Last week of Novemeber

I cant believe its already the last week of November. It will be Christmas soon and i wont be at home with my family its feels a bit strange almost unbelievable. After 21 years of spending every Christmas with my family this year, i will spend it half away across the world with another family. As much as i know i will not be alone on Christmas, i cant help but feel like i will be alone in some way. This weekend has been filled with alot of talking and discussing of issues between me and my roommate.

On Friday she came with the decision of leaving Norway and just dropping the whole program . This came as a big shock to me because i thought that we were both doing okay, and have learned to adjust to our new surroundings and all the challenges they have brought with them. Its so much easier to judge and ask someone why they have not adjusted and why they are quitting when you are not in their shoes. Each and every GoCy has their own story to tell, and their own feelings to share. Nune decided to stay at the end of everything because she wants to finish what she started and to teach her self that some things in life need you to persistent and not to give up. Seeing Nune in that situation made me reflect a mirror on my self and this is how it goes.

The current situation is this. I have never been abroad before or have been far apart from my family for more than a week. I went abroad to be an SA YMCA Youth Ambassadors. This means that i came with the pressures of wanting to represent my organization and more importantly my country. I took on this challenge and told myself i can do it. I get to Norway, and its as if i have entered a new world that i do not fit in, they speak another language, they have different culture ect.

I want everyone to understand that as much as there is benefits through doing something like this. There are also disadvantages. Its not a small or easy thing like some people see it. I know it sounds like i am complaing which i am not sure i am doing or not. This is a big step for any individual and sometime situations and circumstances can make it even harder for you to carry your step through. What happened with my roommate gave me a wake up call, that lets stop trying to hide our feelings and continually say everything is great and fine. Because we made big decisions, yes they are great opportunities but that dos not take away the fact that they are challenging to stick by and they are just not that easy.

Let Nune's experience be a wake up call to all of us about how hard a situation we are in, and how much we need to know that its one day at a time and one step at a time. So if i feel like i am complaining all the time and life is difficult, i am not going to beat myself up about it because i am in a foreign land and no matter what i do it will never feel like home. But it can be like home away from home.

On the work front, we are trying to get some media coverage on the 1st December for HIV/AIDS Day so today we will be putting some ideas about the media strategy. I am also working on potential activities that can take place during the trip to London for World Thinking Day. I still cant believe i am going to London soon. One of my colleague's has also taken me through the evaluation of the Fire and Flames weekend so we all have an idea of what the participants thought of it and what can be done better next year ect.