Don't have the time...

2007-10-19

Five weeks has already passed since I wrote the last time. So many things have happened and I don’t feel that I have the time to write about them on my blog, at least for now. Also the internet isn’t too good here but if you want to know what happen here in Niger you can go and read on Ishtars blog. Somehow she manages to write and I guess that most of the pictures she have there is taking by me. =o1

This will be all for this time…

2007-11-14

Almost four more weeks have passed!? This is crazy… Time is running and we are still busy here. But we don’t work as much with the house as we did before. Now we take some time to enjoy all the things we have done. We also spend a lot more time in the garden and it’s nice to be out there with the dog, two loose horses and of course our newly arrived goats, my little babies… =o1

Cheeres! Nettus

One week have already passed

So one week ago it was my birthday! Yeah, one year older... Hopefully I have been a little bit wiser since last year. But I don’t know about that.

We started the day with a nice breakfast. After that we cleaned the house because Ishtars brother and his family where going to join us at lunch. They also brought a strawberry yoghurt cake for me. It’s similar to a cheesecake and it tasted good. We also had cream with it and that is something that you don’t get here that often so it was luxury.

Later in the afternoon Ishtar went out to try how the horses were. I stayed home continued with the house. I tried to find all the holes in the mosquito net and that isn’t easy. The holes are sometime so small but we don’t want any mosquitoes inside.

When Ishtar came home she was happy and told me that the horses were so good and that I could ride with her the day after. Last year when I was here I fall off and I don’t want to do that again! And I must say that I was not to happy about going up on the horse again but I did and it went better then I expected! (You can see pictures on Ishtars blog) Tomorrow we are going out again and that is something I have been looking forward to all week!

A daytrip to Edens field station

Me outside the field station

In the beginning of this week we went up to Edens field station. I took a lot of pictures of the plants and some insects. This was my third time there but this time it was so much greener.

Ishtar and me

Lunchtime

Then it was time to go home...

Nettus

I'm still alive

So now I’m back here in Zinder. The flight went well and we got all our luggage. When we flew over Sahara dessert I looked out. It was so beautiful. I wish that I could share that felling with you all. That I can’t do but I can share some of my pictures I have been taking since I arrived here…

Me and Ishtar eating breakfast in Kano

Still a lot of traffic in Kano and I'm happy that I'm not driving

Look how green and nice it is now in the rain season



I was really tired after the flight...

Nettus

Tomorrow...

Three big things have happen since I wrote last time.

1. I had my farewell/crayfish party. It was really nice to spend the evening with my friends. I had rent a big tent that we put up in a friends garden. We ate crayfish/shrimps, sang songs and later we played music and danced until late in the night…

The fort/castle in my hometown

2. This weekend I was on one of my cousins wedding. It was nice and they had it on a fort/castle. It was the first time I was there on a wedding. It blew a lot so they had to move the wedding to the inner yard, but it was nice there too. I had a pleasant dinner partner so I really enjoyed the evening. I was one of the last guests that went home because we had to wait a long time for the taxi.

My cousin in the dress

3. Tomorrow is the day I have been waiting for. I’m going to Niger! Me and Ishtar packed almost all the things yesterday so today I had just some small things to do. I think I’m ready and hopefully I haven’t forgotten anything, but I guess that I will find that out in a couple of days…

We will come to our home some time on Friday, I guess in the afternoon or evening. It depends on how much shopping we need to do in Kano before we leaving for Zinder. I think this is really exciting. On Monday I will start working for Eden Foundation!

Cheers!

Nettus

In two weeks I will be in Africa!

Yesterday me and Ishtar were shopping some things that we need to bring with us to Africa. We were talking about our house and animals as we use too but suddenly I were thinking: “Wow, it’s only two weeks left now”. I have been waiting for this journey all summer long and soon it’s time to go! When I think of it, it feels a bit unreal, but I know it’s true. I also think it’s time for me to get started with my packing!


