Thinking about how lucky I actually am!!!

This week's blog is about "thinking about how lucky I actually am being on this amazing world trip with my family for 1 year" 

Since it is almost time to go home I thought a lot about our past 12 months of travels, about Argentina, Singapore, Australia, China, Russia, Ukraine, Poland, Germany, France, Belgium, England, Greece, Italy, Monaco, Spain and home... South Africa 

We all agreed it was a sensational journey!

Papa, Mama and Steven each wrote a few sentences how they thought the 365 days have been!

Loes : 365 days gone away from home, leaving my best friends, home, school and instead travelling to 15 countries with my brother, mum, dad with different types of transport, train, airplane, car, boat, bus, underground, by foot, bicycle, rickshaw, cable car, has left many many impressions. Last year when we planned to go I was not so excited to leave and actually I was confused. I was scared to leave my environment. Perhaps it would not be the same when I come back. What about my friends and I was so curious to start my highschool. I really, really can’t describe how excited and happy I am now that we have done this trip and have seen, learned new things. The home schooling was a lot of fun with mum teaching me the school’s curriculum and seeing everything 3D afterwards. In Greece seeing the Acropolis, the 3 different types of columns I will never forget. (Ionic, Doric, Corinthic) . I saw the place where Democracy was invented. In Italy I could imagine how important the Roman Empire had been, in Russia I understood what the Cold War was all about and in Poland I could imagine how terrible the 2^nd WWII had been after visiting Auschwitz. Seeing so many places and museums I would not have been able to learn all that out of a book.

The most difficult thing this year was sticking together with the four of us for 24 hours. Sharing a bedroom with Steven seeing each other every minute of the day and not having my own private time and space. At home it is so much different having our own plans only seeing each other for meals and on Sundays when we relax! Not every second of the day!!!!!!!!

My favorite countries out of all the countries we have 
visited this year was certainly China. When I talk about China I mean Beijing and Shanghai. It does have bad, disgusting things like the smog, people spitting everywhere, people eating fury, slimy cooked scorpions, worms and spiders, but my favorite experience was the language “nihou”, xie xie”, “ nihou ma” etc. ( when I am older I want/will  learn Chinese and I know it is very difficult, but I at least would like to be able to make a conversation in Chinese). I also “love” the food-culture in China, the different kinds of noodles and different kinds of food. No Mac Donalds food or KFC but “hot pot” and sitting in the food-court with different kinds of people trying to make a conversation. I also love China, because I feel free there to do whatever I want. If I feel like singing or randomly dance they will like it and will not say “what the hell is she doing”. Everybody in China is in fashion – at least in Beijing. So I went along and followed everyone wearing high skirts and pony tails that also looked nice as a bracelet, spectacles without glasses in them etc. The people are also very, very friendly and they will help you in any way. Most of the Chinese like to communicate with you even to try their new English words they learned randomly saying “good morning” and then running away laughing. Ooh and the first week when we were in Beijng, there were 3 students who tapped our shoulder and quickly said “ hello” and ran away quickly!! There is a lot of history in Beijing too, with the temple of Heaven, Great Wall of China, Summer Palace, Llama temple etc. China was also cheap, but not cheap enough.  I thought it would have been cheaper with more little shops everywhere as you sometimes see in a China Town, but it wasn't like that at all. Most of the people in Beijing want to shop for ‘European Style’ goods. There is lots more to say about China; weather, city, traffic etc. but I have to stop now otherwise mom, Steven and dad won’t have a turn............. Any way I love China, because it is so different than anywhere else !

Mum:

O dear...we had so many extra ordinary experiences....what was the best one ????  Difficult to choose!!!!!

 I enjoyed being teacher, I learned so many things myself again

I loved telling people how special South Africa is

I cherish the many personal chats and adventures we had with the four of us

But when I think back of the past 12 months I mainly remember the many people we met.

Most of them showed surprise and admiration towards our adventure followed by the remark that unfortunately they themselves would never be able to do something similar.

