Home Sweet Home!

So much good stuff has happened in our lives since leaving Uganda and coming back to South Africa. After two years of life on the road, sleeping in strange place, uncomfortable beds, eating weird and wonderful foods and drinking all makes of local beers, we are now home.

Home is where the heart is, so they say. Then I must have quite a number of homes across the world, because my heart lies in many places. Non the less, I am super happy to be back home, in South Africa, close to my children, my Mamma and my soul mates. Familiar shops, places, brands and weather patterns all contribute to my being comfortable and I like it.

We have been so busy since landing in Jozi on the 1^st December. Both Baz and I started working temporary contracts on the 2^nd December. We gave the middle finger to jet lag and hit the ground running. Baz worked for a sound proofing company and I worked as a domestic worker. Yep, a domestic worker, and I did it with style. What a domestic usually takes a full day to do, I was getting it all done in half the time. What a blast! Nothing like a good workout from doing someone else's housework.

Christmas time and Christine's birthday was just around the corner and we were done with living so far out of town, so I placed a house sitting advert on Facebook and BAM! Three house sitting jobs. Extra income earned and we lived in three really beautiful and comfortable homes in close proximity to our place of work.

Christmas was fantastic! We spent quality time with those closest too us (those living in Jozi), we ate, drank, ate, drank and ate some more. Joshua has a blast with his sisters and his Ouma. Come to think of it, Joshua spent most of December away from home. Always sleeping over somewhere.

We celebrated Christine's 23^rd birthday on the 27^th December. It was soon awesome being home and with my girl on her special day. Not my baby girl any more. All grown up now.

Our new year started with a bang. Baz was offered a fantastic job with really good benefits (which none of his previous employers considered). A company vehicle, cellphone, laptop, cellphone allowance, petrol allowance and and and. Baz is a happy camper, loving his new job and working hard.

My domestic work has ended and I now work on 3 different projects. All work from home positions which suites me down to a T. I absolutely love online work and social networking. Working from home allows me to look after my families needs which is so rewarding.

We celebrated Kaelah's 12^th birthday with her. We have missed her last two birthdays, which were really tough for me. I can now quite honestly say that I am a happy hippie Mamma.

Joshua has started school, just a block away from home. He is absolutely loving it. He has made new friends and his teachers are really amazing people. They love their work and it beams from them every single day.

Other than the current political challenges that South Africa is facing, it really is good to be back. Saying that though, I do miss our Caribbean adventures and all the good friends we have made along the way. Thank the universe for social networking, it has allowed us to stay in touch with our friends from across the world.

Other than that, we are all good, healthy and happy!  Home Sweet Home

Love and light always.

Blu

Email: bazandblu@gmail.com

Facebook: Blu Costello

Blogger: Backpacks and Adventures

Stopped 'dead' in my blog!

It's been absolute ages since my last blog entry.  For good reason.  Everyday I hear my friend Debbie saying, "the important thing is to keep your blog going", and I have failed dismally on the point right there! I was literally 'stopped dead in my blog'.  So without further delay, here I am and this is my story.

Up at 5am this morning, I have successfully started the morning fire to boil water for tea, posho is cooking (porridge) and will be ready for Joshua when he wakes up.  Its raining hard, the flashes of lightening are setting the early morning skies on fire.  What a sight!  The thunder is rumbling hard.  Me, I am chilling on the doorstep to our magic little home enjoying my first cup of tea.  ** it takes 45 mins to get to 'drinking tea' stage if I manage to kick start the coal stove with the first strike of a match.**

During my quiet time I look up to the skies, breathe in the fresh morning air, close my eyes and I thank the universe for another beautiful day in Africa.  Then I reflect back on how exactly I ended up here, in this very place and I wonder with excitement, where I will be this time next week, next month, next year.

How did we end up in Uganda, living like a local, earning very little, scraping by financially, bathing in a plastic basin, boiling bath and drinking water on a coal stove? still not being able to support my girls back home financially and still not in a position to assist my Mom with a couple of extra Rands to see her through the month.  Yet so happy, making so many good friends, eating healthy, surrounded by love and laughter and just living our lives.

Well we most certainly didn't come to the Pearl of Africa to struggle financially, that is for sure.  We came to Uganda with big dreams, knowing that there are awesome opportunities here for us.  All it took was that 'leap of faith' and we did it, here we are.  Struggling financially you wonder?  yeh we wonder about that too without it becoming the focus of our days.  Well what we thought would be a good opportunity for Barry has turned out to be a bit of a 'con' if I may call it that.  What should have moved our little family 10 steps ahead has really not been the case at all.  Lies, deceit and mistrust between those closest and important to me.