Cheers, Nettus

One step closer

One week ago Ishtar and I booked our flight tickets to Africa. So hopefully we will fly on the 30^th August, but we haven’t got the tickets yet! Earlier today Ishtar called me with good news. She had been talking with someone at the Nigerian embassy about our visa applications and they are almost ready to send them back to us. I hope they will be back in the beginning of the next week. First I hoped that they will be back in the end of this week but I think that is too much to hope for. I’m just happy if there will be no problems this time, like last year...

Now I just have four working days left. One tomorrow and three next week. I’m also planning for a party that I will have for my friends this weekend. It will be a Swedish crayfish and farewell party. The friends I meet a couple of days ago asked me about a party. First I didn’t think of having one because I’m not aloud to have parties here at my moms house. My friends were here a couple of years ago on a crayfish party and after that she said to me that it was the last party I had in her home. My friends didn’t behave so well that evening…
But my friends want a party and because I will be on one of my cousins wedding next weekend (my last one before I’m going) we decide to have the party now on Saturday! I will have it in a tent at a friends house so I hope it will be nice and warm outside...

Good night, Nettus

Time!?

A week have been passing by already! Sometimes I wonder how time can run that fast?

In just four weeks I will be in Africa like a volunteer and there is a lot to do before I can go. Me and my friend need to book the flight, send in papers etc. I also have a lot to arrange here at home before I can go.

I just counted my working days and I only have 11 days left. That feels good, not that I don’t like my work but for now that is my countdown... After that a new big adventure will start for me. I don’t really know what to expect because I think this time things will be way different. But I’m looking forward to it and hopefully I will meet these little guys again. We meet a couple of times last year when I was out walking in the bush.

Nettus

A none planed day!

This was the first day for a long time I didn't had anything planed! That was great! I could sleep as long as I wanted to, so I did! I called one of my cousins and she came here to pick me up. We went to someone she know that have a cottage for rent. I talked with the owners and it sounds really good. But I will take some days to think about it. If I will move in there it will not be until April next year anyway. First I will go to Africa, Niger, as a volunteer for seven months. I will work for Eden Foundation but I will tell you more about that later. I have now five weeks to fix with all the papers and book the flight. Hopefully there will be no problems this time. I remember last year when I went there for a visit, I had some problems with my visa. The embassy had forgotten to put it in my passport and I had less then one week until I was leaving…

Visit my niece, Svea!

So I was a cowboy/girl last Saturday! Most of my outfit I had bought when I was in Lancaster, California, in the end of May. Me and my mom went there to visit my other brother and his family for one week. They got a baby girl in December so it was the first time we got to meet her. Svea was then 5 months old and sooo cute, but I guess that every proud aunt says that about their niece. This little girl is my first niece and I hope that she will not be my only.

One bad thing with this is that she lives on the other side of this planet. I can’t meet and cuddle with her as much as I would like, and I do miss her! But a good thing is that her mom is taking a lot of pictures of her and sends to us so that we still can watch her grow…

It was warm and sunny in California as usual when we were there so it was a good vacation for me. We stayed around the house most of the time, there I enjoyed the time with my brother and his family. I could just sit and watch Svea for hours! We were also bathing in the little pool and went out for some shopping.

A happy family!

The day before we were going home my mom went to a tattoo place. She had been talking about doing a tattoo many years now, and this time she did it! I think my mom is cool. My brother took her to “Dr Claw”. I also went with them because I’m curious and wanted to take pictures while he was working. I have also been thinking of doing one but I can’t decide what I want (way to many things to choose from), so I have to wait until I’m totally sure. I don’t want to do one and then regret it!

Tomorrow my brother will come and visit us here in Sweden. He will not bring his family this time because they think it’s to long for Svea to fly. That is sad because I would love to meet them all again but I guess that I have to wait until Svea will get older or if I’m going back to visit them. My brother will just stay for 3 weeks this summer. He uses to stay longer but not this time…

This little smiley cute face I have in my cell phone and every
time I look at her I feel like something is smiling inside of me.

