GOODBYE AUSTRALIA

So the time has come. 

It is time to say goodbye to friends, family and to a life that I know and love. 

It’s time to say goodbye to Australia-my home for the last 38 years with no return date.

I think one of the hardest parts of leaving is that I have a good life here.  I am part of something here.  I know I have people who love me, include me in their lives and I am sad that I am leaving that.  The kids, the parties, the race days, the concerts, the BBQ’s, the movie nights, picking the kids up from school, seeing their smiling faces, their outlook on life as kids, yet to experience the ‘other’ part of life that is not always build a bears and lollies.  I am so privileged to see what the world looks like through their eyes and it is refreshing and I will miss that as they grow up into small adults.  It brings tears to my eyes just thinking about it.  Don’t get me wrong, I will be back for holidays, hopefully at least once a year-it’s not goodbye forever.  But not having a date of return is a little off putting for me.  I have always known I would be back for Zoe’s birthday (much to Tess disgust), back for my birthday and Christmas and now…nothing…..  I am just not in a position to know where I will be in 8 weeks let alone in 5 months’ time.

I have been thinking, and with some help from my friends, that maybe I should be looking at Kenya rather than Ethiopia to set up my new life and I am starting to think that this maybe a good option for me.  Ethiopia was picked initially because of Zeme.  I like the country and I liked the challenge it was going to give me BUT with some-one by my side.  Very little English is spoken there, tourism is still in its early stages, westerners are not common, let alone voluptuous ones and it will be hard.  I’m not scared of hard work, but when people don’t even speak the language, I am up against it before I even start.  I have Minalu, who will help me set up when I arrive.  Finding somewhere to live and also helping with my visa.  But what happens when he has to go away on tour for 2-4 weeks?  I am sure by that point I would have neighbours and they could help, but the last thing I want to do is get that stuck that I would have to ring Zeme.  I would HATE that.  I want nothing to do with him and to be that desperate to be reliant again on him just makes me cringe. 

So enter in Kenya.  I am visiting a friend there at the end of January and I am going to get a feel for the place.  Kenya is certainly more geared for tourism which in turn means they are used to westerners.  They speak English, well certainly not the whole population, but I would have a better chance of English speakers in Kenya than in Ethiopia.  They were once colonized by the Brits, so they drive on the same side as us and some of their basic laws are similar to ours.  I would assume that the job prospects would be better also in Kenya.  Certainly with paying ones and earning a wage.  For me this is not the clincher though. I am more than happy to do charity work or volunteer work and I know there is plenty of that in Ethiopia and I am still more than happy to settle there should I not like the feel of Kenya.  But I want to give it a try.  I owe it to myself to try.  I have always said I will not be coming back to Australia.  Africa is going to be my new home and I just need to find the right country for me.  I’m not scared to give them all a try if I have to and with contacts in Cameroon, Tanzania and Mozambique.  So I am not all out of options and I just have to see how it all goes once I am over there.  This is the scary thing for me.  Not having a plan past the 21^st January 2013.  I am not that type of person and I just have to accept that it is just the way it is and when I say I am in the hands of fate, I really am-it isn’t just a saying for me, it is a fact and that SCARES me.           

People tell me how brave I am, but to be honest I am scared.  What about if I don’t make friends?  What about if I can’t find a job?  It’s so much for the money side of things the job.  It is more for me to meeting people and learning the language.  Money would be a bonus as that means I can save for airline tickets home-no work, means no trips and that fact makes me sad.  No I will definitely need to work, but the beauty is I won’t have to do it full time.  My quality of life will hopefully be better.  It may not be a western quality of life, what people would expect back home, but I can have a good life without all the pressures of mortgage, massive bills and the cost of living and health insurance.  For me this is a small sacrifice and you don’t need all the western comforts to be happy.  The African people have shown me that and to complete the picture I hope to meet that ‘some-one’ special one day and that would complete the picture for me.  Thrown in some children, whether I bear my own or adopt, this is also something else that is on my future cards.  I have so much to offer and I need to remember this in times of doubt.  Not only am I hoping to improve my own life, but also of those around me.

Shelly and I can’t even look at each other the last couple of days without getting tears in our eyes.  We don’t even have to speak.  Tessie is finding it hard.  Even though she knows why I am going they still have to ask why I have to go.  The easiest explanation I can give them is that I am going to help the children that don’t have mums and dads and I can’t do that from here in Australia.  I have to go over there to help them grow and to make them believe in themselves-give them love and friendship.  You can see their little 5 and 7 year old faces think about this fact and they accept it, but they still want to know why.  Tess keeps saying that she is happy that Christmas is coming but she is also sad as it also means that I will be leaving and tears spring to her face.  What can you say to a 5 year old that is breaking your heart when you see her cry because of you and there is nothing I can do about it?  The girls have memories like elephants and Tess keeps asking why I came home for Zoe’s birthday in July and why I won’t come back for her birthday in April?  She asks the tough questions that kid!  So I have made a promise to her that if I don’t come home for her next birthday which is unlikely I will make sure I will be home for her birthday in 2014.  Yu may laugh, but I know she will hold me to it, and if I make a promise I keep them, so if nothing else I know I will be home in April 2014.  I am dreading our airport goodbye.  DREADING.

I feel like an idiot now when people ask me where in Africa I am moving to?  Before it was 100% Ethiopia, but now I just don’t know and I am going to just have to keep looking like an idiot a little longer until I get my feet back onto the continent I have fallen in love with and see where I land.         

So with all my belongings donated and given away and my life condensed into 20 boxes waiting for shipment- it is time to say goodbye.

The time has come. 

They say that fortune favours the brave………  we will see  ………

MY DAYS ARE TICK TICK TICKING

So I have a week, 7 DAYS until I leave and I have a few things I still need to do.  I have to get all my boxes and bags plastic wrapped.  Not only so that nothing can be put in my bags as they will be travelling unaccompanied but I have used the cheap zip bags that you get from the dollar shop and I am sure that they will not last the distance if they weren’t wrapped and the only place that seems to do it is at the departures hall at the international airport.  Luckily for me the Elkins only live 10 minutes away from the airport now that the tunnels have been completed, so I will probably have to make 4-5 trips to get them all done, but it is HIGH on my list this week.  I rang the ‘wrappers’ to make sure that they could wrap packing boxes which was a resounding yes and their opening hours are 6am till 11pm.  So it all looked promising and I was going to start my run on Friday as I would have Shane’s car in the afternoon and I can fit 4 boxes in the back of his with ease.     

The last of my things from the shipping container were delivered this week.  I had more than what I remembered and I had 7 days to get it all under control.  There were over 20 boxes, a bed and mattress, a TV cabinet, a few bedside tables, a glass table and a few hanging pictures.  The delivery came in the morning, so I got stuck straight into the boxes and a lot of them were the ‘bar’ boxes with pub paraphernalia collected from all over the world, glasses, Elmo boxes, my Tupperware boxes, my perfume and make-up and some more souvenir boxes.  The thorn was the big furniture, I didn’t want it, I didn’t have time or the care factor to sell it so what is the next best thing?  Roadside.  Shelly and I moved the large furniture items to the side of the house, on the curb-it sees a lot of traffic-and within 2 hours it was all taken.  We were home when the last of the things were taken and we peeked through the blinds to watch them as they popped the mattress on the roof of their car and then the guy walked off up the road with the base over his head.  We didn’t want them to see us in case it put them off taking the gear.  But it was a massive relief as I am just trying to have the least amount of things left at the Elkins as possible as I don’t want to clog up their house and shed with my crap. This also meant that I had to get rid of all my perfume.  Like my vodka collection, perfume was another thing that I just ended up always buying when coming through duty free and I had a lovely collection of around 30 bottles.  Yes, 30.  When I think about it and look at them all on my bed it does seem a little crazy now.  Most of them were ¾ full so I decided to take them to my work lunch I was having with the guys.  With 4 ladies I am sure that they will find something in there that they will like.  My makeup wasn’t as easy to part with; I have a great collection of Revlon and Dior make-up thanks to my ex-boss’s daughter who is a makeup artist.  So I have just decided to take it all with me-that can be one of my luxury items that will make the trip.    

