Five things I've forgotten why I packed

Somwhere close to 3 kg of music books, when I could have just scanned them all...
Ca. ten pairs of socks
A winter jacket (though I think I will be reminded why in six months time)
64 malaria tablets
A white dress (honestly, what was I thinking?!)

The only side left

I don't think I could have got a better job than the one I have here, since within two minutes walking distance from the Academy lies Eskimo hut, the best ice cream place in town. Anyway, today has been a not so busy day, quite alike any other here. It is strange to find me out of bed before eight in the morning, usually I get up around nine, which fits me absolutely perfect. About an hour later I will be driving through the gate in the little Nissan Sunny, so old that it doesn't even have a place for the radio. Terrible, since half the fun of driving is blasting music and singing with it. The Sunny is the Academy's car, but I borrow it to go between work and home in the weekdays. 

Driving here is a completely different thing from what I have been doing in Sweden, except the basic stuff. First of all, they drive on the left side!! I had never ever driven on the wrong side of the road, in a car with the steering wheel on the wrong side as well, before I last Tuesday borrowed it to get home in the afternoon. Alone. I can't have been more than five cm from the brick wall as I drove out through the Academy gates. Then I got lost, since I had listened to Tookie's instructions, but eventually found my way back, a nervous wreck. My right hand kept on wanting to do the shifting of the gears, so I frequently went for the indicators instead. And I haven't even started on the security. I am told not to stop at red lights at nighttime, preferably not to drive alone at all at night and to never be stopped by the police. Now I am already used to driving on the left, not having a left wing mirror and learning my way around the area. 

But now I have to rush off, I am supposed to meet some people to go watch hockey and then hang out afterwards. So have a nice weekend and you'll hear from me next week!

Flame lily

For you mum, we found a yellow one in Matopos.

After 18 days in Bulawayo...

I am alive! Despite my 19 days and a few hours of Internet-absence I do actually manage to have a life down here. I am ashamed to say that I have had serious withdrawal symptoms and that I couldn't stop smiling when I a few minutes ago at last got access to the big world wide web. Actually I am really lucky, since the Internet I'm on now is the one at work, which they only just got today! So, happy days, as Tookie would say. Anyway, I could tell you all about my life here, but that would be a lot, so I will do it a bit now and then.

I should probably explain why I am writing this all in English. The thing is that none of my family overseas (as people say  down here) speak Swedish, so they wouldn't understand if I wrote in Swedish and google translate sort of doesn't always work all that well with my Swedish. You Swedes on the other hand read English very well, so it doesn't matter if I write in English or in Swedish, right? I do wright a whole lot better in Swedish, but whatever. I'll probably write in Swedish sometime during the year. 

The sun is shining outside, which it nearly always does. This is supposed to be rainy season, but it hasn't rained as much as it should. It is a bit weird when suddenly you're supposed to like rain and rain clouds, which I in Sweden nearly always hate. It is summer here and when I arrived it was stinking hot, so hot that it was difficult to sleep you know. Now it has cooled down a little and I am looooving the temperature. Absolutely perfect. The other day it was 22 degrees in the morning and that was a bit too cold, so I took a shawl with me to work, but otherwise it is shorts and T-shirt weather all the time and there doesn't go a day without me sometime getting sweaty. One thing I am quite proud of is the fact that I haven't got sun burnt badly yet. There is the occasional beetrootface, but it usually only lasts a couple of hours. The thing is that I am actually inside most of the days, it is on the weekends that I have to watch out, and actually put on suntan lotion. 

I should do the basic facts for you, so that you know what I am talking about in the future:

I am, for a year, living in Zimbabwe in a city called Bulawayo and working as a violin teacher at The Zimbabwe Academy of Music. So far I have 6 students, who have one half hour lesson per week. I will also be helping with a school music group at Girl's College and later I will be part of a project out in the Western Suburbs. 

I stay with my mum's childhood friend Maria, her husband Joe and at the moment Joe's brother Dan as well. Maria and Joe have two sons, Steven and John. Steven lives in Sweden and John in Bulawayo. 

The lady who helped me get my job is called Jill and she lives quite close to where I am staying. She has a pool... 

I get to borrow a car from the academy for going to and from work, but we are looking at getting me a bicycle as well. 

Hm, I can't think of any other very important facts, most of it I'll probably sneak into my writing here during the year. 

I won't write much more today, but yup, I love it here and I love it here and soon enough I will have established a real life. I miss you all, had a little homesickness breakdown after a week, but since then everything has gone fine. Because of the state of Internet here I am not sure skype or uploading pictures will work well, if at all, so we'll just have to see how things go. Anyway, I am getting sore elbows so I better stop writing. 

Lots of love from Nellie

Going going gone

In less than an hour I will be leaving to go to Arlanda. True to my traditions I was the last one to go to bed yesterday and got up nearly an hour before the rest of the family today. Now I am trying to think of all the things I have forgotten, which should be quite a lot of things. I have never ever been this nervous about flying before, but then I was never the one who paid. I don't at all feel in control, but I try to think that everything will turn out fine. Now I really have to pack the last stuff and say goodbye to our cat Kitty. So next time, hopefully, I will be writing from Zimbabwe. Bye! Kram på alla er här hemma!

Zimbabwe here I come

Imorgon åker jag!!!!!!!