December in all its glory! Without snow this year... but with a great birthday!

So it’s been a while since my last post because so much has been going on. And as I said in the end last time, I had an essay to write for Hald. I managed to finish it on time for Saturday the 10^th and celebrated it by having a performance on the Christmas show at College Protestant the same evening.

The Christmas Show at College

It was so great! We performed the drama piece for the song Everything by Lifehouse, and it went really great! And I loved being on stage again. I really miss my lessons from last year now, and I’m definitely not giving up on acting. So I wonder what I'm going to do next year when I'm back in Norway...!

 I have otherwise been occupied by work at the orphanage and at Centre Socio Ménager. I have had vocabulary tests and read A Christmas Carol and afterwords sang some Christmas songs with the kids at Rainbow orphanage. The kids there are really joyful and always come running towards the car when we come and when we are leaving, it's fun to work there!

My favourite film!

For those of you who do not know it, my birthday is in December, and as I turned 20 this year it could not go by unnoticed. Or at least I didn't want it to. So last weekend was fabulous! It started great at Friday evening when we had a second movie night, with sweet and salty popcorn, makkala and lots of soda. And for once Kristian managed to make a successful and good tasting chocolate pudding! Yummy!
You see usually it's not so puddingy and more cocoaish and not stiff at all, so some things went more right than wrong this weekend!


That was not the only thing that went alright when it comes to cooking, Sara-Jeanette and I made taco for supper which we were sharing together with Sandra, Helene and Delphine. We had a wonderful evening with good talks about so many interesting things, we watched my favourite film, "The Holiday" on big screen in our little, cold, but cosy living room with good sound and a really good cake that our housekeeper made for me! It was a really brilliant evening! 


On the actual day of my 20th birthday (the 18th of December) we were going to sing with Gospel Singers at a Christmas concert for the orphans in Ngaoundéré. And I had been given the task to sing a duet together with one of the African boys to a Norwegian Christmas song. It was so much fun! And we had arranged it so that all the members in the choir had brought a little gift which was given to the small orphans who were there and listened to us "singing the Christmas time in" as we sang "En stjerne skinner i natt" - "... nå ringes julen inn." Which also is my favourite Christmas song!

Singing "En stjerne skinner i natt" with Gospel Singers

So why on earth would we sing a Norwegian Christmas song in an African choir you may be sitting there and asking your self. Well I will tell you. In this particular choir there is a tradition that consists of the members teaching each other songs in their native languages, and then performing them on the different concerts they have. This is natural as there is around 220 languages here in Cameroon! So last year the Norwegians who were here teached then "Englene" as they call the song as that is the first word in the refrain.

After the concert we were supposed to have a Christmas party with the choir, but everyone were too tired so it was postponed to the following evening instead.
We had little to do that day too so most of the morning was spent either in bed or on a sunbed by the pool together with a good book or some music in the ear. When the clock was close to turning 18 o'clock we got ready to go over to Erik Sandvik, or "Grandpère" as they call him here, where the party was being held.

"Grandpère" giving a speech at the Christmas party with G.S.

Thinking we were a bit late (18:15) we felt a bit bad, but as we turned the corner of his house and looked into his garden there wasn't a soul to be seen. Just a bunch of empty chairs and a bit annoyed choir leader frantically trying to call the members who did not show up on time.
We sat there and waited for half an hour. But still no one was there but us Norwegians and the leader. So therefore SJ and I went back to our house to warm up the pizza we were bringing to the shared meal later. When we returned it was almost eight o'clock and most of the seats were taken now, but there was still coming new arrivals for at least an hour after us. 
The members in the choir are really a good example of the "classic" "African-time phenomenon"! And the leaders point it out on every single practise we have, but still no change.
The evening went by with a lot of singing, dancing, eating and some words from the Bible too. After some time outside in the cold, we went inside and we watched the film called "Facing The Giants". A really good and inspirational Christian film. While everyone payed attention to the film some of the leaders went around and collected and handed out gifts to everyone. We had brought one gift each which was given to an other member in the choir, a really nice tradition they have each Christmas. I have no idea who got my gift or who gave me the one I got. But I was really glad when I opened mine and it had a nice ring inside which actually fitted my small fingers. So nice to see how a small gesture like this can make so many smile a bit more.


Thank you all for a really wonderful birthday weekend, and for making it a memorable one too! Now I'm ready for the Christmas spirit and joy to fill me!


Johanne Teresie