On top of that I had to start to pack up my room and organise what was going to go and what was going to stay.  It sounds easy, but like any move you have the last minute fiddly things that sort of just don’t go anywhere, so I have been shuffling them around the last few weeks, you know small odds and sods.  Now that D-Day was approaching I had to make decisions and they had to be found a spot.  So mid-week was spent going through the last of the 20 boxes and packing the bags that were going to be sent to Africa once I get settled.  I have learnt from previous experience now that I had to take a more detailed inventory of what goes into each bag and then I can either get them all sent together, or if I need certain things in a hurry I know what bags they are in and they can be sent without much fuss.  The great thing with getting the bags shipped (besides the price) is that the company will come to the house to pick up all my bags and boxes, so again I am just trying to keep the work the Elkins have to do to a minimum.  So by the end of the week I had 2 suitcases, 7 large bags and 10 large boxes to send unaccompanied to Africa.  That in turn meant I had 5 trips to the airport to get them all shrunk wrapped and while I was there I weighed them all on their scales and then they were taken back home, numbered and stacked in my room now all waiting for the call-delivery day sometime in February all going well.  Total weight-302kg.......  I don't think that is too bad.  Once we have called the courier company my belongings will arrive within 5-7 days at the airport in Africa and then I will have to collect them from there and for the cost, for me, it is worth every penny.  The most important thing for me is the clothes.  It will be difficult for me to find clothes in my size so I have made sure I have enough for a while.  I have a ticket to London that I date changed when I didn’t use the return sector when I was supposed to leave Ethiopia in November, so this may well be used for a shopping trip in May-at least I will have a better idea of what I will need by May and can shop accordingly.      

Since my return back I have been lucky to have had some job offers and people interested in having a chat with me for prospective jobs.  It is very flattering I have to say, but as I am not staying I have let them all know that it was a thanks but no thanks.  I even had a travel company (who shall remain anonymous) asked if I wanted to write some stories for their new blog that they are launching but when they sent me the details it was to do it for FREE.  I think it was a little disappointed that they would think that anyone would work for free, I mean even the offer of a free trip or discounted trip would have sealed the deal for me.  Time is money at the end of the day right?  I mean I don’t even make money off my blog, so there was no revenue even from that coming my way.  It would have been a pretty cool gig, but I just wasn’t willing to do it for nothing-anyone would be crazy to do so.   

At the end of the week it was time to look at packing the stuff that would be coming with me on the trip.  I had the monster, but I was also looking at taking a few more clothes with me this time, so I wouldn’t have to worry about getting all my boxes sent in a hurry, I also had the cruise to think about with ‘cruise’ clothes to be packed.  This meant having a smaller bag, like a small gym size bag that I would check in as a second piece.  I looked at my first flight with Qantas and you could prepay to have a second bag for 90AUD.  This seemed reasonable to me and I prepaid this online.  You can do it at the airport when you check-in but it costs 120AUD to do it there.  I have always been paranoid and have also been charged for excess baggage before, so if I could do it all before I left then it would take the stress out of the check-in process.  My next flights to the UK were with Malaysia Airlines.  After checking their web site, there didn’t seem to be an option where you could purchase additional luggage or kilo’s, so I made a phone call to their call centre and was told that you can’t do that with them and there is a flat rate for excess baggage.  I nearly died when I asked how much that would be and she told me it was going to be 150SGD per kilo which in Aussie dollars was 118AUD per KILO.  PER KILO!!!!  So my little gym bag that currently weighed 10kg was going to cost me 1180AUD.  The actual ticket was only 550AUD.  That was insane.  I am happy to pay, I don’t expect anything for free but that to me is a rip and it is how all the airlines used to do their excess baggage and I WASN’T going to pay that.  So I needed to put on my thinking cap and Shelly came up with the idea of putting what I could into a duty free bag and taking it with me on the plane rather than checking it in and I was going to run with this idea until I thought it through and knew my monster was going to weigh more than 20kg anyway and I would still be in a world of hurt.  So I went back to the drawing board and decided to buy a new ticket with Emirates and date change my Malaysia Airlines ticket down the track to a random date in October.  The Emirates ticket was only an extra 250AUD than what I paid for the Malaysia Airlines ticket and they give you 30kg of luggage.  You can prepay for additional kilos, but I will just try my luck when I check-in at Singapore, it’s only a 20% saving.  So this was all done 3 days before I was due to fly-talk about some last minute changes.  I also had to amend my London accommodation bookings, as I am now staying with friends for some of my stay and I also had to get some travel insurance.  All my banking needs were checked and login details for internet banking all checked and confirmed, some USD obtained and all my travel documents printed and checked.  I was now ready to go.  I wanted this all done by Friday, so that it would give me the weekend to help the Elkins with the preparation of Christmas and to just relax and know that everything I had to do was done.    

My time was tick, tick, ticking-but I am read, read, ready now to start the next journey.

THIS CHRISTMAS IS A SPECIAL ONE

Christmas is a special time of year.  Not having family in Queensland, it has always been a day that I have spent with friends.  Friends are the family that you pick for yourself and I have picked some keepers.  I hate to admit that until my recent trip to Newcastle, I really didn’t have a family and I know that that statement would mortify my ‘real’ family and I am so grateful that I recognised that fact and there are ‘real’ family of mine out there-blood relatives of my mum and they are all good eggs.  I have made a pledge to keep in touch with them all on this trip and I totally intend to hold up my end of the bargain. 

Christmas is also a time for children.  To see their little faces light up when they see Santa, talk about what they want from the jolly fellow and discussing what they will leave for him on Christmas Eve is a real treat.  They are just at that age where they still believe in Santa, but I am not sure if the story will hold over to next Christmas, as they are smart kids and kids talk.  Even this year there were murmurs at school of kids saying Santa isn’t real-so it is only a matter of time but I intend to enjoy the Christmas magic this year while I can and while I am here as I have no idea if I will be back for Christmas next year.  Last year we were in Bolivia, in Unyuni and I have to say it wasn’t the merriest of Christmas’s and I think it was because we were all thinking of home and that was where we wanted to be-just for that day.   

I saw a post on Facebook that beautifully answered the belief in Santa and I wanted to share it with you.  You never know, people with kids may be able to use this when the time is right when trying to field questions about Santa.

Dear child’s name,

Thank you for your letter. You asked a very good question: “Are you Santa?”

I know you’ve wanted the answer to this question for a long time, and I’ve had to give it careful thought to know just what to say.

The answer is no. I am not Santa. There is no one Santa.

I am the person who fills your stockings with presents, though. I also choose and wrap the presents under the tree, the same way my mom did for me, and the same way her mom did for her. (And yes, Daddy helps, too.)  I imagine you will someday do this for your children, and I know you will love seeing them run down the stairs on Christmas morning. You will love seeing them sit under the tree, their small faces lit with Christmas lights.

This won’t make you Santa, though.

Santa is bigger than any person, and his work has gone on longer than any of us have lived. What he does is simple, but it is powerful. He teaches children how to have belief in something they can’t see or touch.  It’s a big job, and it’s an important one. Throughout your life, you will need this capacity to believe: in yourself, in your friends, in your talents and in your family. You’ll also need to believe in things you can’t measure or even hold in your hand. Here, I am talking about love, that great power that will light your life from the inside out, even during its darkest, coldest moments.

Santa is a teacher, and I have been his student, and now you know the secret of how he gets down all those chimneys on Christmas Eve: he has help from all the people whose hearts he’s filled with joy.  With full hearts, people like Daddy and me take our turns helping Santa do a job that would otherwise be impossible.

So, no. I am not Santa.

Santa is love and magic and hope and happiness.

I’m on his team, and now you are, too.

I love you and I always will.

Mama

I just LOVE it and it brings a tear to my eyes.  What a great letter in the spirit of Christmas.

Speaking of belief the Elkins have a ‘Cousins’ Christmas party every year when the cousins all gather at one of their houses with their offspring and have a few drinks, a catch up and then ‘Santa’ appears and gifts (supplied by the parents)and this traditional has been going since the Elkin girls were born.  Shane used to be the ‘Santa’ but the kids were starting to get suspicious of him and he has had to pass on the Santa suit to anyone that would step up to the plate.  It is a shame as he loved the role and I think after this year he could probably get back in the suit next Christmas.  This year Uncle Trevor had flown from Sydney with his family to join the festivities and he was more than happy to don the suit in the 31C heat, lucky for him we were in an air-conditioned room.  So we got all the kids together and the second that Trev walked in from the back door the first thing Hunter (who is 8) said ‘hi Uncle Trevor’!!!  I think the Santa ruse at the cousin’s Christmas may have come to an end.  All the kids are all around the same age as Tess and Zoe except baby Ella who is 6 months old and the Christmas spirit lives on in the next generation.  I have to say Trev was hilarious as Santa, with his thongs on his feet and his sense of humour as the adults also get presents from Santa.  What a great tradition to have each year and I am sure it will keep growing strong even as the kids grow older.     

