Green Energy

The past one month has been quite a lovely time as I finally got round to dealing with culture stress and making the most of my time here. They say I am now at the final stage of cultural adjustment where people accept the new environment, adopt new ways of thinking and do things so that they feel like they belong to the new culture. The result has been tremendous as I have had increased energies to do lots of the stuff I like doing for instance reading, meeting people, reflecting, playing and watching football and simply having fun as I learn.

The day I went skiing

One of the helpful habits of coping with stress has been quality time in nature. I have learnt the secret of going to the mountains that Norwegians are so good at. I had a writer’s block some two weeks ago and I decided to join some youths who were going for a weekend trip to the mountains. After a morning of interactions as we read the Bible and made short drama skits from them, we went out into the forest filled with snow. We were in sis different groups and had various competitions outside including trying to light a fire in the snow using any items we could find in the forest and throwing snow balls at a target. It was nice to throw two snow balls and both of them hit the target.

We made a small  fire in the snow

We then camped near a frozen lake and made a camp fire. Needless to say I could not feel my toes and finger as they froze in the sub zero temperatures. I was closest to the fire as we smoked some sausages and ate them with the bread we had. On the way to the frozen lake, we walked across frozen rivers alongside. The scenery was absolutely breathtaking. It reminded me of an earlier time that we had gone skiing with two other friends here.  To keep warm, we played several games on the frozen lake and then later made our way back to the cabin as the temperatures continued dropping.

The experience on the mountain taught me the great lesson of always taking a break from work and enjoying nature. My mentor in Norway calls it green medication. I came back with my writing block gone and it took me a record two days to work on my overdue assignment and ever since I have had a renewed energy to take up whatever challenges being in a new culture brings with it!

A frozen River

Some of the youth Acting out a Bible Story

Walking on a frozen lake 

We made a fire

This is what we have for lunch

Catch me if you can.. on the frozen lake

We tried to hit the frozen lake with a hammer and it could not crack!

Afraid...

Last week was my sixth time flying. Well, the first time i took an airplane was on 12th August as we flew here to Norway from Kenya. I remember as the plane took off and i held tightly to my seat as we rose 10,000 meters off the ground. You see the highest i had ever been in life was maybe climbing a tall tree at the back of our upcountry home or while on top of one of the skyscrapers in our capital city. I should add that whenever i was atop these skyscrapers i never really wanted to look down as i was afraid of falling. So now you know, i fear heights: something i am old is called acrophobia.

I realized as we flew to and from Ålesund my fear is slowly going but at quite a slow pace i must admit. I still fear flying and being in the air. I would any day prefer to travel on land by car or train than be in the air. Every time we were in the air and the plane would shake a bit maybe because of the weather and the clouds, i would feel a bit of fear running down my spine. 

It reminded me of my fear of being in large water bodies especially given my first near-drowning encounter during my first few weeks at Hald. We were out by the ocean relaxing near the beach. My friends were taking plunges into the water from a high point. They would go up this outpost and take a dive into the ocean below. It look fun and simple and i wanted to try but from the lowest point of the outpost. Remember that i do not know how to swim and except for once or twice i have tried it and failed. So i took a plunge in to the water. I tried coming up for air to no avail. I tried shouting and no voice was coming. I only remembered not to use my nose below the water so i breathed through the mouth. Finally, after some struggle one of the pals we were with came to my rescue and I almost swore to myself never to try swimming.

I am still afraid of many things even tonight as i write. In fact this very night, all the things i fear seem to be knocking at the doorstep. I feel afraid. In a new land away from home. Trying to settle. Not knowing even why I am here. Trying to learn a new language. Feeling insignificant. Yet in the midst of all these, I feel secure. Secure in a small promise tucked away in Isaiah 41:10. I read it and my heart is at rest. And this is what my God tells me:

So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

So Same, So different

Cultures are quite different. I remember the day I left Kenya for Norway as though it were yesterday. It was Sunday, 12^th August 2012 at around 10 pm when we boarded the plane off to Norway on an adventure that was to last us 10 months. As we lifted off the Jomo Kenyatta International airport, It never crossed my mind even once that I had left a different culture and was headed to a new culture; I was crossing cultures. It just felt as though I had gone to sleep and woken up in the same area and, save for the food and people, nothing was very different.

