The pursuit of happyness.

Choose one of the following statements of what the picture above characterizes. 1. Cloud of happiness, (2.) Ray of success or (3.) just another African elephant on the Savannah? Diffrent people see diffrent objects and focus on diffrent things in life. The objectiveness and knowledge of all the three statements above, makes me content and gives me peace of mind and inner peace...

Just like the Will Smiths movie pursuit of happyness, there are allot of thoughts concering our way of life in the Western world. Some question arose in my head:


Who sets the limits and goals for what is successful?

What is success if you can't live your present life?


If I get e skyrocket career, and heaven forbidd, work 12-15hours a day, is the time spent worth it all? And if it is so, who sets the standards of worthiness and "rank of success", the soceity within for certain...

If I'm on my deathbed, lets say as a 85-year old, and been focusing on "work" and neglecting myself from experiences that money can't buy, will I remember and appriciate my fancy cars, and all the money that I spent on clothes, appartments at posh addresses??

Or is it the awesome and beautiful friends I got to know in Macau, the wise villagers in Bubulo, the suicidal 17 hour suicidal busride to back and forth to Nairobi, the even more suicidal rafting on the Nile, which gave me my first close-to-death-experience, the help from the Entebbe taxidriver that protected us as if he was our Dad, through the crazy taxipark in Kampala...

Well, I wish all of you my friends could get the same crazy, life-enhancing, challenging, adventurious, fast, slowmotion, paradoxal year that I've had the last year in China and Uganda, it totally rearranged my point of views, when it comes to values, and what really is important in life ! (Only you, yourself, know the answer to that personal question)

I guees if you live in your own social bubble, with their own unique social values and regulations, and therefore won't get to experiences of other cultures (exclude the 2 week trip to Greece and Spain) you tend to not value what you have untill its gone.

So, did U pick your statement underneeth the picture? To let ya'll know, It was just another elephant on the Savannah, but an imaginery one.... yet real!

*I hope some of you could follow my philosophical point of view, I might be alone in my thoughts, I don't really care, it just feels better writing it down*

I promise you, cross my halfturkish heart, I didnt listen to Caruso with Luciano Pavarotti when I wrote this blogg :-)

Cultureshock in Sweden...long live Africa !

"Aaah, my White Wine is so warm, please change it! " - A woman on a cafe on my town.

"I only got 14.000 kronor (US$ 2000) this month from my Union, that's an embarresment for this system, I used to get 25% more last year!" - A random guy that I was walking behind on the streets of Stockholm.

"I can't wear this t-shirt it has some spots on 'em" - A girl in my local H6M store.

As you can see, living and breathing the Ugandan culture for almost 9 weeks, puts a strain on your ability to cope with spoiled Westerners, once you're back home in Sweden and the "cultivated and civilized world"

Well, in my mind the people in the West are the most unhappy and unsatisfied people on mother Earth. I'm really having a hard time listening to all the uncontent people that really live a luxorious life here in Europe. While the Ugadans might not have the same standard of living,as a Bubulo-villager told me:

"You Western people worry to much of the future, that makes you dead in the present time! You never really enjoy living your life in the present do you? You always live in the future. You have allot to learn from us...when it comes to enjoying the everyday life! "

I agree 100% with the villager...

We're too focused on creating a career, and the strife to always "have more" that we neglect the fact that we're actually living now and not the next week, next year...we do have something that the Africans can teach us, appriciation and actually enjoying the present!

Guees this will be my last blogg chapter for my African blogg, the next will probably be emreinsweden.blogspot.com

C ya'll !

Hot News in Uganda !

"Aaah, yes, you're the ones from the Nigeriagame, wearing the Ugandan T-shirt with that big Swedish flaggggg !!!"

Celebs' in Uganda, it didn't matter where we went in Uganda, if we said "remember the two white guys from New Vision at the Namboole-game?" Everybody knew who we where...that's freaking crazy!

During the Uganda vs Nigeria game, journalistst swarmed all over me and Tobey, because of our excitement over the game, so the day after on the second page of Ugandas largest newspaper was a LARGE photo of us two, take a look for yourselfs!