PhaNax' World

2011-12-31T03:01:00.001+01:00

2011-05-20T18:56:00.001+02:00

Serbia & Other things

2010-07-17T16:12:00.002+02:00

Once more I'm on my own, travelling, and everytime I am I arrive to new knowledge. This time has been a mixture of weird, cool, abit harsh and also some stupid things. We started off the trip in Budapest as three friends, and as the week developed we didn't necessarily come of that good towards eachother. Me and my serbian friend got along well all the trip, but the girl that came with us certainly made the trip harder on us.

Negativity affects everybody, and at one point somebody was bound to explode, and for the first time in my life it was me. It has never felt that good to yell at anybody, even though it was a bad time to do so, telling someone they are childish when they are was necessary. I yelled at people twice this week, both time at girls that I know, and one time it ended up in a girl possibly hating me a lot, and the other it made her love me even more. Interesting experiences. I felt like I was a big brother yelling at bratty girls. The exact details of those experiences I've included because when people are unnecessarily negative or childish, it's better to tell them right away, instead of holding it in, like we did with the first girl, I did not do the same mistake with the second.

Being hard on people is never really a solution we want to take, but we always have to take our own well being into account first. How far will we let people drag us down before we yell stop?

On to more fantastic things, the Exit Festival (also known as the State of Exit) was THE best festival I've ever been to, so sexy, so cool, so many fantastic people, so much dancing and different stages, it really took off. We stayed at the exit camp with around 10 000 other people from around the world (mostly brits and dutch, but also surprisingly many australians). In the festival area, a huge old fortress called Petrovaradin Fortress, over the week about 150 000 people entered and made one hell of a time. Here I met some absolutely fantastic people, among them Petra, who I have now spent a few days with in Belgrade after my friends left back to Norway.

Petra is a crazy (and sometimes stupid) girl ;)

At any rate, today I'm on my own and I'm planning to go out and meet random people, looking for a place to stay the night, if not maybe I'll have another night at the park bench. Thankfully the hostel personnel at Hostel 360* are really great and let me come in for internet, and they have some lazybags I took the advantage of sleeping on. So I got my necessary sleep.

On to some other things, I will release some details on Lifestyle Academy in my blog for the first time.

Lifestyle Academy

Lifestyle Academy SA is a business under construction by me, Fredrik Schmidt and Tarek Jar. Our purpose is to coach people to better lifestyles in whichever form they require. At this moment we will primarily be teaching pickup and improvement of social life and social ability for our students, however potentially expanding into style, fitness, business, and life in general. A website is on its way and so is also an e-mail. The formal processes of getting things together are almost done and we're getting ready to launch. If you are in any way interested in anything we have to offer make contact with me on my e-mail: PhaNax@hotmail.com

Surprise & Difference

2010-05-25T20:47:00.002+02:00

One of the major reasons that everybody should travel is to understand and learn difference, to overcome ethnocentricity and hatred one needs to leave behind what is familiar sometimes to see and understand something new.

Without these understandings that people, cultures and countries are different we may ultimately close down and become forces of hatred and disinterest in the lives of others and care so much about what we understand that we refuse to understand something new.

David DeAngelo, dating-coach guru, sais in one of his programs that every person should travel at least twice a year. It is one of his 77 Laws of Success. Travelling allows you to see new perspectives, and will even make you more secure about yourself and even new surroundings.

David DeAngelo's Website

Always put yourself in new environments and situations that you have not experienced, it is the only thing that will let you grow as a person, socially and individually.

Surprises.

I've travelled, more or less, Central America for four and a half months before I came to Mexico. Central America is ridden with extreme contrasts, poverty, gangs, violence, beauty, nature, volcanoes, jungles, plains, highlands, lowlands, beaches. Sticking out above it all is the seeming lack of organised infrastructure (at least counting for El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua and Guatemala) and large gaps between the rich and the poor. This also counts for southern mexico, especially Chiapas, which together with the mentioned Central American countries make up the political region of so-called "Mesoamerica". Mesoamerica is a beautiful region, which I love a lot, maybe except for the food, it is one of the places on Earth I feel most at home.

My surprise was when I left southern mexico and arrived in central Mexico. In the big cities here, like Xalapa, Veracruz or Guadalajara, Jalisco, things appear almost European. Poverty not as apparent, development gotten much farther, and you can actually walk around with cameras and so on without feeling immediate fear of being assaulted. The all imposing presence of policemen with shotguns or automatic weapons are not present here, as they are in the south, and I generally feel more like I am in Europe than I feel I am in Latin America.

It is a welcome surprise, after four and a half months without warm showers, only chicken buses and bad roads to come to a place that has all of these apparent luxuries. You learn to accept it all, but you also learn to appreciate the small things that make life and society feel more organised, even though both inorganized and well-organized places have their own charm.

It's going to be very good to come back home next week, I have a lot of stories, a lot of things to do, and I feel I am very different from the person who left norway five months ago, and I am sure others will notice that change in me as well.

All the best to all the travellers I've met, to all the people's houses I stayed in, all the people I shared dorms with, to those I spent four nights with in the jungle and watched sunsets from the tops of pyramids, to those I learned to dive with and to those I shared buses with, I am very thankful for all that I have learned from all the people I met on my travels, and I remember everyone of you, and I hope I carry some of the best from all of you with me, and that I have given you something new to bring with you.

I am the spark, the little stone rolling down the hill, the echo in the snowy mountains, the falling drop of water.

