Aug
16
The days became weeks and the weeks are quickly becoming months. Life is settling into a lovely comfortable pattern over here, something like the harvested fields, I guess. We are all still wondering what happened to the homesick feeling. Did it pass by when we were sleeping one night, or is it still coming? Are we going to experience it at all, or are we blissfully just living through it unaware? I am happy that we haven’t felt homesick yet because it probably means that we made this move for the right reasons, we did it only once we had prepared enough, and that our family is a strong enough team to hold each other together.
This week started with a downer but ended on a multi-level high. I suppose that’s what most people would wish for in any given week. At the beginning of the week we got a letter from our potential broadband internet providers to say that we would no longer be going live on the 4th of August like they had promised (by the way, we got the letter after the 9th) and that we will now only go live on the 29th of August. That will be about 8 weeks after we ordered it. So, to all of you that are asking when we will be live on Skype… just hang in there, we are wondering too.
On Tuesday Mike and I travelled through to Maidstone for the final appeal to get Mitchell into a Kent Grammar school. An independent panel weighs up the submissions of the school, which in this case was based on the fact that they were full, with the need for Mitchell to be allowed to attend the grammar school. We put our best case forward, but at the end of the day it wasn’t emotion that mattered, but rather the facts of the case. The school technically had 2 positions vacant in the Year 7 class and although the school would have preferred to keep those 2 spaces open, the panel decided that Mitchell should be admitted to the school. So, one of the highlights to end our week on was when we received a letter on Saturday to say that when the new school year starts in September, Mitchell will be attending Tunbridge Wells Grammar School for Boys. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tunbridge_Wells_Grammar_School_for_Boys). This is something we have worked hard to achieve in this move and it is indeed one of our sweetest victories. We took a drive to the school this afternoon as the sun was setting over the sports fields. The gates were open so we were able to drive in and see a lot of the fields and facilities that the school has to offer.
On Wednesday Mike wrote another exam in Brighton. He has a number of them to write. Some are for the company itself and some of them are for him to get his UK licence, to be able to give investment advice over here. We all drove down to Brighton to spend the day at the beach. It was a beautiful early morning drive through the countryside, down narrow roads where the trees form tunnels over the roads and the early morning sunlight shone through the leaves. It was one of those picture-postcard moments, but on those narrow country roads you cannot stop to take photos. We passed through a tunnel along the way and when we exited on the other side there stood one of those large metal masts that hold up the electrical wires, and Jenna commented from the back of the car that we could have just passed through the Channel Tunnel and that electrical mast could indeed be the Eiffel Tower. Parts of Brighton reminded us of Port Elizabeth and the beach-front reminded us a lot of Durban. Slap-bang in the middle of the world famous Brighton pier we found none-other than a South African shop, complete with droë wors and koeksisters. 
Brighton was a fun, crazy mixed-up day where we rode roller-coasters, went bowling, watched wing-walkers on aeroplanes, I had a seagull sit on my head and we got our first UK parking fine (£50). It was also a day where I started to question this whole pebble beach concept. We found an area where the pebbles were a bit thin, and with just a little bit of digging, guess what you find? Sea sand! Also, that whole coastline is made of chalk, so the mysterious question remains… Where did those pebbles come from? I have my theory that they were put there to stop the wind from blowing the sea sand into people’s faces, and a very factually-correct friend of mine added a theory to the mix, about the French skimming stones across the English Channel, but for now, YOU DECIDE…!
A lot of thought and dinner-time discussion this week, has gone into whether or not I would be going back to South Africa for my high schools 20 year reunion. By the time I leave, I would only have been here about 11 weeks and with the money that one ticket to SA costs, the whole family could go on holiday somewhere over here. But in the end, rightly or wrongly, I have decided to go. Linda (my longest standing friend, my bridesmaid, my “sister from other parents”) will be flying back from the USA on the same day. In a mail to the reunion organising team she wrote: “Keep a seat for Kerry and I, we are coming home.” So, for the first time in many years it is going to be: “The girls are back in town” and we are SO looking forward to it.
The other highlight for the end of our week was a visit from Steven Heggie and his family. Duncan and Meg stayed over with us on Saturday evening. Duncan was a very welcome friend for Mitchell and Jenna and a good time for them to learn about England from one of their own. It also gave them a chance to tell Duncan stories from their school back home and to compare notes. It was interesting to stand back and listen to them chatting about things at the dinner table. 
Jenna has been missing her dogs so much and having Meg around to play with, gave her hope that someday she can get another pet on this side. Today our two families took a walk (in the beautiful sunny Kent weather) to the pub just up the road from us where we sat and had lunch in the garden. Every visit from friends and family over here brings a wealth of much appreciated advice and discussions that help to answer some of our questions and to alleviate some of our fears. This visit was a wonderful end to an exciting week.
So with or without our broadband, with or without our container, we have family and friends over here who are making it a little bit difficult to feel homesick, even if we wanted to.
Mike leaves tomorrow for a week in Newbury, my brother in-law, Peter, and his family from Malawi arrive, and we live in hope that a huge truck will pull up outside our house with a container on the back… but more about those stories in next week’s blog.
For now, this is a smiling, Kerry Wright!
August 17th, 2009 at 1:28 am
So glad to read that you are settling in so well and that you already have a place to call “home” even far away from what you always considered “home” to be. It certainly seems that every day is an adventure…definitely the best kind of way to live life…it is far too short to find yourself entrenched in monotony!! I was amazed to see how seriously you considered the whole 20yr reunion can’t say that I am as enthused. Had to chuckle when I read that you’d discovered dockweed works…I remember my own incredulity!! God bless.
August 17th, 2009 at 2:53 pm
Congratulations Mitchell in getting into an awesome school.
Faber est quisque suæ fortunæ – a good moto for life.