Hello!! A lot has changed since we last blogged. I've kept meaning to post, but have been delaying until we've "fully processed" our year and come to some life-changing conclusions to share. Perhaps that isn't particularly realistic or even helpful though, so I'm just gonna share how our last month has been and where we're at now!
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| The excellent cake Anna Scott welcomed us home with |
Where are you??
The wonderful (but also sad) news is that we're back in the UK and have moved back to Nottingham. When I last posted we genuinely had no clue when or how we would be getting home. But then in a relatively crazy couple of days we found out we could get a charter flight to Zambia, then a commercial flight through Ethiopia and up to London. This was still outside of our budget though, so we reached out to some close friends and family that have been supporting us. Amazingly, within 12 hours, the full amount was raised and we were able to book the flights!!
So on 24th August we arrived back in the UK to grey clouds and a MaccyDs breakfast. Our first few weeks back felt a bit unreal and like a little holiday to be honest! We spend nearly 3 weeks initially in Southampton with my Mum, Gerry and Anna, which was just very lovely and gave us some time to get some life admin done - sim cards, car, job prep, etc.
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The Brains came to visit us in Southampton! So did my Dad and Isaac...some of you may have seen how that turned out in my recent post |
Then a couple of weeks ago we moved up to stay with the wonderful Dave and Elle Wright (who now have the cutest lil' baby, Esther) whilst we sorted out getting our own place. Which again was totally lovely to hang out with them for a long time and so helpful for us getting things sorted as our new lives started to fall into place. We are so grateful to both of them for opening up their home to us and letting us intrude on their life for a couple of weeks. Living together meant we got to have lots of Esther time too, which was really the only reason we stayed with them, soz guys.
It's been a really lovely ease into life in the UK, where we've slowly got to see people. Which I think was probably super helpful in easing us back into life in the UK, rather than rushing straight back in and experiencing massive reverse-culture shock like we expected. But I think that as we've now moved into our own place and we've started jobs the transition is starting to hit us a bit more. We've started noticing things that we're missing from Malawi - family time with the Kamangas, laughing the Phiris' jokes, eating lots of food with the Monjezas, watching Liverpool beat Arsenal with Dumi, experiencing church transition together. We're very grateful for WhatsApp and technology for keeping us in touch, but obviously, it's not the same as being together!
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| Our last Sunday was a surprise goodbye service which was so lovely and fun |
I think that's the part we've finding hardest about moving back actually - not being together with people. We never expected to be coming back to a UK where we wouldn't be able to hang out with our home group, or go for a weekend away with uni friends, or feel free to visit family whenever, wherever. It's been a weird adjustment trying to have to work out how we see people. Which maybe, along with the stress of trying to get our lives sorted out, has meant we've not really hung out with many people yet. We've not seen half the people that we'd love to, let alone actually spending quality time together. But we did get to visit the lovely Little family the other weekend, which was such a joyful moment of normality for us as we got to hang out in someone's lounge and chat over a cuppa. We were sat at a distance, but it was a moment of feeling close to home.
Bekah's Job
This was a small point of concern when we booked our flights as at that stage neither of us really had anything to come back to, with Bekah's pre-school being unsure on the amount of hours they'd be able to give her due to low numbers. Like with our flight tickets, the provision has been amazing.
But amazingly, in the week after booking tickets Bekah was told that she could restart back doing 4 days a week!! And even more than that, the opportunity came up for her to apply for Deputy Manager, which she got!! So she's returning with a promotion - absolute madness.
She's done a week and a bit back now and is absolutely loving being with the kids! It's a setting she really loves and thrives in, so she's very glad to be back in the thick of it.
Sad that this cheeky one won't be at Heart Preschool though!
Ben's Job(s?!)
As we got our flight home, things were still very much unknown with my job situation though. I'd had a few online interviews whilst in Malawi and hadn't got them. There was one job that I was possibly going to be offered, 3 days a week at Leicester College teaching Functional Skills maths to adults (what I was doing at Nottingham College before we left), but it wasn't confirmed as HR had to approve it. I then also had an interview the day after our flights returned home for four days a week at Bestwood Advice Centre, which I didn't know lots about before applying to be honest.
But the interview went amazingly well! I really loved the heart behind the centre, what they do and I got excited about being able to be a part of it. Dilemma. So I did a pros and cons list, obviously. The Leicester College job is something I knew I'd be good at, have done before and am confident with. And the Advice Centre was totally new, but a potentially exciting thing where I'd be helping people in a very real way.
Incredibly though I got offered them both!!! I had decided to definitely say yes to Leicester College as it's a promotion on my previous role at Nottingham College, and cheekily asked the Advice Centre if I could do just two days with them instead of full time....And they said yes straight off!!! Absolute madness (again). On the day we got back I had no jobs, 2 days later I had two!!?!
So I've started at Bestwood Advice Centre now doing two days a week, which I'm really enjoying! There's a lot of information to take in, but already I can see the difference that they're making in people's lives in supporting people in difficult life situations, or people who are vulnerable in getting the financial support they need through benefits, welfare rights and debt relief.
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| Despite having no idea about jobs when taking this pic, I was loving life because flights are the best - films, food, views |
Bulwell.
This blog
title may have confused some of you non-Nottinghammers. It may even have
confused some of you resident Notters. I'd never even been to Bulwell and had no idea what it was like before we moved in! We chose it because it's
within walking distance of Bekah's Preschool and the Advice Centre, but we've
since found out that our closest shop is a Big Lidl, followed by a kebab grill
and KFC. And there's a tram nearby, so we've basically nailed life totally by
accident.
The name does sound a bit drab and I always say it with a bit of a shrug, a sneer and an "oh…Bulwell." Bekah says I need to start saying it more positively as it's actually kinda great, and we're enjoying exploring it and finding new exciting things (e.g. Tony's Tiny Game Shop which advertises Gamecubes and is the tiniest shop I've ever seen).
We may do another blog in the future, or this may be the last one. But we want to thank of all of you who have lovingly supported us throughout the year. Thank you to those of you who sent us encouraging messages or who just checked in on how we were doing. Thank you to all of you in Malawi who welcomed us so warmly into your homes and shared life with us. Over the last month or so our hearts have just been full of gratitude for all of the things we've shared in these blogs, so most of all, thank you to Jesus for your constant presence and kindness.
Really looking forward to seeing some of you (at a safe distance) when possible! We'd love to hang out, but are also still adjusting to life back. So please do message us, but apologies if we don't reply immediately.
Lots of love,
B&B
P.S. If you wanna see a little video where we chat about Malawi, we did a bit for Grace Church kids last Sunday - we jump in at around 12:04.
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