Peace&Success
Kristoffer

Acceptance, El Mirador and Life

2010-05-15T05:08:00.004+02:00

I haven't written in a while.

I am very thankful for the interest that a lot of people have put into me keeping up with my blog, I have been doing loads of things since the last time I updated.

My girlfriend came to visit me for about two weeks and we had an amazing time together traversing some of my favourite places in Nicaragua as well as some new ones I hadn't seen myself, it was a great time, and my girlfriend can't really hold her booze as well as I can B-)

I told you guys I would explain my status-message : "The key to acceptance: Accept your Reality". It is much deeper than the initial understanding. To first understand what I mean by the entire sentence, you must understand what it means to accept.

Accepting is something we humans have a lot of problems with. Instead of accepting that something happened, or that something is the way it is, we have a tendency to regret, or dislike that fact. We more often look upon our past and the things that we did with regret, instead of accepting the fact that they did indeed happen. Once you accept, you don't necessarily come to terms with it, but you understand it, and you learn something new, and you allow yourself to move on. Thus, acceptance, is in fact a way of moving on. If you do not accept, you cannot move on. Accept that things have happened, that you think the way you do, that things are the way they are, and then, move on. It is only the first step, but it gives you what you need to move on.

Acceptance then, and also, accepting your reality to achieve happiness, is a way of moving on from your regrets, and entering a way of life where you are able to understand your sentiments about the world around you, and thus accepting them, being able to work on them, and essentialy, move on to something better if that is what you desire.

El Mirador.

For four months I planned a jungle trip in Guatemala, it was one of the few things I knew I wanted to do on my five month journey to central america. I looked for a decent jungle trip and I found the perfect one. El Mirador.

El Mirador is essentially the largest ever constructed mayan city, both in area, amount and density of buildings, as well as in the size of their structures.

Going there was part of a test for myself. I wanted to know that I could do something that seems offworldly difficult for many other people, and also I wanted to explore something that is unlike anything I've ever seen before. We walked for two days to get to the site, and then we walked on top of the second largest complex ((El Tigre)) (which if you've been to Tikal completely crushes Temple 1+2+north acropolis+the central plaza in size and area).

On the third day, our day of relaxation we also walked for about three hours, exploring the site at different times of day. The most impressive thing we did was to go to a pyramid called La Danta. La Danta is the world's largest ever Pyramid built by the mayans. With its 79 meters it is among the most impressive structures of the old world, and the view from its top, as well as its sunset is completely magnificent. That night we slept on top of the monkey complex, the third largest, due to guards not allowing us to sleep on La Danta. It was great, under open sky, with fear of both scorpions and tarantulas we made it through one night on some blankets and fully dressed with shoes on and everything. The nights were really cold in the jungle.

On the fourth day we got up close to howler monkeys, and with Sebastian's binoculars we got to see a little howler monkey baby, really amazing, sitting on top of a slightly uncovered pyramid as we watched the sun set.

On the fourth day, arriving back in Flores, after a lot of walking, first thing we did was to hop directly into the lake for the freshest bath I've ever had. Imagine being dirty for five days straight, and then washing it all of in a bath and later a shower. It felt beautiful, such a wake-up call. All in all, four months of planning kicked off and gave me some of the best time of my life, with some of the most fantastic people in the world, thank you for aiding in creating the experience of a lifetime.

Life.

The last few weeks have taught me a lot of new things about what I feel life is. A lot of us walk through life hardly feeling alive, doing what we need to get through the days, then at the end of the weekend we stuff ourselves with some light or hard partying.

As far as I've gotten to understand, to truly feel alive you must overexhert yourself at least a little bit, and go beyond what you are afraid of. Pushing your comfort zones out, doing new things, trying to build a more active life.

In two weeks I learned to dive and went on a five day jungle trip, pushed myself far beyond what I knew I could do, and found out there are many things I enjoy much more than a lazy daily life, shunning things that are hard.

Truly we should always do what we think is fun, and maybe even overexhert ourselves a little bit in the process of finding out what exactly that is. I've hiked volcanoes, seen monkeys, scorpions, cleanershrimps and angelfish in a very short period of time.

My life will certainly see big changes in the coming months, once I return home I will start a business with two great people! We're already registered and more news on this will come soon. In short it what info I will relieve for you right now is coaching and events. Name and purpouses will arrive once I return home.

Finally.

Now, sitting in San Cristobal de las Casas, in 15 degrees celsius, finally feeling the cold winds and dry air again, I feel like I'm back home already. I'm in a little colonial town, all dressed up to go out into a slightly chilly night, enjoying the little things (rule nr. 32).

All the best to everyone back home, and thanks for being you.

Peace&Success
Kristoffer

Great friends<3

2010-03-27T23:22:00.001+01:00

Rayco in underpants!

2010-03-27T23:07:00.001+01:00

Doesn't want a picture

2010-03-27T19:37:00.001+01:00

My girl waiting for food B-) I'm really hungry!

View from the beach cabana

2010-03-27T19:25:00.001+01:00

Where my girl, nina and I are staying for a couple of days

Pool at night

2010-03-25T21:37:00.001+01:00

Random

2010-03-22T00:35:00.001+01:00

Sharing is Caring

2010-03-20T03:14:00.002+01:00

Today I bought the Secret for Rayco. I figured that it would both improve his English, and also maybe inspire him in a positive way! For myself I bought a paperback version in spanish of Napoleon Hill's Think And Grow Rich!

