Skip to content

Archive for March, 2012

Mar 28

6 Comments

44 reasons to like Steve

Today my husband Steve turns 44. Unfortunately for him, he is in Oslo and I am not. But I have thought about him a lot, if that counts, and promised him a party when he comes home. He is my best friend and there are a lot of reasons why. I just really like him, I guess. So finding 44 things to like about him was easy. I could have written 88 or 777 reasons, but I settled for the 44 first that came to my mind.

You may find it boring to read and that is OK too. You can stop reading at any time.

:-)

  1. He says things that make me laugh
  2. He has a cute nose
  3. He loves God
  4. He is a great Frisbee player
  5. He reads interesting books
  6. He motivates people
  7. He is committed
  8. He is very good when he speaks in public
  9. He dances with me

10. He is articulate

11. He has a cute laugh

12. He is a great dad

13. He gets things done

14. He is not afraid to try new things

15. He is a good rock climber

16. He can be very convincing

17. He is romantic

18. He can fix stuff

19. He can run far

  1. 20.  He gives good massages

21. He buys nice gifts

22. He likes incense

23. He lives for what is right and true

24. He is a good leader

25. He can build houses

26. He admits his mistakes

27. He downhill skis like a pro

28. He can carry stuff and lift stuff

29. He knows lots of trivia

30. He does not lie

31. He taught me to drive

32. He taught me to swim

33. He taught me to play tennis

34. He is the father of my daughters

35. He does off-road biking

36. He makes great fires

37. He looks cute when he rubs his eyes

38. He understands complicated stuff

39. He is forgiving

40. He doesn’t take himself too seriously

41. He can explain complicated stuff

42. He is patient

43. He likes to make our home pretty

44. He is my best friend

 

 

Mar 26

3 Comments

Meeting the Archbishop

The Archbishop and me.

I went to Rangoon. The first meeting I had was with the Archbishop of the Catholic church. I met a man who I now respect deeply.

The Archbishop met me with a big smile at the entrance of his compound. There was little that reminded me of an Archbishop. He held my hand and invited me into his office.

Getting to him hadn’t been as easy as I thought. St. Paul’s the taxi driver knew, but St. Mary’s Cathedral?  We drove around in circles for a while and suddenly we knew where we were. We stopped in front of the cathedral and two cute men came and talked to us. One jumped into the taxi with me and showed us the rest of the way. Like an oasis in a desert of concrete and dust was the Catholic compound—full of priests and green plants.

We sat in the office drinking coffee. “Yes, of course I know her,” said the Archbishop when I asked about the Lady. “I have met her many times. She has had meetings with me here in this office several times, and she says that one time she wants to join us when we have supper here together. But I worry about her. Everywhere she goes, crowds follow her. Hundreds of thousands gather to hear her speak. I am just worried that something is going to happen to her on one of these rallies. She is so popular and she is very strong, but what would NLD be without her? If something was to happen to her, is the NLD strong enough to sustain their current popularity? That is what I am wondering.”

He looked relaxed and at ease. “I don’t ever talk about politics and the government leaves me alone,” he says. “I can talk about social issues and how to develop the country, but I don’t talk about politics. So even if I have friends that are very outspoken about the government they don’t hustle me. Even when ASSK’s son came and slept here they did not hustle us.”

We talked about the work his organization does around the country and about his life as a priest and later a bishop. He wanted to know about our work too.

“You know, I worry about all the NGOs that will be flooding into our country,” he said. “I am not so sure that we need them all and that they will only benefit our people.” When I asked him about what he thought we should do, he replied that we need to be patient.

“There may be good and lasting changes. But it is too early to tell for sure. You know the army is still in control and is led by Than Shwe. In the constitution it says that if the army thinks there is danger, they can take control. It doesn’t say anything about what that danger should be. It is up to them to decide. There are many laws like this in our country that need to be changed before we know for sure that there are real changes.”

“One thing our people will need is training in the real meaning of all the fancy words they talk about right now. They say they want democracy, but they don’t really know what it is. We have not had democracy since 1962, so how are they supposed to know? They need to learn the true meaning of freedom, justice, human rights, peace and democracy. They think democracy is doing what you want to do. But real democracy is doing what is right. We need to teach them what is right.

Our talk was coming to an end. I signed one of my books for him and showed him some photos of my family. Then he got me a ride and we said goodbye.

 

Mar 25

5 Comments

There are places in the world where one cannot write blogs.

There are places in the world where one cannot write blogs. Or, at least where one cannot post one’s blogs. Some of those places are:

Hard to write blogs there, under water.

  • A very simple hotel by an unknown beach in Thailand. They had nice coconut drinks there, but Internet as slow as deep-fried bugs they sold at the local market.
  • Our room at the conference center where Partners recently held our annual staff retreat. Our room was the furthest away, which made it quiet and private, but the Internet waves did not want to travel that far.
  • The former capital of Burma, Rangoon (or also called Yangon, since the then-military government decided to change the name of the capital as well as the name of the country itself. Later they also changed the capital. Military dictatorships have great freedoms.) Surprisingly there is Internet a lot of places in Rangoon. And even more surprisingly, they let you download almost anything, even websites critical to the political system in Burma. The problem, however, is that the Internet is so slow that by the time you get to download a page you have lost interest. And if I should have posted blogs, then I would have had to cancel all my important meetings because I would be stuck in my room.
  • My own home in Norway when I have just come back from a long trip and my kids, my husband, my dog, my friends and my laundry room need me.

    Dan and me. Dan dressed like a police man, me dressed like a homeschooling mom. Partners staff retreats are not quite like other staff retreats. Blog-writing is not considered an option during our days together.

I know you have been sitting there, staring at your computer, checking my blog and asked yourself what had happened to your favorite blog site. You maybe felt let down and depressed. Perhaps you felt that you deserve an explanation for my silence—for my absence. I want to say I am sorry for dropping the ball on my blog. It is unacceptable.

My excuses are above. From now on I don’t have those excuses any more. I am in Norway. There is Internet 24/7. There are no former dictators looking down my back. My kids, my husband and my dog will just have to learn that there are times during the day that I need to dedicate to writing my blog. The laundry can wait.

So, dear blog follower, don’t leave me now. Look here again tomorrow and the days to come. I will tell you about what it was like when I went to Burma legally, with a passport, a visa and five copies of my new book.

So long.

Oddny

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 424 other followers