Happy Happy One and All.

We haven't gotten the snow we had hoped for, but we do have Our Girl and my McG Folks with us for Christmas - which, as far as I am concerned, is way better than snow!

Wishing all of you a wonderful Christmas and a 2014 that is filled with realised dreams, renewed vision, passion for the day-to-day, all with a good dose of fun and laughter tossed in!

Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift. (2 Cor. 9:15)

You and those shirts...

We woke this morning to the news that Madiba had finally found real freedom. We all knew it was coming, and I suspect many of us had quietly said goodbye in our hearts a long time ago - but it didn't quite cushion the grief I felt on hearing it 'for real.'

I got dressed and wore my SA flag around my waist, as I am in the habit of doing with my scarves, and tied a black tie around my arm.  I couldn't help swallowing hard and trying not to cry on the bus - everyone was just going about their normal daily routine as though nothing had changed in the world.

It was horrible. I just wanted to be home, in my country with my people - where we could look at each other and know we were all feeling the same sense of loss.

Standing alone at the bus stop, in the hectic morning traffic, I prayed "God please, just one person, one South African, just send me one."

I heard a hoot, and a black car whisked by me, I couldn't see who was in it, but looking between the seats through the back window, I could see their arm raised in a fist, in the Amandla salute - and I frantically waved back.

I can't tell you if I cried then because Madiba had left the building or because God so graciously answered my prayer before it left my heart.

I suspect it was a bit of both.

I will always remember you like this... filled with passion for life and people, for dancing and for shirts that only YOU could get away with.

 And, of course this one!

There's nothing I can say that hasn't already been said. So, thank you for your unselfish life of courage, for not backing down even when the going got tough, and for demonstrating how to forgive and live graciously.

Thank you.

Getting what you ask for, or not.

We've been here four months now. I was thinking about what I prayed for on waiting to come out here. I had asked only a few things that I felt were absolutely necessary if we (or I) was going to be settled.

Because my #1 concern was thinking I needed people around me and perhaps being lonely I prayed:

• for a home that was in a big town within walking distance of shops and a gym.
• for neighbours surrounding me so that I could have "over-the-wall" conversations.
• for a spiritual home - but different. I didn't know HOW I wanted it to be different. But different.

God in his infinite wisdom chose to give me none of the above.

• There is not a shop AT ALL in our village, never mind a gym. I need to take a bus to get to either.
• I have neighbours on either side of me that in the 4 months we have been here, we have laid our eyes on once. I have no neighbours in front or behind me. In fact, I have forest.
• Church in its "normal format" - nothing fresh or new. (Same procedure as every year, James)

I wonder how much more isolated and far away from my requests I could have gotten.  Yet, the strangest thing has happened. I am not lonely. Not even a little bit.

I love looking out at the trees and the sky -every day the scenery appears different. I go for runs or walks with the dogs through forest trails and stumble across caves, rivers with quaint bridges and castle ruins.  One day the forest is green, then the leaves are orange and red, and soon the trees are merely ghostly shadows.

On the bus, I have begun to recognise people and we greet and attempt to make conversation, and have even met up socially. God can bring people together on a bus as much as over a wall.

I feel like I am getting to know a part of myself I didn't know I was. I may never have known that I can live in such a minute community.My desire to be around people has little to do with need and more to do with want. I just enjoy company!

We have found a spiritual home, (not nearly as epic as our Cpt spiritual home). However, yesterday I went to the first of their "Bible Studies"... I have found that perhaps the Sunday meetings are the same format as I am used to, but the group is filled with women from various countries and I found that THIS IS FRESH. Each one of us, although sharing the same faith, appear to walk it out and express it in so many different ways based on our culture. It's exactly what I love. Variety. Conversation.

I feel as though I have the best of both worlds. I have the lovely quiet of our home and surroundings and the beginnings of added friendships..

Sometimes God doesn't give us what we ask for because he knows exactly what we need.

* * * * 

Blah Blah Snow

By now family and friends are probably already scrolling past all my excited rambling about snow.  I wouldn't blame them, but it's so hard not to take photo's and clips. Even the bus this morning was alive with chatter! Yes, even us! :)

I am certain that people who live in parts of the world where snow is common, will roll their eyes and think thoughts like "The novelty will wear off, just wait until....blah, blah" - but I put my hands over my ears and I do not hear your voice.   I will fight losing the excitement when the inevitable slushy aftermath appears. 

