We have been on dolphin safari, spice tour, visited Stown Town, been to Nungwi – which is one of the top 10 in the world(!), snorkeling and saw most the fishes from Finding Nemo and witnessed the most beautiful sunset ever! ..and so much more. Once again, I’ll let the pictures speak for me:

The beach at our first hotel, in Paje. Pretty ok!

Yes, ok so it did rain a little while we were here..

Cinnamon.You don’t get it fresher than this!

I hardly need to say what this is..

Cloves! (nellik)

Banana

This crazy guy climbed up the palm to get us coconut! ..and it took him literally 3 minutes! He even put on a show for us, we all had our hearts in out throat..

At the top!

And the result

We had lots of delicious fresh fruit, among that pineapple

We went to see the slave caves, and you can read the story yourself

Dolphins!

I really wish I had an underwater camera too show how close to them we really got! (we did of course swim with them!) But they are after all wild, so we didn’t get to touch them.. Our guide said 1-2-3 JUMP! and we chased them.. I was approx. 2meters away from some of them sometimes. THAT was totally awesome! (for those of you who get that joke )

We saw about 20-30 of them. Pretty cool!!

Det er visst flo og fjære i Afrika og..

As you might have guessed, I like the flowers here.. Especially the hawaiian flower

The view from one of our rooms (we are after all staying at Zanzibar Ocean View Hotel..)

The beach we stayed at today. I get it why it’s rated among the top 10 in the world!

If I only could show you the beautiful reef and the fish! It was amazing! Clear blue water, lots of fish and other ..things to look at. Highly recommended!

Sunset right outside my door. I stood there in awe, it was so beautiful!

That’s it for now. Stay tuned

Oh, and Merry Christmas!

I’m sorry for the late update. But I seem to have too much fun to write..

I’ve uploaded some pictures to give you an idea of how we are celebrating Christmas. And as you will see; it is good. I have so much to tell, but I can’t write it all.. This will just be a teaser for now.

Since last time I updated we have finnished our internship. Despite what might be excpected of me to say, I must admit I like the thought of not going back to the hospital. I miss the kids we met, but other than that I was finnished. As I’ve said many times before I don’t want to work at a hospital, and our stay here has just confirmed that. I have learned a lot these past two months and I’m glad I came here. I respect the nurses who work at the burn unit day after day, year after year – I could never do it. It wil be a long time before I can smell chlorine and not think of the bad infections the patients have, forget the screams of men and children who and in great pain and forget the smell of electrical burned out body. I’ve seen so many bad wounds and post burn contractions, and heard so many tragic stories.. We truly are lucky to leave in Norway. I will think again before I speak badly about the health system back home..

The last week in Ethiopia I also got ill and had on and off fever, headache, tummy troubles and just overall lack of energy. When I came home from work the last day I had a high fever and could barely make it you of bed.. But God is good, and the morning I woke up for the safari (in Tanzania) I was feeling good and ready to see the animals! We had a great day at Lighthouse Beach Resort (recommended!) with the beach to ourselfs and great food and service. The safari was awesome. (Paka Adventures can be recomended.) We got a close look at girafs, lions, elephants, zebra, birds and much more (as you can see from the pictures). Oh, and should I probably mention I’m on Zanzibar now! We went for Tanzania for a safari and then came to Zanzibar for a week to celebrate christmas and just to relax. It is amazing here. But it is H.O.T. wow. At least 30 degrees in the shadow! But white beaches, blu sky, delicious seafood and gorgeous nature, makes up for it. I like it. I must admit though that there has been rain today, and we’re talking heavy rain, so that there has been little sunbathing today.. But that only gives us a good reason to sit back, read my book and relax inside. (Ok, so I wrote that when the internet was down.. Today we moved in to a new hotel; Zanzibar Ocean View – and that’s exactly what I got; ocean view! It’s gorgeous! I’ll post pictures from today tomorrow.)

For christmas eve we have booked table at a 6-course (right word?) dinner and by the looks of it – it will be good! MmMmM AND it will cost only up to $50!

The next couple of days the plan is to go delphine safari, a spice-market thing, water sports up north at a beach ranked as one of the 10 best beaches in the world and just dip in the clear blue ocean and get tan.