I am happy to report that I have not caught up in buying present for people this year.  I made it quite clear my first week back to all concerned that I didn’t want any Christmas presents this year and that I would only be buying them for the children.  This firstly cuts out the time, walking around the shops, the money on buying ‘token’ presents and there will be no ‘awkward’ Christmas day gaffs with the adults.  So with that said I have just about finished my shopping buying 5 kids presents, gifts for the god-daughters, some for Shelly and Shane I am now actually finished my shopping.  I am thankful that I don’t have the pressure of finding presents and I think it has made me appreciate my time more.

As Christmas Eve approaches the girls have a lot of questions and the few that have stuck in my mind have been the question that they both asked ‘does Santa visit Ethiopia’?  Now that is a very good question and a very tough one to answer.  I have been telling the girls how the children in Africa don’t have many toys, if any, and that I will be helping little children that don’t have mums and dads.  So to tell them that Santa does go to Ethiopia gives them the impression all the children get a shiny new gift and if I say no then it destroys the magic of Santa-it was a tough one to answer and I think I fobbed it off without having to give an answer either way-but they did still ask why I need to go if Santa does visit.  I told you these kids were smart.  The other 2 questions was what does Santa do when he needs to go to the toilet and the last one was what if they wake up during the night and see Santa by accident as we have told the girls that they would need to go to bed early on Christmas Eve as Santa won’t come if they are still awake-which isn’t a lie.    

So I am lucky to be amongst friends this year.  It is a great way to see a lot of people one last time and I just want to wish everyone a very merry Christmas.  Enjoy your family, love them fiercely, love them freely and make the most of every moment, make it count. 

No matter if you are with the one that you start with

Or the one that you end up with

Or the family that you gain along the way-make every day December 25^th.

MY CHRISTMAS WISH FOR YOU

My Christmas wish for you, my friend

Is not a simple one
For I wish you hope and joy and peace
Days filled with warmth and sun

I wish you love and friendship too
Throughout the coming year
Lots of laughter and happiness
To fill your world with cheer

May you count your blessings, one by one
And when totaled by the lot
May you find all you've been given
To be more than what you sought

May your journeys be short, your burdens light
May your spirit never grow old
May all your clouds have silver linings
And your rainbows pots of gold

I wish this all and so much more
May all your dreams come true
May you have a Merry Christmas friend
And a happy New Year, too.

I'M THE WORST FAMILY MEMBER

I have family. 

My mum’s family all live in Newcastle except for one Aunt who actually lives in Brisbane and I don’t see her enough at all.  I am just slack.  BUT I did want to get to Newcastle during my visit this time and if I didn’t book something this week I was going to miss out all together again.  So with a phone call to Nan to confirm dates and times I headed down on Monday and returned back on the Tuesday.  I figured 24 hours was going to be better than nothing at all and I was happy when I finally processed my payment and had a confirmation from the airline. 

It is hard to believe that I only have 2 full weeks left and then I am on a jet plane out again.  The scary thing is I have no return date in mind at this stage and that is a first for me and a little daunting.  Tessie keeps asking of I will be back for her birthday in April and she points out that I was here for Zoe’s this year, so it was only fair. I guess she has a point, but not even I can promise this year, but I have promised that I will be back for 2014’s birthday-so if nothing else I have a return date in 16 months, but I certainly hope I will be back before then for a visit. 

Shelly and Shane only live 10 minutes from the airport now that the underground tunnels have been completed and it is just as well as I thought my flight was at 11.40am but it was actually 11.20am and we were late leaving as I was trying to load some songs onto my IPod for the trip and ran into some issues.  I’m not a dilly dallier and once I was through security (had to take off ALL my jewellery) it was only then when I looked at the departure boards that my flight was boarding and had a departure time of 11.25am.  Holy schmokes.  I had checked in online the night before and my boarding pass had been text to my phone.  This was the first time I had done it this way as I am used to the email option and having a copy saved to my IPod.  When I got to the gate, there were no other passengers, they had already boarded, but thankfully there were 3 people behind me also high tailing it, so I didn’t look so bad when I boarded the plane.  But when I got to the gate, I had to pop my phone under a scanner; it scanned my text message code and then spat out a boarding pass.  How cool is that!  I have no idea how long that has been around but I was pretty impressed with that technology!  The 1 hour flight on Jetstar was uneventful, especially since I slept the whole way.  I was knackered.

My 24 hours in Newcastle were well worth the trip.  I haven’t seen any of the family since mum passed away 4 years ago and I know that it is poor form.  In my defence I have been away for 2 of those said years, so it isn’t really as bad as it sounds.  After nan collected me from the airport we made our way to my Aunty Pams for a few hours and I was introduced to my 7 year old niece and 6 year old nephew for the first time after they had finished school and I caught up with my cousin David who I haven’t seen for **cough cough** quite a few years as he has been working abroad.  He and his wife actually worked in Africa for 7.5 years in Mozambique, so he said if I need any contacts there or looking for a job, he still knows a lot of people living there and could point me in the right direction.  How amazing would that be?  I am getting more backup options as time gets closer to me leaving and I find it re-assuring.     

As I was only in town for the night Nan wanted me to see as many relatives we possibly could so after leaving Aunty Pams we made our way to Uncle Hugh’s to say hello where I met his girlfriend for the first time.  So after a quick drink we were back on the road to pick up my Uncle Matt to go and have dinner at the Sulphide Club (RSL club).  Once we dropped Uncle Matt at the pub on our way home from dinner I was then on the phone to my Aunty Gwenda who lives in Adelaide and I also spoke to my cousin Brad who lives on the other side of town.  Talk about a family rush and you know what it felt WONDERFUL.  Nan and I spent a girl’s night in watching TV and gossiping, umm I mean getting me up to speed on all affairs of the family and I can tell you we aren’t the Brady Bunch-I guess like a lot of families there is the ‘black sheep’, the feud between members and everything that goes on in a family of 6 plus extended member.  After hearing all Nan’s stories I think we could make a movie on my family and you know what I LOVE it.  Everyone I spoke with today showed interest, care, love and compassion for me and for what I am about to embark on and that is what hit home for me.  Their unconditional love and support for me when I must be one of the worst family members in the history of family members and they don’t care.  They see me as their niece, their blood and they didn’t hold it against me that I haven’t been in touch.  It surprised me actually.  I have a family, my family, that care about me and it really was a revelation to me.  So we talked and watched TV until I could no longer keep my eyes open and I had to leave my 86 year old Gran watching the last of the show and go to bed.  How sad that looks, I know, but I was absolutely shattered.          

Something has to be said about stepping into an old person’s house.  The smell of moth balls and something else I can’t put a finger on.  It is like stepping back into a time capsule with photos of mum and her brothers and sisters as they grew up, their weddings, their children, their children’s wedding and then the birth of the next generation.  This I LOVE.  There were picture of my Nan and Grandad on their wedding day and a small area that had been set up with photos of my mum and some of her belongings.  Time capsule items in the lounge room also included a cassette tape player, over 100 vinyl records and 50 video tapes to name a few things.  The spare room is filled with books and albums for each of the family members of things that Nan has collected over the last 40 years.  Sound familiar?  I always knew that I got the hoarding gene from my Nan.  She has another bedroom full of ‘stuff’ and she also has the garage and also a small shed out in the back yard.  Oh yes, I got it all from my Nan-I am going to blame her for my hoarding-well in the old days.  I have nothing left to hoard now. 