I'm in an inspiring mood right now, I feel rich and great! I love life and everything is fantastic!

You are the most important person in your own universe, all of you should know this at one level and act on it. Other people are important, but nobody are more important for yourself than you. Be selfish so that you can become generous!

Be the best person you can be, I try everyday to improve myself! :)

Constant evolution is my task!

Enjoy life
Peace&Success!

Pickles for apetizers?

2010-03-17T19:31:00.001+01:00

Hell yeah!

2010-03-13T22:14:00.001+01:00

Ambitions

2010-03-13T03:15:00.004+01:00

I have, as some might know, four big goals in my life, and I'm going to lay out some of the work I want to do to reach those goals. If you at any point during my plans would like to sign on and help me in any way, write a comment at the end of my post, if you know anybody with similar ideals or ideas forward them and maybe we might get in touch to see what we might do.

Archaeology

My first and simplest goal is to become an Archaeologist. After having lived two times in Nicaragua I'ved decided I want to do this in a country with fullyear warmth, though as to which country I don't know yet. I want to work on ruins around the world, discovering lost and secret stories of mankind.

Life-coaching

Due to the tremendous success I've had in changing my own life, and to my wish to help people become the best people they can be, I have decided that one of the things I want to do is lifecoaching, primarily lifestyle creation and also mindset coaching. This will include various things from business to dating to getting life back on track.

This summer me and two friends will work with coaching on multiple levels, mainly dating. My focus will still be lifestyle, because that is what I aim to achieve for myself and for others, always to have yourself surrounded by the things that you want and those things that you need to get what you want.

Colonize Mars

This is my biggest goal and the one I would like to work hardest for. I am looking for people who share this goal on some level, or who could potentially want to create or work in a business to start a certain colonialization of Mars&Luna, the nationstates and the large organizations they support are very slow at doing this highly necessary business and therefore I seek to at one point start a business or research centre focused only on the colonialization and terraforming of Mars and potentially Venus.

If you'd seriously like to join in on such a project comment here or talk to me on my facebook; Kristoffer Liland.

Change the World

How I will achieve this is not currently a well laid plan, but it will certainly happen and most likely be part of a union of the things I will do with my life. I believe I have a tendency to create powerful ripple effects with everything I do. In the end the solution will come to me.

Country club

2010-03-11T22:46:00.001+01:00

Where I go every day

2010-03-10T06:40:00.004+01:00

Inspiration

I was reading Morten Haugum Hake's blog today (it's in Norwegian), and in the comments section I came across a prayer, called the prayer of Saint Francis. His blogpost in many ways talks about everything that is held within this prayer. I am not a very religious person, I call myself a spiritual atheist, but this prayer certainly moved me in a way towards trying to understand other people better.

If Morten wrote his post in English alot more people would probably be able to enjoy the feelings I had from his blog, he is a fantastic blogger.

What he basically talks about is giving value. Giving value is showing love, respect and treating other people the way you feel you should be treated. The more you treat others with love, the more love you will receive. Love grows only with love and the more there is the more it will grow. (adapted from Mother Teresa)

I'm going to inspire you with the prayer in English;

Lord, make me a channel of thy peace;
that where there is hatred, I may bring love;
that where there is wrong, I may bring the spirit of forgiveness;
that where there is discord, I may bring harmony;
that where there is error, I may bring truth;
that where there is doubt, I may bring faith;
that where there is despair, I may bring hope;
that where there are shadows, I may bring light;
that where there is sadness, I may bring joy.

Lord, grant that I may seek rather to comfort than to be comforted;
to understand, than to be understood;
to love, than to be loved.
For it is by self-forgetting that one finds.
It is by forgiving that one is forgiven.
It is by dying that one awakens to eternal life.
Amen.

Value

So today I've figured I will share and give some value and love to friends and family that have helped me along the way and that I enjoy the company of. I will probably not be able to give to everybody, and maybe if you feel left out I will add you later.

First of, my mother: Ann Kristin
Mom, I love you, you have been a rocksolid great mother being able to take care of three kids both on your own when dad and together with him. I am truly grateful for all the care and love you have given me and my brothers throughout my life. I truly respect you and think I could probably not have a cooler mother to grow up with, you are very liberal-minded and a hard-working student, mom, wife and you give so much to many. Your interests in the spiritual is most likely the reason I call myself a spiritual atheist, in the end I used a lot of your books and resources to learn what I know. I am truly greatful to be your son. Thanks mom! I love you.

My father: Per Svein
Dad, you are probably among the coolest people I know in the world. You treated us strictly when you needed to and you raised us with respect and firm hand, you've given so much to your family, your wife and your kids. I do not believe in any way that my brothers would disagree when I say we are thankful and very happy with having you as our father, we truly love you. You've seen us through so much and helped us with everything from love to building small cabins in the forest.

Benjamin David Baker
For being the best friend, for being patrisii, you are among the people I respect most in this world. You are the smartest, most persuasive and outgoing person I've ever met, you have all the qualities of a good leader and you will undoubtedly reach far in this world! I have had so many good times with you, living together for two months in 2007 was absolutely one of the most fun times I've ever had, and sharing russetida together wasting 9000 kroner was totally worth it! Some of my greatest memories I have shared with you, and I am very thankful!