Three months later and I confess that cultures are different and Kenya is not Norway and Norway is not Kenya. I admit loudly that though we have similarities in the two cultures, the differences are very pronounced and need special mention and attention. On the surface, we are very similar people with almost very similar cultures. We share common needs and even breathe the same air. When I landed here in Norway and many weeks after that, I thought, ‘hey, Norway is not so different from Kenya after all.’ What I did not know is that I was actually interacting with the objective part of the culture which is usually similar to my native culture and which is very easy to adapt to.

Patty Lane, in her book A beginner’s guide to crossing cultures, identifies two aspects of any culture, the objective and the subjective. The objective aspect lies on the surface and is easily noticeable and is very easy to adapt to. It includes such things as clothing, food, eye contact, greetings and time consciousness. The subjective part of the culture takes time to perceive and adapt to and is the most difficult bit of culture to engage. It includes values, concepts of truth, feelings, motivations, authority roles, beliefs about gender roles and assumption. The subjective part is below the surface and it takes insight, asking questions and patiently listening keenly to find it out.

The reason for all this is because I have been nursing a serious home sickness these past couple of days that has made me ask myself deeper questions on cultural differences and what they mean to me. I have found that homes sickness is a normal reaction as I have shared with friends who are on the exchange program with me. Strikingly, we have all been experiencing, in the last few days and weeks, fits of home sickness. This is an intense feeling of really missing the home environment, the people and the culture. I now understand that this could be because we are now interacting with the part of the culture that is subjective, the big iceberg that is below the surface which has the capacity to break our Titanic ship.

Missing home

Because of this, I am motivated to take time to investigate the aspects of our culture that I find different and similar to Norwegian culture in the next many months as I live here. So keep reading this column and leave me your comments as we explore cultural differences and what they mean.

A month later...

I can't believe that the last time I wrote something here was a month ago! Could it be because my culture shock has been month long and has made me have a mental block? Or have I been so busy trying to be a strict time keeper (ever since missing the train) such that I have had no time to write? Or has the snow, which has been falling all over Trondheim, been falling on my head and made my head freeze? Or could be that the days are getting darker and my time of work has been becoming less and less now that am used to work as long as there is light in Kenya? Well could be all these together.

What to do with this snow outside my house

All in all it has been an exciting one month in Trondheim. Well, it has been an action packed month. What with a trip to the mountains, a speaking engagement, a mission week to Bergen, attending several dinners, travels in, around and out of town, seeing the kick off of seeker bible study groups, hanging out with my teammate and meeting and sharing with students! I mean life this last month has really been flying by at a fast pace.

The greatest change that I have had to cope with is the drastic weather changes. I never anticipated such kind of weather as I have experienced here. When we arrived here in Norway, it was late summer and the day began at around 5.30 am with some light outside the room. Then it was followed normally by a bright sunshine later in the day and finally a light afternoon rain perhaps once in a while and finally, the sun came back and went to rest maybe at 8 pm in the night. The sunlight would still be visible till around 10 pm in the night. I was told to enjoy such superb weather as it may be the best there could be this year.

Looking back, I wish I had heeded that advice! The days are getting darker and shorter. The sunlight is visible at around 7 am and it all but disappears by 4.30 pm in the afternoon. Now to make matters more difficult, the snow started falling two weeks ago meaning the temperatures were mostly below zero. I have never in my life experienced temperatures below 10°C let alone below zero!

