one month down, eleven to go :)

So it's the 31st of July and in about twenty minutes it'll be August, and the beginning of the second month of sabbatical. (Well, I suppose it's technically already the beginning of the 2nd month back home in Wellington, but ever since I moved to the US I've found it easiest to just live in the timezone I'm in when it comes to such calculations - else it's just too confusing. The only exception to this rule is my birthday, which I have very happily celebrated over a 48 hour period every year since 1 Sept 2000.)

How's it been going? Great. The pros outweigh the cons by far at the moment - I'm having an awesome time and feel very lucky and privileged. Actually, I heard something on the radio the other day about pros and cons lists, and thought I'd make one up about month #1 of the sabbatical. 

Pros:
* Heaps of stuff has now been crossed off the 'to do' list, especially things that were running a bit - um - well, past deadline
* Some amazing things in the archives: found in Wellington and Adelaide but also in private collections
* Having time to actually work through the archival stuff and start processing it and writing about it
* SLEEP and REST and even a bit of HOLIDAY
* Time with Mum and Auntie Nanie
* A whole week of dropping Matiu at school and picking him up again the week before I came to Aussie - great time to chill with the little man
* Catching up with mates here in Australia (and in Welllington before I left) has been awesome
* I've started walking every day - yay!
* Writing this blog has been really good for me. It's been nice to build time into my day to reflect on things, instead of running myself into exhaustion each day and then waking up already in a rush
* A whole year is superlong! I've already had a chance to do so much - I've already got heaps to be grateful for, I already feel so re-energised and refreshed, that I can only imagine what the time between now and the end of next June has in store... after all, eleven months is a long time.

Cons:
* I've stil got a few things on the 'to do' list yet to be sorted out
* I am yet to start working on writing my own stuff every day. I've been close, with this blog, and with transcribing things from the archives, but I haven't been working on my own scholarly writing much. (This is on the list for month #2 for sure!)
* Already I am getting a sense of how quickly time moves. I am leaving Sydney on Friday and there are quite a few Sydney (and Sydney-area) people I haven't yet managed to connect with!
* I miss my students. Yeah, I know I complain about essay marking when I am in the middle of semester, but I miss them. Undergrads, postgrads... they keep me young and keep me guessing and keep me on my toes and keep me engaged.
* It's hard being away from home. I am so happy all the time, and I am able to keep in touch through postcards and txts and emails and fb and all that jazz... but I miss the whanau. I rang up Matiu tonite to wish him a good day back at school tomorrow after the holidays and it made me miss him heaps. When I rang back later about something, Megan and Mum and Dad were having the regular 'nite before school goes back after the school holidays' family meeting where we synchronise the diaries: sort out pick ups and drop offs, when people are away, when Matiu has sports or whatever, what other things we want to discuss about how he's going. This is the first time I've missed that meeting, and I could picture them sitting around the table with diaries and bits of paper and cellphones, working it all out. And I'm not there. I won't be dropping off the kid (well, except for two days when I'm home next week) and I won't be watching his basketball games and I won't be at home for whanau 'roast nite' or whatever. I knew this was part of the deal when I signed up for a year away, but it still makes me feel a bit, well, like eleven months is a long time.

So, in honour of Matiu (my little chicken licken), Megan, Mum & Dad, I will close today's blog post by sharing a youtube clip about the number 'eleven' that we have watched together many times and that means we all inexplicably say 'eleven' in a fake Scottish accent whenever anyone mentions the number eleven in any context.
Usually when we're watching this I laugh so much that I start to cry.
And then Matiu (who adores this clip) looks up after he finishes his own funny giggly laugh and pats my arm and says (with the wisdom of a 6 year old who knows his Auntie is likely to shed a tear as an expression of pretty much any strong emotion) 'it's okay Auntie Lala I know it's happy crying not sad crying.'
Tonite, I suppose it's a bit of both.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FFRoYhTJQQ