So without going into the dirty details of what all has transpired over the last 3 months, it turns out that we are not classified as Expatriates , we receive no subsidies for living as all other expats receive across the world, we live on an average of $500 per month, out of which we just cover our living expenses, rent, lights and water, food, drinking water, school fees for Joshua, transport and if we are lucky, two ice cold beers every Sunday.  Saying this though, we are in actual fact millionaires, Baz earns 1 200 000 ugx per month..  we always said we would be millionaires, we just never specified the currency... wahhhhahahhaaaa.  Always be specific when asking for something in life ;-).

It's almost Christmas time and there is no added bonus in site for Barry, sad but true, so I guess that means no visit back home over the festive season, we won't get to see our girls and Christmas will be really slim again this year for Joshua.  **sigh**

So how did we end up here in this tiny local home, always living month to month?  I'll tell you how, because we trust too easily, we give way too much of ourselves freely believing that the rewards will be grand.  We are challenged daily when it comes to our own personal values, morals and sanity..lol.  It amazes me daily how people have this ability to perform without personal values and morals, how easily they become spiteful and are happy to assert authority where it isn't actually required.  Just a friendly conversation identifying the challenges and putting a plan in place to move forward is quite enough.

I see that my 26 years in the corporate world has taught me a whole lot which I practise daily in my home and in the work that I do.  The one thing that is the most important is to respect one another.  It doesn't matter who you think you are, how much debt you have, what car you drive or what brand undies you wear, just treat everyone you interact with, with respect!

Second point, never ever ever ever keep quiet and step down for anyone.  It doesn't matter who they think they are.  You have a right to voice your concerns and suggestions in every aspect of life.  If the big boss is the kind of person to walk all over you then you should feel confident enough to speak up.

In our case, speaking up resulted in spite and revenge.  Which has now ended friendships, that I myself trusted in without question.  Now we constantly worry about when we will be sent 'home'.  Lol, where is home exactly?  our home is in Uganda, this is where our boy has started his schooling.  Living day to day always wondering, quietly steals the life from my soul.

Moral of this story?  never work for family, don't trust that they will do good by you because it simply isn't the case.  The grass is in fact greener on the other side because of all the manure.

So here we are living a simple, rustic and very inexpensive life in the Pearl of Africa.  Surrounded by the most breathtaking vegetation, bird life, honest people, good friends and most important, our boy is loving school.  Our home is just perfect, many of you may not like it much, especially the lack of hot water, kettle and stove.  Me, I have grown used to life on the road, living out of backpacks, showering in some disgusting showers and peeing in suspect loo's.

Those are are the little things.. my life is about so much more that the toilet I pee in.  It's about the people I fall in love with along the way, it's about the meals we share with those special people, it's about the children we meet and teach and it's about the beauty that surrounds us every moment of every day, its about those stories we collect and tell along the way.. it's about living life to it's fullest, deleting the negatives and just taking those steps forward.

Each day I rise with the sun and I know that today is a new day filled to the brim with new possibilities.

Until next time

Love & Light always.

Blu

Life up Africa - Uganda!

Kampala the capital of Uganda, what a vibrant pulsing city. It seems never to sleep, I've traveled all hours of the day and night and the energy never changes. You can get anything you want here, just don't expect to find it in the likely places, there is a game a shopprite, but there are a thousand small shops in every nook and cranny. 

Ten thousand motor vehicles crowd the hand full of roads and twice as many Boda Boda (100cc motorbikes) local transport. All viaing for the same inconceivable space. No such thing as road rage here, find your hole fit in it and keep going.

The first thing that struck me about Kampala and Entebbe is how clean it is, clean in terms of litter. After spending the last year travelling south America and the carribean and noting the amount of trash every where it was a pleasant surprise to see a country take pride in its towns.
Saying this there is sand a red sand with a dust that covers everything everywhere, you can't escape it. It makes everything feel old and tied a dirty dusty Africa.

Ugandans what a nation, self opinionated, racist and stubborn, yet content, not worried about much, other than there business.
They are pleasant clever people willing to laugh and share life.

Being on latitude 0 is on bucket list, turns out its not far from me, living on the equator is not what I anticipated, I thought it would be hotter, rain more but the contrast is not so great.

Now working in Uganda, is an experience,, not to be taken for granted every thing is a challenge and if you can't think on your feet then this place will break you down, nothing is what it is and just because it worked yesterday doesn't mean it will work today. 

So I'm three weeks in and a whole bunch of weeks to go, what cool place, what a cool job and what an adventure.

Until next time
Eyes up