Erik Røynestad
For being the most funny arrogant and cool friend I have, I have always enjoyed your company, sitting hours up on the computer talking bullshit or playing random computer games, for always winning with the sleaziest smile in the world! You are such a great person! Helping eachother out in the summer when both of us had little money and both on a sort of diet was really one of my most memorable times! It was so much fun scouting the stores for cheap stuff to eat and I thank you for pushing me to eat so much more that I could finally gain those necessary pounds I needed to push 60 kilos! For all the nights out and the clubs and people we met and the nachspiels we were really drunk in! For always looking out for me when drinking! I'm so thankful to have you as one of my coolest friends. Keep being cool! (of course you will, you're God!)

Jovica Ugrinic & Lorenzo Maria Martini
For one of the best years of upper secondary at prepschool! The trio of craziness! We did so many things together, I wasn't too fond of the King Diamond concert, but we still had a really great time and I cherish the memories we had together! For the danish ferry and for all the great times we had together after and before turning 18! And Jovica, thanks for all the later years, the clubs, the beers and the blackouts, all the awesome times of coffee and drinking and all of it, the small parties in your apartment and all the great people we met! Lorenzo you seem to be doing great, architecture is really going for you, I wish you all the best in your business and future, you will do great, you're a hard worker!

Rayco Roberto Vanegas Schenk
For all the great times we've had together, your visit to norway and setting off the alarm in my apartment, for drinking till far to long in the morning, for not remembering our nights! For showing me the best of Nicaragua! You are such a great person, you're the most outgoing person I've seen in Nicaragua, you know everybody, alcalde! I love your honesty and your confidence, you are one of my very best friends in the whole world. Four times together we have travelled and spent time together! We've partied here and we've partied there, we've travelled here and there and showed eachother norway and nicaragua, you have given me so much value and I hope that I repay it in kind or even with more because you are such a cool and great person! Keep being you, keep being honest and I will learn a lot only from that!

Nina Hansen
My girlfriend, and the most awesome person that I met in 2009. I love you for you, for being the one who talks the least, but still gives me fantastic experiences, for being patient with me and for loving me, you are a fantastic person, you are so cool, I really digg you! I love the fact that you are coming all the way to NICARAGUA to see me for less than two weeks, in now two weeks! You are so crazy! Thanks for being you! Keep being you, you are the best!

Ana Laura Gonzalez Orozco
Alitas, for being my azteca, for being the coolest and most confusing mexican I know! It doesn't matter if you read this or not, but I am very happy I got to know you. Vikingo y azteca! You are a fantastic person, and I hope to have some great and awesome experiences together with you during my life!

Tarek Jar
For being the coolest person I met in 2009, for giving me so many compliments and being such a high-energy guy! I really appreciate the fact that I got to know you, we're going to make the best summer ever!! Coaching FTW! I'm really kicking to get our business up! For having awesome talks about FRs and experiences! You are a great friend, man! Peace & Success!!

Palito, Gordo, Perro, Ernesto, Pancho, Mache
My nicaraguan bestfriends, getting to know all of you has really been something really great for my life! I really enjoy your company, partying with you, driving around randomely to random places and many other things really is great for my soul and you are giving me a great experience in this country by doing very little! Being you is the greatest gift you give me! Thanks so much, I love you all maricas!

Daniel Liland
For being the most patient little brother in the world! You managed to survive with me being an asshole for years and I am really sorry! I love you brother and wish you all the best, you're going to be the best inventor, technology-man, nano-professor or whatever in the world one day! Maybe even hacker or programmer! For your positivity and relaxedness I admire you and I aspire to have the same ammount of relaxedness over everything. You are the coolest geek brother I could have! Love you!

Silje Wiik Nielsen
For being the most awesome lesbian in the world, for being my best girl friend, I love you, you are among my most fun and outgoing friends and you keep changing to cooler and better everytime I see you! We really need to catch up more and have more fun together!

Daniela Hirch
For being one of the most unlucky nicaraguans I've met, you are so cool and so funny, I really enjoy your black humour and sarcasm though I might not always get it, it's a training thing! Meeting you was one of the most fun things of my birthday, I really enjoyed dancing and talking with you, you make really good company! Your luck will get better!

Tonje Dahl
For giving me the strength and ability to change my life towards my own direction! For being a great person with awesome circus skills! For leading a great life and for being you! Keep going at it! You are awesome! B-)

Robert Liland
For always being the one I could talk to, always being the one more experienced, yet not the more mature, haha! I love you brother, growing up with you has been one of the best gifts given to me by life. You are such a fantastic brother! I miss you down here, looking forward to seeing you and your awesome little kid in the summer, he looks so much like a little charmer! YOu are the most charming man I've ever seen, I just remember the number 120 last march! Haha, not sure if you remember that talk. I've had so many great conversations over beers and drinks with you, so many good times with you and Arthur, Ivan and your other crazy bunch of friends. You are one of THE coolest people exisiting on this planet! I don't know how I can stop writing about you because without you brother my life would probably have ended up in so many other directions. For always being the defiant one, and always going against our fathers wishes when it came to bodyart and other crazy stuff, for being so individual and cool! KEEP BEING YOU. I love you brother.

Henrik Stavenes
For always being the weird and crazy friend, always being the one I could come to with my crazy ideas! For being so intelligent and so cool and understanding, or at least, less judging! For being the most sarcastic person I know, and for being completely Final Fantasy obsessed! You are one of my very best friends and I enjoy all the memories I have with you! Keep going philosophical, maybe one day you'll find the meaning that will change the paradigm of this world. I believe in you. Think big!

