Things I can't do in Africa

Snowing like crazy today and my Boxing Day bandy game was cancelled so found other ways of entertaining myself.

brrr

just arrived in Bollnäs and 50 degrees colder than what i had yesterday in Cape Town.

Braai with Heidi's family

Horse Browsing PE

My dear sister is planning on some horse shopping in South Africa and sent me and Heidi to inspect a horse in Port Elizabeth. My trained eye could tell that the horse had four legs and a tail. It was also brownish in colour. It seemed friendly (did not kick or bite), could run, trot and jump so probably a good buy :)

Opening of the season PE

Big event with concerts and fireworks.

Exhausting exercise

Human slingshot

fun but scary!

Video of the people in front of us in the queue but think you get the idea. What makes us humans do this kind of crazy things, life not exciting enough as it is :)

Inflatable boat race, Strand

Looked to be good fun.

Robotic Workshop, Maputo

For World AIDS day we did a robotics workshop for kids. Other workshops were running parallel and held by the Friends of School group that we have started to collaborate with. TV Mozambique was covering the whole thing and I got to see a part of it on TV today. Other workshops included drumming, photography, sewing, wall painting and capoeira

Yummy prawns

went to fish market and got some big prawns, barracuda and clams

Mozambique beach

Heidi visiting so taking the chance to visit the beach a bit north of Maputo. Had a nice swim in the ocean, played with the ghost crabs, saw some stranded jelly fish and witnessed a lady getting bitten by a dog, luckily the dog liked me better and spared me from bites.

Home of street kids

In what used to be one of the nicest houses in Maputo, 60 street kids are now living. Today I visited the street kids association and they took us for a city tour showing some of the homes of the street kids. Especially interesting it was to see the community living in this big house that was apparently used by some kind of secret service during colonial times. Many people have been tortured here and the house is said to be haunted which gives even the kids difficulties to sleep at night. Apparently they have an agreement that they are allowed to stay in the house. Despite the dirt and miserable conditions the kids are living under it does not look like the worst place to stay. We were warmly welcomed by the community who happily gave us a house walk.

Robot building

With two days left of training we finally got the LEGO robots. Now thinking of extending my visit in Nampula until Tuesday so kids and facilitators will be more comfortable with the technology when I leave. Nice to experience how excited the Kids now are to build and programme the robots.

snorkling trip

I have experienced more exciting snorkling but was nice with a boat trip.

Vasco da Gama

S. Sebastiao fortress

Mozambique island

Weekend on Mozambique island. A lovely place with plenty of historical sites and nice sceneries. In picture relaxing by the pool with Ilkka.

Kids' Club, Nampula, Mozambique

Yesterday we had a slow start upon arrival where we met with the two groups we are going to work with. Today we started the hands on activities. As we are still waiting for the robotics sets we have started with some multimedia and scratch exercises. Some students also showed some of their innovative creations done prior to the kids' club (crane, water filtration system and alarm system). We also had a video link to the kids' club in Finland where the kids got to say 'hi' to each other.

Mozambique

Nice to meet up with my Finnish colleagues here in Maputo. Feeling a little bit sick but otherwise I had very interesting first 24 hours and met many interesting people. On Monday we will go north to Nampula for Kid's Club activities for two weeks. Last week I will probably be in Maputo doing some work with street kids. Now very tired after a long day - Good night!

Mozambique next

leaving this comfortable oasis in Vanderbijlpark where I have been residing for last couple of days. Heidi just about to take me to the airport for kid's club activities in Mozambique.

Roadtrip with da SAAB

Took the Saab for a spin 700 km east to Port Elizabeth. Also paid Grahamstown and Rhodes University a visit. On Way back made a stop over in Sedgefield and the hot weather tempted me enough to even enter the water. Thermometer showed 38 degrees at some point while driving back to Cape Town - Too bad only that the AC stopped working on the car... Need to sort that out now as summer is here!

Jelly fish

spotted it from balcony and had to go down to beach for a better look at is. About 50 cm in diametre. Now enjoying sunset on balcony over a cup of coffee with Heidi.

Happy birthday Heidi!

Had a nice dinner with Heidi on her birthday yesterday.

Will this be my car?

Have tried to find myself a car here in South Africa but of all cars I tried the swedish saab stands out as best value for money. This automatic 9-3 turbo is comfy and has some nice turbo power under the bonnet. Hope i am not gonna regret this...

BBQ and sunset from balcony

Reflection

Picture of my own reflection in the window on the balcony.

Soon summer

Beach in Strand is starting to get populated and lot of people getting into the waters that are still fairly cold. Tomorrow is supposed to be 27 degrees and think i will save my first dip untill then.