Nettus

A lot of rain and cowboys!

Saturday morning didn’t start so good for me. I woke up and heard a sound in my room that I didn’t recognize so I tried to figure out what it was and locate were it came from. I couldn’t figure out what it was but when I sat up in my bed I got something in my head, so I looked up. O no, there were a water leakage and it was dropping in my bed! It has been raining to much this summer so I guess that our roof had enough. I had to move my bed and put a bucket on the floor. At noon I didn’t feel so good so I had to go and take a nap. Then I saw that the drops from the ceiling had moved so it had been dropping in my bed again I got really tired of it! I had to move around my things again…

When I got up after my nap I had to make myself ready for the evening. I was going to a Western party and I didn’t want to miss it! So before I left I packed some medicine and fast energy (coke and a lot of chocolate) so that I would survive the entire evening. I was going to pick up some of my friends on the way so that we could go there together. When we got to the place we could choose if we wanted to stay and talk inside or if we wanted to go out and throw horseshoes or shoot with an air gun while we were waiting for the others to come. It didn’t rain then so I went outside to take some pictures!

When all the cowboys and Indians had come, they gathered us all again and now it was time for food. All the women had to put one shoe in a bag and the men had to take a shoe and find who it fit and that person was also the one that would sit by his side at the table. The food was good and we sang a couple of songs. That is always funny and they hade two guys singing and playing guitar’s so that was really nice. There where also a lot of shooting all evening long. To many cowboys in one place I guess!



After the food we put the tables away and my favourite part was beginning, dancing! I had never done line dancing before and that was something I hoped we would do this evening, and we did. It was really funny and I danced a lot. The time was just running while we were dancing and then it was time to ride back home…

Nettus

Joyfull visit!

Right now I’m happy that we got more than one computer in our home. I do have a problem whit my new laptop that I can’t arrange myself. (I’m not that good on computers, yet!) Hopefully my brother that will come home and visit us this weekend can help me. But I have to wait a couple of hours before he will be here, because he is driving form Oslo there he lives…

Earlier today I was in Gothenburg at the hospital to visit a friends mom. She is struggling with cancer, and it was so nice to see her again. Last time I meet her it was about one week ago and that was a really quick visit in her home. Today we hade time to talk again and I relay enjoyed that. To see her lovely warm smile again make me warm inside. I really admire people that have cancer and struggle so hard but still can look at life so positive. I wish that more people could have and feel that joy, and the best thing is that it can infect the people around you, so when I left her room I felt happy and warm inside…

Anette

Can I delete this last week?

This last week haven’t been my week at all! There have been too much about everything I think, except for sleep. Me having a lot to think about, family I want to take care of, friends having problems, workmate having problems with their newborn child… and I want to bee there for everyone! I tried to be there for everyone but I forgot to take time for myself. I went out on my walks in the beginning of the week, but that was not enough. I also got new information on Wednesday that there probably will be a lot of changes at my work this autumn (I work as a personal assistant for a handicapped man) so I don’t know what is going to happen with my job. Okay, I will not be there this autumn because I’m going to Africa as a volunteer for seven months, but will I still have my job when I’m coming back home? Right now I don’t know so I just have to wait and see and that is something I don’t like, but hopefully my workmates will keep me informed!

Yesterday it got to be too much for me so I crashed! That was not funny because I hurt some of the people I love. I didn’t mean to, but I did! After a long time lying in bed and crying something came up in my mind. A friend once told me that: “Whatever happens in your life you will never be alone. You will always have one friend that will stay by your side.” And that thought make me realized that it was time for me to reach out for help. So I did and today it’s better. I still don’t have totally happiness but at least I’m on my way back again…

Anette

A day with Tabita

Two days ago I got to meet a little friend of mine, Tabita (almost 2 years old). Last time I saw her was in March. Then we got together and played for a couple of hours in the afternoon. This time we had a whole day together! I guess that I was looking forward to this day as much as Tabita.

