Perth; A home stop

Simon signing in;

Well, it has been one week since we arrived in to Australia and it has been very productive.

Since our arrival, Rein and I have managed to restart our lives here with our new bank accounts, tax file numbers and new local telephone numbers. The tax file numbers will be needed if Rein and I suddenly find some paid work whilst we are here. We both feel it would be good if we get a job to earn a little cash to help pump into our funds along the way.

Also within the past week, Rein and I have purchased a HUGE truck of a 4-wheel drive. Well, it is not the biggest you can buy, but compared to what we have had before, it is huge. We managed to buy the truck from a dear New Zealand woman for a great price (we hope; I have nightmares imagining she is the world's greatest con artist and she sold the world's most abused car to a couple of European suckers) and it is in great condition and we intend on keeping it in good condition and selling it for the same (if not more) up north after we're done with it. This has always been the plan but you never know your luck.



The new truck

This week also has been a scary realisation for me. Perth, or (I think) more so Rockingham, where my parents live, brings back scary recollections of my childhood and life when I was living here and it shows me why I left. When I'm back here I inadvertently switch back to a conformist, concerned with what everyone thinks, doing as everyone else does. This could be seen as just reconnecting to who I was, but I feel it is more a case of regressing back to my old personality before I discovered 'who I am' and why I had to leave. I knew then that I had to live in a more liberal place where bogans and surfer 'dudes' do not rule the roads in their ridiculous V8 cars and scruffy appearances, where life does not revolve around football, shopping malls and fast food take away. I know that I feel like this every time I visit my family here and I respect my family for living here but I know that I am not yet ready to live here, back in the state I came from. I am also aware that I cannot keep running from it, that there is something I need to face in order to see all this fear as something else, but at this moment, I just cannot. But is this fear just Perth?

As you all may or may not be aware, Rein and I are about to depart on one of the great drives of the world (well, I believe it is, and many Aussie would agree), hence the truck. The plan is to leave next week for our next volunteering role in the Kimberley region of Western Australia. For anyone not aware, this is a four straight day drive taking in well over 3,300 kms. We of course will not do it all in this time, but will take our time and take in the sights on the way. On this journey we plan to camp in tents (yes, tents) and live simply for a while. We have been accumulating a pile of stuff for our journey as well as my parents have been incredible in helping us out. We have it all, I believe, and will be ready as much as humanly possible.


We will be traveling from Perth in the SW corner of the state,
all along the coast towards Kununurra in the far NE corner.



Our intended itinerary
















The drive should be amazing and the landscape inspiring. We have heard that because it is winter here in Australia, that many a grey haired 'nomad' will by now be living in and around the north area of the state so we will perhaps struggle to find places to camp for the night, but I hope this will be the least of our problems.

A comparison in size: Western Australia versus Western Europe (for the men in us all)

Before we leave on this epic journey, we will be travelling to Melbourne for a lightening visit. It was not scheduled but we suddenly were asked to join our friends and their families for their marriage, and we could not of course escape the fact we are only a few hours away, to fly and join them. It will be great to be back in Melbourne after two years since our last visit. It will also be fantastic to catch up with so many people we have not seen since the same time.

Last night in India - for now...

Rein checking in -

"It seems to have come so fast all of a sudden; our last night in Bangalore. While Simon is busy starting to pack our stuff, I feel a need to reflect on the last three months.

On February 7th we arrived in India, pretty green behind the ears regarding what this amazing subcontinent has in store for us. We are instantly drawn in by the sounds, colours and smells and spend a good week seeing all the important sights of Delhi. We're exploring our first bazaars, temples and palaces, with fresh eyes not yet realising that these magnificent monuments are the first of dozens to follow over the following months.

It is a great luxury that we can ease into Indian live from the comfort of our good friends, Gaurav and Snigdha's home in South Delhi, where we get acquainted with authentic Indian hospitality which means we instantly gain a few kilo's in body weight during that first week. But hey, we are not complaining! We are feasting to our heart's (and stomach's) delight on all the North Indian delicacies that are presented to us, almost constantly day and night.