John Thomas Føreland, Jon Rickard Pettersen og Knut Nystad
For being the best friends in primary and lower secondary! For always serving as a base of security and goodness! For being good no matter what! For all the crazy things we built and did together and all the games we played and the movies we watched and pizzas we ate! For the bathing in Kvernhus and for the walks away from everyone else at school. For Dungeon Keeper and trebuchets and firethrowers and jet-engines and spears and crazy people at the disco trying to kill us! For all the fantastic and crazy memories I've shared with you, for giving me a good life in primary and lower secondary despite all that was. I am so thankful, you are good people and you deserve all the good in your lives!

Fredrik Niklas Werner
For your thoughts, your pushing and your expertise, for your chill-out attitude and what you have taught me so far I am very grateful! I certainly hope that together this summer we will create some of the wildest times of our lives!

All the people from Raud Ungdom og Raudt
For giving me great experiences, lots of information and knowledge! For giving lame star wars and political jokes and for at least a time giving me a greater purpouse on which to focus my mind! For giving me also the strength to change my life to something better, for giving me input and ideas! For giving me a bunch of great friends and great times. For letting me get to know Bergen at last and to maybe find out more about myself!

All the good people from my studies in Development!
Thanks for the many conversations, the experiences in Mauritius, the support and all the collaboration and your work on our published report on Mauritius!

To all that I didn't remember, and to all I will meet, keep sharing the love and the great people that you are, be the best you can be! Don't be anything less than the best. Trust in yourself, for there are no borders unless you believe there are!

Peace, love & success! Enjoy la vida!

New experiences!

2010-02-28T06:14:00.002+01:00

Experience
A birthday passed, lots of parties and fun experiences richer I now see and feel why I everytime come back to this part of the world. There is a very popular saying in the English language that home is where the heart is, and you can certainly say that the latino life is where my heart is.

This continent contains so much joy, so much party spirit compared to that of our own cold fortress of solitude. It is possible to create the best kind of life for yourself around the world, even in Norway with a culture colder than the glacier itself. It's up to you to work it out, but down here it is so much easier to see the simpler joys in life through the happiness and warmth of the people of latin america.

I'm not sure how many have seen it, and if they haven't, I order you to go and check out a movie called "Into the Wild". At one point in the movie the maincharacter writes "Happiness only real when shared", which I believe is probably one of the major mistakes of the way we live in the world today. Often times we do not believe in anything but ourselves. I believe this phrase is really bound into the latin american society, and together with my friends here I really feel that I share my happiness with others and theirs with me.

Some Updates
At any rate, the last two weeks have been really cool. In the last weekend I went to Leon met up with many old friends, found out a lot of my old friends from Leon are actually in Europe now, with their European girlfriends, haha. What a development Leon has had, it actually seems to have a mandrain to Europe through the European women who come here. A lot of the people in Leon seems to have kids in Europe, and a very funny thing I saw when I came to Granada on evening with my friends on thursday, was that all the couples sitting down on of the mainroads in the city were local men and tourist women. The mixing of cultures continue. One day we'll probably all be one single skincolour, mixed.

In Leon we went to some clubs and tested out some theories about how to "own" the club, in many ways, and we had some very funny results where we were literally dragged on to the dancefloor, and I danced with some very cool women and met some really cool people from around the world that weekend. And a good way to open a conversation in clubs seems to be giving high fives!

Anyways, for my birthday, on the wednesday we went to Elite, one of central america's very best stripclubs, stayed there for two hours! I got two free lapdances and gave a lapdance to one of my local friends who came with us, I payed their entrance and everything. That was a really good way of sharing my money. Later we went to el Chamán (the shaman) a huge nightclub shaped like an aztec/mayan pyramid, where I met some really cool people and a really awesome girl I spent most of the night chatting with untill she had to go to school haha. We were back home around 5 in the morning, talked a bit. I was still high on andrenalin but when I came to the room I almost collapsed right away. Fantastic birthday.

On the thursday we had a great night going to Granada just for a bottle of tequila and some beers before we headed back to Managua to sleep. A very interesting experience because Granada is a very beautiful and touristy city, and I saw some weird things and some cool things there, among them a bunch of kids breakdancing in the streets.

Yesterday we went to a Harley Davidson event with some really good AC/DC imitators, all both looking like them and dressing like they did back in the old days. Very cool. We went a bit crazy and jumped and danced and stuff. Was very cool.

Now is the first saturday in a very long time I'm not really doing nothing, which is a bit boring, but it's not too late, an opportunity will probably still turn up! It's not even 24.00 (it's actually 23.45 at this current time of writing).

In less than four weeks my girlfriend is coming to Nicaragua, which will be a fantastic experience.

Peace and success to all!
Kristoffer

Tattooed.

2010-02-25T22:02:00.001+01:00

¡Que viva la revolución!

2010-02-20T03:58:00.001+01:00

Drive safely

2010-02-20T03:56:00.001+01:00

Managua

2010-02-20T03:55:00.001+01:00

The only capital in the world that looks like a jungle

Me outside ometepe

2010-02-11T04:59:00.001+01:00

Ometepe

2010-02-11T04:45:00.001+01:00

Having left ometepe we are now on our way back to managua after exploring the island to find out for later what we can do here. Ometepe is the largest fresh water island in the world, and is made up of two still active volcanoes. Tourists come here mainly to relax but there is also the option to hike the two volcanoes. There are many beaches and taking a bath in the lake is safe and refreshing in most parts of the island, though I would advice against taking a bath close to any of the towns. If you go to Nicaragua this is one place you cannot miss.

