One year ago I had a revelation: Celebration of May 17, the
Norwegian Constitutional Day, is much more fun when you are not in Norway. To
my surprise I discovered that they are much better at celebrating this day in
Malawi than in Norway. Celebrating outside of Norway brings in a dimension that
makes the regular hot dog taste better, not to speak of the vafler, lefse and
smoked salmon.
After this day, I and my friend Sille have talked about it
regularly because it was so great. For Sille the experience was so overwhelming that she wrote her last blogpost ever after this event and she has never since entered blogger.com. When we in November 2014 got a
hold of the “documentary” that the Norwegian Embassy shot about the event, we
laughed so much that it hurt for days after.
The "trailer" of the "documentary" prepared by the Norwegian Embassy.
This was somehow the start of a new life for us in Malawi –
it was the start of having a network in Lilongwe and getting to know all the
talented artists that have after come to Nkhotakota to help build the culturalactivities and inspire the youth.
As said, the usual things that you do in Norway become much more fun when in Malawi, as e.g.:
- Raising the flag in the morning when its already 25 degrees C
- Walking in a parade with a music band composed by mostly Malawians who play Norwegian songs
- Waving with the Norwegian flag when nobody really understand what it’s all about and they think you are going crazy
- Eating Norwegian food
- Playing typical Norwegian 17 May games with Malawians who have no idea but they are anyway much better than the Norwegians
- Listening to the Norwegian hymn being song by a Malawian choir who does not at all speak Norwegian
But there were so many other aspects about this day that made it better than a normal Norwegian 17 May:
- Nobody screamed “Hurra” for no apparent reason (well...almost nobody)
- During the break between breakfast and dinner we went to buy solar panels and batteries in Area 2 all dressed up and with Norwegian flags waving from the vehicle
- During that break we also went for a dip in the pool at Lilongwe Sunbird Hotel
- The entertainment of the night was a 2-hour show at the Norwegian Ambassador’s residence, with a heap of politicians, diplomats and the cultural elite of Malawi present
- It was interesting how different people dressed at the residence – Norwegians in student gala, black suits, bodyguard style, Idi Amin style, Baba Buntu style, Norwegian bunad, young hipster Indian guru style etc.
- After the official program we moved on to Lilongwe’s limited but vibrant nightlife, where we had our first jamsession experience at Chameleon and ended up in the shady bling bling disco Chez Ntemba Disco.
