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Lily Tomlin: “The trouble with the rat race is that even if you win, you’re still a rat.”

I didn’t change the winter tires on the LEAF yet, but after a week with the sun high in the blue sky I feel that chances of unexpected snow are really gone now. Ha, *about* time to swap winter rubber for some sticky summer tires! To change tires on a new car for the first time turned out to be interesting; it took me a quite while to find out how to release the jack from its compartment (implemented in a more than stupid way, pffff!!). Anyway, the job was easy and straightforward enough after I got the jack out: four brand new tires are ready for a test-drive, tomorrow! 😉

George Sand: “Guard well within yourself that treasure, kindness. Know how to give without hesitation, how to lose without regret, how to acquire without meanness.”

Wow! Misha turned 8 months today, that is 2/3 of a year…already!! It is amazing how fast the baby months fly by; the little baby is becoming a little child (walking and talking is still on the to-do list though 😉 ). Oh well, there is a time for each growing phase and I am excited to witness them all! It is fantastic to spend a full week alone with the little angel again, enjoying his continuous smile and happiness!

Albert Einstein: “Reading, after a certain age, diverts the mind too much from its creative pursuits. Any man who reads too much and uses his own brain too little falls into lazy habits of thinking.”

Just two clips that I saw in the past days make me wonder if NL is losing its openness and tolerance; the first one shows some ‘town-guards’ taking down a man who rode his bicycle in the wrong direction (or on the pavement or so)…my mouth fell open, I am astonished!

The second clip is taken at a gathering of the radical Islamic fringe group Sharia4Holland (a strange name since Holland is *not* the name of the country ‘The Netherlands’!)…don’t misunderstand me, I am all for freedom of speech, but I do have a ‘problem’ when it is being used by people who don’t respect the freedom of speech for others than themselves, who are even  threatening them and insulting the dutch people in general. The crazy thing in this clip is that when someone wants to intervene, trying to stop the verbal harassments, HE is the one being removed by police with force…for doing virtually nothing…ridiculous!! (about 4m30s in the clip below)

…yeah, I think that NL is losing it…

Margaret Wheatley: “When we seek for connection, we restore the world to wholeness. Our seemingly separate lives become meaningful as we discover how truly necessary we are to each other.”

It has been yet another fantastic day in Norway, filled with sunSunSUN…a great start of my father-son week!

Haha, I can get used to this life; being outside on the veranda and in the garden the whole day, playing with Misha, getting suntanned and finishing it with white wine… 😉

A splendid summer day in Norway (>30C) calls for a summer Song of the Day…and even though this one was not a ‘real’ summer song when it was released, it definitely has that summer vibe to it: Deee-Lite with ‘Groove Is in the Heart‘

Oh man, those summer outdoor house parties, dancing the night away and coming home in bright sunlight and still full of energy…yeah, that 90’s vibe is gonna come back this summer! 😉

Dag Hammarskjold: “The longest journey is the journey inward.”

It always amazes me how a couple of hours in an airplane can make such a difference; Mozambique to NL in 18h including a 4h layover in Lissabon…just a short time, yet a world of difference. Experience tells me that adjusting to what was ‘normal’ before is what happens most of the times, yet this life changing experience is stored deep in my heart, is there to stay and has changed my perspective of ‘normal’…

Cheryl Renée Grossman: “I dream, therefore I become.”

Sue Halpern: “Passion kept one fully in the present, so that time became a series of mutually exclusive ‘nows.'”

It was a good move to stay some extra days in Mozambique after building houses/homes for over a week; a great opportunity to see a little (just a little) bit more of this country.
Me and one of the team members, John, went to a beach resort in Ponta d’Ouro for a good 1.5 day (! 😉 ) of sun, beach and relaxation…well, it has been a bit too cloudy and way too windy to sit on the beach and do nothing, but we still had a great day. Ponta d’Ouro is a 3 hour bumpy drive from Catembe (just 15 minutes by ferry from Maputo) and that 3 hour drive turned out to be *more* than bumpy and driving slower than walking speed on many occasions, an interesting experience. 😉
Anyway, it was all worth it; Ponta d’Ouro is a beautiful place, even off-season (I can only imagine how wonderful it must be ‘in season’, besides being overly crowded unfortunately)…I got to swim in the Indian Ocean (my first time!) and body surf, the water temperature of 24.5C made it perfect!
Tomorrow will be my last day in Mozambique as I am flying out late in the evening…once again, time flies when you are having fun (or doing volunteering work 😉 )!! I am looking forward to see Misha though…a lot!

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Mark Twain: “Don’t part with your illusions. When they are gone you may still exist, but you have ceased to live.”

Robert Service: “Be master of your petty annoyances and conserve your energies for the big, worthwhile things. It isn’t the mountain ahead that wears you out – it’s the grain of sand in your shoe.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson: “Don’t be too timid and squeamish about your actions. All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better.”

So, that was it: the house build is done!!

We worked hard to meet the target and: we have made it!! The floor was put in this morning and in about three days (when the concrete has dried out) the family will turn ‘our’ house into their home!!
We had the decoration ceremony today, a fantastic ‘handover’ experience with lots of singing and dancing. We obviously took part in that…heaps of fun! 😉
We are heading back to Maputo tomorrow for the final day with the team, so tonight is our last night in the Gaza province…and that means PARTY time, celebrating the accomplishment!!

The end result after a week of hard work, when a house becomes a home:

Dedication ceremony, lots of singing and dancing:

The two oldest sons of the two families; Crimildo and Jose:

The Global Village team with the two families:

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Agatha Christie: “I like living. I have sometimes been wildly, despairingly, acutely miserable, racked with sorrow, but through it all I still know quite certainly that just to be alive is a grand thing.”

Today Norway is (/almost has 😉 ) celebrated its Constitution today, May 17 (‘syttende mai‘), so here is a GRATULERER MED DAGEN (congratulations with the day) for all my Norwegian friends!

Here in Mozambique we are congratulating ourselves with the fact that we are still on schedule and have put the roof on the house! Inside plaster work is done, and we’re halfway on plastering the outside…that and the floor is the target for tomorrow followed by a ceremony with lots of singing and dancing to handover the house to the family!

Some pictures from today:

Drawing water from the waterhole:

…and carrying the HEAVY 20 liter jerrycan…oof!!

Putting plaster on the outside walls:

Roof is on top, finalizing the house:

Ain’t she gorgeous??
Once again, it is kids like this one that we are really doing this work for:

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