28 februari 2014

Temple Wines and Stand Up. Just normal things in my CT life.

Last weekend was great!
Me and Peter went to Temple Wines in Paarl for a night. Temple Wines is owned by a swedish couple and it is a really really great and relaxing spot with perfect service!
After that chillin we went straight to some Stand up and crazyness/mess in Observatory, at Armchair Theatre. That's a sunday tradition now!









19 februari 2014

R.I.P Micke Carlsson

It's not like you were a very close friend of mine. But I known you since I was a kid. You were in the same school as my brother. I played handball with you sister. I played in your house with her when I was about 11 years old. Later we lived in the same small town, had a lot of friends in common and in 2010 we went to Roskilde Festival together in my fathers old school caravan. You were one of these people I would always stop and talk to, you would always ask "how's your brother?" and you would always have a smile on your face! So many people liked you a lot. I can imagine that the atmosphere in Mjölby right now is very weird. Everyone knew you, more or less, somehow. It's so very sad when someone pass away this young. I can't imagine how it feels for your family and close friends. I never lost anyone young and close. Only old people that you kind of expect they don't have too much time left. This is something different. So unpredictable! Sad. Vila i frid.

18 februari 2014

Another week.

I have a very busy week. Working 9-19 every day. Lot's to do. Mostly fun things though.
Hanging at the orphanage twice a week while Catherine is running her art project. Having meetings for Home Stay plans for volunteers. Counselling the volunteers, making sure they are happy at their projects! Also, a a lot of writing at the office. Not as fun as the other things. But it has to be done.

 On Saturday I'm going with this weirdo to a B&B in Paarl and I will just CHILL my ass off.
Wine, pool, sun, food. Can't wait.
My Hot Mess. 


12 februari 2014

Sum it up!

So. I've been here for 6 years now. On and off. Probably spent around 2,5 year here all together. I know some people wonder how, when, where, why.
here is a short summary:

2008: 
I came here in february for a 2 months internship. I was studying social work in Sweden. I was working at the big soup kitchen in town and at a home of safety for teenage boys. At the Soup Kitchen I met John, he was running the soup kitchen at the moment. He is still my friend and he is helping me with placing a lot of the volunteers now, for different projects. I did a home stay in Athlone with an old lady and another swedish girl, Irina, from Stockholm. I spent a lot of time in Ahtlone, Belgravia, Bridgetown and those areas. Hangning out with the people from there. Lots of Braais and home parties. Sometimes Long Street and sometimes Galaxy. I did not go up on Table Mountain.

2009: 
Went back in march for 6 weeks with Rebecca from Gothenburg. Met her in 2008, she was volunteering with the same company as me. We stayed in Belgravia, Athlone, again at the house she stayed in when she was here in 2008. I was helping out in the Soup kitchen again and also went with John to the township in Phumlani. The township I'm still working a lot in!
I did not go up on Table Mountain.

2009/2010: 
I won a trip! I won a volunteer trip for 2 months, including flight ticket, accommodation and food! Crazy. It was through a competition online for a coffee company..
I went in december 2009-february 2010.
I was thinking of going somewhere else, but I did miss South Africa so much and I felt like that was the right thing to do! I stayed in Observatory, in a volunteer house. I shared room with Nina, from Switzerland that today is one of my best and closest friends. We wnt to Brazil together in 2011. I also shared house with Gee, who is still in Cape Town and a really great friend. I was volunteering at the soup kitchen, and also did a lot of my own things with the street kids, like going to the beach etc. Was helping John with a lot of things. This was also the time when I met Dina for the first time. Dina from Umeå that I later started the Volunteer program for Southern Ambition with.
I did not go up on Table Mountain.