Settling down

2010-01-30T19:31:00.004+01:00

I'm finally starting to get some sort of settling down in Nicaragua. I'm currently at a friends place in Jinotepe, we celebrated her mother last night turning 51.

The effects of Nicaraguan summer

My body is starting to adapt more to the extreme heat here in Nicaragua, the first minutes after I landed here and sat in the taxi I became a lake due to the 36 degrees celsius in the air. Now I don't have that problem anymore, I do get freguent headaches, showing a need for both more water and salt. Living in Nicaragua in the dry season is somewhat a big leap coming from minus 17-20 degrees celsius.

The average degree during the day here right now is 35 degrees, and at night it rarely falls beneath 28 degrees (which my nicaraguan room-mate finds extremely cold). It is in some ways very pleasant, and other ways it can be a little too much.

I'm very glad I have a strong skin though, I have not used any sunscreen for the first month of my trip, and I have yet to get any sort of burn.

Physical location

At the moment of writing I find myself at a friends place in Jinotepe, about an hour from Managua. However, me and Rayco are renting a house together in los robles, a upper middle class district surrounding the central parts of Managua. Bars, restaurants and most of what you need are within walking distances, though sometimes walking distance is too warm to walk.

Taxis in Managua cost about twice what they cost in most other cities in Nicaragua, and most things are a little bit more expensive, still for a norwegian you can cut our prices in three and that's where you'll end up on most things, though electronics and luxury goods are normally the same or higher priced than they are in Norway (and more often priced in dollars than cordobas).

The price of alcohol is very pleasing, 1 dollar for a beer and 5 dollars for a small bottle of rum, Nicaragua also has the highest rated rum in the world, namely the Flor de Caña, which is an extremely good rum. Tasting any other rum after it has a bleak taste in comparison.(it's like the episode of How I Met Your Mother where Marshall has tasted the best burger in New York and no burger is as good any more)

That said, I'm trying to keep my alcohol level as low as possible, but it is a little difficult with their drinking games making you take a shot of rum, instead of just a sip of the drink as in norway. The lemon game is difficult, especially with the fact that my spanish is not as quick or refined as theirs:

Everybody has a number, like 1,2,3,4 and 5 if there are five players. So what you have to say is [your number] limon, medio limon, [number of other player] limon, and very quickly at that. Rayco lost three times in a row and Chak lost five times in a row, I didn't lose in a row, but I did have to do three shots.

Ugh. I prefer mexican wave or I've never any day!

Anyways, next week we are going to Ometepe for the weekend, and the weekend after we are heading to Leon catching up with some friends there.

Stay in touch,
Kristoffer

Good burger

2010-01-29T00:53:00.001+01:00

¡You can actually find them in nicaragua!

Homeostasis

2010-01-11T22:39:00.002+01:00

All of human society work like a homeostasis.

I first got this idea from the blog of aspiring self-help guru, Icon (http://www.iconspeeduplife.com/) , from speed up life, talking about how society works and why you don't wish to stand out from the crowd.

Homeostasis is the body's system of regulation, it regulates the bodytemperature and keeps your body even. When you get a fever it warms your body up to better fight the disease, when you get cold it works to even out your bodytemperature.

In our specifically "western society" the homeostasis serves to hold people down. When you are more happy than everyone else they try to bring you down, when you have bigger goals than everyone else they try to make you "realist". You will notice very often that if you are feeling optimistic, spontaneous or crazy people in european and american societies will look down on you, try to make you normal, realistic and pessimistic.

However, here in Cuba, and even in the whole of latin america, it's very different. Almost reversed. If you are down people try to bring you up, if you are pessimistic they show their optimism, if you don't believe they will give you reasons to believe.

Their life is worth so much more than ours because they live as humans should live. We are social animals, we thrive on being social, it is what creates and makes happiness flow through us. In our society money and things are more important than people, more important even than ourselves. What have we become that we do not value being happy, being spontaneous, optimistic or aspirative?

We should look eachother in the eyes and find the happiness in our common humanity, for only that can solve our problems.

France

2010-01-03T12:26:00.002+01:00

I'm sitting on Charles De Gaulle right now, an airport right outside of Paris, and to be honest, I'm feeling quite fearful of my entire journey. It's a kind of fear we in norwegian call ærefrykt. It's so big you can't really grasp it.

However, I am also positive I will have the time of my life, and that this trip is something I need to start determining things for myself. For I kind of lost all the ideas I had about everything due to several different events of 2009. I'm looking very much forward to meeting my friends in Nicaragua again, but also more, I'm really looking forward to meeting new people along the route I'm travelling.

To everybody back home I hope you'll have a great semester, half year, and time without me (of course it wont be as good as with me around)

Keep in touch
Kristoffer

Off Course Again

2010-01-02T13:46:00.002+01:00

Again I'm setting a new course. This time for five months.

With Latin America as my destination, I got less than 24 hours left in Norway. It's sentimental, there's a fear of leaving, and a looming scare of what is to come. However I am steeled and ready for an amazing trip that will probably change me to the core.

I'm travelling over half the trip alone, with no one I really know. My first three weeks on Cuba. There I will meet people other friends of mine have met.

After my three weeks on Cuba, I will live together with Rayco, a very good Nicaraguan friend of mine, in Managua, Nicaragua. Here I will write a research project, and after three months here I'll be travelling on to Guatemala and Mexico to spend the last 6-7 weeks of my journey exploring.

