Hello South Africa!

So we have been here a week now and have settled in just dandily. I am surprised at how much I am enjoying being back home. Could it be the AMAZING roads and really civilized drivers? Or the cleanliness and orderliness of the suburbs and surrounds? Or the to-die-for-doll SHOPPING?! Or the fact that I will be seeing my sister every week and my Dad every day. And my mum every 2 months?! hmmmmmmm... or could it just be because its an amazing country with great weather and friendly people and its all just so familiar? And I'm not even scared like I thought I would be. The security aspect of things is not freaking me out at all, even with Nico in the car with us. Lets hope that I stay this relaxed and that nothing bad happens to us.

My sister kindly picked us up from the airport last Saturday after a not so pleasant, delayed flight (plus we had mild hangovers after a late night with Naoko and others). We did the handover with the estate agent at 2pm for our house that we are renting, had our dogs delivered from the kennels where they had been the previous 2 weeks at 3pm, went out and bought a bed at 4pm and went and picked up Benedikt's temporary car from his new company at 5pm. We also went to Woolworths food for some groceries - WOW!!!! That store is just amazing. Such beautiful fresh produce and really healhty ready made meals. We were like kids in there! My sister was really laughing at us. So we had a yummy picnic supper on plastic table and chairs. By 7pm (8pm kenyan time) we were shattered! And so was Nico which was a good job as we put him to sleep on the floor on a cushion, barricaded in with our suitcases! We had run out of time to buy him a cot that afternoon.
Sunday morning the 3 of us woke up at 4:45am!!!! It gets light here SO early and with no curtains or anything we were doomed. So we took the dogs and went to the playground and park 200m away and let them run wild. There is also a km long, wide green stretch of grass parallel to our road which is just perfect for the dogs to run on, so we walked down and up that and we were still back by 6am! So we went off and did some more shopping: a cot, some toys for Nico, some more groceries, various bits and pieces and some bedding.
In fact, thats what we did every day this week: SHOP! Nico is now very sick of being dragged around the shops, so its a good thing we think we have everything we need now. There were so many things to get, like water filters, iron and ironing board, glasses, mugs, cutlery, tupperware, a vacuum cleaner and cleaning stuff, toiletries and bath mats, chlorine for the pool.... etc etc!
So tomorrow we are RELAXING. Nico is now sleeping well again - we bought black out blinds for his room and my dad put them up for us - he is very handy to have around. Nico also knows his way around the house now which makes him happier and more independent, it helps that its all on one level.
I've been running every morning with the dogs which is a great way to get to know the suburb we are now in (we used to live on the other side of the highway) and its really nice round here. We are all very happy with the house and the area (Essexwold just near Bedfordview). Its very central.
Our air freight FINALLY arrived on Thursday after lots of problems and delays on the Kenyan side. It was very frustrating. So that meant Benedikt eventually got his road bike and he promptly built it all up and joined our old cycling group on Friday morning for a hard 90kms. I am SO jealous not to be riding with them! Its all our old buddies and they are a fun crowd. Plus the cycling is really hard and intense and just what we enjoy. But I am fat and unfit these days so would never be able to keep up! Doctors orders were to put on weight and back off from exercise to help me get pregnant again so I am trying it.... although I hate it!! I just want to be fit and in shape on fast on my bike again. BUT, I keep telling myself, its just another year or so (hopefully) and then the having babies thing will be over!
So I am just running every morning and doing some yoga. I will do some cycling with my sister now and then - we can have fun social rides!

Benedikt and I can't believe how many cyclists and runners we see here. The roads are full of them. Like this morning, during my 13km run I must have seen about 200 runners and about 100 cyclists!! CRAZY. I love how sports orientated South Africans are, its so motivating.

We went a saw my good friend Leanne on thursday morning and we met each other's little boys for the first time, its crazy that we had'nt seen each for 2.5 years. Its so nice to have old friends here... instead of trying to make new ones. It makes the move so easy... we just slot right back in. We went for dinner on Thursday night with our coconut friend, Sudheer and the conversation was so similar to before that it felt like we'd never even been gone!