And the big wait continues...

Rein checking in -

"It's now been almost four (!) weeks since we returned from the North and our wilderness adventure in the Kimberley. These past weeks have been a pre-eminent opportunity to practice one of our sabbatical virtues: Patience, with a capital "P". As Simon wrote in the previous post, we've been through a number of scenarios of what could come next, but since about 2 weeks we have had our new adventure on the books: three months of consulting volunteer work in Mozambique!

But, as you can imagine, one does not start a job like this overnight; especially not when you need to communicate across different timezones 12 hours apart. We send a query to HQ in Washington and need to wait for them to come on-line around 9 pm our time; Washington then needs to discuss with Maputo which is 6 hours ahead of them, so by the time they hear back from them and get back to us, two days have passed! So these last two weeks have seen us alternating between franticly going through loads of documents received, formulating e-mail queries and responses, hooking up on skype conference calls and a lot of waiting, and waiting, and waiting in between.

We are just very, very grateful that we can live as if we are at home at m. & d. Andrew's home. They are both treating us as part of the family and continue to make us feel very welcome, even after all this time of encroaching in their own lives.

After living with them for almost four weeks, m. & d. Andrew feel it's time we move out of the main house and build our own little annexe...

We have managed to use our time well though. We've been helping out with m. & d. Andrew in and around the house; bonding with Simon's nephew of 8, who up to now only knew us as his two strange uncles who live in a far-away country and who bring him a present once a year.

We have also been able to catch up with family and good friends, that we haven't seen much of in the past 6 or 7 years. And we even connected with my very own Australian family, here in Perth. Simon and I met up with Wendy and Peggy who were both born here in Australia and are direct cousins of my mother! We've been catching up on several occasions since we first met and it is amazing who much like family we really feel! I must admit that blood relation can create quite a strong connection even if you have never met before.

And then of course there are our long walks along Rockingham's beautiful beaches and coast line which are just as enjoyable in winter as they are in summer.

Here are some pictures reflecting our activities these days.

Dinner with my Australian family: f.r.l.t.r. Stefan (Peggy's husband), S., Wendy (my mother's cousin), Heidi (Wendy's daughter and my second cousin), me, Grant (Wendy's husband), Peggy (my mother's cousin)

With my gorgeous Australian cousin!

With Wendy & Peggy

We even managed to witness an authentic Greek dance party (courtesy of James & Ashley, Simon's cousins - Thank you guys!)

Preparing a pick-nick in Perth's Hyde Park

Our pick-nick guests arrive

Local wildlife - the Kookaburra

Lots of time for reflection

and more reflection

and more reflection...

And here is hoping for a speedy wrap up of all formalities with TechnoServe prior to departure, so that we can be on our way (and out of m. & d. Andrew's hair) before too long!"

- Rein checking out