Tapping

2009-08-06T06:45:00.002+02:00

Ever considered that tapping yourself at certain points on the body can help you become more aware, and feel better about yourself? I recently discovered a way to boost my self-esteem, my awareness and awakeness by simply tapping my body at certain points.

It's called Emotional Freedom Technique, it's fascinating, there are several videos of it on youtube, here are a few that might help you along!

Self-Acceptance With EFT

Waking Up With EFT

Chakra Cleansing With EFT

Make-Over

2009-08-03T04:31:00.003+02:00

I decided that it was high time I do a make-over on myself and my life-style. I used far too much time to grow up. I was too much of a nice guy, and I was grovelling beneath the feet of others.

No more. I got style, I got intellect, I got taste, I got preferences. I wont settle with mediocre, I settle with the best. I'm very happy my friends and family have helped me make this process much smoother and quicker. I threw out 3/4 of my wardrobe, and I'm going to buy lots of new shirts. I'm slightly peacocked, style-ways, now, but I feel so much better about myself and my style.

I've worked big time on rooting out bad elements in my life, and working even harder to improve my self-esteem faster than you can say WOW. It works, big time.

I have gotten a job, me and two of my friends are much closer now, and I'm setting out with a completely new look at life. I am the centre and the most important person in my whole life, and I deserve to live a good life.

I have decided I will tell you a few stories from my life in the blog as well. I will continue with the BPIs, random photos etc. I'm not the usual blogger.

Dare to be different, dare to be yourself
Kristoffer/PhaNax

Club

2009-07-16T23:47:00.001+02:00

2009-07-09T21:59:00.001+02:00

Beer

2009-07-09T20:46:00.000+02:00

Is very nice

It's ablive

2009-07-03T22:56:00.001+02:00

Korn at the stage

2009-07-03T22:37:00.001+02:00

Ha ha ha

2009-07-03T21:28:00.001+02:00

He's here

2009-07-02T19:03:00.001+02:00

The leader of the rebel army

Soon immortal technique

2009-07-02T18:47:00.001+02:00

Manson

2009-07-01T23:37:00.001+02:00

Manson

2009-07-01T22:43:00.001+02:00

I'm watching manson at the quart festival

Benni

2009-07-01T22:32:00.001+02:00

Snart manson på quart

The New Rulers of the World

2009-06-11T00:39:00.002+02:00

A great BPI this time, lasts for one hour and is a must see. John Pilger, a great investigative journalist produces many great documentaries. He's worth a watch.

Latin America & The War on Democracy

2009-05-27T16:57:00.002+02:00

Latin America
BPI: The War on Democracy
BPI: Unreported World : Brazil Slum Warfare

Latin America
First of is my love for this continent. Latin-America is fantastic, the people are so warm, so strong and yet also so rebellious. They have everything us Europeans, northern Americans and other westerners lack. Latin-americans are the warmest and best people you will ever meet, their sense of group and identity and also their culture is fantastic. If you haven't been to Latin-America at least once I advice you to go there.

I'm travelling to Latin-America next year, for 5 months. I'm going to Cuba, Costa Rica, Nicaragua (for two months here), Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala and Mexico. The two months in Nicaragua will be spent working on my fieldwork. I'm going to write a fieldreport, most likely on the educational program of the sandinista government. Other than that I will visit alot of friends in Nicaragua and also Mexico. Hopefully I also get to visit the EZLN or Zapatistas. If you would like to join me, e-mail me at phanax@hotmail.com.

The War on Democracy
This documentary by John Pilger is exemplary. I've never seen such a good put-together on the attrocities against democracy done in Latin-America, well worth a watch!

Unreported World: Brazil Slum Warfare
I just discovered this series of documentaries, Unreported World, thanks to Kate, and it's wonderful, I've been watching a few episodes so I might post a few here as time goes by, this one is very powerful. Hope you enjoy!

Still, if anybody finds interesting movies by investigative journalists or similar documentaries or any kind of interesting documentary that are critical of society and how things work today, send them my way, I might feature them.

The Venus Project: Future By Design

2009-05-27T13:32:00.002+02:00

BPI - The Venus Project

Today's blogpost of interest is the Venus Project. I've had a link to the VP as a BPI earlier, but now I'm showing a video about the man behind it and the project itself, it is extremely interesting. Our future can be chosen now, we need to apply technology for the redesign of our culture and to solve all our problems of mankind. It is possible, and within reach, but we need to take out the ruling classes through peaceful political action.

Got a video/project/link or anything else you think is interesting, maybe I can feature it here!:)

Consumerism

2009-05-25T20:50:00.002+02:00

Consumerism
BPI - The Story of Stuff

Consumerism is insane. This world is using far to much consumergoods. We are destroying our planet. One third of the world's resources are already used up, we need to change. You should check out my BPI today. I think you'll find it very interesting if you agree with me.

Blog Point of Interest - The Story of Stuff
This is The Story of Stuff, a story of the entire system of consumerism and how it works. The system needs to change.

The Corporation & Other Interesting BPIs

2009-05-19T03:31:00.003+02:00

The Corporation
iMonk
iPower-Community

This BPI is very interesting. It is a full psychological profile of the corporation, as well as a thorough go-through of who is really responsible in the corporations, the corporation itself, or those at the head of it, a very interesting, and a must-see documentary.

