We are only going to be away for a year, but as I get older that seems to be a shorter and shorter amount of time. However, there are still a lot of people that I won't see for quite some time, so the past few days have been spent doing some last minute admin and saying goodbye to people. It's amazing how many things there are to organise when you are leaving your home country for an extended stay.
We tried to organise to see as many people as possible, so we invited some friends to a pub on Friday night. Had everyone arrived it may have been a bit crowded. But it was very nice speaking to the few people who pitched up and I really appreciated them making the effort.
The next morning we went to the Pretoria Boeremark to say bye to some of the people we have gotten to know there. It's a real little community and if you get to know them the people working there are fantastic. We have a few favourite people and stalls, so we had to go talk to them.
Jerry, my Chinese friend and ex colleague, also came to say bye at the market. While we were chatting, he was accosted by an old man who had just spent a month travelling in China. This guy had only good things to say about his experience there. We will definitely have to go to China!
After the market I visited my previous boss, Kevin, and then later that evening some of Renalda's family came over to say bye. We had our last South African braai for some time, it was a merry affair with too much food as usual, and the Englishman doing the braai, because the Afrikaaners were enjoying their cigars too much.
On Sunday I managed to catch up with another mate, Gareth, my partner in crime during my last Orange river trip back in 2008 (gotta do that again!)
Then we went for dinner with my uncle Tom and aunt Donna. My uncle Reg (Tom's brother) also came so it was a small family reunion. We got treated to Donna's great cooking, stories about travels, dolls and, as always, camels.
A few days earlier, I'd asked Tom for some information about my maternal grandparents. Tom had gotten out a whole bunch of old photos of my grandparents and my mother, himself and Reg. He also managed to find the baptismal certificate of my grandmother, and the marriage certificate of my grandparents. All very interesting information which will most likely come in handy one day. You never know what morsel of information a bureaucrat somewhere will want from you some day.
As always Tom regaled us with interesting stories and opinion regarding his travels all over the world and the current political situation in the country and abroad. Tom and Donna, being the jet setters that they are, gave us great advice and insight about our upcoming travels. Many thanks to them.
All of the above will be missed. Till we meet again!
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