life lessons of love and patience...

.. as taught by the nieces. i am happy to be taught by experts in how to love freely with abandon and how to live with patience. seems to me if i can learn in this easy context of being an auntie maybe i can then try transferring my new skills into the more difficult wider world. lets face it, its pretty easy to love such adorable girls, especially when they offer a hand for you to take or walk towards you and give you a cuddle, or even when abigail wakes me up so well in the mornings by pulling the duvet off. even then you can't help but love the cheeky smile and excited voice. and as for patience, well time has little meaning for these girls, its a case of getting on with whatever you fancy for however long you fancy. so that may mean pushing a swing for an hour (bit worried i'll develop repetitive strain injury soon, but hey) or helping with the same puzzle 3 times in a row. but if you allow yourself the luxury of not worrying about time either, its surprisingly easy. bit tricky when there are things to be done, but what could be more important than journeying through life with such special people? so i am hoping a new freedom in loving others and an as-before-unheard-of patience may grow in my life.
other news is i have a room i can move into as soon as i have a job to pay for it. cath is the owner of a place matt + fi used to rent while she was away travelling the world, and is happy to take me on as a lodger for a bit. perfect as its only a 5 min walk away from where the family are now.
also had a lush weekend at the beach with the family. sat was accompanying matt on his sat morning surf trip. i declined the option of surfing (sorry bex and viv but i still see it is a waste of time waiting for waves you never catch) and went for a run instead, then had a fantastic cafe breakfast and some play in the park. major cultural shock followed as we went to a property viewing (matt + fi have been looking to buy for ages) which seemed like a perfect luxury mansion to me but apparently was no good at all. standards are pretty high around here! sun was church near a beach (lots of old ladies there so i was happy) and then lunch in an amazing restaurant at palm beach with live jazz playing and gorgeous food, followed by walking and playing along the sand. can't see my weekends getting much better but we'll see.

auntie hannah at last

well thought i better at least let you all know i have arrived in oz! am very happily installed at matt & fi's, already loving the life of being auntie hannah. i was fortunate enough to join in with abigail's 3rd birthday party on day 2 here. its amazing how much joy can be found in a day full of nothing but accompanying a beautiful little girl through her day. isabella is clearly amazing - very beautiful and with an excellent cheeky laugh, but she has been ill all the time so far and we haven't really made friends yet. so its been down to abigail to welcome me into sydney life which she has done brilliantly. i've been to playgroup with her where i did a bad job of helping her make a butterfly out of handprints, i've been to library story and craft time with her where i did a bad job of making a paper-plate owl with her and we've spent a very long time on the swings at the park... just simple pleasures, but i am loving it. i feel i have missed out on the mum's craft lessons to be able to fulfil my new role properly but i'm hoping i can catch up quickly. it is all a completely new world for me. abigail and forrest were my first introduction into the world of babies which i now feel pretty familiar with, but the world of very chatty, very pretty, very clever 3 year old girls is definitely a new one. i just can't stop smiling at her and all she is and does.
i have nothing to say about sydney or this new continent i find myself in as my world is abigail's world at the moment.. but soon enough this joy must end as i need to find a job which will sadly take me away from playgroup and parks.
i've had no jetlag whatsoever, just a 15 hour sleep the first night and some late mornings since. so things really couldn't be much better at this point. i'll post my new mobile no here very soon, but in the meantime my postal address for the next few months in case anyone fancies returning to traditional forms of communication (especially, dare i be so cheeky, maybe for my birthday coming up in june?!) is:
Unit 6/19 Fontenoy Road
North Ryde
NSW 2113
cheers!

new friends

ok i couldn't resist one more entry in the amazing land of the Namib desert.. i just had to mention my new friend Stephanie. We have been staying at Dunes backpackers in Swakopmund for two weeks now (minus my weekend in the desert), Stephanie arrived the day after me, and we have been getting on so well. its unusual for someone to stick around as long as this, so i'm feeling very lucky to have met her. she is a very wonderful and unique woman, just spent three months working on a camel farm in the desert (got to be a good sign i figure) and is flying back to germany on friday an hour after i set off for oz. so we have been keeping each other company at the backpackers, at cafes, on walks in town etc. Stephanie is only 25 and has already packed in a huge amount to her life, she is an inspiration. even better she is excellent at making friends, just a really open, warm woman, and has made a few friends here in Namibia over the past few months. well one of her new friends saw us sitting in a cafe this morning and stopped to chat, found out we are heading back to Windhoek tomorrow and very kindly offered us a lift. they were chatting about all this in german, so Stephanie turned to check if thats ok with me, and i'm like of course it would be lovely, and then she explains that the lift is in an aeroplane!!! so of all crazy endings, it looks like we are getting a flight instead of the 4 hour minibus journey tomorrow morning. result! i cannot believe how kind, generous and friendly the people are here. its not everyday you get offered a free flight by a complete stranger. so a luxury end to a fantastically relaxing stay in the lovely town of swakopmund. i would recommend this place to anyone.

