Hello again, remember us?It’s been ages since the last post, I could say I have been busy but I doubt many would believe me. So let’s just say I’ve been lazy.
Lazy pretty much describes Adelaide at the moment, it is mid summer and extremely hot. For three days it has been around 40C (104F) without a cloud in the sky or a breath of wind. In this weather it is difficult to do anything outside, the streets are deserted and the swimming pools are doing brisk business.
The beaches are pretty busy as well, but as there have been a few close encounters with sharks lately, nobody goes in much past their waist. Particularly Mandy, who is convinced that one will get her sooner or later.
Anyway, in this weather she prefers to sit near the air conditioning. With eight weeks to go she is enormous, has a red face and bad back and is far from lively. The poor thing. She is doing very well though, and the scans all look great.
She seems to have a new scan every week as part of some research she signed up for. It means she gets pampered, has a weekly gossip and gets dozens more photos of the baby.
This time of year is a slow time for news in Australia so to fill the papers there are daily shark, snake and bush fire stories. This time of year is great for a fire; bone dry forests, hot winds and searing heat make for a potent cocktail. Last week five fires started in Victoria just from lightning strikes.In the midst of these fire, the heat wave and Mandy getting bigger, I took a trip to Cambodia and Thailand. It wasn’t a particularly popular move with everyone in the house, but necessary for a new job I have taken on.
After finishing university I spent a few months in Moldova teaching in a couple of schools. The organisation who arranged that consisted of a professor in his spare bedroom at the time. Since then it has flourished and now employs around 150 people all over the world.
Projects Abroad arranges voluntary humanitarian placements and work experience for nearly 3000 people every year in over 20 countries from Peru to Nepal. My role is to try and recruit hordes of willing Australians to teach English in Mongolia or work in Cambodian orphanages.
I’m looking forward to spending some time on this, it’s an exciting opportunity which I have been doing part time for a few months. However, it deserves more time and I will be dropping a few days at the city council to get stuck into it.
The organisation was kind enough to send me to look over some of the things our volunteers are upto in Phnom Penh and Ao Nang in the south of Thailand and to be honest I was most impressed.
The responsibility and commitment shown to the orphanages by the volunteers in Cambodia was amazing. Phnom Penh is a difficult place to explain. I found it very easy to like but the poverty was highly visible and most depressing.A lot of the volunteers remarked on how inspirational the kids were; this was easy to see when I spent a bit of time in the orphanages watching a little girl with no arms just wanting to play and join in everything. Cambodia is a bit like that, despite a terrifying recent history, third world poverty and social issues which desperately need addressing, it is an optimistic and very friendly place which deserves a lot of luck and a big leg up.
Another bonus was catching up with some friends from Adelaide who are working for aid organisations in Phnom Penh, it was great to catch up with Kristien, Bryan and Lisa who are all doing some pretty gutsy and good things for the Fred Hollows Foundation and Servants of the Urban Poor. Good on yer guys.On the other hand our volunteers in Thailand were living in paradise, although they were working very hard and doing a great job in conservation of coral reefs and mangrove swamps. This is an important project which helps to preserve a wonderful environment and educates local people on sustaining it for fishing and tourism.
I have to admit that this was fun as, in the name of conservation, we dived on the reefs surrounding Pi Pi island watching turtles swim by and clearing discarded fishing net from the coral. Even sinking upto my waist in mangrove mud while we collected seeds on another day was enjoyable. I left feeling more than a little envious of the volunteers who had a couple more months to go.On my return to Adelaide, a still disgruntled Mandy announced it was time to get the nursery ready. Up until this point the designated room was still full of empty boxes from the move and a pile of rubbish which seemed important in the old house.
However, after a couple of days of dragging my heels around the baby shops of the city the room has been transformed. It is now full of boxes of things which need unpacking and putting together and is an even bigger mess.
While Mandy was getting a little agitated about our lack of preparation I was very happy to see that just about everybody else at the ante natal classes had done little more than flick through an IKEA catalogue.
Finally, while talking about these things, congratulations to Scott and Becky who gave birth to Amylia Janice on January 17th. Nice one guys.
Hope all is well
M&W