When her parents were leaving Tabita didn’t even have time to cry or say good bye. She was already playing with our goldfishes in the pond we have inside by our entrance. I didn’t think that our goldfishes liked it as much as Tabita did so I took her up in the house and she helped me watering our plants inside and outside. After we have been playing a while we went out for a walk. Tabita didn’t want to sit in the stroller because her bear, Teddy, should sit there. When I took Teddy out she got angry at me and put him back. He WAS going to sit there! I didn’t want to argue with her so we walked on. Little later I tried again and Tabita didn’t like that but this time I said to her that she had to sit in the stroller because we were going to see horses. When I mention horses she didn’t struggle any more and a big smile came up on her face again and she said: “Horses!”. So I walked to the field there they use to have horses because I had promised this little girl this. But that day the horses weren’t there. Instead there was sheeps so we said hi to them and gave them some grass. We also walked by some cows and I still hoped that we would walk past a field with horses. But even better, when we walked on the road there came two horses and Tabita pointed at them and said “Horse, horse!”. She looked so happy when she saw these horses… When we came home it was time to make lunch. Tabita was tired so she didn’t want to help me even if I put a chair beside me. After lunch she was first happy to go to bed for a nap. Then she started to cry. It took me some time to make her fall asleep.

In the afternoon I had plan to go to a friend that have two children so I called her, but one of her children had fever so I didn’t want to take Tabita there. So we stayed here and played whit water and soap bubbles outside. I think it was the first time for Tabita playing with soap bubbles. She was pointing at them and said “ball”, but when they disappeared she looked strange at them and I saw that she was thinking, how could this happen!?
Tabita was really tired in the evening and she was running in the house back and forward screaming. I started to run with her and that she thought was funny, we use to do that a lot when we were in Africa. She laugh and screamed. Then it was time to go to bed. Tabita was happy about that. I guess that she was so tired at that point, I was! It took some time for her to calm down and she wanted me to stay by her side. After that she fall asleep without crying…

I really enjoyed this day with my little friend!
Anette

(pictures will come later)

One Word Responses

One Word Responses

1. Yourself: Little
2. Your partner: Nobody
3. Your hair: Brown
4. Your mother: Caring
5. Your father: Memories
6. Your favourite item: Photoalbum
7. Your dream last night: Don´t remeber
8. Your favourite drink: Wather
9. Your dream car: Sporty!
10. The room you are in: Green
11. Your ex: Calm
12. Your fear: Loneliness
13. What you want to be in 10 years: Alive
14. Who you hung out with last night: Emelies family
15. What you're not: Angry
16. Muffins: Bleuberry
17: One of your wish list items: Apartment
18: Time: Fast
19. The last thing you did: Phonetalk
20. What you are wearing: Clothers
21. Your favourite weather: Sunshine
22. Your favourite book: No one
23. The last thing you ate/drank: Waffle
24. Your life: Good
25. Your mood: Tired
26. Your best friend: Bumblebee
27. What you're thinking about right now: Sleep
28. Your car: Honda
29. What you are doing at the moment: Writing
30. Your summer: Working
31. Your relationship status: !?
32. What is on your TV: Nothing
33. What is the weather like: Dark
34. When was the last time you laughed: Earlier

Time to get started!

But where shall I begin??

After me and Esther, a friend of mine (that helped me) start this blog, there have been a lot of work for me, so I haven´t got the energi or time to learn how this blog works. For me this is like a big djungle but hopfully one day I will find my way through it...

Everytime I have been talking whit Esther the last week she have been asking me when I´m going to write something on my blog. Earlier today when we talked, se asked me again, and if I´m not starting soon she will write something. Hmm... my friend Esther should need a lot more patience...

But my question is still: where shall I begin?

I need to think little more about that so I hope you have more patience then my friend...

/Nettus

New blog has been made!

My very first post!

Nettus