I don’t have time to write more now, but I’ll try and post more tomorrow! Enjoy the pictures!

I’ve been sitting here for some minutes wondering how to start blogging. What is there to say? Everything and nothing.

So I guess I’ll start with the beginning?
We’ve been here two and a half weeks, but it feels like a two months. For those who might not know; I’m here with 4 other girls, doing a internship at Yekatit Hospital in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. We’re rotating between a burn unit, OPD (day clinic where they do dressing (change bandage)) and IC (surgical and medical ward).

They said before we went that “it will be challenging,” “it will be frustrating,” “it will be hard.” And I thought, OK, it will be hard. But I didn’t really know what hard meant. Now I do. Watching people scream their lungs out in pain, kids with the horrid look in their eyes as they are about to enter the dressing rooms, a street boy with no family to tend for him so he laid in his own diarrhea the whole day, clearly psychotic from pain after a 90% electric burn injury – it does something to you. Don’t get me wrong though, they do tend to the patients at the hospital – just in a different way than I am used to. It’s a struggle to understand what’s going on, because the language does make it complicated. Here they do nursing in English, but they can’t really talk to us. We on the other hand can speak to them, only we’re having problems with the medical terms (but that gets better every day). So naturally we’re having some problems understanding oneother. But with some body language, simple words and guessing we make it work

Hold on, I’m giving you the wrong impression here. It’s not all that bad. I shouldn’t start with the worst, but I’m don’t see the point in blogging if I only tell one side of the story. But here are some positive things about Ethiopia:

1. We are in Africa!!
2. It’s cheap, it’s great weather, it’s something different!
3. We get to learn a lot about burn injuries, and other rare illnesses
4. Ethiopians have adorable kids, so we are super charmed by everyone we see!
5. We went to Lake Langano this weekend. Swimming, sun bathing, good food and out in the wild bush watching monkeys, warthogs, eagles, hippos and much more.
6. We get to spend over two months in Africa learning about different cultures, languages, way of thinking, way of speaking, about myself, about how to interact with people who are so different from yourself you never would have guesses it was possible..
7. I get to avoid the horrible, depressing month of November.. (in cold Norway.)
8. The different calendar they have here says that it’s 27.02.2004 now, so guess what?! I get to have my 15th birthday all over again before I go home!!
9. Did I day that we have great weather?!
10. Lets face it; I’m in Africa. It’s awesome.

Tomorrow after work we’re going to Ntoto, it’s a hill (they call it a mountain), with an overview of Addis. Later in the week we’re going to a leather outlet thingi, to a jazzmusic place, to spa for a massage and perm, and then Sheraton Hotel for swimming in the weekend. To top it we’re going to a fine traditional dinner at Top View Restaurant before one girl, who’s staying with us for a short time for volunteer work, is going back home next Monday. So that’s our totally OK week

Just some pictures in case you didn’t quite get the point:

Oops, that one is on the side.. sorry, tip your head a little please.

That has to be it for now. I need to go to bed.. There’s so much more to tell, but I’ll do it another time.

Stay tuned

Hi, I’m Anne. I’m in my second… no just kidding. But I am proud though to say that I am in my second year in college. One (two if you count this year as well) year left, and I will be a nurse. In charge of someones life. The one people turn to with problems and trust that I know what I’m talking about.. SCARY!! ..but I hope (desperately) that in the two years I got left that I will learn something that makes me feel more confident, and not feel like I’m going to kill the next person because I don’t have a clue about what I’m doing.. hehe..

Other than that, I’m waiting for the interview that will tell me if I can go to Ethiopia or not! October 19 is the day, and I can’t wait!! If everything goes well I will be sitting on a plain in January that will take me to Addis Ababa, for 12(!!) weeks!! I will be working at a hospital for 8 weeks, and do what ever I want to (that the school approves of) for the remaining 4 weeks. I so desperately want to go, that I don’t know what I’ll do if they wont let me..