Then comes the day that we leave the relaxed comfort of their home and our real adventure starts, with a 36 hour train ride into the big unknown. During the journey we watch the landscape and climate change slowly into a more (sub)tropical environment. Upon arrival in Bangalore we were warmly welcomed by Jai of Better Future, who, together with his colleague, Cheryl, has been instrumental in getting us settled into our new home for the past three months, as well as hooking us up with the NGO's for our respective volunteer assignments.

Our time in Bangalore is one of being out of our comfort zone in a lot of ways and being exposed to new  and impressive experiences. First of all with our volunteer work that saw both of us performing tasks and handling situations which were completely foreign to us, such as children's education and women self-help-groups. But also where our living arrangements are concerned; after 25 years of independent living, I find myself sharing a house again, with youngsters half my age! But all these experience turn out really well and allow us to learn and grow.

We travel to exotic places, ranging from ancient Hindu capitals, elephant inhabited rain forests and deserted, palm fringed beaches. We make new dear friends and rediscover our sense of adventure. We even start feeling at home in this big, noisy and polluted city!

And then of course there is our first step on the road to enlightenment: our ten-day Vipasana course. This turns out to be the hardest thing I have ever undertaken in my life. I practice my determination and persistence as I sit through 100 hours of silent mediation. I learn how to transcend my bodily pains, as I sit through 3 hours of stillness each day, meditating without moving my body, not even raising an eyelid! I am exposed to the teachings of Dhamma, which talk about the impermanence of everything and the futility of forming attachments to anything. I am frustrated and full of resentment as the course progresses, but I stick it out. Now that I have come out on the other end of it, I find myself reflecting regularly on the wise and powerful messages that were given and see myself practicing the traits of tolerance and compassion, still ever so slightly, but I feel a seed has been planted. While, I don't feel like continuing the required practice of a minimum of two hours of mediation a day, I do feel that Vipasana has left a profound mark and I am convinced it will continue to be part of my life in one way or another, maybe even in the form of a repeat course, when I'm ready for it.

And now, I'm sitting in the transit lounge of Singapore Changi Airport. I started this posting two days ago and am continuing it as I wait to board my fight to Perth. The dawn of a new chapter in our sabbatical adventure! I am curious and excited to see what this stage will bring.

But first we will relax and recharge our batteries at mum & dad Andrew's warm home. Then I will be ready for new, unexpected and exciting adventures... Stay tuned as "A road to Bangalore" continues beyond India!"

- Rein checking out

Vipassana - Simon's Journey

Simon signing in;

Vipassana, an internationally renowned meditation technique with centres all around the world.

I read about it in a couple of books and both seem to praise what it achieved and as we were in India, where else but India to take part in one of its 10 day programs.

Vipassana started 2,500 years ago and it is based on the Dhamma teachings of Buddha, or something along those lines. Its Guruji, Sri Satya Narayan Goenka is the ‘main man’ of Vipassana though each center has its own teachers, both male and female.

Rein and I were a little skeptical about going for a 10 day program but thought, what the hey, it will not kill us. We too knew a couple of people who had done it (two had even done it more than once!) and had said it would be okay and we would appreciate the experience.

Rein and arrived at the campus on Day 0 when we registered ourselves in and handed over our valuables, including mobiles etc. This meant we would definitely be without outside contact for our duration. The registrars there knew we were together and decided to put us in a cell together ‘just in case’ we did communicate, we would do it with least disruption to others.

Slowly during the day, people arrived and the time drew closer that we would have to commence our Noble Silence. We were all sat down and instructed on what was to happen and what to expect. As from 8pm, Noble Silence started. Rein and I broke it after five minutes due to habit and we were soon told to hush up.

We had been installed into male dormitories for the 10 days. Rein and I had our own ‘berth’ (for want of a better word), which had crap curtains to give some privacy. Each dorm had 16 people.

That first night was the first time we were introduced to the bell or ‘gong’. That sound would from now on haunt me to my grave. We all assembled into the Dhamma Hall for our first introduction by the teachers and our Guruji.

Men and women were to be separated throughout the entire 10 days, and in the hall they simply sat on one side, men on the other.

