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*** disclaimer: this post is full of bad, unedited photos. This is real life.

 

 

There is washing hanging from nearly every surface in each bedroom. Every time I think there is a break in the clouds, or a gap in the rain, the skies open and the rain comes down in swishy laughter, tormenting me with its wet grin. Yup, it has developed human qualities. I have developed a love-hate relationship with it/him/whatever. Nothing dries. NOTHING. And in other parts of the Island, like 8km away, the sun shines down in glorious, golden goodness. There, EVERYTHING dries.

I am learning to live with the quirks of my new island life. Tropical rain that makes this a green and beautiful place but an impossible ‘laundromat’.  Tiny bricks of butter and no fresh milk (my mom will tell you that box milk and I used to be enemies). All the fresh, delicious fruit that goes to the hotels and the leftovers that are sold to us at ridiculously high prices (Except on market days -la foire- where you can get beautifully fresh and reasonably priced fruit and veg AND shop plastic-free. Unfortunately, the markets are crazy busy and my kids are still not comfortable in large crowds and so I don’t get to the market often enough). Markets. Scooters everywhere, and not many helmets. A large selection of cheeses but not much gouda. Being called “Madame”.  Stray dogs everywhere. Stray cats everywhere – even playing in the sea. Sun that shines on turquoise waters and rain that doesn’t chill you. Rain on the beach doesn’t drive people to shelter because it invariably lasts a few minutes, so people just ignore it. Rain on the beach is different to rain 8km inland. Multiple weather systems or micro weather systems on just one small island.  If you live in the South, the North is far and so the Island is bigger that I thought.

Nine weeks in and life is starting to feel somewhat “normal”. We have not moved to our own space yet, which is equal parts frustrating and helpful. We are incredibly grateful to Marc’s dad for opening his home to us and making it such a comfortable space for us to live in for now. There is a longing in our hearts for us to have a home, though. It is a difficult decision to make, to not rush into moving. We are determined to make the right choice in terms of where we will live and don’t want to rush into an emotionally-charged move and land up in an area that isn’t going to work for us as a family. We have discovered, as I mentioned, that the Island is bigger than we initially thought and that the four major areas provide different pros and cons in terms of what we dreaming of for a home, community and environment. The North is currently winning the “competition” as it seems to be ticking most of our boxes – beautiful beaches and many opportunities to live within walking distance to (if not in view of) the beach, community, variety in terms of shopping choices, restaurants etc and very importantly, family.

The South, where we live now, is beautiful. I mean, EXQUISITE. The ocean is always clear and glassy. The sea life is prolific. There are mountains and green spaces all around us. BUT, it is dead quiet. There are no schools close-by and as a result, not many children. The children who do live here spend their days traveling to and from school. It is a gorgeous holiday destination but not a very vibing place to live. We are bored and lonely and starting to get tired of the same ol’, same ol’. The shops are not well stocked and so I tend to wait to do a decent shop when I know I will be in an area with a nice big supermarket. This means dinner is becoming a monotonous, carb-affair and the fruit situation looks very much like apples, apples and more apples. I long for a good nourish bowl and an avo.  That said, there is a new mall opening soon and so maybe my tune will change once we have more choice.

The kids will be finishing up their school work for the year really soon. I am so proud of how well they have done given the many changes they have faced this year. They are an adventurous and tenacious bunch. I, personally, have enjoyed the freedom of having less as it has given me a bit more space to enjoy homeschooling them and to experiment with and explore some new methods and content with them. I am constantly learning and growing as they learn and grow and it has been great to have the freedom of no “physical constraints”  ( a house to clean, mostly) to interfere with our learning processes this year. Moving around a lot provided so much educationally. I feel like we have learned so much about so much. In particular, I feel like outside of pure academics, we have learned a huge amount about ourselves and about life. We have really come to understand the “live simply, simply live” ethos and I can honestly say that it has become more of a way of life than ever before for us. We have learned how to make much out of so little, and in all aspects – from meals with very few ingredients to elaborate games with very few toys. We have more hours in our days and so much more to fill them with and yet, our possessions are few and our  commitments are minimal. We have learned to savour moments and to enjoy the small things, like sunsets and starfish and fresh breezes and story time at night and whispered conversations after lights out. We are content.

This longing for a home comes after a beautiful year spent collecting memories and learning through some tough times too. It is time to put down some roots and to begin making new memories in a space that will be a bit more “stable” . We feel ready to be a family in a home. We have spent this year becoming and its time to find a new flow in a new community with new dreams and new adventures. I am excited for the next steps, and excited to be on a journey towards a new dream. I hope you will continue to live these steps with me.