In Bergen for the mission week

But best of all the friendships we have made make the Trondheim weather bearable. We have had a lovely time interacting with the students and staff and residents here. They have made home sickness bearable to by making us belong. Some have taught us how to cook while others have cooked for us and with us. They have taken time to show us around town and take us on trips and tours around town. They have invited us for dinners at their homes where lively conversations went on. Only yesterday, we went for a lovely Birthday party and tonight we are attending a special dinner in honor of our contact person Lars Olav who is leaving for Poland by the end of the year. My teammate Grace and I even have invitation to spend Christmas with the families of two of the students here. Such kind gestures have made the first month here exciting to say the least. And this is just the beginning!

All in 24 hours...

What an introduction to Norwegian time keeping standards we had last week! Grace (my teammate) and I left our 'home' Hald international Centre in Mandal in the wee hours of the morning of 28th September for the long 12 hour-journey to Trondheim. The travel by bus from Mandal to Kristiansand and then, from there, by train to Oslo was uneventful.

We were meant to arrive in Oslo Central Station at 1.58 pm and then have some 19 minutes to catch the train to Trondheim. Well, we arrived 5 minutes late. Trouble was looming as we had 14 minutes to catch the next train. Add to this the fact that we had a lot of luggage with us and we had no idea where to get the next train. I got tense and lost. My team mate, thank God for her, urged me to go to the information desk and ask for directions. 4 minutes remaining now! We took our heavy bags and tried to make our way to track 11 from track 9. We got there just in time to…….not even see the train leaving! This is Norway I tell you. I missed home where I could have caught the next bus there and where I knew what to do in such situations. I also missed the fact that someone would have offered (at a small fee at the very least) to help me with our many, heavy bags. Either way, here we were, in a foreign country, far away from familiar Kenya, trying to make our way home.

How I missed the train!

Well, we composed ourselves and were able to figure out what to do. The choice was between train, bus and Plane. The earliest to leave was the plane so we picked it. Our contact person, Lars Olav Gjora (quite a difficult last name there), enabled us to get the air tickets but still the next flight was to be at 10.30pm so we still had quite some time to wait. We rested a while at the central station but we could not manage a nap as we had a train to catch to the airport. While there, we saw a woman see the train leave while she was running to catch it. I really felt sorry for her.

We took the train to the Oslo airport and unknowingly we sat in the comfort zone, a first class area. The tickets we had purchased were for the common area. The Train conductor seeing the dejected and worn out looks on our faces having dragged our heavy bags up and down allowed us to sit in this area. We alighted at the airport and more was awaiting us. At the check-in place, we realized that my bags were both overweight by far. Luckily for Grace, one of her bags was underweight and the other was overweight so a little balancing did the trick. We therefore had to cancel my flight and had to book a train ticket instead. My contact Person Lars Olav helped a lot here.

Grace was able to catch the flight to Trondheim and was received by Lars Olav. I was very very keen this time round and did not miss my train which was due to pass passing by the Oslo airport at 11.46pm (note the precision of the time) on its way to Trondheim. I was almost the first to hop in and was soon fast asleep. The train conductor even had to wake me up for me to show him my tickets. I only woke up the following morning to the beautiful scenery of Trondheim. That was the craziest 24 hours! 

Happy to be in Trondheim Finally!

Stepping out

When an eagle is preparing a nest in which it’s young ones will live, it usually places first a layer of thorns before it places some several layers of grass to ensure a comfortable place of growing for the eaglets. Over time, however, there comes a time when the eaglet must move out of the nest to learn how to fly.  At this point, the soft cushioning of grass is removed and the prickly thorns revealed so as to motivate in a prickly way the eaglet to move out and learn a special skill that is going to be useful to it as long as it lives: flying. So without moving out, no new skill will be leant.

For a few weeks now since arriving in Norway, we have been at Hald learning a lot on cross-cultural exchanges and now the time has come time to go develop our practical skills further out of the nest. The prickly thorn of leaving is here and so this Friday, my teammate, Grace, and I leave Hald for Trondheim  via Kristiansand and Oslo where we will be working with LAGET (Pronounced Lah gey), an organization that works with students in Universities and High schools to encourage them to live for Christ and to make Him known at universities and colleges in Norway.