The morning bought a phone call to my Aunty Beth and I had officially spoken to the whole family, except my Aunt in Brisbane, of all places.  We arranged to have lunch in town with Cousin David, Aunty Pam, Uncle Steve, Uncle Matt and Nan.  We took a spin through the city, as it has changed so much over the years.  I have been visiting this town since I was 5 years old on and off over the years and the transformation have been amazing.  Being here this time made me think that I could possibly move here if the option ever came up.  Lunch was right on the river, with a cool breeze, ships passing, fabulous food and MY FAMILY.  As I didn’t have to drive I had 3 glasses of champagne and helped consume a bottle of white wine before getting an early drop off at the airport for my flight home.  So it was a flying visit but I am so glad I made the trip and I left my mums home town with a skip in my step and a family flutter in my heart.  I have family and I can’t believe that this revelation has just hit me now at 38 years of age.          

The flight home was an important one.  Shelly and I were off to see J-LO, Jennifer Lopez in concert.  My flight arrived back into Brisbane at 5.45pm, I caught a taxi home and we were in the car heading to the concert at 7.45am.  J-Lo was 35 minutes late getting on the stage, but she was worth the wait as the concert was AMAZING.  She sang and danced her way through a 2 hour show and had around 5 costume changes and even better we were allowed to take photos with no flash and I got some incredible pictures that made us look like we were sitting in the front rows. 

   

So it was a busy start to what was going to be a busy week.  I have 20 boxes to go through this week that got delivered on Friday and I also need to start my final, final pack as I need to finalize luggage, unaccompanied bags and emptying my room again for the third time.  Oh yes a busy week ahead. 

THREE WEEKS HAS FLOWN-PLANNING CONTINUES

I can’t believe I have been home for nearly 3 weeks already.  Where has the time gone?  With this trip back being my last for the see-able future it is strange that I haven’t had the urge to try and catch up with people since I have been back.  It is so slack, and I know that people are feeling a little put out, but I just want everyone to know that it is not them personally; I haven’t caught up with a single person.  No lunches, no dinners and no catch ups.  The strange part is when I was home last time I saw as many people as I could and I just don’t have that urge this time round at a time when I may not see people again for a long time.  Have I lost my social mojo?  It even sounds weird to me but I just don’t know why my care factor is out the window.  I’m not embarrassed by what happened with Zeme and I don’t mind talking about it if asked, but I have just kept a low profile this visit and I want everyone to know that it isn’t them.  I’m just acting weird.

This week was a low key week.  It is the calm before the storm of packing and getting in full swing of departure finalities so I was going to relax this week and not get up too much.  Shelly and I had a cinema date every Tuesday on my last visit where she now works on Tuesdays, so we decided to wear the full cost of a movie and go to a Monday session at our local shopping centre, Chermside.  When we walked into the centre we knew there was something not right-it was so hot.  The cinema box office didn’t look open and as we were early thought nothing of it and decided to pop into Myer to have a quick Christmas shop in there to kill some time.  It was here that we found out that a water main had burst its pipes and half the shopping centre was without water and air conditioning which in turn meant that some food places were closed and there were only 2 public toilets open for the centre staff and the shoppers, 2 weeks out from Christmas.  We headed back to the cinema and found out they weren’t showing any movies as there wasn’t going to be any air-conditioning and they wouldn’t know when they will re-open.  Okay.  So that threw a spanner in the cinema plans, but every cloud has a silver lining and this meant we had some more shopping time as the girls were at their Nana’s and we decided to make the most of the no children shop. 

I wanted to get some more clothes, particularly skirts and I found some lovely ones in Myer which Michelle bought for me for Christmas.  She was on a mission for me today as well as the girls because she wanted to buy me things that would be helpful and able to be taken with me on my move.  This led us to the camera shop.  Shelly had told me about these cameras’s they had seen in Singapore that were Wi-Fi enabled.  So once you had taken a photo you could load it directly to Facebook from the camera.  Now I know that you have that facility on your phones but the quality is never that great, well on my IPod, my Blackberry isn’t too bad, but with a camera you have all the functions and quality AND able to upload.  This was my dream present and after going to Camera House they had a sale on one and before I knew it, Shelly had bought me it for Christmas!!  I LOVE IT.  I was given permission to be able to play with it when I got home for the day and then it had to be handed back to be wrapped and put under the tree.  WOOP WOOP I have a new camera.  I LOVE camera’s!!!!

       

My first week back I had placed orders for my SD cards.  I buy them from this company in Hong Kong off EBay.  They work out to be $4AUD for 4GB cards, I need to keep my storage space updated and that is a steal for the cards.  Well they arrived, 3 weeks after ordering and out of the 10 I ordered, only 8 were in the packet.  I HATE it when that happens.  You have to let them know, but then how many dodgy people do they get that tell them the same thing and they did get the right amount.  Well I can only email them and see what they say.  I was happy to take a refund back for the missing 2 but they got back to me pretty much overnight and said that they will send the missing 2 cards and they apologised profusely.  So it probably won’t make it in time before I leave, but I guess Shelly can send it with some gear when I need a care package sent to Africa.  I also ordered a spare battery for one of my camera’s and of all things I also got a Myer gift voucher in the post today which was a nice surprise, as my credit card reward [points were due to expire this month, so they sent me a card to the value of what I was going to lose.  So that was a nice surprise from the bank for once.

In saying that I had big plans, that maybe I knew were going to be a little ambitious and that was to get a trip in to Melbourne as I really wanted to catch up with a few friends, a trip to Townsville to see my Dad and Stepmother and a trip to Newcastle to see my Nan and my mums family.  As the days roll past, Melbourne is now out of the picture and Townsville is looking like a distant idea.  I did check prices and the flights were around the 400AUD mark which is a rip and I just didn’t want to pay that much.  I’m still working on dates to get to my Nan’s though and at whatever the cost.  As fit as a fiddle my Nan is, you just never know what s around the corner when you are 86, so this was a MUST visit as I had planned to do it last time I was home and ran out of time on that trip.    

Tuesday saw me babysit 5 kids for a few hours.  The kids are 5-7 years old with Lulu who is 2 years old.  Shelly and her brother all had kids around the same time, so they are all similar in age and they are at that age now when they all just play so well together.  The only thorn is that poor jack is the only boy with 4 girls in his day he sometimes get a little bored playing with dolls, dancing and makeup parties.  They really are great kids and they are going to have a grand old time growing up with each other.  What a great way to have a family, surrounded by kids your own age, family that love you and to have so much contact with-it really is amazing to be part of this family sometimes. 

I have been busy since I have been back and that includes attending 5 concerts in the 4 weeks.  My first one was just by chance as Shane was unable to go to Cold Play due to a work trip, so I was a great friend, took one for the team and just HAD to take his place and what a concert it was.  The best part for me was we were all given a wrist band when we entered the stadium and then it lit up during the concert in sequence to songs for the whole night and besides it looking absolutely amazing it felt like we were sitting in a gigantic Christmas tree.  Our second convert was A Day on the Green and this has become the rage the last 2 years.  In Brisbane they are held in a winery and it basically is a comeback for 80 bands which also seems to be the flavour of the moment.  Our Day on the Green had playing The Models, The Church, Devo and Simple Minds.  I had heard lots of stories from previous concerts and they all had a general theme of wine, drunken-ness and crazy antics.  This being my first one I was not sure what to expect but knew it was going to be a long day, sitting in the sun and drinking and that can only lead to drunken-ness and antics right?  It was a great day, a few bottles of wine consumed and a few tears shed, great music with great company with our group taking up nearly a whole row of seats not far from the front.  What I don’t know is how people get up the following morning to go to work as they apparently always have these concerts on a Sunday afternoon.  Our third concert was to see a stand-up comedian, Bob Down.  This guy I haven’t seen around for years, but used to make appearances on Hey Hey, Kerri-Anne etc. ….and was hilarious.  Well this concert didn’t disappoint and his 1 hour show was full of singing, impromptu jokes and audience participation.  I haven’t laughed like that in a LONG time and for the 35AUD we paid for the tickets was worth every penny.  Our 4^th concert was Human Nature.  Shelly and I LOVE Human Nature ever since they turned Motown 8 years ago and this concert made it our 4^th one together and I also saw them in Las Vegas this year and they are still cool as ever.  This show was their Christmas special and we drove to the Gold Coast to see them and then drove home afterwards deciding to not stay the night down there.  They also NEVER disappoint and it was another amazing concert.  Our last concert was going to be J-Lo next week and that concludes the 2012 concert season for me.  I told you we have been busy.          