The most important, life-sucking (exaggeration), time-taking and challenging thing going on now is the two exams coming up in two weeks. It’s about 1900pages filled with words I don’t understand. It’s basically the entire foundation of my career packed together in two exams, over a 7 week period. We’re talking pharmacology, every illness there is and how to take care of them as a nurse (strange way to say it, but I can’t find the right words..) In 7 weeks! And I got 2 weeks left. Stressed? Worried? Tired? Yes. I know that it’s impossible to learn everything now, and that it’s not my last chance to learn all this. But I don’t want to get an F on this. I want the A or B, but I can settle with an C as well. (no, I’m not a school-freak or something. And not smart, I just have high expectations and like good grades..) The thing though is that I know that I don’t stand a chance on this. So if I get any better than a D I know that it’s Gods work! No doubt. So I feel confident, in a way. I know that God will help me. I can feel it already, and He knows that I don’t really want to take this exam again in the spring..

For my practical this fall I will be in Bærum. 7weeks. With some good friends, and I think we’ll have some great fun – and at the same time learn a lot! (..of course..) It’s “hjemmesykepleien”, you know – the job where the nurses go home to you and help you out with things..? What is it called? …… oh who cares, you know what I mean.. I’m looking forward to it anyways.

Another thing that is keeping me occupied is my car that had the check-up that car needs every second year (EU-godkjenning). Well mine came to 10-12000kr (1000-1200pounds, 2000$). Aotch. Not so much in “car-world”, but in “Anne-world” that is a lot!! It’s three flat rents in one month.. So I’m working a lot, and studying a lot and drinking a lot of coffee. Life of a student.
Luckily I got very kind parents who’s going to buy me new tires and drive them here to Oslo, since I can’t drive home on the ones I got now.. THANKS! I love them.

What else to say? ..I need to go back to my books.. I feel ulcus pepticum is coming already.. Don’t know what it means? I DO! hehe.. no, but look it up or ..drop it. – because I don’t know what it is in English.

Don’t give up on me yet, please. I will keep this more updated!
Love from me

I know this probably was a boring blog, so here’s a picture that (hopefully) will make you smile, at least a little. I just, for some reason, love this one. Polar bears, so dangerous yet so cute..

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IT’S 17.MAI! – The Norwegian Constitution Day!
Now for all of you who don’t know the tradition so well, it’s a day we celebrate and have fun. We eat ice cream, eat hot dogs, play games that’s meant for children, but we all like to try them out, we have “tog” which I’m not going to try to explain because it will only sound weird for foreigners and we (for us who are in Oslo) can go and see the king! We dress up in what we call “bunad” (it’s a costume, or something, that we wear in different occasions like weddings, confirmations, and 17mai) This is how mine looks like:

I don’t have the hat, and yes I do look better in it
Now the problem with this is that the shirt is a nightmare to iron! Ijust want to add and say to all mums out there; THANK YOU! It took me 45min to do it today. I tell you, that is the ultimate test to see if you are fitted to be a housewife – which luckily I am
But seriously, it’s hard. This is what I’ve learned.
1. Make sure you have a proper ironing board. A small, cheap one from IKEA is not good enough.
2. Make sure you have enough time, because this can take hours.
3. Try not to even look at the shirt, that will only cause rumples.
4. If you think “surely I must be done now” – then you are. That last little wrinkle will be replaced by five new ones if you try and do something about it. – and you’re stuck for the next 15min trying to repair the damage.
5. Last, but not least, never EVER say “sure mum, no problem, I’ll just do it myself.”

Girls; good luck. There’s a reason why our grandparents went to school to become a housewife!

Press the link and don’t be shy to laugh out loud:

How ww2 would look like on facebook

There’s more on youtube enjoy!

2. 1 out of 3 exams will be done with by Thursday, and a long needed holiday will be spent one night at a spa and the rest up in the mountains just relaxing

3. Yesterday me and 8 others went skiing and snowboarding! I had such a great time!! It was fantastic!! ..untill i fell and hurt my coccyx (also called tailbone).. But I will be ok. I just to sit in a weird position for a few days.

4. This is how i feel at the moment:

not necessarily all the time, just right now before I have hit the books and read about what I need to observe and do when patients are like this and that..

5. I heard a word in a movie on Friday, cerebri haemorrhagia, and I knew instantly what they were talking about! I love it. I do normally quite like to read about this stuff. I’m just so so tired and ready for Easter that I can’t study.. I cannot wait for Friday to come!!

Other than that, I quite like it here in Oslo. Especially now that the spring is coming up!