So Loes, what I above all like to share with your many blog readers is our experience of how relatively easy it was to turn our dream into reality!

1^st and without doubt, the most challenging part is The Decision itself. 

Automatically we are all looking for security and comfort zones, so the step to leave your work, school, house and friends behind to spend a whole year into the unknown is quite big?

However, after we had discussed the pros and cons the ‘idea’ became ‘manageable’ and we agreed with the family that we would Go Ahead.

After that the easy part starts....................... realizing the dream.

2^nd in importance is the Preparation time.

We took a whole year to make sure that we became replaceable at work, to work out schooling for the kids and organize house and budget.

Challenges are always hard to deal with and become even more difficult to solve when you are away, so preparing to leave needs time.

3^rd advice is do NOT prepare your trip in detail.

We read this tip ourselves in an article of another family who traveled with their kids and their tip turned out to be a golden one.

We knew the destinations – Loes, Steven, Jaap and I all had 1 theme/country – but other than the flight to our first destination we did not arrange anything in advance. We organised the arrangements for the next destination only a few weeks before.

This way you remain flexible and do not get stressed (not this year at least).

 

So, ones you are ‘on-the-move’ the 4^th tip is to structure your daily activities.

Definitely important with children is to organize the day with regular timetables for homeschooling, going out to see and or do things and to include private time. It gives them something to look forward to and enlarges the enjoyment.

So Yes, many more do-s and don’t-s can be shared, but the ones above are the most valuable. Overall it is not a matter of work, schooling or budget. Everyone can do it as long as you really want it.

Wishing that many more families will be encouraged to add such a wonderful experience to their lives and that of their children (already we heard of 1 family who will DO IT in 2014), I will mention just a few ‘souvenirs’ of what you will bring home after your trip;

Strong family bonding, unlimited memories, lots of new energy, new ‘tools’, different ideas, more understanding, appreciation, respect and many more values in live that one tends to take for granted.

...and personally for us....we realize ones again that we come back to the best place on earth!

Steven: Playing soccer in different countries.

Argentina

When I was looking for a soccer club in San Telmo we found one under a high way. 

How they played!!

We learned that as soon as you get the ball you just had to control it and then pass. Sometimes you can keep the ball maybe a few seconds longer, but then pass. I did have lots of fun there. Met lots of friends. I also met a boy the same age as me and he spoke English. We still have lots of communication through Facebook.

China

When we came in China I could not find any soccer club, because they are all out of the city and we did not have a car. So I practiced in the compound where we lived. There I met a friend to play with and his father spoke excellent English and the boy spoke a few words. So we became very good friends and played together at the same club.

How they played!!

They played very selfish and kept the ball to themselves. I think they are not used to share and play together, because in China the rule is to have one child per family only. So no one has brothers or sisters. They grow up being the only child with their mothers and fathers.

Spain.

In Barcelona I went with my Dad to a FC Barcelona match were I saw Messi 10 meters away from me taking a corner. Their way of soccer is very typical Argentinean and half Spanish. 

We found my soccer club on the first day we arrived in Antequera. When I asked if it was possible to join the soccerclub, he said you may begin now if you want!!

How they play!! 

They have lots of skills and the practice is very technical and professional. It is hard to play here because nobody speaks English (only a few swear words from television).  But this feeling of playing soccer I will never get in South Africa, because here in Antequera I go alone to soccer training by foot. Nobody is in the street, because I start during Siesta-time and when I come back from soccer I see those Christmas lights everywhere and the whole street is full of life. Everyone is happy and when I pass the old age home all the grandmas sitting around and are telling stories together. 

So, everywhere there is something special and every country has its specific ways of doing things..... that’s what I think about when I think back of this past year.

Home schooling.

Actually I expected to be on holiday the whole year, but now I look back it was quite busy every day. No time to sit on the couch and do nothing. In every place we lived we had to first unpack and organize my room with my sister. Then we needed to explore the city, find supermarkets and banks and look for transport and sim cards. Then we would start school in the mornings and in the afternoons we would see the things we learned in 3D going to Museums, attractions and other things.

