Been a while now.

Tried to write a post yesterday, but after one and a half hour writing, the PC decided to break down, and all was lost.

Well, i will try to write it all over again. hard work though.

Lets take it in the right order, but will try to keep it short, to spare you as well as me.

Well, the trip to Guadalajara was long, but worth it. Seeing the city and the shopping streets were really exciting. On our trip back we stopped at Luis' grandmothers place for a quick visit before we headed "home" to Culiacan

At the 23rd, the church had it's Christmas service, and after that we were invited to Lunch and a birthday party.
the 24th, Christmas eve. The day Norwegians have their main Christmas celebration. Woke up early, as i normally do in Norway, only to remember that i wasn't in Norway, and they don't show my Christmas favorites in Mexico. Well, as i was invited to Norunn and Miguel for Christmas i went there to eat Turkey, before i left back again to Luis' house. Well. it was a real different Christmas, both in duration and traditions. I really wanna thank everyone that tried to make it the best possible for me. it wasn't a bad Christmas, but i really missed the things back at home; traditions, food, presents friends but most of all family.

Well, the 25th Luis and I had a real laid back day with some video games, and just chilling out.
The 26th, the church in Culiacan arranged a Christmas party for the church in the village i told about earlier. i got to take a part in that, and it was really great. I even tried out the pinata (sorry if i wrote that wrong) and some homemade cheese. this can be really risky though, and keep you at the toilet for days, and considering i had had some problems with that earlier i recon i shouldn't have done it, but luckily i didn't get any of the consequences

The 27th, as it was the last day of my stay in Culiacan, Luis and Tita took me to the VIP movie theatre. a totally different experience from the Norwegian theatres. here they had REALLY comfortable chairs, and even a waiter that you could order snacks and drinks from during the movie.

28th i took the bus, and arrived at the base in Mazatlan, got to know some people as well as the base. I'm the first student that has arrived for the upcoming DTS, but its still some time until it starts.

Today we went out to Deer Island, just relaxing, and enjoying the "cold" weather.
*just thought of something that would be woth mentioning. When taking the boat back from Deer Island, i was so lucky as to see a couple of wild Dolphins. was really great.

This was the really short version of what I've been doing the last days.
sorry for all the miss spellings and bad English, but had to write it in kinda hurry


So long for this time. no word of wisdom from me this time. think I've used my quote of wisdom this year. hope to get it refilled after new years.

*New years eve now, but no plans. I really miss all the fun from back home, family and the big heap of fireworks my cousin and I Allways have fun with.
Just wanna wish Daisy a really happy birthday, this last day of 2007, and a greatly blessed 2008.

Have a really nice and blessed upcoming year everyone.

Anyways, take care
-Magnus

*Edited dec. 31, 8.30 PM

Places to go...

just a quick post. been a couple of days now, and have done a couple of new things to "write home about"
I went with Norunn and Miguel to their children school for a Christmas party where i again tasted some typical Mexican thing. it was some sort of Tortilla coated with caramel. dunno how i shall describe the taste. wasn't the best I have tried, but it went down.

Yesterday we went out to a village, and handed out some food packages and had a meeting sharing the gospel. Even though i didn't really understand much, it was great just being there.

Today I had to take all my stuff over to Louis's house, where I will spend the rest of my days in Culiacan, before I leave for Mazatlan, and my school.
Anyhow, after he and his beautiful girlfriend picked me up, we went to the store to buy some food. not for us, but for 4 families that a group from Norway (including my family) have collected money to build. I have posted a link to youtube with one of those houses on an earlier post.
We bought the food, and brought it all to their houses. It was really great being able to help people in this season of sharing.

Now I'm sitting here, waiting until we're leaving to Guadalajara to see some other part of the country. for Mexican people 8-9 hrs of bus is no big deal, but for a Norwegian like me, its a LONG drive.

well. anyhow, need to go pack my stuff for the trip

Share what you have, and it will also gain you. even though it is "just" to make you feel better.

Have a blessed weekend

-Magnus

Burger with a spoon

Friday was a great day. I was invited to a Mexican wedding, where my good friend Israel got married to his beautiful Alisha. It was just so great to be there, and taking part in the start of their life as a family.
Even though things were allot different from the typical Norwegian wedding that I'm used to, i really liked it. It was an outside wedding at a beautiful location, and even though the weather weren't the best, it still was great. The ceremony, even though it was in Spanish, with an interpreter was lovely, with some nice traditions to the vows were great.(here you can see a combination of my "limited" vocabulary, and my lack of ability to give t full credit by describing it. The people that was there know what I'm talking about.