Today we have been in Mauritus for seven weeks. Slowly, we are shaking off the trappings of one life to explore the freedoms of another life, all the while holding on, fondly, to the things from before that helped to shape and make us us.

I feel like I am living in an Enid Blyton book a lot of the time, and half expect the children to call me “Mother” and for their dog, Scamp, to magically appear. There is a strong sense of “time stood still” here. Although I guess it would be “Maman” and the dog would be “Leon” or “Rififi, but i digress. Time …

I love that my children spend a LOT of their time in the garden or on the beach. I love that they have made friends with sweet French children who are fun and a little bit old-fashioned in all the wonderful ways a person can be old-fashioned. I love that they now play boulle in the garden or board games or ping pong and make up games to play in the pool (not ours). I love that it is normal for children to go snorkeling and to swim in the ocean from the time they can walk. I love that after lunch there is “rest time” and after rest time is “gouter” (snack) and after gouter you meet your friends to play ping pong or go swimming on the beach and that it is normal for these play dates to only end at 6pm. I love that it genuinely feels like the Secret Seven may be having a meeting next door and that the Famous Five are camping alone on the beach somewhere close by. I love that, although the internet here is crazy fast and way better than what we had in South Africa, it feels as if children here are completely unaffected by it. It feels as if time has moved way more slowly here (in many respects, good and bad) and I love it.

The thing I love the most is that I feel as if we are giving our children a proper childhood. One like the ones we had. A childhood spent outdoors, come rain or shine, running freely from activity to activity with very few cares other than being late for dinner. I love it! And I will mindfully pursue this for them for as long as I possibly can.

Golly, it’s taken me long enough to actually get here and write this post. I so badly want to be proactive about “blogging” and I think about it a lot. But, actually getting there is proving somewhat difficult. I love writing and I love this platform as a way of taking a bit of our every day, a bit of what is in my head and a bit of what I’m feeling and learning and chronicling it all. A journal of sorts and perhaps even a kind of memoir, something to look back on and something that, maybe, someone can learn from. I’m not very sure how to be better at making time for it. Perhaps as we settle more into “normal life” I will settle into a better routine of “structured time for the things I love”.  For now, I will post as often as I can.

You’ve already gathered that life has been busy. All the more so since Marc arrived just over a week and a half ago. I can’t tell you how wonderful it has been to be reunited after being apart for four months.  We have been reveling in having a dad and a husband again. And adjusting to life as a family again.

Mauritius is treating us well. I promise I will post again soon. Perhaps, sooner than later.

We have been here for a month. I know I am in the honeymoon phase of this adventure, but boy this place is BEAUTIFUL! I never expected the crazy changes of scenery in the various areas (the “Midlands” are as rainy and misty as they are in KwaZulu Natal), the insane amount of weather changes in a day and the rain … it rains every day. Some days it rains for 3 minutes at a time about 50 times in that day, other days it rains for one 15 minute spurt (or squirt, you choose). And then on days like today, its pretty much incessant (and I forgot the linen I had washed on the line. AND I had to change the gas for the shower which is in a “cupboard” outside. DRENCHED). My favourite rain is the 15 minute spurt/squirt at around 8pm every night. I throw open my window and breathe it in. Glorious!

 

 

Marc’s dad has been away for ten days, which meant we had a car and home to ourselves. He has been wonderful to us, so don’t get me wrong. We don’t wish him gone. We have just enjoyed some time as “just us” as well as the freedom a car has brought – ROAD TRIPS!

 

Golly, driving in Mauritius is … interesting. You can literally stop your car anywhere you like and no one gets annoyed. Overtaking is common practice on ALL roads, especially of buses and scooters. And yet, I have only seen one bumper bashing and that was caused by a tourist (I say tourist like I’m not one). People are generally courteous and road rage seems to be non-existent. A pity most people drive like complete lunatics. My South African, “Jislaaik” comes out a lot. Fortunately, the scenery more than makes up for, and is therapy for, the stress of being behind the wheel. Or in the passenger seat. Or walking. I am going to have to drive Marc around for the first little while when he gets here, thats for sure.

 

 

Driving around with four kids is … pretty hectic. I pack snacks and waters. We play road trip playlists. They don’t bicker, they giggle and squeal and distract me with their noise. Poor Ry has had to learn very quickly how to use Google Maps and has to be our navigator. We haven’t got in nearly as many stops or pictures as I had hoped. Its just really difficult to do it all with all of them and no 2nd adult. I genuinely am looking forward to doing it all again when Marc arrives at the end of the month. We have seen pretty much the entire coastline of the whole Island and managed to get inland to see the Volcano. We haven’t done any of the touristy stops yet, but we have driven and looked and swam at some beaches. We have decided to do a new school subject “Tourist Day” where we will chose an attraction and then spend the day exploring and learning about it. Next year of course.

