Hello all!
It’s been a season. Cancelled flights, salmonella, karaoke ballads and a slightly undersized Santa suit.
Let’s rewind to our last working day before the holidays here in South Africa, and the bohemian Christmas party.
Maria was initially not supposed to join, as she was going back to Norway. However, her flight was cancelled last minute (a notice that they only gave in German while they were waiting in the plane. Go Lufthansa!). It was a bummer for her, of course, BUT it meant she could join the team for the bohemian party.
We ate good food, received some very nice gifts from the head office, including hand picked coffee cups for everyone tailored to their personality (on Julie’s cup it said “Is it bedtime yet?”), and rounded off the year in a lovely and social way.
After a karaoke party where our HR manager gave us an enthusiastic rendition of “I will survive” and our trusted National Operations manager sang a heartfelt version of “Time to say goodbye”, it was … time to say goodbye, as everyone was leaving for the holidays.
People scattered in different directions. Maria eventually made it to Norway, where she reunited with her boyfriend after nearly six months. Rose and Benjamin went to Mozambique; an idyllic trip that was abruptly punctured by a rough case of salmonella on Christmas Eve.
Julie stayed in Joburg, where she celebrated a Norwegian Christmas with Eva, our neighbour, fellow Norwegian and “cultural broker”. She was also tasked with being Santa Claus himself – an honor she had never dreamt would be bestowed upon her. When running outside to change, however, she discovered that her costume was way too small. Turns out that Made in China-Santas aren’t curvy and 180cm?!
For New Year’s, Benjamin went to Namibia with his siblings.
Maria, her friends and Julie all went to Cape Town. Maria was excited to be back, after having studied there for 6 months back in 2016. Julie had never been before, despite having been told “You need to go to Cape Town!!!!!” for a whole year. And it must be said, she didn’t particularly mind the ocean view and the insanely good weather they had all week.
Cape Town involved a trip to Cape of Good Hope, a Wine Tram tour, two swanky dinners (one atop a rooftop bar), penguin petting watching, an outdoor cinema showing of Legally Blonde, kayaking with dolphins and spending a LOT of money on ubers. (Don’t be like Julie. She was scammed, and spent an extra 2000 rands for no reason).
Midway through the week, Rose decided to show up in Cape Town and joined in on the fun!
Back in the office, after a looong break, it started with a bang. Leadership seminar, Social Officer workshop AND Educational Band Visit: Office edition, back to back, meant a solid 3 weeks with a packed office. But it was a great way to start the year (despite the fact that everyone could use another Christmas break right about now).
Over the next six months, we’ll be focusing on implementing our new Early Childhood Development (ECD) manual across the various bands. Most bands in the Field Band Foundation are now running as combined projects, where they have music training with young kids in the morning and band rehearsal in the afternoon.
This week and next we are out in the field, visiting the local bands and giving input on their ECD work. It’s very exciting to see the work that they do, and how engaged the children are.
Educational Band Visit in Alexandra
In the coming weeks, there will be a lot of new changes to the team. Benjamin has already left us, and in one week, Rose will be going back to Norway and two new participants will join the ranks.
Or … one of them is not entirely new, actually. Klara has been here before! She was part of the Pulse team in 2020 but had to return early due to covid. Now she will come back to South Africa, and how fitting it is to have an alumna join our team in 2026, when we will be celebrating the 25th year of collaboration between the Norwegian Band Federation and Field Band Foundation. We are excited to meet them both, and you will be properly introduced to them in not too long.
They will land … Sunday! to attend their preparatory training – aka “Norec Fatcamp”. We hope they will enjoy the food 🙂
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