Standing in the middle of the city this morning waiting for the bus, surrounded by old buildings with snowy roofs, trees shimmering and snowflakes settling on my hat, I felt as though I was in a snow globe.  It's completely magical.

Driving home through the forest I felt my eyes involuntarily tear up just because it was so purely beautiful.

Even now, looking out of my lounge window, the hounds are lying on the balcony, covered in the still falling snow flakes.

The gray & white world outside is not a true reflection of the mood today. 

It's a rainbow mood day!

* * * * * * 

The Men and The Burgers

Neither My Man nor I are fans of MacDonalds, however on seeing an ad for their new McBaguette My Man decided that it looked just way too good not to try.

So, to surprise him on Friday evening, I went into the city early to buy him one for supper. As I was walking in I noticed a young guy, probably in his early 20's sitting with his back against the wall, his dog with him, and a cup in front of him. My heart went out to him as it was getting a little cool.

I went in and ordered the McBaguette and then ordered a Big Mac for the youngster outside.  Leaving, I went out and there he was, with the lead in his hand, chatting to a guy who was now standing with him, I don't know how to say "Here you are, enjoy" so I just thrust my hand out and smiled. He looked at me and at the burger, smiled and said "Merci!"

I walked away and suddenly it dawned on me that MAYBE he wasn't even a street beggar?!  I didn't look in the cup to see if it was money or coffee and EVERYONE (and their dog)... has a dog with them in the city and when I was leaving he was just standing chatting to this other guy, he could just have been sitting there and waiting for him!

I suddenly felt so embarrassed, but what could I do, I couldn't run back and ask, or explain - I just had to believe, hungry or not, that he really needed that burger!

..... and that  it was better than the McBaguette which turned out to be totally forgettable.

* * * 

Removal of Rose Tinted Specs

We have been here just over 3 months and a recent conversation has made me realise just how idealistic I was before coming here - even up to last month.

We were so determined not to be the "expats" who joined the "South African Expat Group" on Facebook, (we still won't), so determined not to just connect with English speaking people, that which would be familiar and comfortable. Our hearts were so much to make friends with the locals of this country and find our way into their traditions and culture.  (Yet, when I hear an SA accent my heart leaps with excitement - it's who we are and always will be!)

However, we recently had a conversation with a local friend of ours and he listened to me sympathetically and I have not been able to get his response out of my mind. He basically chastised me in the nicest possible way by saying that this country is filled largely with people from other countries, there are tons of Brits, Americans, French, Irish, Portuguese, German, South Africans and Flemish - and he asked me "What makes a person a local?"  To me that felt like an odd question - you are local if you are from that place. However, as he pointed out, all these foreigners have been here for years, some are even the children of previous generations that moved here - surely that now makes them locals?  I couldn't disagree.

The point of his conversation with me was really to not be so narrow about WHO or HOW we decide to fit in here, but more to just accept that there are lots of people here who are far from 'home', and just because they speak English, doesn't make them "not a local".

I realise that this sounds all horribly fuzzy - but now we have to rethink this. I kind of feel as though we live in a country that is like a stew: It's made up of interesting and flavoursome people, all sourced from different places with cultures and traditions stirred together to make something warm and tasty. 

Maybe it will change a little of how I am experiencing people here, seeing it this way. It may not. All I know is that the word "locals" has taken on a new look that I hope will start to feel more familiar.

I know too that there is a bigger plan for us being here, it's a gift that came by way of employment - but I know there is more to it. 

Each day is an adventure that we are embracing - but I am so looking forward to it all!  We love it here!

Just me & my umbrella

Usually when I go and meet My Man in the city after work, I wait at our designated meeting place. 

Sometimes I go earlier to do the shopping then it's all done by the time he arrives.  I have always done the shopping and then made my way straight to where we meet, and wait.

Today, it was wet. It was cold and it was windy.  I had to do some shopping which I did, and then, as I came out I looked up at the almost dark sky (it was 17h00), at the rain pelting down, and thought it looked all rather dramatic.  The pedestrian walkways were bobbing with umbrellas, and it suddenly felt rather surreal.

Knowing I still had at least 20 min before he arrived, I opened my umbrella and decided to embrace the weather, and for 20 minutes I strolled around the cobbled streets in the rain and the twilight, and for the first time I really felt as though I could do winter.

It was really quite a lovely 20 minutes.