I should have a fairy tale for you today but that’ll have to wait. I’m going to tell you a different kind of fairy tale instead. It’s officially been one year since we left the US. Time flies. Sometimes it takes coach, like we did. At the time I dutifully tried to live-blog the experience but now I can’t find …
Counting Down 2016
Hello, world. I’m still here. 2016 has been a really, really tough year for me. It’s been downright wretched for the world at large. I’m not sad to see it go. The Move is still in progress. We’ve bought a house that we move into in February, and life should settle into some kind of routine at that point. That …
Getting on our way
I’m sitting in a rental minivan, having dropped off the last of our cars with its new owner this morning. My apartment is being disassembled by highly competent movers. My bags are packed. Today is Moving Day 1. My apartment gets packed up and tonight we drive to the airport hotel for a decent night’s sleep before our 11am flight …
Departing the Day Job, and Other Preparations
Today is my last day at The Day Job. My coworkers are taking me to lunch–I chose the local BBQ joint, as American barbeque is not something I’ll get a lot of overseas. (It’ll be damn good South African braai, excellent but not the same.) My desk was full of extra stuff. I’m like a Boy Scout, I’m prepared for freaking …
Unexpecteds: When $#!& happens
This is not so much an informational post, because I have little in the way of information. It’s a venting post. Because my mother is sick. A few weeks ago she started feeling nauseas, every day. She got progressively weaker and then went to the doctor, who thought it might be pancreatitis. Her bloodwork had some interesting numbers so then …
Unexpecteds: Travel Checklists
I’m a list maker. I love pulling order out of chaos. And I love my dear friend, Google, for providing me with starter lists. My mother is also a list maker and I got to crib off her lists for the Leaving part of this move. But my Google Fu is failing me. I am failing to find lists, or even …
The Unexpecteds: Unsubscribing
My mom is super organized, so she made her moving checklist before I did, and I got to crib off hers. One of the categories was “subscriptions.” She meant magazine subscriptions. Services like AAA and AARP. That sort of thing. I only subscribe to Writer’s Digest these days, and I get that digitally, so I crossed the whole idea off …
To-Do List Paralysis
I have a day planner, a physical one, quite a beautiful one, that I have not touched in months. It started well, with lots of good intentions. Then I reached a point where I was just lucky to make it through the day and maintaining the planner fell by the wayside. For The Move I have a rather extensive list …
So I’m going to be a #rexpat
Here’s how my bio now begins: Bronwen Fleetwood was born in South Africa, raised in New Jersey, and is now returning to South Africa, making her some kind of doubling-back expat. A #rexpat? Something like that. Everything’s finalizing now–the move is official. It’s happening. I’m leaving the country where I grew up for the country I was born in. I’m …