taking photos. We were shown to many different historical sites. Most of these sites have been a

defining moment for the history of Stavanger and Norway at large. Norway is not to have been home to the iron man. As you can see below. This man lived in a cave. This cave has been given a nickname of the Norwegian apartment.

In the Cave.

With the iron man.

This iron man lived in the 'apartment' above. The 'house' actually had two floors.

Unification of Norway.

Norway's history goes back to hundreds of years back.

Unification took place in 872 A.D. This

whan Norway came togetner under one king. This came after a great fight, in which one king won, and therefore became the king of the whole of Norway. The three swords have been put at the sight where the battle was won.

World War II and Hitler's teeth.

Norway was among the European countries that were affected by world war II. German soldiers occupied it for the better part of the war. In an effort to counter an attack by the prospective enemies, the Hitler men put up stones next to the sea, so that they could be able to stop attackers coming in from the Sea. These stones, covering a number of kilometres along the coast in Stavanger, have come to be called Hitler's teeth.

I was standing on one of them in the photo below.

The End.

The day ended well, with lots of excitement.

Am a 'strong' man. As you can see below, only a strong man can lift such a big rock!!!

Joseph the Strong Man.

Many Norwegians including students like going out on trips and camps especially during weekends. Knowing these visited places has enhanced my understanding of Stavanger and Norway at large. I hope that having known this will enable me to interect with students all the more.

Preikestolen.

I have been in Stavanger for almost two weeks now. It has been fun knowing Stavanger and getting used to the way things are here. We have been able to meet many people especially students from the University. Among them them is Knut, who took us to Preikestolen. This is a flat rock tha is 604 metres above the sea level.











Preikestolen sketch.







Knut is a student at the University in Stavanger. He is studying petroleum technology.

The day was brifht as we walked up. It is October and it is off course fall. Most of the trees with normal leaves are shedding them in preparation for winter which is coming very soon. The sceneries were so beautiful as we went up. It took us more than two hours to walk up to the prekeistolen.

A photo showing the beautiful scenery that is a result of fall. The leaves which are green, turn to different colours before dropping to the ground.

When we were beginning the trekk, I didn't know that it will take us too long to get up. All the same, it was refreshing to walk in the fresh air of the mountains. After more thatn two hours of walking, talking, resting, eating ald laughing,we finally got there; The Prekeistolen.

Prekeistolen is a famous destination for many tourists. There are many people going up there. The people are of different nationalities and they come et differnt times. For instance, as we began our climb, we met with other people who prabably had been there earlier to see sunrise. On our way back, we met many others who were probably going to see sunset.

As you would guess, we got to the top tired and hungry. We definately needed something to rejuvenate our bodies, and some quick berbecue did the trick. I haven't done berbecue before. You can however notice how a good speactator I was as Samy and Knut (pictured) prepared the fire for the berbecue.

After eating, we got an opportunity to look below the fjord . Due to my fear of heights, I could only view it on my stomach. It was so surprising to see how strong some of the people were.

You can be sure that my looking down at the fjord took alot of Courage. All the same, the good thing was that the trip ended when I was in one piece, and I was glad to have seen amazing sites of God's creation.