Isn’t it amazing how sunshine streaming through your windows lifts your spirits? One of the consequences of the haze that is not so obvious when you are living with it is how it blocks out the sun. I noticed without really noticing how the sun at sunrise and sunset was that bloody red of Armageddon movies but it wasn’t until I walked into the apartment on Wednesday afternoon and realised the difference in lighting was because of the sunshine spilling over the floor , that it hit home how I was used to grey light.

In a couple of days I will have been here two months – and I guess we will have been in the apartment about 7 weeks. This afternoon I walked into MoC and the waitress knew my coffee order. Friday nights the waiters at Saltlick know we will order two fish and chips for dinner and the variation will be in our drinks order. This morning the GPS was the safety net when I drove to IKEA to finally stock up the kitchen, rather an essential tool – I even ignored it twice and went a better way.

It is very easy when you are used to running projects to beat yourself up because you are not meeting a self imposed deadline. Each week I have looked around  and thought “we need this, or I should have got that” . There are the days that end where it doesn’t feel like I have achieved anything partially because what is achieved is intangible – organising flights for Jon, dealing with family crisis half a world away. I have been thinking a lot about transition points and giving yourself time to create a new normal.

Earlier this week I started checking out some online courses and began to figure out how to make career connections here. I’m not particularly interested in finding a job but in being part of the networks discussing the things I’m interested in. Not sure how that will go with the cultural and language challenges but we’ll see how it goes!