desert life

well thats me sandboarding! i went twice here as i loved it so much. they have a speedgun to record your speed and i got up to 75km/hour on one run.. how cool is that?! its great fun, just completely knackering walking back up the dune each time. so thats the desert just here on the coast (i'm still staying in swakopmund), a lot lighter colour sand but still beautiful. kayaking a week or so ago was also amazing, past a few seal colonies who come so close and try and play with you as you kayak past. amazing - hopefully pictures to follow.
the good news is that i've also popped back inland to the orange dunes again. it was a bit of a risk as i hired a car to drive 1500km altogether, 1250 of which was on gravel road, about 600km of that pretty bad gravel road... but i got back with the car intact and no damage to pay so i am so glad i took the risk. it meant i got to spend three nights 120km from the dunes and drove in two days running to wander by myself in such beauty again.
the bad news is that my camera broke from sand in it before i got a chance to take any more photos. so i was more than a little frustrated to be back in the most beautiful place i have ever seen but unable to record it anywhere other than in my memory (which is bad at the best of times!). on day two my common sense deserted me somewhat and i went off walking for the day in flipflops (to be fair i have worn them everywhere and the day before) but this time my feet were getting slightly burnt from the hot sand so i tried to keep my flipflops on whilst climbing dunes and next thing you know they broke from the weight of the sand.. so i had to spend the day barefoot trying to avoid getting more burnt, or pricked by thorny grass. that should have been ok as i planned to catch a 4wd shuttle back the 5km to the car park... but i had failed to bring anything with me that told me the time so i was estimating by the sun and guessed wrong, getting down from the dunes too late to catch the last shuttle that leaves at 4pm. so it was a fast walk/jog back to my car to try my best to drive like a maniac the 60km to the gate which shuts at 5.30pm. to be honest it was a nightmare and i got in a bit of a state as i started the walk to the car realising i had been stupid enough to end up on my own in the middle of an unforgiving place.
the desert brings out strange reactions in me. as i set off walking in the morning i could not have been happier to be alone, it was the perfect place to enjoy my solitude. as i walked/ran back in the evening i could not have hated being on my own more. but all is well and i pulled myself together driving too fast but making it to the gate only 5 minutes late and getting through fine.

without more pictures it is difficult to express how amazing this place is. but i wrote some thoughts whilst sitting on a dune under the shade of a tree:
walking on a layer of clay that crunches underfoot and cracks to reveal deep orange sand below
hot sand that burns on one side and then once you cross the dune ridge to the shady side the sand cools and relieves
peaceful silence interrupted only by occasional birds, flies and sight-seeing aeroplanes
signs of life abounding with animal tracks everywhere
undulating dunes that curve and slope and smoothly turn
the loud fast beat of my heart when i pause halfway climbing a dune without anyone else's footprints to help me
walking on a sand mountain range that slides beneath you
the bright blue/lush green/rich orange colour combination that seems so perfect to me
literally gasping as i stop mid-climb to take in the view
disbelieving that it is possible to be wandering amongst such awe-inspiring beauty

i have to return here one day. although if i keep saying that everywhere i go, i'll be in trouble! its just two more nights at the coast, one more night back in the capital and then a flight to sydney on friday!! i will be so sorry to leave this amazing country but the excitement of meeting isabella and seeing abigail, matt and fi again is building up and up, i am SO looking forward to saturday. so this is probably it from me until oz...

hostel life

well i'm sure loads of you reading this have done the whole hostelling thing a million times but for me it is still an eye-opener. i cannot believe the variety of people i meet and the variety of adventures they are having. top marks go to an israeli guy called tom (means innocence in hebrew, how cool is that?) who had left compulsory service in the army 17 days earlier and was travelling back to israel overland up east coast of africa; an old hungarian guy waiting for his wife to recover in hospital from a road accident, he also had injured his ribs and had been in the hostel 2 weeks already, was expecting to be there at least another week, i felt so sorry for him; a 75 year old austrian-australian who sounded german to me but in fact had lived in melbourne for 50 years, he had been everywhere and i met him on his last trip before he was planning to settle for a life in his backyard as he said he was getting too old, very sad; a 17 year old guy from the shetland isles (population 600 he said) who is studying equivalent of a levels for 2 years in a private college in swaziland which he got a full scholarship too, at 16 he had spent his summer working as a waiter in a cocktail bar in cape town... i don't know just a mad collection of people.
i think i'm pretty boring in comparison, beginning to think my plans are not nearly exciting enough! i am not settled in a lovely new hostel in swakopmund which is a german coastal resort where i am enjoying a lovely restful holiday. i mean i know i am on holiday all the time lately but this is more of a 'proper' holiday where i get to read books, walk along the coast, have nice cake in cafes and generally spoil myself a bit! i went sandboarding this morning which was amazing, knackering from constantly walking back up the dunes but hey, definitely worth it. tomorrow is 5 hours of sea-kayaking to get a view of some dolphins and seals hopefully, but clearly i will also be knackered after that. so after a day of rest on sunday i'm treating myself to a massage on monday - its a hard life! after that who knows i am constantly scheming to find more ways of getting time in the desert but its not as easy as you would think..
i am meeting lots of lovely people, a guy from Hove was sandboarding this morning which was bizarre, and there are always people around to chat to in hostels but they are normally only around for a day or two so they are always short friendships. most people seem to be in for a lot more drinking than me, a glass of wine is only 80p here but i just don't fancy it most of the time. and i wonder if most people are in for a lot more casual sex than i am as the reception area has a basket full of free condoms.. i do wonder how long i could live like this, always moving on, always interacting with people on a surface-level and never having people around who really know you. i think it can leave you a bit vulnerable. but i am loving it so far and feel very well rooted in with people who know me so well even though its from a distance with e-mail and letters. i only have 2 more weeks to go aswell, so i intend to make the most of it!
sorry if i worried a few of you there with stories of my throat. it is back to being perfect now and i can stop taking malaria drugs in a week so all is good. haven't taken any more pics yet, but will get back to that desert soon! thanks for reading