Our teacher started with introductions and then, pushed ‘play’ on his tape recorder. Yes, TAPE RECORDER. This perhaps is the first sign of something not quite right.

From the tape deck came this subtle sound of someone extracting something from his or her throat after having eaten something extremely unhealthy. I listened intently wanting to know what was about to come, then this sound got louder and more pronounced and suddenly a tune (?!) was heard from the sounds. Welcome Guruji and his chanting. To the naked ear, it was the sound of a frog, a dying man, an opera singer clearing his throat, but to someone who has been to Vipassana or who can understand Sanskrit (an ancient Indian language like Latin), it was Guruji chanting his sweet nothings, his words of Buddha.

This strange sound continued for sometime and I just could not work out what we were supposed to be listening to! Who was he, what did he want!? The painful noise ceased and the teacher again welcomed us and bid us a pleasant night sleep. It was 9.30pm.

4am – The gong rings, we get up. We get up relatively easily! I’m impressed, thought it would have been harder. Rein too had risen as had the entire dorm. The first 30 mins was the chance to freshen before heading to the Hall. 4.30am, gong sounds again. Now we must be in the Hall and seated. Hmm I thought, what was next to come. This was the first day and I was excited to start. We sat there, for ONE HOUR, supposedly meditating. No teacher, just students. One hour later, in waltz the teachers and take their positions on their thrones. They too sit there and meditate. This became boring after a while and I wanted to know what was going to happen. I waited patiently when suddenly, the return of the noise, the sound of hell knocking, wanting to gain access. It was Guruji bidding us his good morning. This charade lasted two hours. I was exhausted and slightly skeptical. The gong sounded. Breakfast.

The men all gathered in their food hall to be given a delicious warm breakfast. A new sense of excitement came to me. This is not too bad!

After breakfast we had an hour rest before the gong. Again the gong.

We AGAIN come into the Hall and are seated. The teachers come in. They again take their seats and again, the call for something scary sounded. Following this, the teachers started calling people to join them at the front, to discuss something, or so I could work out.  If your name was not called out, you were just expected to sit there and; meditate? No one had told us!

Gong, gong, gong, gong. Lunch. Yum. I was not disappointed. Lunch turned out to be the biggest meal of the day and we soon learned to eat up big then, as dinner was a little disappointing.

This first day was beginning to get a little boring and wondered when it would start to get at least a little interesting!

By the first evening, after dinner, we again meditated and then out rolled a large ugly 1990’s television. The magic push of the play button finally introduced us to Guruji, our GURU!

My first impressions were pure shock and laughter at the two people sitting there looking back at you. And Indian couple, sitting on cushions surrounded by bad lighting. Guruji started talking. He sounded pleasant. He welcomed us to our first complete day. There was laughter. No one in the room had moved a mouth muscle. Where did this laughter come from? The VIDEO! Who recorded this! They should be ashamed of themselves.  This was the beginning of things to come on.

Guruji talked for over and hour. He was a pleasant man who spoke of what Vipassana was about and his messages were nice to hear and easy to understand. At the end, we got to finally witness where the throat noises came from. Guruji was responsible for this sound.

Everyone slowly retired to his or her room and all was calm within 20 mins. I guess everyone knew what was to come the next day. It all begins!

4AM – Gong, gong, gong, gong. Yes, let us get started.

9.30PM – Strangely, that day seemed to be the same as the last. I would soon gather that this routine, THIS ROUTINE, was to become the norm of our stay here.

As the first days rolled on, I just questioned why, why did I do this?? Why had I registered!? I could not find the answer.  Those first days too, we were introduced to the ‘police’ of Vipassana. The men in charge of ensuring we students stayed in line, did as instructed, did not talk, communicate, sleep when not permitted. These men were everywhere, at all times. There were only two, yet they were there, EVERYWHERE! These two men and the gong I would learn to despise. These two things would be the things, which would always restrict me from doing ‘what I want as in individual’.

The days went on. Every night, Guriji would give his speech and would count down for you the number of days left until this nightmare would end. The days went on and on and on. They dragged like you would never know. We sat in the room to meditate for 10 hour per day. TEN HOURS!

