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Showing posts with the label Adventure

A Lively Minded Journey Pt. 2

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It was a small room about three or four square meters in size and with nothing to sit on but the bed. The man himself and a small boy who came from the school with me were lying on the linoleum-covered floor. The man motioned me to the bed, partly shielded by a curtain and I sat on the edge of it. The roof was leaking right at my feet and he placed a tin bowl there to collect the drops.  I would have liked to look around the room but it felt disrespectful to get too curious about my benevolent host’s domestic space. At first, I was uneasy about being in a strange room in a faraway village where I could not speak a word of the language. After a few minutes, however, I chided myself for being stupid. Villagers are typically decorous towards their children’s teachers and it is probably the same courtesy that they were extending to me. How could I meet such a kind gesture with suspicion and mistrust? I, therefore, looked up at my host and smiled. He returned my smile and said a few words t

A Lively-Minded Journey Pt. 1

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It was my first visit to the Nkwanta North district and it began like any other day. My mission: to support other members of the Lively Minds Technical Team to set up the GES Lively Minds Programme in the district. We were at the stage of Training of Mothers popularly called ToM. At 7am, we left the hotel and drove into the town to get breakfast. When the cars stopped, one of my colleagues walked over to our car and informed us that those in the first car were going to eat fufu but he wanted porridge. Fufu at 7:00am? I asked. Interesting. "But there is also waakye and ‘raster’ porridge," he added. I told him I had taken a cup of coffee and I had an apple in my handbag. The driver burst out laughing. “Hahaha!! We’re talking of food and you say you have an apple?” We all laughed. Everyone eventually bought some food and the fufu team returned to report that it wasn’t ready. So we drove to the education office to meet the district team (DT) and begin the day's work.  I me

Lines Written on a Rainy Day in Bergen

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Photo by Dominika Masarska (Bybanen stop at Nonneseter) The rain is falling everywhere Falling, falling, falling… all year long!  It rains on the mountains and hills  And on the shops in the valleys.  In the parks, lakes, and fields  On trees, shrubs, and grass it falls.  Bergen is rain and rain is Bergen.

When the Sun Shines in Bergen

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The sun is a shy fella in Bergen  Hiding behind hills and clouds,  He sneaks across the sky  Obliquely.  Afraid to show his handsome face  To the elegant ladies of the city  So the clouds weep nonstop  Bleeding rain that fall and fall  Falling from Fall to Spring  Even the Summer is not spared. Read:  Village Boy Impressions - A Walk Through the Park Sometimes the sun emerges though!  And everyone is both surprised and elated!  To see his smiley face at last.  Everything comes to life then!  Work and chores must wait I think  For homes and shops are emptied  And Parks and hills are filled!  Their seams bursting with happy smiley people  Lying, sitting, rolling, all basking in the sunlight.  For it is harvest time  One must harvest as much sunlight as possible  Before the drunken sun gets sober and shy  And run to hide again behind a cloudy curtain And the heavens hang their washing out to dry.  Bergen, City of Hills

Bergen, City of Hills! (Tribute to a lovely city!)

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A city on a hilltop cannot be hidden!  But this city is not on a hilltop  Bergen is at the bottom of hills  Pressed from all sides by rugged hills  That lie like  sleeping  giants.  Visitors stand in awe of them.  Beloved by the children of the city  Who walk not but run up and down  The rugged slopes all day nonstop! Read:  Village Boy Impressions - My First Snow Ah Bergen! What a city! I should never tire Of gazing at the little houses The red, yellow, white homes That litter the quiet valleys Stretching into cracks and crevices Strewn along the slopes of countless hills From whose tops countless lakes lie. A visit to Bergen is incomplete Without a hike up the seven sleeping giants Fløien the beloved and Lydderhorn Blumanen, Rudermanen, Sanvidkfjellet Løvstakken with the spectacular view And Ulriken that towers above them all! Up their slopes all day long Not one of them is ever lonely For