Passports

While we were brainstorming things we would like to do, we decided to add rafting the biggest river in our country, the Orange River, to our wish list. It requires valid passports for the brief time you are on the other side of the river, in Namibia, and so we launched ourselves into the task of renewing our passports, aka testing our patience....of bureacracy!

After four visits to the department of Home Affairs, broken systems, long queues, filling in forms, and trying to smile for that feared passport photo (without teeth showing), we are finally done! Now, we just hope we get the new passports before we leave...

Sorting Stuff; Sentiment and Sadness

With the countdown of 10 weeks until our departure, we are beginning to sort out all our stuff: big and small, used and unused, sentimental and not so - all the 'things', one thing at a time, one or two things per day.  Recently, I took out my beloved (but not played with in a long time) dolls and Barbies, and sorted it into what I will keep (and store) and what will have to go.  It is good thing we have two little nieces who we could give it to. Mom also had to work through stuff, and realized things remind us somehow of occurrences in our lives - maybe that is why letting go is not so easy.

It's sad saying goodbye to stuff with memories attached to it, but it has to be done. After all, stuff is just stuff.

http://identitygirlsonline.com/2014/07/24/stuff-is-just-stuff/

Volunteering

As we began our research in preparation for our year of travelling SA, my mom stumbled on something called "volunteering" or "Workaway".  All around the world there are hosts of places willing to accomodate volunteer workers in exchange for accommodation and food. We decided to create a profile on a specific site we found: http://www.workaway.info/

My mom sent out messages to a list of hosts we were interested in, and very soon we got replies!
There are a few opportunities available; we hope something works out!!

An old, beautiful house....

This is our beautiful, nearly 100 year old house. It has its own personality; it talks and it moves with the seasons. Huge rooms with patterned ceilings, creaky wooden floors, and indoor pillars which creates a special atmosphere. We love our house. We were born here and grew up here; good childhood memories will always stay with us. We will miss you old house - thank you for the special times!