Everyday the Guru and the teacher would introduce a new advanced technique to meditate. I tried. I found it hard to do the instructions. I would get uncomfortable after only 10 minutes and have to move. My mind would wonder after only five minutes. Everyone around me seemed to just sit there like Buddha and meditate!

After a couple of days I got my ‘interview’ with the teacher. He asked how it was going. I explained that there was pain in my legs and a sharp stabbing pain in my back, which was still stopping me from focusing on the technique; therefore I could not close my eyes, etc. He smiled and said something along the lines of my ‘sankaras’ or ‘reactions’ were so many that they were preventing me from meditating and that I would just have to keep working on releasing the sankaras. Hmm, I thought. But the pain, as I had asked, what do I do about that. He smiled, my time had finished.

Throughout the coming days I tried to analyse what he said. The stabbing in my back kept my mind so busy that I could not think clearly. I ended up just sitting there waiting for the next mealtime.

The following day: Why did I do this? I need a warm shower. I want to tell Rein about how unhappy I am.  I want to tell the man next to me his date on his watch is wrong. How long have I been sitting here. I was slowly going mad.

The following day: I had to leave this place. I had not meditated past 8 minutes! Each day had passed and each had been the same. This is stupid. Who are these people, what really is Vipassana. I started to distrust and dislike everyone around me. Day five was now going to be the day I was going to leave. I did not. I stayed. I thought, one more day, perhaps tomorrow, being the half way mark would be different.

The following day: I was too bored to even cry. I still had not meditated successfully. I could not talk, I hated this place. I HAD TO LEAVE! I approached Rein and spoke to him (for the first time) and told him I was leaving. He too was over it but I obviously rocked his boat as he was not going to leave, but after five minutes, he too was happy to leave. I spoke to Guruji. Guruji told me it was normal that I had not meditated and that the ‘true path of enlightenment meant the suffering of pain and yes, a little boredom’. I was staying. I regretted this chance to get out which failed.

The following day: This food sucks big time. I want chocolate.

The following day: The thought of getting out of bed was excruciating. I pretended to not be in bed when the police came around. They inspect and check all have vacated and gone to their 10 hour duty. In my case, misery. This was the last day and it truly was the hardest of them all. Rein and I were both shattered and wanted to be with each other. To talk, to touch to be one. The video on day 9 advised you that the course actually finished on day 11. What the!? Not for us. Rein and again communicated and decided Day 10 was Day 10. We had done our side, we had had enough.

Finally Day Ten arrived. I was so happy. We were released from this place finally. Well, after the approval of the teacher. Surely they cannot keep you prisoner? We talked to ‘teach’ and Rein started by advising the teacher that ‘as of 10.30am (after we got our valuables back) Simon and I would be leaving the course’. I normally would cringe when Rein talks to someone like this, but this time he was my hero. Instead of asking, he told teacher that we had had enough. I kept my mouth shut and let Rein continue. Teacher suggested we at least watch the two last videos before we leave so as to have ourselves registered as having completed the course. We agreed. We were about to be released.

These two last ‘tapes’ we were asked to listen to seemed to last as long as the course itself. Unbelievable. They mainly focused on how best to make use of the Ten days after you leave and how by meditating every day (one hour in the morning, one in the afternoon), that the next time you come (which is highly recommended) it will enable you to get more out of it.  The tape stopped. We were allowed to leave.

Rein and I had our taxi waiting and after our quick pack and last check, we were into that car and saying adios to Vipassana.

Now, this is the time when I should be thinking retrospectively on what an incredible experience it was but this entry will come later as I just cannot see it yet as positive.

Okay, I understand and believe in some of the teachings mentioned, as they are some basic beliefs on compassion for others, not lying, killing, etc etc, but I still cannot budge from thinking the whole Ten days was a waste of my time.

I did learn that I can have patience and that I will probably never complain about the wait for the next tram or bus. I believe I beat my inner issue of starting something and not finishing it (yes, we left 12 hour before the rest, but the teacher has stated that we are old students, we ‘passed’).