I have made a short list of things I need to buy for my move.  Mostly clothes and a few electric appliances.  I have spread the word to the family that they were not to buy Christmas presents for me this year and that I will only buy presents for the kids.  I don’t really need anything and if I get things I would then have to get them sent blah blah blah and not only for that point it cuts down on the finding a gift idea, shopping time and the expense.  So I only had to buy 5 presents for the kids and then presents for the god-daughters which I have done, throw in a few presents for Selly and Shane and I was pretty much done for my Christmas shopping.  I wanted to get most of it done before school got out.  Once it was school holidays I rekon the shops were going to be a nightmare. 

I have also been in contact with Minalu, my guy on the ground in Ethiopia, and he has some tours in January.  So we have decided to run with February for my arrival and I now find myself in the position again where I need to fill in my time somehow for 4 weeks.  I can’t complain when this happens and the only bad side is that money is leaving the bank account so I had to pull out a map and start to work out what was going to be cost effective, cheap and that I would like to do.  After web surfing, looking at a few options, speaking to a few people I have decided to spend a few more days in London and then I am flying to Barcelona, joining a cruise for 9 nights to the Canary Islands and surrounds.  Even for a single cabin the price was damn cheap and a great option for me, 3 more nights in Barcelona and then I am heading to Kenya for a few weeks to catch up with some friends.  This will get me to the first week of February and then after that it will be up to Ethiopia all going to plan.  A seed was planted by some friends a few days ago about staying in Kenya rather than heading up to Ethiopia and I have taken that on board and has given me something to think about.  Certainly I think Kenya would be an easier (as such) for me to start a new life as they speak English there, they were once British rule so their laws are similar, they are used to western people, there is infrastructure, tourism and more civilised.  These things you do not find in Ethiopia, well not to the extent of Kenya, so it will be good to spend some time in Nairobi and get a feel for the city and see how I feel.  There really is no burning need to go back to Ethiopia now and this thought has given me something else to think about.  I feel nude, not having a plan in place after the 21^st January but I just need to run with what feels right and I won’t know that till I get there.  I have a few contingency plans in place should things go pear shaped.  From picking some short tours, to a 95 day tour, to some contacts in Cameroon and also in Mozambique I will not be totally alone should I need some help of some sort but it is still scary all the same.     

I’ve been using the week to go through what I do have in my room, culling some more things and more donations to Vinnie’s.  It seems every few days I go through what I have and I am able to get rid of more things.  My next big things to go through are my jewellery and my toiletries.  I have a lot of perfume and makeup that needs to be culled.  What will I do with all the stuff I don’t want there?  I’ll think about that one a little more.  My jewellery is another issue.  I have a lot and I have a lot of pieces from my mum that I would NEVER give away.  I won’t be taking much of it with me but it was nice to look at what I had and I wear some of it while I am home.  My room looks like a bomb has gone off each time I go through the cull, but I do feel good every time there is another bag to donate to Lifeline.      

My last major shop of the week was at Woolworths to restock my ‘Australiana’ foods.  I guess people would call it comfort food, but I like the fact that I can and will have some of the foods I like sent and accessible.  I’m not sure how long my supply will last but I managed to spend $119AUD on my creature comforts and are now in a bag that will be waiting for shipment.  I also bought an extension cord and 2 double adapters.  Most of my gadgets have Australian plus, so I think a power board will be a cheaper option that trying to buy conversion adapters.  In saying that, like anything else in Africa it is probably cheap to buy adapters when I get there, but just in case I have a backup plan anyway.  So my supply of BBQ shapes, Mint Slices, Twisties, Burger Rings and Cheezels can be crossed of my to do list. 

So I just want to reiterate that I am not intentionally ignoring people.  I am fine and I think the only way I can put it is I have lost my socializing mojo.  My priorities this trip was to get through my storage container and all my belongings see my Nan and spend as much time with the girls as I can. It’s that simple and I just hope people can understand.  That was my third week and I cannot believe just how fast my time is passing.

Enlightning Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka was a surprise for me and rates as one of the best trips of my Odyssey. 
It was my introduction to Buddhism and a country that has so much to offer with ancient cities, magnificent beaches and UNESCO Heritage sites.  With a FANTASTIC guide and an AMAZING group-this trip will be long remembered.

Scotland Rocked the Odyssey

10 magical days with 24 magical people- this tour was one if the best I have ever done. Add in amazing scenery from the castles, to the lakes, to the outer Hebrides- if Scotland has ever been on your list DO IT

A DAY AT THE RACES

Saturday was a special treat as Tess’s ballet class had an open day.  The girls attend ballet every Saturday during the year, but the parents are not allowed to watch them dance, the first they see them is at the yearly concert in November and then the open class at the end of the year.  So I was lucky enough to get an invite and with 20 other sets of parents we watched the little ones skip, chopstick run, fairy feet and side skip their way through their 45 minute class.  It was so adorable and we were allowed to take photos which were an added bonus.  After the class, I had an old work acquaintance come over to me to say hello!  It was amazing to see Carmel, we had traveled to Bali together quite a few years ago and some-one I saw at work several times during the year when I was in the travel industry.  Her daughter was in Tessie class!  It really is a small world that is for sure.  I was quite sweet that she mentioned that she reads my blogs and to keep strong.  It is always nice to hear those things and makes it all worthwhile.

Saturday was also Christmas Race Day for 6 of the posse.  It was the only chance I would get to go to the races while I was home, having only 5 Saturdays here-each one very precious and the races important enough to take one up.  After a bottle of champagne before we left we arrived at the track at 12 noon.  As usual Brother Brad had come up with some tickets for us, saving us 20AUD each on the entry’, and once in we made a beeline for one of the few members venues that has air conditioning.  It was a steamer today of 32C.  As all race days, we opted for some form of head attire, and we ran with Christmas headbands, and I think based on the weather this was a very wise choice.  They looked great.  Once we were inside the members, all the chairs and tables were taken, so we found a section of the bar where we could leave our champagne and our kitty glass that starts with 10AUD each from all of us and then just chatted, betted and drank the afternoon away in the cool of the member’s area.  Around 2pm we were lucky enough to grab a table and chairs and the afternoon wiled away and I am sad to report we didn’t have a SINGLE win all day.  Not one.  I am not sure if that has EVER happened in the history of Girl Race days.  It’s not as bad as it sounds when we only put in 10 buck each; the champagne is more of the rip out of the whole day with bottles of Yellow costing us $35 that you can buy at the shop for $8…..  That is more of the loss…..  but… in saying that… there was a ‘happy’ guy that asked us if we wanted a bottle of champagne care of his boss’s bar tab and 5 minutes later he was back with a bottle in his hand-and it wasn’t a win on line-we said thanks and he disappeared and we never saw him again!  How nice was that.  So we may not have won a race or any money-we may have paid $35 per bottle of Yellow, but we did see an act of kindness today and that was pretty special.

The last race was at 4.45pm and after checking in with one of Sandy’s friends, who was in a corporate tent, we started to make our way down to the Hamilton Hotel that was a 15 minute walk down the road.  Well we had only gone a few minutes and Sandy broke her shoe…..  It was not repairable and after calling the boys for one of them to bring a spare pair of shoes, she walked bare foot to the Hammo, where we got her into the restaurant until Jase arrived with backup shoes for Sandy and while they were at it we asked them to bring a comfy pair of shoes for Shelly.  We were now armed for a more pleasurable evening with comfortable footwear.  After a magic dinner and feeling okay after sharing 3 bottles of champagne between 3 of us and now onto the vodka and cokes we were all travelling well, maybe a little too well.  I have MASSIVE race days where we wouldn’t even eat, stumble through the early hours of the evening and then finish in the wee hours lucky to remember the whole evening.  Well not tonight.  It seems it was going to be one of those nights out when you can drink like a fish and it wasn’t really going to have much impact and you know when that is happening when we walked back through the front bar to find a table and you notice all the drunk people as we passed.  Oh yes, drunk people don’t really notice drunk people.  I think this was going to be a long night. 

