Remotely Disconnected

Sitting here, in the middle of nowhere, is the house we are
house-sitting until the end of February.

Also sitting here, in the house in the middle of nowhere, is me.

I am disconnected. In more ways than one, too.

For now I will just dwell on one, for a moment, so that those who wonder
may know why I have dropped of the edge of the cyber world.

We have no internet as of yet. None. Thus, I am disconnected in the
modern term.

As we have no internet, I am afraid this blog post may not make it to my
blog until we do have internet. If I find a cybercafe in this hole, then
it may be sent before then. Don't count on this small hole-of-a-town
having one, though.

Residential Confusion

We are in New Zealand. We are in New Zealand. We are in...

I remind myself of this again, then again, and then once more. Occasionally I have to do it another time. If I was confused while leaving Niger, then what the heck am I now?

Where am I? Where do I belong? Where will I live?

I am in New Zealand. New Zealand. New Zealand. Home? Yes, home. But it doesn't feel like it. The countryside sure looks like New Zealand. But still I am not convinced. I know I am in New Zealand, and yet some part of me needs to be constantly reminded.

Sitting somewhere eating dinner: We are in New Zealand! It hits me like a new revelation, as if I didn't already know that. Many times since the same kind of thing has happened. When will I finally realise that I am home, in New Zealand, to stay?

I have been living out of a suitcase since at least a week before leaving Maradi. A month now. I have lost all sense of belonging. When do I belong, anyway? It will be another month before we can actually move into a house, to stay for a while. I am feed up with not having my own place. I don't have anywhere that is simply mine. And what's more, the house we move in to has only three rooms; I have to share with my brother who is 7 years younger.

Two months after we move into this house, we have to move again. After all, we are only house-sitting it for a few months. We have to find a house to live in. We have to move once more, into that house. Months will drag by with still not having moved into a house for good. I know I will not be able to settle back into New Zealand life without being moved into my own room in our own house. Yet that day is months and months away.

If I am confused now, if I am lost now, what will I be by then?

An hour or 30 of traveling

Monday 1 December

From the Netherlands to Belgium to France. Today we traveled by cars (not, as previously thought, a car and a train). Though, unfortunately, we were only able to stop and get out of the car once, for less than 30 minutes. Does that count as having been to Belgium?

The trip there was uneventful, until we hit the airport we wanted to leave the cars in the long term parking and then take the train to Paris. We got lost for a while, lost each other, and eventually managed to find each other once more and all was well.

At night, we had dinner at a kebab place down the street from where we were staying, and then Kimberley, Rebekah (our friend's niece) and I went out to see places around Paris for a while, before heading home.


Tuesday 2 December

We spent the day looking at some of the more touristy places around Paris, such as the Arc de Triomphe, the Eiffel Tower and the likes.

Not much to talk about; once again, pictures tell the story much better. All going well, I will have some online within the week.


Wednesday 3 December to Friday 5 December

I shall not dwell on this particular stage in time, as it was utterly boring and exhausting and altogether not something I wish to do again anytime soon.

A flight of 6 or so hours to Dubai. A connection to a flight from there to Auckland, New Zealand, vis Singapore and Brisbane, totaling at least 20 hours. Add in the short time between flights, the traveling to Paris airport, the waiting there, the other things on the Kiwi end, and you get a heck of a long time. Especially with no more than 2 hours of sleep, not very good sleep at that.

Customs at Auckland International was interesting. Of course, we knew that we would have to go through everything, so we declared it all. We had a lot of stuff needing declaration. Luckily we didn't get in any trouble, really, with only one thing taken in for fumigation, and one thing detained. The thing detained was my fault: A dagger with a double-edged blade: An big sin according to NZ law (which I already knew). It was not so unexpected. Anyhow, the upside is that it was detained, which can be reversed, as opposed to being...s-omething. The correct term escapes me, but basically being taken without the possiblity of being returned. I plan to, at some stage, apply to the police for a license which would allow me to legally own and keep one of these in New Zealand.

We eventually got through everything and into the country, on to my Aunty's house where we are staying for the weekend.

A small moment of resting

Saturday 29 November

We had a pretty relaxing day. At some stage after we had breakfast we went to the Eindhoven market, which was cool. Other than just wandering around there, through town, and doing the odd thing around town, we didn't do a lot.


Sunday 30 November

Today we went to the church that our friend pastors here in Eindhoven. It was the second time I went there, the first time being on our way to Niger. It was a good service--especially being in English! Dad preached, based on our time in Niger. It went well.

In the afternoon we sat around talking and just having a good time catching up with our friends. At the moment my parents are out having dinner with them, while we are at home watching some silly movie eating pizza.

This is our last day in Holland. Tomorrow we are off, back to Paris. Our time here in Holland has been fun, and in some ways I want to stay longer. However, in general, it is time to go home.