New apartment!

yey! i finally got hold of a new apartment:) it's in the middle of Oslo and lovely!

as of 8 June, i'll be at my new fab place, feel free to drop by;)

My trip in Bangladesh and Ghana

Bangladesh

So, after the ultra modernism of Shanghai, I was set out for Dhaka, Bangladesh. On my way there I had a night stop over in Bangkok and since sleeping in the airport wasn’t the most comfortable thing, the lovely Rob had offered me a place to sleep in the MC flat. It was the shortest visit ever but thanks so much, was lovely!

In Dhaka, I spent the first hour in queue for immigration. I don't think we Europeans understand how easy it is to travel in Europe (for us at least;) with no lines and no visas… sigh. But then I was met by Froydis and a bunch of Bangladeshi AIESECers! We went for lunch, some of us and then home to Froydis. She works for an NGO called UST and also lives there. It’s not in the fanciest parts of Dhaka but we lived comfortably enough. I had the honour of meeting many of the people Froydis worked with, including her boss and getting to know what she works with. I also went to Mari’s office and saw the place. Mari works in an advertising agency, and there I also bumped into Jamil, how was an intern in Sweden ages ago, that’s how small the world is;) And if course I also spent some time with Linn (this is the Linn who is only called Linn, compared to Linn Benedicte and Linn Kristin;).

We had some nice dinners, with some interns and a coffee with like 30 AIESECers, who it was really nice to meet. Especially Shehrina and Priyanka who I have been emailing with for so long. Bangladeshi food was really good, even though maybe a slight bit hot for me;)

I had quite a lot of work to do in Bangladesh so I had saved the last day for sigh seeing. Me and Froydis met up with Mari and Linn on Old Dhaka, managed to see a little bit and take the rickshaw to the river, and then Mari’s phone rang and a friend of hers told that there had been bombs going off and that we should go home since they had been threats made to foreigners! Without knowing much more, we thought that maybe best if we did go home. We managed to get some info of the internet and there had indeed been bombs that morning, on several places in Bangladesh. And sadly enough I think it killed one person.

Later in the afternoon, Amzad who had just finished his MCP term came by and we decided that the situation probably wasn’t too dangerous for us, so we went out seeing a bit of Dhaka, like the parlament (which is SO cool!) and the park next to it. Then went for dinner and then it was time for me to catch my flight to Dubai-Accra!

Ghana blog

A wave of heat met me as soon as i stepped out of the plane from Dubai (which was a very pleasant flight indeed, Emirates has moved up to be my favourite air company for now). The heat is something that is always present for me on my Ghana stay, made me very lazy and sleepy (ask anyone who was there, I fell asleep all the time, either in pubs or in the sofa or on the boat with the band playing just 3 metres away…)

I really enjoyed the time in Ghana, meeting my Norwegians Lars, Linn and David. Staying with Maryna, Dalia and Charles in the MC house. Meeting all the interns (since they meet every day) and of course seeing Vincent again.

I had a bit more time in Ghana than in Bangladesh, so also had time for some relaxationJ Went to the national museum in Accra and the markets, which were HUGE! It kinda reminded me about the markets in La Paz, except that here everything was just mixed which I don't remember it to be in Bolivia, but could be that my memory is deceiving me.

On the Sunday, ‘the Norwegians’, Jorge and I went to the world’s largest reservoir Lake Volta for a nice cruise. Or, it was a boat trip on the lake

for like 6 hours, we stopped at an island where there were just millions of kids who wanted to show us around (for money or, surprisingly, pens!).

It was the most chillaxed day ever, mainly just sitting on the boat, reading, watching the water and getting far to sun burnt.

Ghana is a really cool country and it def got me hocked on yet another continent;) so, the question is only when and where I go next;) My way home was a bit weird, transiting in Nairobi (it’s all bout the money you know) where I had a lovely 15 h stay in the Kenya Airways transit lounge, but with lots of complementary good luckily enough. Coundnt afford the visa when it was just a day, but I’m sure I’ll be back for real some time.

Nice to be home in one way, living out of a suitcase for 3½ weeks is a bit exhausting, but I did have the trip of my life!!! It’s been really cool and I know I’m the luckiest b**** ever;) And when I came home it was nice to see the team again (even though we managed to be in the same city for a whole 12 hours…) and we had team dinner and transition planning, good to me home;)

Bangladesh and Ghana updates to come...

will do a very nice update, once back in Norway. dont wanna waste my time writing long blog entries;) so be patient:)

Annika

Are you eating Chinese take-out or dining in Beijing?

sitting alone in the MC office in Beijing. Never thought that would happen. both in the sense of being in Beijing and meeting the MC, and the fact that i'm all alone and havent seem a person in over 2 hs;) China's normally a quite crowded place:)

We just finiashed the MAD partner meeting some hourse ago. 3 days of discussions on how to make the project work in the best possible ways for the coming year. It was Dalia from Ghana, Daniel from Bangladesh, Echo and Susan from China and Camilla and myself from Norway. We have had lots of fun, experienced Beijing and also had a very good meeting.

