Home sweet home

I'm back home, back to the humdrum of everyday life, laundry, cooking, getting up early to make sandwiches for school and I'm so so happy to be home.

Don't get me wrong, I'm glad I got the chance to go back to South Africa again, it was wonderful to see my oldest brother and his family, to spend time with my best friend from school and see the old haunts. But it was no holiday. I have returned completely exhausted. There was so much work to be done to pack my mom up that I really needed a minimum of 2 weeks, but I worked flat out, survived on very little sleep and got most of what I could done. 

I've done two trips back back to South Africa now in the past two years after an extended period away and they've taught me a few things. (These may be a little jumbled, I'm still jet lagged and have a headache)

- it's possible to jump back into a manual stick shift car and drive on the wrong side of the road without completely freaking out. It comes back to you very quickly.

- it's strange how quickly you forget that you have to lock your car doors and drive with the windows up and your valuables or parcels hidden.

- there's something special about African air, being able to breath in the ocean air, or lie at night looking up at the stars watching palm trees wave.

- monkeys are pesky but cute

- I'm stronger than I give myself credit for but every now and then you just need to hear a loved ones voice or be able to message with them to keep you sane when things are getting rough and you're emotional or scared.

- I have absolutely no doubts that we did the right thing for our children's future in moving to Canada.

- DH is capable of surviving for a week (possible more) without me. He fed the kids and the dog, did laundry and got everyone to school on time and even remembered to collect them at the end of the day.

- it is possible to eat so much you feel ill at the mere thought of food for days after.

- hard alcohol doesn't really go bad, cream based alcohols can turn into a solid however and it's not pretty

-my skin loves the SA climate, my hair...not so much! I could not keep it from being frizzy, I oiled, I straightened it looked okay, 5 minutes later it would frizz. I remember why I used to have either long hair that I could tie back or really short easy hair!

-old friends who take the time and expense to come and see you when you're in the same country are the best. 

- long haul flights suck so bad, and hurt my body and my back way too much!

I doubt I'll be making any trips back to SA now for a long time, I wish I'd had more time to go a few places and have more fun there this time, but I had a strict timeline to abide by.

It was nice to know I was missed here by the dog, the kids and even DH.

If you missed my posts from South Africa on my adventures there see them here:

http://www.fim40.blogspot.ca/2014/05/update-from-dubai.html

http://www.fim40.blogspot.ca/2014/05/full-day-number-1-done-and-dusted.html

http://www.fim40.blogspot.ca/2014/05/day-2-and-3-and-i-need-new-diet-and.html