Our normal schedule for a day is planned like this: Breakfast together then we have school from 09.00 to 13.30 and then my dad comes back from a local internet-café.  Then we have lunch and after that we all go together to see a museum/market or so.

Our world map 

I would never have dreamed that it would be so nice. Also the special tasks I had like finding accommodation and sometimes booking flights, helping with washing and cleaning, learning the subway by heart and making powerpoint presentations of everything I saw, I enjoyed the most.

Jaap: Here are some of my experiences of the trip. So there I am as a young father thinking what to write..... 

Coming from the Sexy Sixties - after the hippie period- we had the Music Top 40.

 I just discovered the Top 40 December 2012 on the internet and, so I will come with my Kreeft- on- the-move Family Top 40  (as far I am allowed to go by the publisher)

Let’s start with the first 10 of the TOP 40 from 1972  (40 years ago when I was same age as the kids) 

1. The Rolling Stones – Angie                                      6.            John Lennon , Yoko Ono & Harlem Community Choir (Happy Xmas (Was is over)    

2.Gibert O’Sillivan – Alone Again                               7.            Golden Earing – Radar Love 

3  David Cassidy –Rock Me baby                               8.            Sammy Davis Jr – The Cany Man can

4. Mouth & Macneal - How Do you Do                       9.            The Moody Blues – Nights in White Satin

5. Vickey Leandros – Apres Toi                                  10.          Johhny Nash – I can see clearly Now

 

MY OWN THE KREEFT OF THE MOVE TOP 40 (upto 15 due to space on blog) :

What were the un expected high lights :

1)      With 4 of us 6 - 10hours together

2)      With kids walking / by bus in the different cities to their sports and the morning Run with Loes

3)      Unexpected friends from Deventer (Oost NL), Tourism Study NWIT,  and SA in Tinogasta, Melbourne, Singapore, Beijing

4)      For us unknown cities : Chile Cito, Tinogasta, Kharkiv, Osea Island Patras, Chiavari & Antequera

5)      China & Ukraine

What was different than expected (disappointed)

6)      Buenos Aires , golden Memories changed in City without hope  run by many Grasping government officials (Bit similar in Athens)

7)      FEDEX &  RipCurl  (bunch of losers after a lot of pressure did their job)

8)      Customs in Australia (worse of all)

9)      We saw 500.000 chopped trees per day moving from Siberia towards China

10)   Empathic behaviour in South of Spain, complaining while so many possibilities around

                What did I learn (or have been reminded of again):

11)   Kids are flexible and overall they were great together

12)   Germaine is a Super Woman

13)   No office desk needed, can work on nice terraces and cafe’s

14)   World changes much faster than I thought (despite travelling and reading a lot , big surprise)

15)   That I like my job 

This is a summary of the countries we have been to and what we thought was nice for each:

Type	country of mom	country of Loes	country of Steven	country of Jaap
best ice- cream	Italy/Rome	Argentina/ Buenos Aires	Argentina/Buenos Aires	Argentina/Buenos Aires
cleanest place	Anteqeura	Singapore	Singapore	Monaco
dirtiest place	China/ Beijing	China/Beijing	China/Beijing	Argentina/Buenos Aires
favorite country	Spain	South Africa	England/London	China
favorite apartment	China / Beijing	Argentina (Recolleta)	Argentina (Recolleta)	China/ Beijing
favorite food	Pasta/Italy	pizza/ Italy	Pollo Snitzel/Argentina	Noodles/China
the most friendly country	Spain	China	China	China
the most unfriendly country	Russia	Russia	Russia	Russia
where we wanted to go back	Ukraine	China	England/London	China
where we don't want to go back	Russia	Russia	Russia	Argentina/Buenos Aires
value for money	Spain	South Africa	China	China
cheapest country	Spain	Spain	Ukraine	Ukraine
country of history	Italy	Poland	Greece	China

Next week : Sevilla

Mucho Gracias

Louisa, Esteban, Gaap, Carmen