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| The girls on the very early King's day celebration in Windhoek. |
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| Plane food is their favourite |
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| We are all tired after a long day of travel and seeing friends. |
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| You need to make a selfie when you got a much needed hair cut, right? |
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| Sophie and Doris had a fake birthday for the grandparents. |
1. Hello from 10.000 feet (or maybe more, I have no idea how high this plane flies). We are somewhere mid air between Windhoek and Cape Town. Breakfast has been served and eaten; by me, not by Sophie. She is still savouring every bite of a meal that she has been looking forward to for months. When she heard that our big trip would include some flights as well she jumped up and down with excitement. "I'll get my own tray with my own delicious food, and even my own butter!' Said butter has been eaten with a spoon; the rest of the meal did not dissapoint either. I mean, does life get any better than when you get your own yoghurt, your own reheated chips and egg and your own stale bun? Sophie was in particular very pleased to notice that her child meal included a kitkat which my meal did not. I think that's unfair too and I have been eying that kitkat but don't think that there is even the slightest chance that it will end up in my stomach.
2. This night I was tossing and turning before I dozed of. Part of why I could not sleep was because I can never sleep well when I need to catch an early flight or bus. I'm too scared that I will oversleep and miss it. But this time it wasn't only that. My head was spinning because I was trying to grapple with where I was, where we were going and what 'home' means. It's been almost four weeks since we left Zulunkhuni and at times, thinking about our life there almost feels like I am remembering a beautiful dream but not something that was real. Now we're going to Cape Town, the place that shaped us most, where we became a family and where we have so many friends. I wonder if it feels like 'coming home' when we land there. And then we spent the past few weeks in Namibia, the country where Hartmut grew up, where most of our stuff is and the place we hope to call home in a few years. What made my heart even heavier was that erlier yesterday we had to say good bye to my parents and I have no idea when and where I will see them again. Probably in The Netherlands, but when will we go again? The longer I have been away, the less I think about my home country as 'home'. Maybe Malawi is home, eventhough it feels like a dream from another universe now that we are here, it's where we are going back to. Maybe I must not overthink it. In decor shops you can buy cheesy signs that say 'home is where the heart is'. I would never hang that in my house but it helps me to not feel too unrooted. I have left pieces of my heart in many places, with many amazing people I have met along the way. I have many homes.
3. Long corridors, countless classrooms and hundreds of children in neat school uniforms. A teacher who meets us with a friendly smile, ready to show us around and answer all our questions. Suddenly I suffer from a heavy attack of imposter syndrome. When is this teacher going to tell us that we are wasting her time and walk away? How can we possibly be old enough to be seriously interested in a school for our children? How can it be that our children are old enough to warrant us a way into a school for a tour? As said earlier, we hope to move to Namibia in the future and although we are not yet sure how close that future is, we need to start thinking about what that future might look like and the education of our girls is a big part of that. Schooling in Namibia is complex, you have the choice between government schools with a quickly declining quality or very expensive private schools. Some of them have waiting lists and you need to commit way before the child acyually enrolls. We are really not sure yet but I liked what I saw. That said; I am also very happy that I still get to do school with them for the foreseeable future.
4. Most young girls are smitten with babies, especially if those babies are family. Sophie and Doris have gotten two cousins in the past year and they have a problem with that because they are boys and boys are stupid. When we show them pictures they don't want to look and they say that they'll ever ever play with them. Last week we finally got to meet our nephew who is already 8 months and he is the cutest and smiliest little boy. Hartmut and I are smitten. I thought the girls would warm up to so much cuteness too but they did not. When we wanted to take a picture with all the Jagau grandchildren Sophie even made very sure that no part of her touched the boy and she looked suspicious at him every time he moved. The only time she came close to him was when she got to proof that she was much taller and bigger than him. I am ok with the fact that they don't like boys, they can keep that disposition until they are 21 but it would be nice if they learn to like some boys.
5. We have landed in the Mother City and I did not need to worry about how I would feel because this place feels like home. The view of the mountain feels comforting, driving the roads familiar and meeting all the friendly faces that we missed so much is heartwarming. After a smooth landing we were awaited with a hand painted sign and chocolate croissants (because we missed those) at the airport by our friends Matt and Sharday and their kids. We organised a big picnic where many of our friends came and it was amazing to catch up and feel so welcome and loved. Many people asked what I missed most and as I sat there, surrounded by my friends and their children, I realised it was exactly that. Not food, not comfort but sitting with other moms, friends, watching our kids play and talking at ease because our lives have similarities and it's easy to belong.
6. We got up at the crack of dawn and loaded the girls into the car to drive to town. We're not the only ones who are driving early and now we are experiencing something we did not miss.... Traffic! But it's important to be in town early as we are on our way to Home Affairs to apply for a new passport for Sophie. Wish us luck because in South Africa home affairs is known for long queues, ineffectiveness and lots of frustration. In the best case we'll have a new passport in our hands by the end of the week. In the worst case.... Well, let's not think about that. (Update.. It's already less than ideal. Upon arrival at home affairs there was already a 100 meter long queue outside the building. After waiting there for half an hour the officials came to tell that the systems are down and nobody can apply for anything. What a waste of time. We quickly got back in the car to drive to another branch of home affairs where we are now waiting. I just got a number and we and we are the 133th people in this queue... Today is going to be fun..) (Update 2: We gave up altogether, the system is down nationwide. Nobody can apply for passports and nobody can tell how long it might take. Maybe a day, maybe a week, maybe longer... One of the reasons to go to Cape Town was to apply for a new passort as we cannot do that at the embassy in Malawi but I'm afraid that we'll have to come uo with a creative plan B. )
7. Besides the passport we have one more official admin obligation at the traffic department this week but all the other plans are fun. Meeting up with friends, visiting the museum, ice cream, sushi, dumplings and a wedding.. It's going to be fun and intense and it's good that we are going on a real holiday when we are back in Malawi 😉. Enjoy your week!
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| Supporting oma Jagau during a mountainbike race. |
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| Baking cookies in a real kitchen with real butter brings real joy. |
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| Introducing the Dutch grandparents to German party games... |