Maria and Henrik

visiting my sister Maria's new home and found some nice lamps in the window...

Life in Finland

Been placed in my supervisors writing studio "torture chamber" for faster completion of my PhD studies. The wife Päivi and son Anton are "prison" guards "cheering" with the infamous vuvuzelas. Chained to an anchor simple tasks as visiting the toilet becomes tricky. Let's see if I will manage to escape on Monday :)

Congratulations Christian and Caroline!

Sadly enough I was not able to attend Christian and Caroline's wedding which seems to have been almost of royal class. Christian is one of my best friends and I have known him since 2002. From a far distance I am very happy for the two of you and wish You a long and happy life together.

Karsbo

Växbo kvarn

lunch with parents and brother at the old mill where old school craftsmen/women are busy making gifts for the tourists.

grillnatta in Bollnäs

One of this extremely exciting evenings in my home town where there is some entertainment and shops open late and if you buy for some amount you get a free chicken meal. Enough to get everyone to leave their homes and head downtown.

Last goodbye!

Today was the day to say bye to the man who taught me how to fish and appreciate nature. I was sorry to miss your 90th birthday a couple of weeks back. I have many glad memories from grandfather Holger and believe he is now in a better place. Thanks for all the prayers throughout the years. Gonna miss your great sense of humour grandpa! Not often I get to meet whole family on mothers side, could have been under more happy circumstances but was still nice.

Visit to Sedgefield

Had a nice weekend in Sedgefield by the beautiful Swartvlei lake with Heidi. Her family came over for some time from Port Elizabeth. Lots of good food and plenty of activities such as canoeing, paddle boats, tennis, beach walks and biking.

Snow!

Few meters from Heidi's apartment there is turquoise blue waters and a wonderful beach, it's a fabulous view over the ocean from the apartment where I can see the light house at Cape Point far out there. Looking out the window from the guest room towards Stellenbosch direction there are beautiful mountains and to my surprise the peaks are now covered by snow. I guess the temptations of going down for a swim in the ocean should be unanswered as it is now winter here and the water temperatures is probably even colder than those of Sweden as it seems to be warm weather on that side of the globe.

Argentina-Germany 0-4

For a moment there was joy when Argentina equalized in first half but oh no it was offside!

Germany celebrating the well deserved 4-0.

Went to the fan fest for Spain-Paraguay and met up with my friend Boroto and 2 of his brothers. In video Boroto showing of some vuvuzela skills while saluting Spain.

World Cup so far

It has been a great experience to be in South Africa during world cup. Even before the world cup started there where so many efforts to boost the whole cup. On Fridays everyone was wearing Bafana Bafana jerseys and shops where giving discounts to people with jerseys. Bafana Bafana was doing well in their friendlies before the world cup and people started to unite behind Bafana Bafana and many started to believe that maybe maybe Bafana Bafana as the South African national team is called could take the world by surprise. Against Mexico they took the lead with one of the best goals so far and the whole country went crazy, Mexico came back and the game ended in a draw. I tried to find a spot for watching the game at the big mall Waterfront close to the stadium where we were warming up for the France-Uruguay game. At every place with a tv there was crowds and I almost missed the whole game as there was no place that was not overcrowded.

France-Uruguay was not the most exciting game but a certain Forlan in Uruguay might give Ghana a headache in the quarter final as he showed a bit of his star qualities. It was however an amazing atmosphere and it was great to be able to watch a game live on the first day of the world cup.

Then me, Heidi and my sister Debbie drove to Port Elizabeth for the big game between Portugal and Ivory Coast. Heidi had got tickets for most of her family and there was a lot of excitement over being able to see Ronaldo against Drogba. To my surprise there was more support for Portugal than Ivory Coast in the stadium. Being in the same group as Brazil the game was extra important as the winner would probably qualify for the next round. Therefore also both teams were cautious and the game never met the high expectations as we did not get to see any goals. Heidi, her sister and friend supporting "wrong" team!


Next game to watch live was Germany-Serbia. After the Germans beating Australia 4-0 everyone where expecting another big beating but then the referee spoiled the German party by giving the big star Klose a red card. I supported the under dog in that game and could celebrate with a few crazy Serbian supporters.

We also paid two visits to the Fan Fest in Port Elizabeth for South Africa - Uruguay and for Slovenia - USA. In the game South Africa Uruguay there was a great atmosphere until the referee spoiled the game by giving a red card to the goal keeper while also giving away a penalty. Such a party pooper! In the USA game we got to see some nice fighting spirit from the Americans fighting back to get a draw after being down 2-0. At the Fan Fest we also met up with my Swedish friends Jessica and Nisse.