Yesterday, Saturday, we started the day off early with driving to the church to pick up some bags with food for the poor people. Mexico is not a country with a strong middle class when it comes to economy. there is a middle class, but compared to most of the western-European countries it is not dominating. In Mexico the people are either filthy rich, or really poor. the contrasts are huge. for those of you that have seen the film i posted on youtube, you can see how the really poor people live. all the poor people are not that bad though, but still.
For those of you that haven't seen my video here is a link. <->
Well we were handing out food-bags for the poor people now that the holidays are closing in pretty fast, and money often goes away in presents. And even though we were out there handing out food, we were invited for a small lunch at one the houses. She came out to us and gave us Tamales, a typical traditional Native American food consisting of steam-cooked corn meal dough with or without a filling. This had a filling of some meat, vegetables and chili. The people I'm living with was surprised to see that i actually liked it, but I got to say that it was really good. So after handing all those bags of food out, my stomach weren't the only part of me that was happy. I felt really good about being allowed to take part in helping those lesser fortunate. It gave me a really good feeling inside.

Every Saturday the church has a Christmas play in some part of the city, usually a poorer part, where they share the gospel, and also pick some random families and give them this HUGE basket full of food. Even though i didn't understand allot of the play, it was great to see them all in action, and see what they have prepared and rehearsed many times

Well, some of you reading this blog would probably wonder what the headline is all about in this post, and I thought I should explain that last, just to keep your curiosity through this long post. Well, it is a Mexican food called Torta ahogada literally translates "drowned sandwich". it is in a way a hamburger that you drown in a tomato/chili sauce, and eat it with a spoon. Yet again i surprised the people I am visiting by actually enjoying the meal. And if you wanna know more about both Tamales and Torta Ahogada, you can easily look it up on the Internet, and i recommend wikipedia.

Well, now its soon time for breakfast and then church.

So, have a nice day, and if u get the opportunity, dont be afraid to try something new.

-Magnus

Mexico, here I am

Well, yesterday i traveled from Phoenix to Mexico. after having some problems getting in to America, i reconed it should be easy enough to get out of it. I was proven wrong. They stoped me at the airport in Los Angeles and held me back for almost 20 minutes, asking me this and that. I really didnt see what the deal was. I was leaving their country, i didnt bring anything out of the country that i didnt bring in to it. They should just be glad to get rid of me. Well, to make a long storry abit shorter, the let me go, after questioning me alot, and going through my carry-on several times.

That experience made me worry about what it would be to enter Mexico from America, was i expecting the same treatment all over again. I was however proven wrong again. The only thing i got in mexico was some customs guy asking me "do you bring any fruit, and if you do would you please throw it away now"

I dont look forward to going back through America though. but thats not for 7 months, so no worries now.

After arriving in Culiacan, Mexico, i was picked up by my good friend Israel, who are getting married today.
Well, as a priest dont have the authority to marry someone in Mexico, they had to go to a judge and get it done some weeks ago, but they are having the seremony today.
Israel and I hanged out a little while before starting on all the things he had to do last minute before the wedding. but it was really great spending the day with him.

after spending most parts of the day with Israel he droped me off at Norunn and Miguels house, where i will live for a week. I had a good nights sleep, and am now ready for a Mexican wedding.

will write a new post about the wedding later.

Carpe Diem


-Magnus

Starting my Blog

Well, as this is my first post I reconed I should tell abit on why I started the Blog.
As i moved from Norway for Mexico for 7 months now, this is the easyest way to keep everyone updated on my life.

I arrived yesterday at my relatives, Kathy and Olaf, in Phoenix, AZ. It took me almost 36 hrs to get from my home town Bergen in Norway, through Oslo, Frankfurt, Washington and to Phoenix. With little or no sleep at all on the trip I went to bed after a quick meal at about 10pm, and woke up this morning without any jet-lag at all.

Today I've seen some of Phoenix, aswell as visited Kathy and Olaf's son Jan, and his wife Sandia allong with their two adorable kids Kari and Anders.

I will be leaving again for Mexico December 13th, where I am invited to a friends wedding. I will also be spending Christmas in Culiacan, first Christmas away from home, so that is really exciting.

School will start in January, so I've got plenty of time to settle.

Enjoy every moment of your life, and take some chances.
"100% of the shots you don't take don't go in."
-Wayne Gretzky

Well, this is all from me for now, but will be writing again shortly.
Magnus