2012: 
March:
I got a message from Dina at facebook. Me and Dina had not been talking a lot. But she saw that I posted on facebook that I missed Cape Town. We talked and decided to go back, for 5 weeks in march. We stayed at her friends house in Plumstead. It was a lot of pool hang outs at the house, some nights at long street. Once again I was working a lot with John in Phumlani. I also had about 10 000 rand donation money (from friends and family) with me and with that I fixed toilets, showers and some other things for the shelter John runs in Salt River.
This is when I first met Moses and Southern Ambition. Dina knew them from the last time she was here. We started to randomly talk about starting a volunteer/internship program...
Oh... and me and Dina hiked Table mountain, up AND down :)

September: 
Me, Dina and Moses started to talk about starting a volunteer and internship program via Southern Ambition. Moses asked me to come and work for him, to try six months and see how it would go. So, in one week I quit my job, got rid of my flat and booked a flight to Cape Town. During may - august me and Dina tried to get people interested and to book volunteer trips. Success!

Since then I've been here, except for the 3 months I went home to Sweden in june-aug 2013.

And. This is home. More home than Sweden in many ways. I miss my family a lot. And summer in sweden. But that is like 3 months of the year... So no, I prefer Cape Town.
What I fell in love with here?
* The people. Warm, happy, social, easy going and very friendly.
* The nature. Mountains, ocean, forests and a big city in the middle is for sure the most beautiful mix.
* The Food. All the food tastes amazing here. And it's cheap.
* The children. Of course. All the children and people I'm working with are a big part of my life
* The culture/art life. Music, art, comedy, workshops, you name it. There are things going on all the time.
* African time. Even its VERY irritating sometimes, it's more great things coming out of it than bad. I don't stress anymore. I can relax. It's ok to be a little late. It's ok to not be perfect all the time. It's ok to fuck up. Everything is gonna be ok. Hakuna Matata.
* The weather. I prefer 8 months summer and 4 months winter than the opposite!
* The non superficial way of looking at people. People are crazy. Personal. Different. Everyone I know is VERY different from anyone. But we are still hanging out together. No "groups" at all. Just random. I am always my self here and I love it. No judgemental feelings!




11 februari 2014

So much fun

Beach. Pool. Friends. Parties. Wine farm. Festival. Social Projects. Sun. Food. Wine. Love. Joy. Happiness. Excitement.

Life is pretty good.


I love my job. Why? Because it's not just my job. It's so much what I love to do. I'm lucky to have a job like that. Here AND in Sweden.






10 februari 2014

Jealousy

Jealousy. Complicated subject. I will never be really calm around that subject. But I've made big steps in the right directions for sure. Thanks to a lot of things and a big reason is P and his reasonable thoughts and views of things. I need time to progress things. My brain wont let things go, even if I know what's right or wrong. My feelings are always in the way. I'm still scared about some things. Worried. Paranoid. But I know I shouldn't. I KNOW. But rationality has never been my strongest side. But, as I said, I'm learning. I'm getting better at it. Small steps.

I still say though, that jealousy comes from insecurity. Not from trusting or not.

When it comes to real life I'm cool. When it comes to social media etc, not so cool. For some pretty obvious reasons.

And. The truth; I have a very hot boyfriend that lots of girls probably want. Or, I know they do.
My head says; What if one of them is more fun, more smart and more of everything? Nothing to help then... That's how my head thinks sometimes. Silly silly thoughts. But they are still there so I have to deal with them.

And I am allowed to deal with them. For the first time ever. I love him for that.

COMMUNICATION!

7 februari 2014

FAIL

Haha, so yesterday I had chips. Way too much of it. Also, I couldn't really exercise a lot. My leg hurts. I got a bad cramp on wednesday while swimming. So today I think I will have to take a LONG walk to soften it up. No laziness is allowed. No excuses.

It's finally weekend. But the weekend is full of work anyway. But fun stuff so it's ok. Tomorrow Catherine arrives from Uppsala. She will run an art project at an orphanage. Southern Ambition got a 20 000 rand scholarship for this and we chose her with help from Fryshuset in Stockholm. Im very excited. Also she seems like a very nice person. Right now we have such a nice group of volunteers/Interns here. Everyone is very easy going and they all hang out and have fun together.