It too was a chance for Rein and I to have a break from being with each other 24/7 since the beginning of the year. I hated not being able to talk to him, yet I would love to watch him walk about the grounds doing his stretches, walks through the bush, seeing the Vipassana assistants running after him after he was doing something against the rules. I also used to love watching his feet under the cloth what separated us. Rein has not the most beautiful feet, but I used to love watching them, being close to him. I love those feet. J

I thank any of you who actually make it this far and apologise for the length, but it was Ten straight days, and you heard the experience.

Now, we prepare ourselves for our trip to Australia, where our next adventure begins. 

Our first Indian wedding!

Rein checking in -

"Our last Sunday, before our ten day meditation retreat, we witnessed our first fully fledged Indian wedding. A teacher of one of our housemates, Clo, who studies jewellery design here in India, was getting married in Mysore. The invite was for Clo and friends, so practically the whole house decided to make a day trip out of it.

Mysore is the old capital of the kingdom of the royal Wodiyar Maharaja family and well worth a visit in its own right because of its many historical buildings, most notably the Mysore Palace, which was built by the family as their main residence in the late 19th century. We'd been wanting to visit it so thought this would be good opportunity.

The wedding would start at 10:50 (exactly!) so we decided to play it safe and leave at 7:30 am to allow for sufficient time to bridge the 150 km. The car and driver arrived and we set off in good spirits for a nice day out. Those spirits slowly but steadily dissipated however, when after 90 minutes we still hadn't left the city... Finally we made it to the Mysore highway by 9:30 and still had about 100 k. to go.

The two girls (Clo and Gé) had decided to do the trip by scooter; our scooter which at best could just be trusted to get us from our home to work and back which is no more than 6 k. So we were very concerned if they would make it at all... They had left at dawn and sure enough about halfway between Bangalore and Mysore we passed them on the highway going strong. We decided to stop at a chai stall a few k.'s further to wait for them and check how they were doing. We waited and waited and when they didn't show up we decided to turn around and head back to see what happened to them. And sure enough we found them at a road side mechanic with a broken down scooter. They assured us they would be fine and urged us to keep going and try to make it to the wedding in time.

Finally, after 4 hours, travelling with four tall Europeans and driver in a tiny Tata Indica, we rolled into Mysore just in time to witness the end of the wedding ceremony, but, thankfully, just in time for the lunch.

While Indian weddings may appeal to our imagination of being very festive affairs with song and dance, they are in fact quite boring and formal. The bride and groom sit on a stage for hours at an end, undergoing all kind of formalities, which are witnessed by about a 1,000 guests sitting in row after row in a huge community hall. We went up onto the stage to pay our respects to the couple and then went down into the cellar of the building for a typical Indian lunch, which is served on long, long tables with the guests sitting on one side and servers passing by on the other side with huge containers of delicacies which they stoically heap onto the banana leaves in front of each guest. It's a very functional affair, with people focussing on eating and hardly any talking. When guests have barely finished their last mouthful, they are hastily ushered out of the dining area to make place for the next wave of a few hundred diners.

Waiting in line to pay our respect

Ladies wearing their finest saris

The happy couple undergoing the 216th ritual after sitting on stage for the past 2,5 hours! 

The proud parents of the bride who are paying for the whole thing
(accounting for the joyful expressions on their faces) !

Lunch being served in the underground dining hall!

Mysore Palace

So after having spent four hours on the road, we spent a total of barely an hour at the wedding and decided to head to the Mysore palace for a quick sighting. When we arrived there we found out that roughly half the population of Southern Karnataka had had the same idea, so we dutifully lined up with the thousands of fellow visitors and step-by-step followed the strictly demarcated path through the viewing halls of the otherwise quite impressive edifice.

We hit the road again and finally got back home early evening. A trip that in Europe would take no more than an hour and a half had taken us here over 4 hours at an average speed of 30 k/hr, curled up in the back seat of a car the size of a mini cooper... Exhausted and aching with pains all over our bodies, Simon and I fell flat on our bed and dozed off, vowing that this would be our last Indian road trip"

- Rein checking out

Focus group - Indian style

Rein checking in -

"Today I joined Simon to APSA to help conduct a final fact finding session for his Women Self Help Group Impact Study. It was (supposed to be) a focus group with ten ladies from different SHG's to ask them some open questions about their experience as a SHG member.

