Hello Luxembourg

22 September 2009

Here we are, in Luxembourg.

We have been here for a week or so, spending time with Jonathan’s family. We’re relaxing, enjoying the GORGEOUS weather and fixing up the Wombat.

We are still having battery problems after all this time and effort (and money) spent on the Wombat. In Islamabad, we decided to buy 2 new batteries because the one we bought in India wasn’t cutting it. We thought having two identical batteries would fix our problem, but it didn’t...Well, we’re not sure if it did...This time the problem is structural. Meaning that one of the cells from our battery leaked acid all over the place. We were in Canada for one month, and so could not attend to the problem right away. Result: Bucket loads of corrosion.

Jonny has been sanding down the rust and repainting the area where the batteries go. Now we have to battery shopping...again... We were planning on reworking the electrical system in the Wombat anyway, but this is just more work that we don’t need! We’re thinking of installing a third battery. We are power hungry.

Meanwhile, I began sanding the battery racks when Jonathan’s mother interrupted me and told me that Jonathan’s dad could take them to work and sandblast them. SCORE! So I moved on. I began reorganizing the seat/single bed in the back. We are going set it so that we can half unfold the bed for our puppy. I have made a list of what we need for little Nomade, and I’m trying to recycle as much as we can. Here is the list of things we have to buy/find/make:

Buy:

2 tarp lined blankets to protect our cushions (this will be the bottom of Nomade’s area)

a kong (a rubber toy for her to gnaw on)

a rope toy

a basket (to make her a bed, I hope I can find one...)

a crate (we’ll wait until she’s a bit bigger)

a leash and collar

Find:

a couple of towels to make sure she’s comfy

an old pillow for her basket

2 doggy bowls

Make:

a doll/toy for her to love and keep her company. I will make it out of old jeans, or old bathing suits. It’ll likely be in the shape of a kitty cat.

I think that’s all we need for little Nomade to hit the road with us. I called Laurent and Amandine the other day and they said she was growing up nicely. She opened her eyes the other day, and Gitane is being a very good mother. I’m looking forward to picking her up in a few weeks. This is my first puppy ever (and Jonathan’s!) I’m sure we’ll do a good job.

Other things that need to be done in the Wombat is hardcore cleaning! I’ll wait for Jonny to be done the batteries, and I’ll empty everything out. Now emptying everything out of a car does not sounds very challenging, but this is also our house, and contains our life. (Click here to get an idea of how much stuff is in the Wombat) I will wash everything and give away what we don’t need. There’s a great recycling centre in Luxembourg where you bring the things you don’t need and people are free to take them home. We just went there to drop off a whole lot of stuff, and i picked up a few things!: a French/Italian dictionary and a red ceramic flower pot to replant our Basil plant. I plan to reorganize everything so that all we have “loose” in the wombat is our 2 suitcases and my guitar. Before we also had 2 big boxes, camera bags, computer bags, an extra car battery, a large hand torch, etc etc. I want to reduce it so that we only have to move our suitcases from the back to the front seats in the evening, and so that Nomade will have the most room possible. Also, I’m FINALLY starting to learn that in life, less is more.

When you have tons of stuff, you have tons of stuff to worry about. There’s only one thing in life that people can’t dammage/steal/ruin for you, your memories! As long as I have photos and my journals, I’m happy :) Of course there are a some things we can’t (or don’t want to) live without, but I’m doing my best to live with the bear minimum, aka à la Jonathan!

I’m having a lot of fun in Luxembourg. We are eating amazing food everyday, drinking fantastic wine, and enjoying the company of family. Some highlights: Jonny’s mom won a club golf tournament over the weekend! We are all very happy. We went to Metz with Jonny’s dad to have a look around and were quite pleased. Jonny’s brother’s girlfriend Anja brought over her pet snake Josette for us to play with (as seen in the photo above). I had a blast!

Our plans are still to head to Sicily but I’m having some visa woes. I have until November 24th to figure things out. I think I’ll find something to study down South. Either in the south of France or the South of Italy. We want to stay warm :)

So that’s all for now. Yesterday marked the one year anniversary that we left our jobs in Australia. So much has happened since then, and I’m terribly happy to live the way I do.

Marie-Claude