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Two days in London on the way home
It is difficult go from Iceland to Maputo in one day, the flight connections are to tight. We had therefore a stop over in London and since we were stopping we decided on spending one extra day there. We got a cheap room for four at the Generator X hostel in Russel Square, the location is the important thing in London not the coziest hotel.
We managed to do plenty in one day. In the morning we walked to Tottenham Court Road for shopping techno stuff; external hard drive, camera gadgets and more. After that it was intellectual stuff; art museums and bookstores. It is a great thing in London that the main museums have free entrance. We began to walk through the National Gallery on the way to south bank and Tate Modern. The national gallery exhibits the history, many of the old masters and the famous pieces that Rejao and David had just seen in the art history books.
After a nice soup lunch on the south bank we went to Tate. There we went through tree big floors of 20th century art. More interesting for the guys, especially David that is working on establishing a contemporary art movement in Maputo called Bantu art.
It is exhausting to go to museums so after Tate we just had to go to the hotel and rest. No energy for a night out in London, just a hamburger in a cozy english pub. And then to the airport early in the morning.
African snowboarders in Tryvann
Before we left Maputo I said “and then we have to go snowboarding!” But when we were here I thought that it might be to hardcore and it would be enough just to go to Korketrekkeren, which in an old bob sledge track from the Olympic Games that people of all ages enjoy sliding down on sledges. It is great fun but of course not as good as snowboarding (at least in my opinion). But the boys insisted on snowboarding so that promise had to be kept. Fortunately Jonni came with us so I had some assistance! We rented snowboards and the fun began. I have to admit I was a bit stressed watching them speeding down the hill and collapsing again and again! But everything went ok. and they had great fun. They are Mozambicans, with flexible bodies of Marrabenta and African dance! We went to Tryvannstua cabin to warm up, have hot chocolate and a Norwegian waffle. An indispensable part of snowboarding in Norway.
Computer Hardware Donations
Snaps from Halvor’s and Jonni’s websitesDuring my short stop in Oslo on my Nordic tour, I met friend Jonni, a graphic designer/photographer, who has always been helpful when it comes to gadgets and geeky stuff. He has been collecting together hardware items for us to take to Africa to improve the media-lab in ENAV. So, I left Oslo with heavy bags of cables, memories, digital boards, wi-fi’s and even one good Nicon digital camera. It was quite complicated to make it through the weapons control in airport, but in the end all went well. This stuff is donated by Jonni and friend Halvor Bodin and we are very thankful for their generosity. Soley was excited when I unpacked my bags on returning and we are putting the stuff to good use. Poor Soley has been fighting a loosing battle to get more hardware support from her school or the Ministry of Education here in Maputo. It is a very slow and democratic process of tendering, contracts, evaluations etc. etc. It is a game that still goes on. We have also been to meetings in our embassies to try to find ways of funding something, even small donations to buy computers for the media-lab, but so far to no success.
Leaving Oslo
Leaving is easier than arriving. At last our things are gone into a container and off over the ocean. It has been lots of work to decide where everything goes, but it is good regularly to re-evaluate the overloaded Western home. We have lived a non-Ikea life, maintaining that it induces unsustainability. People look at what is for sale and think: “Its ok to buy it, we will throw it away later!”
We have come to the conclusion that living in experiences is more fulfilling than living with things, but alas . . . we still have too many things. It is most difficult to deal with the vices: books and books, papers and tools for making things. But of course today life is impregnated with gigabytes, rearranging backups and servers to make sure that we will have access to our ideas stored in gigabytes. But, what a relief to live simpler for a while – until things start arriving at us like flies to a cows shit in the field.Its a DogS life
Well, things are tough in Maputo and also in Oslo. We are living in chaos, but surprisingly not so much anxiety in it. In Oslo everything is in boxes, most of our things go to our flat in Reykjavik and will be collected on Monday. That means packing. The packing itself is not the biggest problem, it is the taxonomy of what goes where? What do we desperately need in Mozambique and what do we need in Reykjavik and what is to be in Oslo. To Africa we only take 20 kilos per person plus hand luggage. I am sending teaching material to the school in the post.
Luckily we did a bit of a cleanup in our life when we moved to Oslo 4 years ago, selling the house and getting rid of many of the material things. That was also part of the trend of having less things and enjoying more events and activities. Experience is nicer than things. We have definitely come to that conclusion. The biggest vice is books. Now Google is scanning like hell and I am leaving all the classics in Iceland since they are available on the web. No more carrying of the complete dialogues of Plato and Sir Bannister Fletcher is not needed in Africa since he did not consider Africa part of architectural history.
We are operating with various projects, mostly linked on web, in networks with many people, most of whom have become friends. Fortunately is our work not so linked to localities but to activities. This might sound strange, but . . . Like now we have two projects to do in Maputo and we are very eager to work on those. At the same time are we developing the DIG-Equality project, have got funds for first startup and dissemination work. I am designing a farm in the West of Iceland, a private house on the outskirts of Reykjavik, Networking various social and strategic projects, I have to write the bid for the Nordic-Baltic Network project ‘Cirrus’ that has to go in before the 1st of March, and I have a working meeting in England next week about a book that we are establishing. Oh! And a few lectures to prepare etc. Most of this happens on computers, with the use of mail and web systems. The only really important thing for us is internet to operate and also to link ourselves emotionally. Life is great and should never be too easy.
