We are back!

Three weeks ago we arrived back in the Netherlands, my boys and I. It wasn't easy to leave India, we had a hard time saying goodbye (to be honest, I tried to avoid goodbyes as much as possible and we didn't have a huge farewell party).
So we arrived "home" and kept reminding ourselves that we are here to stay. Little did we know that a welcome committee was waiting for us in the form of a nasty virus, and a warm welcome it gave us...we all started with the sniffles and some coughs and quickly progressed to full blown colds and fever. Ruben even got upgraded to pneumonia and got really, really ill.

Three weeks and a large dose of antibiotics later we are all feeling a lot better and Adriaan has arrived home just in time for father's day.

It feels like we are only really starting now after hibernating for 3 weeks. We will make plans again and are looking forward to Adriaan's holiday (whole month of July if things go as planned).

Now I'll have to think of what to write about on this blog, somehow life here doesn't feel as much like an adventure as it does when living abroad.

Mixed feelings

Three week to go...I am still sad and happy at the same time. I have been taking photos at the summer school in the Janakiram Layout this week and these two pics sort of sum up my feelings at the moment:

Trying to see over the wall

There is so much to do to get ready for our move. I feel like this boy, trying to see over the wall to find out what is happening on the other side. Wishing I was there already. Wishing the paperwork, the sorting and the packing was done. Wishing the farewells were over and the "welcome back home" will sound.  At the same time I would love to stay a bit longer, to have more time with my friends and with 'my girls' in the slum.

In the middle of all the stress and chaos there is always faith. Faith that we made the right decision and things will work out fine. Faith that things happen for a reason.

I had just posted the link to this blog on my Facebook page, when I saw this. It sums up my feelings quite nicely:

Along the road today

I always carry my camera with me and snap quite some photos while I am driving around Bangalore (in the back seat, with my driver at the wheel, just in case you were wondering). Most of the photos I take from the car get deleted, because they didn't work out. It is not easy to take a good photo from a moving car, getting the window down in time and everything in focus. It happens many times that I see a perfect photo opportunity, when right at that moment there's a pot hole/speed bump in the road, a bus gets in the way of a good shot or something else happens to completely ruin the pretty picture I had in mind.

Today a friend and I drove through an area where they had celebrated a festival last night and the floats were still standing in the street. We go out and took some nice photos.

Decorated tractor

A huge structure completely decorated with flowers

All those little flowers were tied to small strips of wood

Remnants of the party

Colours

Another master piece

Cleaning the pots and pans at the temple 

Garlands 

Colourful roses

Scary dolls

Merry go round, not so merry

Food and friends, what else do you need?

Fun with friends

Share!

Going Home

Adriaan found a new job and with it comes a new posting. This one might be one of the hardest we have done so far: we are moving to The Netherlands. We are going home, back to our base country, but it doesn't feel that way.
We have lived abroad for 16 years and have loved (most of) it. Moving back to a 'normal' life will take some adjusting.

I will miss the sense of adventure that comes with being an expat. Getting to know new countries and cultures, making friends from all over the world. The sense of achievement that comes with being able to find your way around a new city, to fit in as best you can and to participate in local festivals.
I will miss so many things, but I have also missed a lot of things from home in those 16 years.

We left in 1996, the two of us, on an adventure. Little did we know what was in store for us. We have had high highs and rock bottom lows, we have made friends for life and met people we hope we'll never set eyes on again.
We had 3 beautiful boys that are growing into wonderful young men (if you don't believe me, ask their grandparents!). Those boys have Dutch passports, but they are not Dutch, not really. They have grown up in 5 different countries and went to 6 different schools. English is their first language, even though we speak Dutch at home.
I have boys that know the ins and outs of air travel, but have no clue about public transport. They have a lot to learn.

Sometimes it makes me wonder if we did the right thing by dragging them along on this adventure, that they never chose, not giving them a sense of belonging by uprooting them every few years. But it did make us very close as a family. We are the only ones that have gone through it all, us 5, we did it together! They have become true world citizens with respect and understanding of other cultures and religions. They know full well what it is like to be the odd one out, to be the foreigner, however hard you try to blend in.

It will be great to live in a country where I can speak my mother tongue, a country where I know the culture and will automatically fit in. We will be able to spend more time with grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins and with many friends that we neglected a bit over the years.

The biggest bonus for Adriaan and me is that we will be together as a family. Joshua will go to university and he will move out, but he won't be far away.

I am sure I will shed some tears in the weeks to come, but I am also looking forward to move back home. I am happy and sad at the same time.

Hard work

All set for hard labour

Today is day 6 of the Mock exams. Two of my boys have been studying hard on their IGCSE and IB subjects. Child number 3 is not stressing at all about his exams, he claims he knows it all, so we are expecting straight A's from him...

Three more months and this school year is done for my boys. Big changes are ahead with our eldest moving back to the Netherlands to go to university and we might be moving too. Our 4 years here are almost done so we are looking at possible new postings. Exciting times, stressful too.

Watermelons

It is watermelon season and we have had 'Mango rains' (rain that should help the mango trees to get lots of blossoms to grow a lot of fruit).

I saw these two signs along the road:

Indeed!

'she for strength'

With all the stress around here, I think I need to get this flag: Om!

Sunday afternoon

We really like the walk around the lake. Yesterday our friend Inge came along and we took some pictures along the way.

Catch of the day

Termite hill next to a temple

Eating

On their way home

Cute kitten at the 'go down'

Look there (photo by Inge)

photo by Inge