Well, so much has happened in the last week, I am not entirely sure where to start.  The beginning is probably a great place.  We found a lovely house in Midlands and moved in as they finished building it.  We went shopping on grand scale and moved in one day one with brand new appliances, and beds, and basic crockery and cutlery, not much else.   We went shopping every single day thereafter and still the house remains empty.  Well, it started with a car...I finally managed to convince Gerhard that a mini is a very nice car, so nice in fact that he caved massively and ended up buying me a mini cabriolet.  A lovely car, unless it is the only car for a family of four, whilst your husband still looks for the bakkie of his dreams.  We literally peeled out of the car, us and a loaf of bread, because that is all we can fit in the boot of a mini.  Thank goodness the furniture stores deliver, because we would have still been sitting on our camping chairs.  So yes, the first four days in ...

In the last month in Sydney, I managed to learn a number of life lessons, some silly, some really valuable, I will try and share these with you today.  The more things change, the more things stays the same is very true and can be applied to almost any situation, so the traditional gender roles will apply regardless of the continent you find yourself on.  I will still be responsible for laundry, my husband with numerous degrees cannot operate a washing machine, tumble drier or iron.  We live with the creases and kids can wear a pair of pajamas at least three times before it needs a wash.   Anything that involves labour should be appreciated, you can buy a dress on sale in Australia for $5, and a cappuccino will set you back $4,50. Common sense tells you this is not possible, yet it is, you see the minute someone in Australia makes your cuppa, at a minimum wage of something totally ridiculous  like $40 000 per annum you pay, clothes are made in Chinese s...

Liam went to yet another new school yesterday, and he adapted beautifully, he really is such an easy child.  When we first moved to Sydney he kept on asking us where all the Afrikaans people were, and he insisted on speaking Afrikaans only, because we are Afrikaans, so I was a bit terrified of taking Liam to the Gumnut Kindy yesterday.  Well, I was mistaken, he fit right in and was a tad disappointed when I picked him up at the end of the day.  The teacher told me that they sang some songs from the Wiggles, we obviously have no idea, and Liam then proceeded to teach them all songs about South Africa.  He really is such a lovely child, he makes friends easily and just takes life in his stride.  I am so proud of him.  He also sadly invited all twenty five kids in the class to his birthday party in June, so there goes the idea of something small and intimate.  Kid knows how to make friends.   Luka and I had an enjoyable morning too, with Liam occupied and Gerhard still sick in bed, ...

Another year has come and gone, it is my thirty fifth birthday today and I vividly recall my last birthday.  I was pregnant with Luka, heavily so, Gerhard and I went out to diner with my sister and her then fiancee.  I knew in my heart of hearts that it would be my last birthday in South Africa for a bit and somehow was sad already, if that even makes sense.  Today was a sad day, I missed friends, family and all, and then I remembered that this is not my first birthday spent away from home.  After matric I lived in Belgium for a year, that was a sad birthday, and remember, this was before the internet, skype, emails, bbm and texts, yes, I know I am giving my age away, but hey, that also proves that this birthday, even though spent in the outbackis not as bad as that... Move on a couple of years and we relocated to Middelburg, Mpumalanga, even more rural than Sydney, and once again, just me and Gerhard, and worst of all, I wanted a couch as a gift, but sadly, Middelburg did not live...

I am feeling very sorry for myself today, melancholy is not quite the word I had in mind.  This is not a light blue, this is a blue that is almost black.  I am so homesick today that even a Nicholis Louw song will probably send me over the edge bags packed ready to go home.  Gerhard is sick, has been since Saturday, and today marks his third visit to healthcare providers of various shapes and sorts and seemingly only today someone bothered to listen, check him out and refer him to a specialist.  Goodness, yes SA has her problems, but at least we know how to be sick in South Africa.  Here we obviously have no clue.  I am just missing all things about home today, being sick at home is easy, you pop in at Intercare and have a chat to Gerhard, our friendly GP.  You leave with a script and in severe cases injection in bum.  You go to Clicks, you pick up the meds and Bob is your uncle.  Here, no clue.  We have no jobs, no permanent home, no microwave, no gym, one car, no school, no nan...

A very long time ago, I said silly things like 'no daughter of mine will ever wear pink'. I saw other mommies smiling at me and thought that I will show them, well, we all know how that turned out for me.  Luka has only pink things, the only exceptions being purple and a pair of blue jeans... Next crazy statement, 'barbie is such a bad role-model for a girl, I would rather die than have my daughter play with one', Well guess what...Luka is ten months old and she got her first barbie look alike doll today at K-Mart.  She chose it herself and the two of them are inseparable.   How did this happen, how am I managing to raise such a typical girl?  She is supposed to be gender neutral and pro-choice and a hundred other things.  You see, I think despite Freud, Erika Jong and all the rest of it, women are genetically pre-disposed to love pretty things, and barbie and pink just are too pretty to resist.  Luka is a real girl, she loves playing with dolls and I love dressing ...

How to speak like an Australian  So I think I am getting the hang of Australian...it is actually so easy, just never say the R, ever, let me illustrate using some examples.   In South Africa, we have braais, in Australia they have barbies.  It is pronounced baaaaabie.  Never say the R remember.  Doctor, no, docta, almost Jamaican in its pronunciation.  Easy, no, not quite.  You see, there is also that lovely colour called maroon.  Sounds like 'moon', not here it's not, it is pronounced 'marone', as in sounds like 'capone', holy crap, imagine that.  I honestly think we will probably never quite get the accent over here and heaven help us, Liam and Luka will end up sounding like this.  In South Africa we have a special brand of English too, but hey, it still sounds like English and on the odd occasion that I went to the UK or met citizens of the UK in good old South Africa, I could actually understand them, and they me.  There are some gems too, a co...