Merry Xmas y'all

I'm finally recovering from my yearly cold. Every single christmas I get a cold, this year no exception. It's a great tradition my body has. But anyway, merry xmas to everybody who reads this! Next planned trip is Brussels in January, but it might be something else before that. Allt the best!

Publunch

Just came back from a publunch with Malcolm, the guy I'm working with here in London. I just love sitting down in an old pub with friends eating, having a pint of Stella an chatting, then back to the office. It should be a mandatory thing in Sweden. But I guess we couldn't do that with our drinking culture since many of us would just stay there until we get pissed and need medical attention.

Link extravaganza

Almost christmas and I've only bought one gift so far, to my grandma. I'm the last-minute-shopper but I'm gonna try and change that for this year (yea right). There are quite a few sites where you can buy an experience, a great gift instead of that same old pair of socks to dad and books to mom. Since I don't live in the UK I had to skip one or two of the sites and focus on the ones in Sweden. So here's a tip for y'all that'd like to buy something more creative.

Mun tena yie

Mun tena yie means Stay well in Twi, a Ghanian dialect. So, Mun tena yie Mark, Joseph, Wash, Angelo and all the others for making my stay in Ghana so pleasant.

Last night started at a bar in a colonial building located in the airport residential. Despite the name it's actually one of the most quiet and nicest areas in Accra. Two beers later me, Mark and mr. lova lova (Joseph Glover) went to an Italian restaurant with the ingenious name "Mama Mia". If you're going to Accra and would like to eat pizza, this is the place you want to go. It's definitely one of the best pizza's I've had - and I have a lot of experience on pizza.

The table next to us was crowded with students from the US and Kanada. In the middle of all "hi Bob!" and "that's soooo great" I heard two girls speaking Swedish and Norweigan. A few minutes later, me and Sarah from Uppsala were laughing out loud on how funny it was that we were able to speak Swedish to a person in Ghana. The night ended at a sportsbar called "Champs" where I (a few beers happier) strongly advertised snus as the best kept secret for mankind and that this secret is only obtainable in Sweden.

Amount of victims in my advertising campaign: 10-20
Amount of people trying snus: 4
These people's origin: USA and Canada

"Snusing" in Ghana

Me and Mark went to the bar yesterday. Interestingly enough this woman stood in front of our table dancing and yelling at herself for like an hour. She was pretty high to say the least.

We sat outside and it was about 30 degrees, for a Swede that's a real treat in December. So me and Mark came to the conclusion that all you really need in life is a cold beer and a snus.

Wherever I travel in the world, being the generous guy that I am, I always treat people to a snus. So far Göteborgs Rapé (a snus brand) has been tested and approved by locals in Serbia, Mauritius, Australia, UK, USA and Ghana. Apparently snus would have a great future in Ghana since Mark and the others constantly ask me for more.

The rumour says that Mats Sundin, one of Sweden's best ice hockey players, was interviewed by a local reporter when he at young age arrived to the NHL. The interview ended with the reporter asking Mats if there's anything he's lacking from Sweden. Now, the combination of being not too good at English and being in love with "Göteborgs Rapé" resultet in the following comment by Mats:
- Well, I really miss a good rape on a sunday morning.
I am very pleased that Mats works as a professional hockey player and not as a diplomat.

Are you ghana go my way?

This is my third day in Ghana and so far so good. Although the internet connection is not what we hoped for due to constant power failure I'm having a good time here. Poverty is very evident but it strikes me that people are still very happy and friendly. There's a fund raising show on Swedish TV4 this Friday, and they're actually going to air it from a village nearby here in Ghana. Too bad I'm leaving on Thursday, it would be pretty nice to be in the audience for that show.

There are quite a few people coming and going in the training here, mostly it consists of myself, Mark and Washington. The guys are doing a good job so far.

I talked to the big boss of the plant here today (born in Sicilly and raised in England) and he told me that the beggars are making pretty good money. He also told me about this one beggar that he knows, owns three taxi's here. So while he's begging for money his guys are briniging in additional money with his cars.

It's very clear to me that money is not the top prority when it comes to making the people in Ghana happy, it's more life itself that brings joy. Although the poverty is very evident in certain places, people manages to do the best out of the situation without any whining (as we tend to do in Sweden).

ouch

I'm considering the possibilities of getting a pacemaker. Do they come with a warranty? I mean, the heart can malfunction but I don't have to deal with someone breaking it again.

Next stop, Ghana

So my job means that I get to travel a whole lot, and my next trip will be to Ghana. I have no idea of how Ghana will be but I have a feeling that it will be very nice. When I went to Sudan a couple of months ago my expectations were very low and I was this close to bringing a helmet and a gun, just in case.. But Sudan turned out to be pretty damn amazing. Even though it's a poor country as far as their infrastructure for example, I don't think I've met more care taking and open hearted people than that before. The last day of my visit to Sudan me and Mutwakil - my Sudanese friend - were on our way to the big market in Khartoum. While driving there Mutwakil called a friend that had a store on the market. Apparently his friend had just closed the shop for the day and was on his way home. But Mutwakil called him and said that there is a friend that wants to have a look at your shop the guy went back and opened it up. So we got there and we chatted and drank some coffee together. When the coffee cup was empty and the conversations had ended we got up and started walking towards the car. All of a sudden two police men came up to me. they said something in Arabic and I thought they were going to arrest me (logical thinking) so I just walked away while Mutwakil talked to them. It turned out that they only wanted to say hello and that they thought it was so cool that this blond haired guy was walking in the market place of Khartoum, Sudan. I felt pretty stupied.

Anyway, when I left Sudan it had made a big impact on me and I've got the feeling that Ghana will do the same.

Frustration

I'm so angry and frustrated right now. The hockey team I'm rooting for in the Swedish Elite League, Frölunda Indians, just lost their 2nd game in a row. Against the same opponent. HV71, from Jönköping - the bible belt in Sweden - won 4-2 tonight. Not only is this a defeat against one of our biggest rivals but it's also the first time in almost 2 years that Frölunda loose 2 games in a row. Double the anger and frustration. The icing on the cake: it was on home ice..

See the world

Whenever you are travelling somewhere, no matter where it is, you will most likely be able to find some great photos of that place here. It's a great way to get to know the country or city you're visiting. I've found it very useful when I'm travelling to all the odd places around the globe.

Time out

There's nothing else describing peace of mind better than sitting on the toilet, doing your business and reading a magazine/paper or playing a game on the cellphone. However, this only works on your own toilet. It's the exact opposite if you're in a public restroom.. I wonder what that says about me as a person? Or maybe I'm being to analytic about this, I think it's time to go to bed.

Football Manager

If you haven't heard of it already, Football Manager 2006 from Sports Interactive is the best manager game out there. I'm spending too much time playing this at the moment. It has a huge database with all the players and clubs from god knows how many leagues. Right now I'm managing IFK Göteborg, number 3 in the standings with my expert manager skills.

Friends

Top left to right: Philip, Frida, Jocke, Limpan, BG, Puffen, Totte, Limpan

It starts

So here I am. A bit hungover and having the urge to express myself online. The only thing worse must be, being drunk and feeling the urge to express myself online.

Anyway, this is my first blogg ever and I'm quite excited about how it will turn out. I have no idea if it will become a habbit of mine or not. But I'll give it a try.