WHEW!!!
What a whirlwind period this has been! Y’all might want to get a cup of coffee or a glass of wine, before you settle down to read this… ;-)
What an incredibly full, important, exciting, exhilarating, exhausting, life-altering period.
In the past 2 months and something, this has happened:
1. EVERYONE came to Boracay!!!
First my mom arrived, which was awesome. I loved seeing her fall in love with my adopted home, I loved how independently she went out, made friends with my local friends even without me being around to make introductions, and then in turn became unofficial tour-guide for all the family-members that came afterwards.
After this, I met – and fell completely in love with – D’s whole family from the States: His mom is just INCREDIBLE - an exceptional, amazing, warm, loving woman. His brothers and sisters, sister-in-law and cousin are all good, kind, sweet, beautiful souls. Our families met, clicked, and holidayed together as if they’d all known each other for decades!
Then my brother and my dad arrived, and the 2 of them melted into their island holiday as if they’d been born to be on Boracay Island.
And then – the gang arrived. WHOOP!!! From EVERYWHERE! Our friends flew in from China, Taiwan, CANADA (!), and even my godparents from South Africa made it!!!
And then the festivities ensued.
I think my favourite thing about this whole period was how everyone got along. Never in my life have I witnessed my parents partying with my friends, my brother swept up by the wave of love that is my spectacular group of friends, our moms hung out together, our dads hung out together, everyone dined with everyone, everyone danced and drank and laughed and loved with everyone.
In truth, our wedding was almost incidental. THIS was the most important thing to happen in June: the joining up of all the people we loved. Together. I am almost in tears as I type this, and remember it. BLISS.
2. WE GOT MARRIED!!!
I could not have dreamed of a more perfect wedding. No way. From sharing the Bridal Suite with my 3 fabulous bridesmaids (“there were 4 in the bed and the little one said…” ) the night before, to a whirlwind of manicures-pedicures-hairstylists-makeupartists-champagne-wine-delitreats-laughter-excitement-photos-moregirlsdroppingby mayhem in the hours leading up to the ceremony, to an absolute, incomparable fairy tale of a wedding. Everyone laughed, everyone cried, everyone danced, everyone loved. PERFECT. And then we all went out to the biggest club on the island – me still in my wedding dress! – and partied the night away on the beach…
3. WE MOVED HOUSE!
I looooooooooooooooove our new home!!! It’s so perfect!!! It’s a little house on a hill, facing a garden, with a view of tree-tops and even a sliver of sea from the living room windows! Upstairs is a single room (lounge and kitchen area) - the entire front wall is a sliding door, and there are windows EVERYWHERE, so we’re surrounded by nature and GREEN all the time. We keep all the windows and doors open, so there is plenty of light and air moving through, and we have a menagerie sharing the home with us! The neighbour’s cats have adopted us, we have a giant gecko living in the roof, about a hundred little geckos all over, big island spiders, and even little bats flying in and out through the open doors! Downstairs there’s a bathroom and a lovely big bedroom – cozy, warm, lovely. Home, sweet home indeed. <3
4. BIRTHDAYS!
D turned 30 in July and I had a small party for him at our new home, and I celebrated my birthday 2 weeks after that. Friends, food, fun, and f-ing hangovers. Whoop!
5. END of the SCHOOL YEAR
Big exhale. Having been somewhat thrown into teaching within days of arriving here, and then to have all of the above-mentioned happening simultaneously, this was probably the biggest stress for me in recent times. Everything else was about ME, but being a school-teacher is about THEM. My little beloved babies. Every day I am filled with an incredible sense of importance, and purpose, and responsibility because of the role that I get to play in the lives of my little Grade 1 kids. I really do love them, and want to do right by them. But as I mentioned before in previous blogs – this is a MOUNTAIN of work. And the end of the year meant school reports, parent-teacher meetings, finishing off ALL lessons and science projects and art projects and and and….!
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So. That, in a nutshell, sums up the past while. Apart from this, there’s been adjusting to life in a new place, to no longer being a gypsy and living out of a 20 kilogram backpack, to solidifying new friendships, to carving out a niche in my adopted island… Life. Ain’t in grand? <3
Here’s to more regular blogging in the future.
Love and kisses to you all! xoxox