We found a table and settled in for the evening.  There was a professional photographer floating around and with us all being camera shy “NOT” we got some snap taken that will be on the Hammo website on Monday.  I LOVE getting these photos taken as they always look really good and just to make sure I asked them to take another one and to show us for approval.  Fussy much?  There were a lot of people from the races but there were also a lot of people attending Christmas parties and there was one guy that worked with one of SA friends.  By the time we were ready to leave she had sold him one of Christmas headbands for 20 bucks!  Well done Sandy!  She has always been renowned for selling our hats at the end of a race day and making some money.  We decided to hit the road at 9.30pm and head into ‘our’ local, The Caxton.  So we said goodbye to Paula and Tash and walked outside to a waiting cab.  When we got in SA asked the cab driver if he would take us into town for 20 bucks and he said sure.  We asked if he could run the meter anyway to see how much the ride would have been, but then I guess he would have to declare the ride, I’m not sure how all that works, so he stopped and asked what we wanted to do, so we ran with the 20 buck option and when we got onto Caxton Street we asked him much would the ride have cost if it was on the meter and he said around $24.  So not only did we save$4 but we used the headband money and got a free ride to town.  This night was shaping up to be okay, and we still weren’t really that pissed.  I would say we were now tipsy but still in full faculty. 

The Caxton has been our place of drinking choice for the last 4 or so years.  We know one of the bouncers, we used to know the DJ really well until he left and they have been changing them a lot since then, but we have them trained to an extent on our ‘play list’ and they generally will play all our requests and the rest of the music we like.  The age group is mixed, so you don’t feel like you are getting overrun by teeny boppers and depressed with old farts-it’s nice to know that we still fit in the middle of the demographic (well for now).  It really is a great place and we enjoy it.  Tonight was no different, there were enough people around but it wasn’t super packed yet and as soon as we walked in and headed to the bar, there is a bartender that knows SA and Shelly, so he served us and we got 3 drinks for FREE.  Now that is what I am talking about.  How nice!  So we found a seat, loaded our requests with yet another new DJ and then jived and chatted the night away.  We got another FREE drink from our mate and then we ordered a nightcap cocktail, a chocolate bunny, and he only charged us 10 bucks for each one and then it was time for us to head home.  I was stuffed.  By this time it was after midnight and we had to join the taxi queue that had about 15 people in front of us.  There was a taxi steward on duty and was flagging taxi’s and he also took note of a taxi that picked people up from the other side of the road, not in a rank, so that was good to know that they had a fair system going and you don’t mind waiting in those circumstances.  The queue moved quite quickly and we found ourselves in a taxi within 20 minutes and on our way home.  Well you know we weren’t that drunk when I didn’t even want to stop at Harry’s-greasy food sold to drunk people-or Windmill’s-a pizza place that serves the best Aussie pizza’s, not only drunk but I have had them sober and we headed directly home. 

So we may have not won a penny at the races but a great day was had.  Every race day we have pretty much is a mirror image of today, except the FREE drinks at The Caxton but we LOVE our race days and I will miss them when I leave.  Ethiopia don’t have a race track, so no racing horses that you can bet on and have a champers, but I guess that may not be surprising when they don’t have enough money to eat let alone have a punt.  I was also impressed that we were happily drunk, not smashed or paralytic and I think we were all going to pull up okay in the morning.

My last race day and what a great day it was. 

MY BIRTHDAY WEEK

Birthdays have always been a BIG deal.  It isn’t only a day in the year; it has always been milked the weekend before, birthday week and then the weekend after.  It was always a day to look forward to as my boss used to give us the day off for our birthdays, so it made for a short working week as well which was always welcomed in the month of November when the last public holiday was in August.  I normally also have a BIG party each year, with some form of theme and a chance to get all my friends together rather than for my actual birthday, a great excuse.

This year is a little different. I have had so much on this year, this month and this week that is doesn’t even feel like my birthday tomorrow.  Even today, Monday, has been a crazy up and down day.  I spoke to Zeme this morning, I spoke to a friend in Kenya, I’m thinking about my mum who passed away 4 years ago tomorrow, I got a message from my friend in Ethiopia that is helping with my move and I may have a travel buddy lined up for 3 weeks in January.  All that today and it all got a little emotional for me.  I think you add into the mix that I gave away every single thing I owned and threw out 20 years of memorabilia and I think it has all just caught up with me.  But after a good cry and an early birthday lunch with my best friend the day picked up as birthday messages started to flow in and I pick myself up, dust myself off and look towards the future and many more birthdays to come.

Shelly is looking for present ideas and I just don’t need anything.  She is one of those people that will not let a birthday slide with no presents; it is her specialty, so it will be a total surprise on what I will get from her and the Goddaughters.  Birthday morning was amazing.  Shane had gone to McDonalds to get us breakfast (the GD’s favorite) and I LOVE the frozen cokes from there and ‘that’ was the start of my birthday treats.  I then had a bevy of presents to open including some Pandora charms, 2 Marci ‘friendship’ calendars (if you know of them they are friendship quotes to bring tears) a bottle of Verve, a blue scarf, 3 Pandora beads, my Human Nature ticket and an iTunes gift voucher.  I was very spoilt indeed and then add the birthday cake with sparklers and the ONE candle; it was a beautiful start to the day.  We walked the girls to school and then Shelly had to go to work so I was left to my own devices for the day.  I was okay with this.  I really have lost my mojo to see people.  I had a few options I could have taken up for lunch dates today and I just couldn’t face anyone.  So what is the next best thing?  SHOPPING!!! So after Shelly left at 10am I headed down to the shops and spent a few hours walking around.  I didn’t really need anything, so I bought a few things that I had on my list and 2 Christmas presents and then I was home at 1pm.  The rest of the afternoon was spent returning some long overdue emails and I still have some messages to reply to, but I am making some headway which makes me feel a little better.  I also rang my Nan today- my mums mum.  It has been awhile since I have been in touch and she is no spring chicken anymore.  He is still very active teaching dancing and playing tennis though, so still growing strong.  She is one of those people you just think will be around forever, but not knowing when I will be back, I NEED to see her this trip.  For mum and for myself.  I looked up flights and told her once I have made a booking I would let her know.  I don’t have a lot of spare time, so I’m just going to go for the night, but it is something I wanted to do last time and didn’t, so I will take one night rather than nothing.  Once the little people are home, the dynamic changed, their fresh faces, their perspective on life can do nothing but lift your spirits and it is just what I needed.  After Nana left, I got them showered and dressed for our dinner date tonight at Sizzler. 

This was my choice, I am the birthday girl, and Sizzler has always been one of my favorite places to eat.  Between the cheesy bread, the potato skins and the salad buffet, what is there NOT to love about Sizzler?  The neighbors came with us to dinner and I was blown away when I saw the price of the meals.  Holy smoke I have been noting the rising cost of the KFC and McDonalds meals and I don’t know why I would have thought Sizzler would be any different.  The salad bar was now 24.50AUD… I remember when it used to be 12.95AUD and the meal I wanted with the steak and the BBQ garlic prawns was 44.50AUD!!!  ARE YOU SERIOUS!  But it was my birthday and I thought I would just lash out after all and then it worked out that the Elkins picked up the bill as part of my present, they really are too good to me.  The meal was just as good as we remembered and I even had room for some apple crumble and the ice-cream with sprinkles that Tessie had got for me herself as the birthday girl.  I was feeling better at this stage.  I was surrounded by friends, my god-daughters and had food in my tummy.  I don’t have anything to feel bad about. 

After dinner we headed home and I was on the computer till midnight when Zeme came online.  I messaged him as we have some unfinished business that needed to be sorted out and then before I knew it words were being exchanged and he asked me to call him.  So I did, more words were exchanged verbally and then there was a hang up and then he took me off as a friend on Facebook.  I will not go into details, but let’s just say I have been taken advantage of, I didn’t see it coming and I have learnt a massive lesson the hard way.  I just never thought that Zeme would be that kind of person and as Shelly pointed out after I hung up the phone; it is best I find out his true colours here than once I got to Ethiopia and lose a lot more than I did.  I guess it is now not hard to work out what has happened but it was a crappy way to finish off what had been a nice day.  I just hate the thought that my generosity was abused, I believed in him and what we had and it has just been thrown back in my face.  What a fool I have been-but I will not let it overshadow my day. 

