Interactions.

Well, as I wrote last time, having the students back at Hald is exciting. There are a lot of things that I have been getting to learn and talk with the other students. In a way to create a more free and flexible atmosphere, we have been trying to do several things. One of them has been playing football.

I wouldn’t want you to imagine me playing football for anything else other than fun. Just running around with the ball is great. Of course it is also a way of keeping fit. This reminds me in the days of my youth when we could play football in the afternoons whenever there was rain and sunshine. The good thing over here is that the playing is in sun. The spring sun is here again and it is good to feel the sun after the cold winter.

Norway has many beaches. Going to the beaches with the students and having informal interactions has been useful as well in learning so much about other students and cultures. Some of the students are courageous enough to swim in the clod water but most are not. The good thing however id just sitting on the beaches and talking to no end with the other students.

Walking to the beach with Friends.


At the beach with Sammy.

At the beach with Friends, Faith and Pamela from Uganda.


With a friend from Laos.


Fun at the beach.

Time keeping has been a challenge of late. This is because the students are so different and have had different experiences with time in different cultures. It has become a joke of late when someone says that we are meeting at say One pm. Another asks what one pm really is whether it is Norwegian, African, Asian, or South American time. But things are getting done so it is not a big problem.

Back t o Hald.

It is now three weeks since I got back to Hald International Center. At the beginning of the school year in August, it was fun being together with all the students. At the end of September, it was a sorrowful moment when we had to part as the students went to different places within Norway and several other countries for the practice period of the school year.

Even though I had been communicating with many of the students, seeing them again at Hald has been a great inspiration. It is good to see that all the students came back safe and sound. To this all glory goes to God.

The challenge however has been that the six months have been great time for many transformations. So many of the students are really changed. The non Norwegian like me are now tending to be more Norwegian as those Norwegians that went to different countries tend to have taken after the cultures of those countries. Thus you can imagine that in some aspects, I am behaving more Norwegian awhile the students that went to Kenya are sounding more Kenyan in some aspects. Well, even though it is a challenge, it is the uniqueness of the International school. I hope that my interactions will remain fruitful with the students even as we near the end in the next one month.