I feel both excited and fearful. Excited because this is the real chance to test the knowledge gained about the Norwegian cross-cultural experience and more importantly, to live and work in Norway as I share and learn. The fear is quite natural because I know not what lies in Trondheim. It feels like a fish being moved from familiar waters to other waters. All in all, I look forward to this entire six month experience and I hope to make the most of it. I have purposed to go, learn and become as the Hald motto encourages us. And before we go, remember this:

We rest on Thee, our Shield and our Defender!
We go not forth alone against the foe;
Strong in Thy strength, safe in Thy keeping tender,
We rest on Thee, and in Thy Name we go.

Of fathers and their kids...

One of things that has struck me in Norway, other than the beautiful and amazing Norwegian Scenery, is the bonding that Fathers have with their young kids. It is completely normal to see a father taking the young kid on a ride around in a crib. it is also perfectly normal to see fathers changing the kids diapers, feeding them, stroking them to sleep, and even taking care of them when they cry. These are things that in most parts of the world mothers are 'expected' to do.

Today in church was the day of baptism for the babies of around three months. You should have seen the beautiful sight of the fathers carrying the kids to the front of the church with the mothers at their side. You may think that this is just for the show but you change your mind when you meet these fathers later even after church still cuddling the babies close to their chests in a tender and loving way as they head home. The glean in their eyes, the grin in their faces and the glee in their mouths tell it all. I remember one of our teachers at Hald International Center, who was teaching us on raising kids in Norway, telling us on the joy he had at being at home for six months raising the kids at home while the mother worked. You see in Norway every new mum is entitled to a year off work with full pay on getting a child. This one year can be divided between the mother and father of the kid in such a way that each gets six months. And these six months, are what my teacher told me were the most exciting for him.

This close bonding between father and kid i feel is something that all the men (your truly included) can commit to. Having grown up in a home without a father, i could be biased in my recommendation but i still think it is beautiful and pleasant to have this in a family. Think about it!

Compelled by love...

What an awesome, fun-filled month it has been in Norway thus far! Put together 84 participants from 18 nations representing 4 continents in one place (Read Hald International Centre) and you have a portent concoction that has the sort of energy to create the vibrant atmosphere needed for cross-cultural sharing and learning. In each of these participants' lives, I sense a passion, a desire, a zeal, a fire to change the world. A closer observation of their lives reveals the burning, passionate heart of a global God who is on a global agenda to change people's lives and reconcile people to Himself through Christ. As I interact with them, I have seen my perspective of life expanded, my mindset challenged and my heart gladdened by the heart of fellowship here.

The Diversity at Hald International Centre, Mandal, Norway

Picture this: I reside in a small lovely room with four participants each representing a different country: Cameroun, Norway, Tanzania and Kenya, where yours truly comes from. I wake up earlier (mostly) and have the cool task and pleasurable experience of waking up each of them at different times. Before this, as I sit at the table, I watch them in their sleep and I thank God for this wonderful richness of diversity. I call to mind  that in the Bible it is written that a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, was seen by the apostle John, standing before the throne and before the Lamb at the end of age.  I feel glad to see each day how God is working out to make this come to pass.

As you move around and meet new faces, you will observe that we have many differences within the Hald community. We speak different native languages; we prefer different meals; we are fascinated by different sports activities; we have different cultural backgrounds; we have different worldview patterns; our countries are different, the climates we have come from are different. And the differences go on and on. Yet you will also realize something that that unites us. You can sense it in our cheerful play of volleyball or football, in the hearty laughter as we share meals, in the talk down the hallway, in the music as we sing our hearts out, in the yearning by each participant to make a difference in their area of placement, in the struggle to learn a new language, in the enthusiasm to go to a new part of the world and participate in changing lives, in the passion to read and learn and share. You realize that we are all compelled by love.

I pray that that love shall fuel our hearts and fire our bellies and move our feet and, above all, compel all of us at Hald to act wholeheartedly in making a difference as we share and learn  in our cross-cultural experiences around the world.