So with all that said, today was significant in so many ways. Not only was I born today but my mum passed away 4 years ago on this day.  It is also special as I embark on an exciting new adventure with my move to Africa in January and who knows where I will be for my next birthday.  And lastly I am asking for birthday donations to a charity I am supporting for clean water to a community in Rwanda. If you can help (any small amount is appreciated) please follow the following link.
http://mycharitywater.org/bernies-odyssey-for-clean-water

If you're like me, you don't spend too much time thinking about water -- it's everywhere we go. When we're thirsty, we flip a handle or push a button. When we're dirty, we twist a shower knob. When our garden needs watering, when our pasta needs to be boiled, when we use the bathroom -- water is just there for the taking.  But for almost 800 million people on the planet, it's not. Millions of women and children have to walk hours each day to get water from muddy ponds and rivers. And much of that water is infested with bacteria, parasites or leeches.  When I learned that an average of $20 can give someone access to clean, safe water, I decided to start a campaign to help. My goal is to raise $5000.00 charity: water will use 100% of the money to directly fund the water projects in the field. Even better, when the projects are complete, they'll show me just where our money went. That's right -- we'll be able to see the GPS coordinates photos and other details about the community we've impacted!
I've never actually been dying of thirst. I'm sure we'd all like to see a world where no one does. 
Together, we can make a difference in the global water crisis. I hope you'll consider helping.

Nanny Juane kicked in on Wednesday with me taking the girls to school SOLO.  I am confident now in the routine, and Shelly has all the girls lunches and uniforms ready to go, so really isn’t a big deal, for parent, but as a god mother I take this responsibility very seriously and I have to say I LOVE taking them.  As the world would turn, I ran into a lady that I used to play squash with years and years ago, Denise.  She was dropping her grand kids off to school and after a very brief chat and a wave I had completed another successful school drop. 

The rest of the week ebbed and flowed with a large ‘birthday’ purchase of a new laptop.  My small one I have travelled with for the last 20 months has been a gem, but knowing the laptops in Africa are expensive, I decided to get a new one for myself-happy birthday.  I couldn’t see one as cheap as I had bought 2.5 years ago, but I did go for a larger notebook this time and I will take my small travel netbook with me as well as a backup.  By the time you add on the new case, Windows Office and the additional warranty (that I declined) the cheaper computers don’t work out that cheap, but I know I get my money’s worth and now I just have to learn what all the fuss is about with the running platform using Windows 8. I will also need to transfer my ITunes library, which is always a challenge when it is on another computer, so I will have to work that out in the following weeks.  It’s nice to have a keyboard where I can see the letters-my travel laptop’s letters had rubbed off and I have sticker spots with Nikko pen written on them of the missing letters that will last approximately 2 months before they have to be replaced.  Happy Birthday to me.

So I had a great day with my Elkin family and it was a shame that it ended on bad terms with nasty words from Ethiopia.  But I can hold my head high and I think it is a good thing that Zeme has taken me off Facebook as I can now start a fresh and have cleansed the bad people out if my life. 

I wonder where I will be for my next birthday xx

I OPENED PANDORA’S BOX AND WHAT A JOB IT WAS

Today was D-Day.  I was opening Pandora’s Box-literally a whole shipping container of everything I own in the world.  My belongings, my memories and my stuff that has been stored for the last 2.5 years.  I have been racking my brains the last few days on what I exactly had in the container and I wish I had of made a bit more of a comprehensive list as I have no idea on what is in there.  Most of the big furniture I can remember, but how many boxes and what is in them is a little hazy, I just know there was a lot and in there I will find 50 bottles of vodka, 3 boxes of Elmo and 2 boxes of Tupperware everything else will be a surprise.  The shipping container people did an inventory on the all the stuff loaded, but big beefy men moving boxes in the heat of September ( I remember it was hot) I thin]k there care factor was non-existent and add in a copy in triplicate as well, there really wasn’t much for me to go on.  So with some masking tape in hand, a Nikko pen, a bottle of water and my IPod I drove the 20 minutes to the depot to start what I was expecting to be a tough and emotional 3 days.    

When I arrived at the depot, I parked out the front and it was weird as I had butterflies in my tummy.  You would think I was going for a job interview, but I think it was more stress than anything else as I was only given 3 days to clear out every single thing I own and either find a new home for it, try and sell it or throw it away.  I was also expecting to meet ‘the cow’ that I have been dealing with for the past 2 years, but lucky for both of us, she wasn’t working today and I pushed a bell and a guy came to the counter.  Thankfully they knew I was coming, so they told me to wait a few minutes as they got my container down for me and when it was ready they came back into the office to get me, gave me a fluro safety vest I had to wear while I was out there and the doors were opened.  Now I am not sure what I was thinking by not bringing someone with me to help move the big stuff and I was super lucky that they guy who showed me to my container was very nice and he said he wasn’t busy and that he could help me out till he was needed back in the depot otherwise I am not sure I would have been able to move everything on my own, and I would have tried and I probably would have done myself some damage.  So for the next 3 hours, we moved boxes out, to get to the large furniture items that were spread throughout the container so when Tat (my new mate) had to go back to ‘proper’ work I would be able to amble my way through the stuff without needing any more man power.  After the first hour he went and checked with his boss that he could help me and the boss said no worries and that they would charge $50 bucks, which I grateful for-I needed the help. 

As the big items came out of the container and I saw just how much stuff I had was overwhelming to say the least and the last thing I wanted to do was have to move all the things out, to move them all back in, to move it all to the other storage place to try and sell it and then get it moved to the Elks for the pickup once I had sold it.  This job was MASSIVE enough as it was, so as my stuff came out I told Tat that he was more than welcome to anything that was coming out.  Take it; I was going to give it all away anyway, so it may as well go to the guys that were helping me.  So there became ‘piles’ of things as the morning went on.  There was Tats pile, the throw away pile, the pile that was going to get collected tomorrow to the new storage place, the pile where I was going to take back to the Elkins and the last pile was a last minute addition as Sandy had text me during the morning to say that I was more than welcome to bring stuff to her house for her to try and sell at her garage sale on Saturday morning.  So the piles grew, Tats more than anyone’s and word had spread about me giving things away and we had visits from about 6 other guys that were all working on site.  So Tat got first dibs and then the stuff that he didn’t want was going into the collection pile for tomorrow.  As Tat realized what was coming out, he decided to make life a little easier and got an empty shipping container and set that up opposite my container and we were able to move stuff for collection straight into that one, so we didn’t have to double handle it all this afternoon to get it all back in my container.  That way, in the morning, when the other storage people came, everything in the second container was to go with them.  What a great idea.  By lunch time 80% of the furniture had been given away.  My mums stuff was still all there but I now knew that it all had to go and that included her things as well.  It is a shame as there was a wing chair of hers that I got reupholstered after her death, but it had to go and Tat was more than happy to take that off my hands.  The good thing was he was so thankful for all the stuff he was getting and one of the other guys said that there aren’t many people like me in the world and that I must be a very generous person.            

So Tat took his stuff away on a trolley at lunch time as he had to get back to work, but if I needed anything to come in and grab any of the guys, they would be more than happy to help me and I in turn told Tat to send the guys out and have a look and if they wanted anything it was theirs.  The container was now 90% empty and I had stuff everywhere.  The throw pile was =starting to grow and I will have to get a skip organized for Friday to come and take it all away for me.  By the end of the 3 days there would be too much for me to take to the tip on my own.  I got asked by all the guys by the end of the day why I was getting rid of everything and when I told them I was moving to Africa they were shocked and impressed all at the same time.  As my belongings started to get carried away I was feeling okay about it all.  It all feels right, that this is what I should be doing and it really is the final step to cleansing myself from Australia and making my move to Africa more real. 

So the afternoon wore on and this was a lot more emotional for me as I was now getting into personal items.  Diaries I had written when I was 14, 20+ squash trophies that I won through my junior squash career, my wedding dress, wedding photos, my mums 1964 school certificates and her work certificates, my report cards, my old sticker collection that I’ve had since I was 8 years old and that is just the cream so far.  What would I do with them all?  When was the last time I looked at this stuff?  I got given some stern advice from Shelly that I had to be ‘Ruthless’ (Iike the Ruth-which was my mums name) of the word, and yes she agreed that things may have sentimental value, but when was the last time I looked at any of the stuff I have hoarded over the last 20 years and with my move now to Africa why pay money to keep the stuff that I will never really look at again.  What use will my 10^th birthday cards be to me in Africa?  I see her point.  So with that advice in mind, I opened boxed-checked what was in there, worked out what pile it should go into and then moved onto the next box.  My DVD collection of over 1100 was a tough give away and also the Wii was something I had totally forgotten about. 