I miss a proper phone. Or mostly a phone with a proper camera. I have like NO photos from the last month and it sucks. Pictures are important to me. It's memories saved in the best way. I will have to bring my normal camera more often.





6 februari 2014

Just saying

I've realised even more this week how much I appreciate him. How good he actually is. How much I actually trust him. He allows me to be me, but he also lets me know when I cross the line and talk to me and let me express my feelings without making me feel like a bad person. He makes me trust myself, something I had big problems with before. Can't even explain how much that means to me. How much I need a person like that in my life. I don't even think he knows how good he is. I have a lot of drama around me at the moment, friends drama, friends problems, not mine. But it really makes me see how lucky I am. And I am so damn happy we got here, grew in this and solved a lot of things that could have messed it all up really bad. But we didn't. We fixed it BEFORE it was too late. That's something new for me. Rationality. Something I'm trying to learn and use in my life more and more. Feelings are good to have and to show, but I need to breathe and count to 10 before I "spit" it out! Im still learning. And he is letting me.. Love him for that.

Simply happy.
Two weeks after we met. I was nervous to hang out with his friends. You know "are they gonna like me?"

Stuff

I WANT THIS! 


Something more important. I'm too lazy to translate everything. But it's about the art project that we are starting next week with the swedish student Catherine. Gonna be awesome!


5 februari 2014

Fail of the week

So far this week I failed a little bit...

* since friday I had about 100g chocolate (when someone bring swedish chocolate I think that's ok)
* yesterday I had a handful of chips
* still eating way to much carbs. POTATOES are so good!


Good thing: Today I swam 1,1 km in 40 minutes and I really think I can do it faster and also swim 1,5 km soon. Trying to take it slow. But swimming is really my thing! It's also relaxing and a good way of being alone with my thoughts. Some kind of therapy for me!

Today I'm making chicken, tomatoes, pepper, mushrooms, onion and rice for dinner.
Then I'm gonna keep on watching Game of Thrones. I'm on season 3 episode 4 now. Getting better and better! After that I will watch House of Cards.

Well, that was a really boring blog post from me. Haha. Hope you enjoyed.



4 februari 2014

OK. I will do it. I will fucking blog about my "new life". 
At least in the beginning.
And I don't care if it's boring to read about.
I do write this blog for ME more than for YOU.
I have no self discipline at all, that's why I need to do this. Make it a thing. Write about it. Tell people about it. So I feel like I fail to other people, not just to myself. Then I don't care. SO.

This week;
Sunday : Swam 1km.
Monday: 100 reps of sit ups, push ups and squats. (only 80 push ups)
Tuesday: Swam about 600 m + 15 min core & 100 squats

So from now when I write a post, I will always end it with the exercise of the day.
Maybe I will tell you what I eat to? No... fuck it. That's too boring even for me to write about!

So, I will try to push myself a little harder in 1-2 weeks. This is not hard enough. But I have been lazy and unhealthy for almost 2 years now, so I need to be nice to myself and not rush in to this.

If I could look a little bit more like this in 6 months from now, I will be glad.
This is almost 2 years ago.



2 februari 2014

New rules

So. I decided to start living a LITTLE bit healthier from now on.
These are my small rules (rules CAN be broken, but I will try not to) :

* As little sugar as possible.
* At least 30 minutes of any kind of activity every day. Walk, run, swim, muscle training etc etc
* Cook more food at home. Less carbs, more salad and fish/chicken.
* Alcohol MAX 2 times / week. ( I know it sounds silly for you people back home in sweden. BUT it's actually something I need to think of here. The social "going out" life is so much more normal here. Sometimes I'm out 4 times in one week. But from now it will be without alcohol some times!)
* smoke less! Much less!

That's it. I will still eat whatever I want, some times, and I will drink, and I wont spend hours at a gym. I will still have my life, the life I want, but a LITTLE bit healthier. It's time!

Then I hope soccer will start next week, as they told me! Then I'm happy!