My major inspiration source nowadays is this: iMonk, it's a truly fascinating concept of self-disciplin. People should check it out!
iMonk

This is how I discovered iMonk, the iPower community! It's very interesting, build yourself, be the revolution, be the future.
iPower

Exam & BPI

2009-05-15T06:04:00.004+02:00

Exam
BPIs

Exam
Yay, I'm reading for my exam. I love the stuff we get to read about. Most people would be appalled at how controversial research we are allowed to get our hands on for our exam. People should check out the book "Kicking Away the Ladder". Right now I'm reading about how aid is determined by politics, aid is a gift-giving policy for policies beneficial to the giving countries, not based on a real wish to provide welfare and development.

BPI 1(Blog Point of Interest)
Zeitgeist Addendum. The monetary system, imperialism & capitalism.

BPI 2
The Venus Project website:
The Venus Project
The future, a resource-based political system, opposed to today's scarcity based capitalism. Interesting points. A must check-out!

Blog Points of Interest (BPIs)

2009-05-15T05:16:00.005+02:00

Change
-Blog
-Future
-Present

Blog
Going to change a few points with my blog now. I'll still post. But from now on, each post will contain a video or some other feature of interest. I'll post interesting pictures, videos, songs connected to my beliefs, interests and your enlightenment.

Future
Not much changing in my future. Though I am moving to Bergen. I will accomplish great things in my life. I will work for a change of paradigm, no longer in organisations. I oppose organisations and anything that destroys the individual for collective effort. The individual is part of the collective effort, and for that we need to destroy political organisations, bureaucracy and political parties.

Present
Having left the red youth, lost all belief in the political system we live under, even the party-political system, many would think I'd fall into the glove of apathy. No. I fight, now with renewed vigor. Though I do no longer believe in the long speeches and walls of text.

Be the change you want to see in others.

For today; My first BPI (blog point of interest)
Zeitgeist: The Movie

The Revolution Will Not Be Televised

2008-05-10T06:36:00.003+02:00

THE REVOLUTION WILL NOT BE TELEVISED

This movie is so good, it must be seen. Seek the truth!

THE REVOLUTION WILL NOT BE TELEVISED

You can never see this movie too many times, or show it to too many people. It is obligatory to have watched this movie at least once, to gain a certain understanding of Venezuela and the Bolivarian Revolution.

Yours as always, for a world of free access,
Kristoffer

Nicaragua

2007-08-28T00:28:00.001+02:00

Hello friends
Sorry for leaving you all, but this was necessary for me and I suppose it's good for you to be relieved of me for a while. I'm going to learn Spanish fluently down here and also going to learn alot about politics and history of central and latin america, with focuspoint on Nicaragua.

Alot has happened the last few days. This thursday I left everybody behind and went for Nicaragua, in a way alone, as I knew none of the companions I am here with at the time. I went from my hometown to Oslo, where I met 16 girls, and once we arrived in London I met two other students (one who is 40 years old, there are two 40 year olds studying here), other than that we are 14 men and 62 women studying here.

In London I found out that one of my bags got lost somewhere between the plane and the terminal, so I had no other choice than go to the hotel and wait and see the next morning wether or not they found it, which they didn't. So I went of to miami with one bag and my backpack, only knowing that my luggage had been "seen at Terminal 4", as they put it.

Anyways, I saw four movies on the plane to Miami, and in Miami they stopped me because they thought I was this hashish guy. They sort of insulted me, they thought my t-shirt was this marijuana t-shirt, but it was really che guevara. The guy behind the counter laughed when he found out. Anyways, I was lost for a while, looking for the others, I was almost too late to check in, but they let me pass the queue. Then it was through another of those annoying security check points.

Finally around 16:30(Local time) we arrived in Nicaragua, but seven other people lost their bags in transit. Six of my friends from Managua met me at the airport! So I had a long while where I could chat with them. We went on at about 17:45 when everyone was ready, at about 19:50 we arrived at our house in Leon, where we went directly to sleep after a little chat.

The morning after we went out, discovered the local shops and markets, walked around for a while, ate some dinner at a place the hostess at the hostel had recommended. Later we went out with alot of other people to a place called El Mediterraneo, a very classy place where we ate and drank and had a good time.

Late at night the new arrivals came in, they had stayed in Miami for three days so they had gone out on the city once they came here, we met them and had a long talk before we went late to bed.

On the sunday I met my friends from Managua. They had come at saturday, but we were out. So we went to the beach together with some of the norwegian girls. Ate at the beach, and I got a tan really without working for it. In the afternoon, at 15:00 there was a meeting at Casa Iguana where everybody met, got some information and that was about it. Later we had another information meeting here, after having been to a fort where we could see over Leon. We then went out to another place called the Via Via, a very good place where we ate and had a few drinks.

This morning we woke up at 6 o clock, I took a shower and had a piece of bread with marmelade. We then went to school at 7:30 and arrived at 8:15. There was an information meeting and after that we had a diagnostic test on our spanish, on which I scored 64%. If you have over 50% you are qualified to have Spanish II, but they recommend 70%. However I do not think I will have any problems with Spanish after three months. We're being divided into 16 groups of spanish whereas each group has between 4 and 6 people.

What's fascinating is that the school lies directly by the beach, and it's rather big. There's grass and trees and hammocs, it's beautiful.

We ate lunch at school, and we bought two large books of articles and different scraps from other books which were essential for the latin american studies. After all that, and after reading for a while, we went back to the city to visit som libraries where they recommended us to go to do our studies.

After all that I'm sitting here, waiting to get my group numbers and to see who my class mates will be. I hope everyone back home or wherever you are are all right.