Later in the afternoon I was happy with the progress I had made and my mums dresser and cabinets got snatched up, so I told him he had to make sure he would look after it as it had belonged to my mum and it was more gear that I didn’t have to worry about.  I also found boxes of travel knick knacks collected from all my overseas trips dating back over 15 years.  When I first started travelling I was buying a lot of the small crappy stuff, so it was time to part with that and half of it was throw out.  I kept some things and the rest I put into a box that I would take to Sandy’s.  You never know what would sell as the saying goes some-one’s trash is some-one else’s treasure, but I did draw the lone at some tacky stuff and tossed it.  I ended up with a half packing box of things that will eventually make it to Africa, but maybe not on this trip.        

The time consuming things was I had to unwrap a lot of things to see what was in there.  The boxes were labeled pretty well, so I had an idea on what would be in there.  Some boxes I gave a quick run over and then deemed where it should go.  So I am sure that there will be things that I didn’t even see that were thrown out, but what I don’t know won’t kill me right.  I did make a concerted effort to check the entire bar marked boxes, as I knew I had over 50 bottles of vodka lurking in them.  I wasn’t going to be giving any of that away and I backed up the car and started loading the alcohol to take to Shelly and Shane’s.  I thought I had checked the bar boxes well but in the afternoon when I started to pack it all in for the day some of the guys were looking through my ‘rubbish’ pile and found new 1.25L bottles of Makers Mark and Bacardi.  I did feel bad but asked if I could have it back and they were given without any qualms. I felt like an Indian giver to an extent as they were in the ‘throw’ pile-but I couldn’t let those through, could I.  I probably need to explain the ‘throw’ pile was like a 2^nd hand shop.  There wasn’t rubbish as such, there were glasses, pillows, bar items like coasters, pictures, frames-it was all perfectly good stuff, but things I didn’t/couldn’t use/need and had to go somewhere.  My squash racquets and bag got snapped up and my book cases (all 7 of them) also found a home in the afternoon.  At 3.30pm I started to repack all the stuff back into the container, I was told I couldn’t leave it out overnight and with sore feet that concluded my first day in the container.  I didn’t realize till I got home at 4.30pm that I hadn’t eaten a thing all day and I really didn’t feel like it either.  I can’t tell you how good it feels to finally have this process in place and even though tomorrow will be harder as I have boxes  and albums of photos to go through, I rekon I am 40% done-which is amazing.   

Day 2 dawned at 6am and I was on the road at 6.20am.  I stopped at Macca’s for breakfast and arrived at the depot at 6.45am to try and get a start on the last 6 boxes before the other removalists arrived.  There were some boxes that I had just put in the ‘pick-up’ pile that I didn’t really know what was in them, and I figured I could just open them in a month’s time, after I had finished round one and had a bit of a break.  The removalists were on time and as everything was all packed and ready to go in the second container, as I was paying them by the hour they were gone by 8am.  Awesome.  Not empty handed I have to say, they got given some bar posters, glasses and a few bits and bobs including 2 signed racing photos from the bar.  Last of the big items was taken this morning from one of the depot workers so I was left with a couch, a sun chair, 2 small bed side tables and a small table.  Not bad, not bad at all.  I worked like a dog for the rest of the morning, going through more boxes than having to move boxes today.  The biggest job today was going through 4 big packing boxes full of photo albums.  There would have been 18 of them.  There was nothing with the actual albums and I could have emptied them and sold the albums, but who could be bothered taking out thousands of photos to make 3 bucks, but I did make a concerted effort to flip every single page and take a few photos from each album, so I took the time to look through them and took a few select ones to keep and the rest got thrown out.  I’m talking personal photos, past holiday snaps and photos that were pre-digital.  I also found the box that had all the negatives of all the photos and I just threw them out as well.    

I came across a box of mum’s things that contained old newspapers, certificates and personal items.  If I’m not keeping my own certificates then I can’t really keep hers.  I kept a few of the framed ones which I took them out of the frame and some of her private items and the rest joined my stuff on the ‘throw’ pile.  I had a box of all my travel documents, tickets, maps and merchandise that had been collected and saved from every single trip I had done.  I had over 30 travel wallets (one for each trip) and with a quick peek into them they also joined the rubbish pile.  Speaking of which, the rubbish pile was starting to grow.  I made a few phone calls about getting a skip delivered tomorrow-as it was my last day and I was looking at a cost of around 300 bucks and it didn’t seem an issue to get one tomorrow.  The last big things I needed to go through were 2 boxes of shoes, a box of bags, 3 boxes of clothes and 2 boxes of sheets towels etc.  Day 2 was coming to a close, it was nearly 2pm and I was tired and my feet were killing me, so with Tat coming round to see if I was okay, I offered him the box of bags and shoes to him as his wife is a bit of a shoe and bag lady-which he took.  I didn’t look through those boxes properly so Tat said if there is anything that looks personal in the boxes he would bring them back tomorrow.  Fine-I was over it by this stage.  Then the sheets and towels and clothes I would deliver tomorrow to Vinnie’s.

The find of the day was some 2AUD old notes that I had kept from my banking days.  I had 7 notes in mint condition and they were in consecutive order.  Maybe in 100 years they will hold some value and I definitely kept them.  I also had 5, 10 and 20AUD notes somewhere, but I didn’t find them in my unpacking and checking, so I obviously missed them somewhere and have been delivered to the Brisbane tip.  Shelly will be helping me tomorrow to move the last of the things to Sandy’s and to help fill the skip and then I am finished.  Done.  I think I am now grateful that I only had 3 days as I had to be on a mission, I couldn’t dilly dally and walk down memory lane too long and just get the job done without having to drag it out.    

So I left with 2 small boxes of bits and bobs I was going to keep, a box of photos and some more travel knick knacks.  I also kept some things for Shelly, like the guillotine, name labeler, my Brisbane Lions framed poster and such things and it was tough to not keep a lot of things for the god-daughters.  My plate collection was one thing I did keep and I also kept my crystal collection which I will let the god daughters have.  I also saved the Walt Disney DVD pack that I had bought years ago in Vietnam.  It was a box set of every single Walt Disney movie made currently up to Stuart Little 1 and 2.  The girls will love that present.  I also had more boxes of grog and when I got home I unpacked the 10 boxes that I now had full of alcohol.  I am trying to keep all the rubbish and my gear clear here at the Elks.  It is a massive job and after they were all unpacked I had 55 bottles of vodka, random bottles of various other spirits, some rather old bottles of cheap wine from 1998 (which have been thrown out) and a few bottles of champagne which optimistically we have put in the fridge to see if they are drinkable and to think I bought a bottle of vodka duty free 5 days ago.  Needless to say the Elkin bar is now looking quite impressive-anyone want a drink?

Day 3 of the container and I was in good stead.  After dropping the girls off at school, we headed to the container to load both cars up with the stuff that we were taking to Sandy’s to sell at her garage sale tomorrow morning which then left me with 6 final boxes to come back for in the afternoon to drop at Vinnie’s.  This is all I had left from a 3 bedroom house full of stuff.  The skip was delivered at 10am, the guy was super nice and as the pile was all ready to go, he helped us load it all up, taking a few things for himself as we loaded it and an hour later he was gone along with my ‘rubbish’ pile and it was hard to imagine what it all looked like here only 2 days before.  I WAS FINISHED.  I do have to give myself a pat on the back.  It was a massive undertaking, something I had to do and now that it was all finished I feel like a dead weight has been lifted from my shoulders.  I will now have an extra 300AUD a month in the bank and besides my friends now, I have no ties left here in Australia.  How sad and exciting all in the same thought.         

So I have a 3 week grace period till I get the last of my belongings delivered to the Elkins on the 14^th December.  I think most of it is Elmo’s, Tupperware and more grog and all of that will I will be taking to Africa (not the alcohol) and will be sent on once I have my feet on the ground over there.  It will be nice to have a small break before tackling the last of it all but knowing that 97%  is done is AWESOME and I can now enjoy my last few weeks stress free and not having to worry about what I am going to do with all my stuff as it is now all GONE.  I am one step closer to starting a new life and I have just totally cleansed the old one and as sad as I felt yesterday when I was dealing more with personal items –it is time to make new memories.  I have 3 boxes from a whole shipping container and this I am content with.