 

 

Speaking of school: I am beyond proud of my gang. They have been tackling some of the Mauritian curriculum and are NAILING it. We are NOWHERE with French but, baby steps. I am confident that this time next year we will have them speaking it almost fluently.

 

 

Well, that was a little update from me. More detailed posts soon. Posts about food and shops and houses and everything “Mauritius”.

 

 

Today marks two weeks since we arrived in Mauritius. To say we have been in a blurry whirlwind would be a complete understatement.

Courts came with us for the first week so we spent that time mostly getting to know the area we are staying in (Mahebourg, Pointe d’Esny, Blue Bay and Riche-en-Eau) and sight seeing with her. We hit the beaches and the local market in Mahebourg, we checked out the supermarkets and little souvenir stores and even took a quick drive through Port Louis. Courts was an invaluable help, taking charge of kids and helping settle us in to our new home with Grandpère  (Marc’s dad, Joe).

I thought that when the time came to say goodbye to her I would probably having a good cry and then launch back into daily life with the kids as normal. Well, au contraire, I spent the entire day that she left in tears and have cried intermittently every day since. RIDICULOUS! She hasn’t lived with us (in our home) for well over a year now and we even survived a provincial move from her for 8 months last year. But, moving over the sea is a BIG deal and obviously a mom heart takes a knock when that happens (sorry Mom, I now know how you feel and it SUCKS).

That said, the kids and I have started to settle into a little routine  – we do our school work in the mornings while I do washing (LOTS of washing) and general cleaning and tidying. Our afternoons are spent doing whatever shopping needs to be done and then most days, unless it’s raining, we end the day off on the beach before heading home for showers and dinner before bed.

I have so much to tell you, way much more to share, but I will save that for some future posts. I just wanted to let you all know we are alive, blurry but alive, and loving “The Island” even while we miss our family and friends and lives in South Africa. Today was the first time I told some South African tourists I met in London Way (supermarket) that I live here and it felt good (especially because they were jealous).

 

It is midnight, which means that I now officially have two days left before the kids and I leave for Mauritius. I am feeling ALL the feels. I’m sitting in bed reflecting on this crazy, crazy journey we have been on. I can’t really believe that in two days we will begin a whole new life in a whole new country. A place that I never even dreamed could ever become home, despite it being Marc’s heritage. It is a place that, if I am honest, I put away from my dreams because who REALLY gets to live in a dream destination? I was happy with Salt Rock. It is beautiful in Salt Rock, my people are there, it is at the edge of a continent (I don’t ever want to live away from the edge of a continent unless it’s on an island … ), it is a great place for other people to visit. But, Mauritus! Mauritius is a dream.

 

 

We have been through a lot as a family. These last three years have been the most difficult years of my life. We have felt heavy and burdened and desperate at times. We lost so much (and gained so much too, so please don’t hear what I am not saying), we felt our faith falter too many times to count. We watched our children struggle and overcome and we grew. We grew so, so much. And now, it feels as if God is saying “Here is your oasis. Here is the home I promised you. Here are your dreams”. I am not naive, I know it won’t all be roses and butterflies (or beaches and coconuts, whatever).  I know the whole “In this world you will have trouble” thing. But I also know to “…take heart! For I have overcome the world”. And so I am excited to begin this new story.

 

 

I won’t bore you with the details of life until now. Not now, any way. This story starts now. Now, with me, in my bed, at midnight, dreaming of the place I will soon call home. Dreaming of having my husband join us in a month’s time (he has some work commitments that will keep him in South Africa for the next few weeks). Dreaming of Courts coming with me for the first week and of the many holidays and visits we will have with her in the future.

 

 

 

Tonight I will dream. I will not worry about the goodbyes and the sadness of leaving behind family, friends and the place of my birth. Tonight, I will allow the excitement to overwhelm the sadness.  That which we focus on, we become.

This story is about us. It is our big exhale. It is our new beginning. I would love it if you would join me on this ride. This blog is intended to draw you in to our story, to show you US. We are the Maurels, a family of seven who love life, live simply and mindfully and want to collect people and not things. If we move geographically, we aren’t getting rid of people, we carry them with us. This platform is an amazing way to include the ones we love in the story and to show what we are up to, speak about what we are doing, dreaming and believing for and to post a few pics of our lives for you to see. You can also follow our story on Marc’s vlog “My Kiff Life” .