Before the meeting started, me and Camilla were at the market all day Thursday, buying lots and lots of things... like 4 pairs of shoes... bags... souvenirs... clothes etc. And also made it to the tailor to make sure we look pretty and professional for our upcoming jobs;) getting the end result of that tomorrow, very excited;) We also walked in Hutong, a very pretty area with lots of restaurants and bars around the Qianhai lake.

In the evening Dalia came, was great seeing her after so long time only speaking over msn:)


On Friday the meeting started, was cool seeing everyone in the same room, except for the first couple of hours when Daniel was missing, he didnt arrive until the afternoon. In the middle of the day, i had to run off because the previous day, Birtan had been at an FK Asia networking event, and a company from China were interested in meeting me regarding the MAD project and internship opportunity here... So, off i went, on the subway, all by myself (wasnt actually as scary since Birtan met me as soon as i got off) to a resturant where we had the meeting over lunch. Taking part in the meeting was also Benedicte (or Linn in China;)), and it was great seeing her here!!!


In the evening, we went to Brazilian bbq/chinese resturant, of course initiated by Ciao (MC CEEDer from Brazil) and ate as much as we could for €4 each. then most of us moved on to Taku, a night club with a ¥30 (€3) cover for girls and then free drinks... And i will state again... free drinks - not the best idea;) after dancing, beer, tequila shots, 'latin' tequila shot as Juan kept on insisting calling it... questions at your own risk;)


Partying the whole night and open bar proved a bit tough for us jet lagged ppl and Saturday's meeting was spent on a café with large amounts of coffee and food. yet surprisingly productive:) in the late afternoon, we went to the Silk market. Much larger than the market Camilla and me had gone to on Thrusday, there was no end to the things they sold... since i had covered the shoe and bad floor on Thursday, i focused on pearls and cloths this time.... totally amazing the whole thing. Being totally knacked after a long day, we finished off the evening in a muslim resturant with a strange mix of foods and a belly dancer with a long snake... the things you see in china...

And just got in touch with AIESEC NHH's very nice contact person at the Bergen Chamber of Commerce who agreed to let me and Benedicte come to the China/Bergen 2007 Summit in Shanghai on Wednesday! a really cool opportunity!

China day 2

So, been here for a bit more than a day now... and so much has happened!

yesterday, we went to the electronics market yesterday, was supposed to buy a camera. the market was insane with ppl... and when we came to the counter of the cameras that i kind of liked, they told us to come to the 'show room'. this appeared to be in an other building, on the 8th floor... but we got escorted all the way by a sales guy and once there, were asked to sit down at a table... then another girl came, the showed us lots of different cameras and once i had decided which one to take, the hagling started... and of course this wasnt done by me... but by the lovely susan!

after visiting the MC office, with so many cool ppl, Dan, Yuan and some random aussies...:) then in the evening we went out to celebrate Yuan's birthday:) had Korean bbq and a really nice first night. please see pics in facebook:)

Today was a really really cool day. Camilla's friend's father works for Inovation Norway in Beijing and he was kind enough to invite us to a seminar where he was having a lecture, called 'China now'. It was for Norwegian companies who were interested in expanding or doing business with China. the day was packed and really interesting! got to network and talk to some CEOs and representatives of quite big Norwegian companies. and then Camilla and myself also got invited to join them for dinner at the Norwegian Embassy!!! how cool's that??!! :P

Now sitting in the MC flat, with lots of ppl... and just as many laptops;)

Tomorrow i think we're going to the taylor and stuff, and then working on planning. Dalia's arriving tomorrow as well, yey:)

ok, off to do some planning, tata

In China

I'm in Beijing!!!! sooooooooooo cool! me very happy.

more updates to come...

Easter in Oslo

on my way into town today to meet Bjørn Olav, i accidentally ran into Finn Fillip, who claimed to live close by my house... We talked bout things and i was telling him about my first cultural shoch in norway, which, minor as is might seem, still was one (the distance from Sweden to Norway isnt that big so the shocks cant be that big either, right?;). It was when i came here and realised that shops are not open on Sundays! it just didnt make sense to me! Sunday is the day of the week when you have time to shop, to go to the big super markets (still havent found any of those in Oslo tho,... maybe cos of lack of sunday shoppers???!) and buy lots and lots of things... But not in Norway...

And this of course is connected to my current culture shock.... I though everyone was over exaggerating when they said that all Norwegians went to their cabins over Easter, but it's SO TRUE! Oslo is almost deserted and all ppl are gone... Still dont get their fascination over being in the mountains... but maybe you have to grow up with it or something;)

But in general Norwegian are nice people... so happy with my decision to stay on after my MC term. Even got the job nailed down and start in the middle of August after a well deserved 4 week holiday (with sweden visit and maybe even NY!). I'm very happy and excited about it:) and in only 5 days NC3 will start, last conference for the year, looking forward to meet everyone again:) and in only 9 days, me and Camilla are off to Beijing!!! so excited! going to be a cool meeting, seeing Susan and Dalia again, meet Echo for the first time and maybe Daniel. and then off to see all 'my' SNs in all corners of the world! it's been 2 months since the prep sem now, and i'm very excited about meeting them all again:)