Back to Cape Town to see Portugal - North Korea. Korea had given Brazil a hard time in the first game and maybe they could give Portugal a decent game even though anything else than Portugal winning would be a big sensation. After 90 min the scoreboard showed 7-0 and I was grateful that I got to see the biggest score and probably the biggest show by a team so far in the World Cup. Portugal has a big support in South Africa for some reason and think people could hardly believe what they saw. When Ronaldo got to score the 6th goal the crowds got crazy!

Suddenly half of the world cup was still remaining and we were out of tickets. But there is always the fan parks... We went to see Bafana bafana aginst France, only a big victory could possibly help Bafana through to next round. Noone expected it but the crowds still came to the fan park to support their team. In half time score board was showing 2-0 and it could easily have been more than that as South Africa was playing great. But the challenge was to tough and Bafana was out. Was however nice to see that people were still celebrating their team who had made them proud.

Was sad to see the African teams kicked out one after another. Most of the teams played well but it was not enough. Enjoyed watching especially Nigeria but even Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Algeria and Bafana performed nice football to a large extent. There was however one team who still had the chance Ghana! Ghana who won the first game against Serbia and had a draw against Australia. In the last game against Germany it looked like they would need a draw as Serbia was expected to beat Australia. I was zapping between the channels like crazy to be able to watch both games to see if not Ghana could make it after all. Germany was up 1-0 and then the other game became really interesting could it be true that Australia is winning. Heart jumping and suddenly GHANA was through! Yeah at least one African team to carry the hope of the continent.

In Ghanas game Against USA in the round of 16 it felt like a 50-50 game. Ghana made the first goal and could relax a bit. US however came back once again and it looked like they might take it after all. The game went on to extra time and there it only took 3 min before Ghana scored! Some minutes later Ghana had made what only Senegal and Cameroon has managed before, they had reached a quarter final in the World Cup.

Can they make history and beat Uruguay in the quarter final? I think they can as the whole continent will be on their side!

Last couple of days I have tried to see if I can not get tickets for one of the big games still to be played in Cape Town Spain-Portugal or Argentina-Germany. Yesterday night when I checked suddenly there was some tickets available and yeah I got 2 tickets for Saturday game between Argentina-Germany (Apart from the upcoming final maybe the highlight of the whole World Cup)

So who will win the world cup?
It surely looks like Brazil will reach the final unless Robben manages to robb them in the quarter final. On the other half it is a bit more difficult to say. Argentina is the team that impressed me most so far, but first they need to beat Germany and then probably Spain so it will be tough but think they will make it to the final. So two south american teams in final and Messi will be the difference that helps Argentina to a victory. Ghana has already done more than anyone could have expected and hope to seem them in the semi final, but do not dare to be to optimistic about that.

Brazil - Chile in 3D

New experience to be able to watch live games in 3D at the cinema. Was quite cool! Brazil won a well deserved 3-0 victory and look to be dangerous for future with a solid defense and great strikers.

Fan fest cape town

GERMANY-ENGLAND 4-1

Watched the game at the fan park in Cape Town together with 25000 others. Cheered for England but was impressed by the germans, but was less impressed by the lines man and FIFA as there is technology that could be used to detect a goal when there is one

Table mountain

Exhausted after climbing the mountain but the views are rewarding. A beautiful afternoon here at the top now.

Last chance Bafana

Will support the boys from the fan park!

After the 2-0 goal there was hope in the air. Eventually South Africa had to realize that world cup is over for Bafana Bafana but celebrations continued as they still unexpectedly managed to beat the strong French team.

Portugal-North Korea 7-0

Amazing game! Was hoping North Korea would be able to steal a point from the Portuguese in order to help Ivory Coast and at the beginning it looked like the game could go to either side. Portugal had 1-0 in half time and it still felt like a fairly open game. In second half however Portugal gave us a show I will never forget as they kept finding the goal below where we were sitting. The question suddenly became will Ronaldo be able to score or will he have to leave the pitch once again without scoring for his national team. He got the sixth goal and the spectators who mostly cheered for Portugal went crazy. It was not the result I had hoped but the show and experience was much better than I could ever have expected. Went to the game with Heidi and my colleagues Teemu and Monika who are currently visiting.

Germany-Serbia 0-1

After seeing Germany in first game I expected an easy win for the germans. Now 1 goal down and 1 man short it looks like they might even loose.

Goodbye Bafana

The magic suddenly disappeared when the referee stole the goalkeeper and at same time gave away a penalty. Not that South Africa deserved to win but still. A sad moment shared with 15000 persons at cricket stadium in Port Elizabeth.

Funny looking beach

Sister studying some interesting red sea weed.