We drove off on our scooter to the APSA campus in the morning where we were supposed to be met by a coordinator to take us to the place where the focus group would be held. On our way we were pulled over by the police (ok, we were going down a separated carriage way on the wrong side of the road, but as this appears to be common practice here we assumed this was no big deal).  As I was the driver, Simon jumped off the bike and I quickly handed him my wallet miming at him to empty it of all the money in it. We were warned by friends that it is best to have an empty wallet when dealing with the police in case they want its full contents as bakshis. The police officer turned to me and asked for my Indian driver's license. I stammered that I left it at home and that I thought what I did was OK as I was just following all the other drivers doing the same (in fact there was even a car driving up the wrong side of the ramp, so I wasn't even lying). The officer clearly didn't care much for having to deal with a foreigner so just grunted at me to produce 200 rupees (about € 3.25) and he'd let me off the hook.  For locals that would a big amount, but I gladly took the opt-out and quickly pulled the notes from my pocket. Relieved we got away with it we continued on our way to APSA.

When we arrived we found that nobody was there to take us or even knew about the focus group, so Simon rang around a few of his colleagues and finally got some directions where to go. We set out again and after a bit of searching we finally got to the meeting place, only about an hour or two late. True to Indian hospitality, we were assured that this was no problem at all. Our host insisted on making us chai and letting us relax before we were taken to the ladies. After a refreshing cup of tea and some polite chit chat we were finally taken to the group. As these are all self employed women it was best to go to their huts in the slum to do the focus group.

When we got there they managed to pull out the only two chairs in the whole slum for us and quickly the community gathered around us curious to see what us two gora's where up to... Our host operated as the translator and we quickly started the process.

At first the ladies hesitantly answered our questions but soon the whole community joined in with their opinions about the subject, regardless of their knowledge or experience with the self-help group. I asked the questions, our translator translated (when he wasn't busy recording the whole process on his photo camera) and Simon dutifully tried to write down the answers, while we both knew we weren't getting any real new insights from the responses, but boy did everyone enjoy the process. As did we!

In the end I realised, once again, that the journey was more important than the destination. Clearly the benefit of conducting this focus group wasn't in the information we were gathering. Instead it was in the fact that we were there, showing an interest in these ladies and what they were achieving through the SHG, thus validating their feeling of significance and self-worth. After we thanked them for their contributions we left them feeling energised and happy about the exercise in the thought that we had helped them a small step further in their growing self confidence.

I now also realise how often we forget about the true benefit of the work we do in the Western world, focusing too much on producing a pre-defined result or outcome and thus missing out on a lot of potential value-add.

I hope I will be able to think back of this important lesson when I pick up my career at the other end of this sabbatical."

- Rein checking out

A different season, a different tune...

Rein checking in -

"It's been ages since we last blogged... In the meantime we've had the visit of our dear friend, Françoise, went on a holiday with her to Kerala, "God's own Country" as the Keralites like to call their state and had a really good time.

Now we're back at home in Bangalore, where there's been rain, rain, rain every day for the last week or so. The locals insist, this cannot be the beginning of the monsoon yet, as it is not due to arrive until another month or two, but S. and I cannot be fooled. Climate change appears to be effecting this part of the globe too, and of course it would. Every morning we wake up to a cloudy sky, we get some sun between mid morning to about 3 afternoon and then the rain clouds come drifting in again. This morning we read in the papers there have been 8 rain related deaths in Bangalore over the last five days alone...

Yesterday we came home from a nice day trip in the country side surrounding the city with our friend and housemate, Yann, and got caught in a tropical downpour on the way back into the city. Roads were blocked, spontaneous cascades were forming along alleys in the city and finally our driver managed to navigate us safely through knee-deep water back home. I cannot remember ever seeing so much water on the streets ever...

It appears that the change of seasons here is also effecting our moods. Simon keeps wondering the sense of swapping cloudy Brussels for rainy Bangalore and I too have been questioning our purpose for being here.

We are now considering our next step and are both keen to move on with our sabbatical.

As I have been writing this, on our terrace, I was joined by our new housemate, Floy, from Paris. She's been here several times before, working on a movie project about the local hijra (or transgender) community. We started chatting and she invited me to join her to yoga class tomorrow afternoon. She suggests that tapping into the more spiritual flow which is all around us here in India, will help in living more in the here-and-now and also to redefine the purpose of our sabbatical. I think it is a good idea and that it will help us to decide on our next step. Here's hoping for new energy..."

- Rein checking out

PS here are some pics from the last two weeks, just to keep our loyal followers happy ;-)

Showing Françoise around on our bike!

Having fun on our house boat trip in Kerala

Taking the local bus in Bangalore

On the beach in Varkala, with resident visitor, Maura, from Amsterdam

A reflection on our experience so far

Rein checking in -

This was in fact a draft article I wrote to be included in the Better Future newsletter. As my latest blog post won over this one, it didn't make it to the newsletter. However, I still felt it was worth keeping (even if only for my own memory's sake) so I am adding it to the blog. I can't remember exactly when I wrote it, but I think it fits here nicely, time-wise. Hope you enjoy it...

"It was a hot summer's day on top of a hill in the French Provence in July 2010 that the concept of taking a sabbatical came to us. We were on a holiday, so had had some time to reflect on our professional life and how (un)fulfilling it was or had become. 

For me, after almost 25 years of being what people call a "professional" I felt I was at a dead end and not sure where to find a source of energy to keep me going for the next 25 years. I had recently been looking around for new job opportunities, with mixed success, and started to realise that I needed a step change rather than just another "professional" position in another corporate environment.

It was in fact Simon who planted the seed for our joint sabbatical, casually mentioning during our hike: "what if we just packed everything up and spent some time 'up North' (in Australia)?”. I recall the rush of excitement with the idea that went through my body thinking about spending some time there. Having spent 6 years of my life "Down-Under", and returning to visit friends and family every 2 years, I always feel like I'm coming home when I arrive and I feel most happy when I'm visiting the outback. There is some kind of special energy emanating from the earth there that always fills me with positivity and happiness. To be there for an extended period of time, without the pressure of returning to work after a holiday, would truly be amazing.

So the concept stuck. When we got back home after our vacation that summer I shared my intention with friends and (trusted) colleagues. They universally commented on the excitement and positive energy with which I spoke about this idea, in spite of its potentially far reaching practical implications. Their feedback in turn confirmed my gut feel and so I started exploring the practicalities of actually doing "it": taking some time off from work to explore new horizons, exposing myself to new experiences and to truly be open to unexpected opportunities, without being constrained by obligations and commitments.

This exploration had both an encouraging and sobering effect. Encouragement for example in the discovery that Belgium, where I was employed at the time, offers a social scheme in terms of common employee rights to facilitate taking up to 12 months unpaid leave from work. And a lot of sobering practicalities, such as having to give up our lovely (rented) apartment in Brussels, all the conveniences that come with employment (such as an income!) and visas to be able to enter and be active in the countries which we wish to visit.

Nonetheless, by September I discussed my intentions with my employer and set a date for the sabbatical year to start. The following months saw me go through several ups and downs in working through the preparations of the year ahead. It felt like slowly undoing a life that took 25 years to build and I realised that the mental process that goes with a sabbatical had already begun. Three key lessons presented themselves very clearly for me to learn: 1) learning to let go; to let go of structure and security that provide an (often false) sense of control but also to let go of precise expectations as to be truly open to the new and unexpected; 2) daring to go with the flow; having a sense of trust in the unknown and in your own capability to make the best of what comes your way and finally 3) patience, patience, patience; destiny doesn’t  appear overnight, it takes learning and growth to realise what your destiny is and for this one needs to live the journey as it unfolds instead of being too focused on its destination.

In essence, these three lessons seem simple and in fact quite obvious. But it took me to make a conscious decision to step out of the rat race I was living to become aware of their value for my own growth and development. Now, for over four months, I am living the journey of my sabbatical which, on our way to Australia, has taken me here to Bangalore, where I have been able to gain new experiences and contribute as a volunteer with the Spastics Society of Karnataka as well as Better Future and not a day goes past that I am not reminded of my three lessons to learn."

- Rein checking out