Return from the dark side.

Yay for the new year finally having arrived! So official that I have to use white-out whenever I write today's date, because as per usual I will still write 2012. Sometimes I manage to turn the 2 into a 3 with a somewhat elegant, last minute swing of the pen, but not always. We all know it just takes some time to get used to a new year’s formalities.

Last week I returned from Mordor Germany. I saw the sun twice for 10 minutes. The first time was at my Mum's when I got lured outside by people talking about spring-like temperatures. When Germans talk about spring-like temperatures they forget to mention that spring-like temperatures in Germany are still flippin' cold. I ended up out and about and freezing in town, wearing nothing but sweatpants, a t-shirt, a jacket, and oversized scarf. Lucky for the little South African in me, I had decided beforehand that Havianas were probably going to be dead weight on this trip. I did however bring my sunglasses, God knows why. I figured there couldn't be a place where I could not, would not wear sunglasses. I was wrong. Germany was simply too dark, even during the day and thus my face was without sunglasses. So for the most part of the trip they were crying in my backpack.
Spring-like temperatures my ass; Germany was cold and dark. So dark in fact that when I woke the first day at what I thought was the middle of the night I got a freight because I thought the end of the world had simply come a day late. Then I looked at my phone and realized The End had not gotten stuck in traffic, it was worse - it was still pitch black at 8am!

I don't want to sound too mopey, I think I have simply been spoilt for the past 6 winters that I spent in the sun. But I saw my parents, all of my siblings, all my best friends, my awesome nephews, my soon to be born nieces/nephew, and it was great. I loved every minute of it! However, I realized my joy was about seeing the people that I love so much and not about 'being home'. Home is where the heart is. My heart leaped when it landed at Cape Town International Airport and my hand reached for my sunglasses for the first time in ten days. My face simply looks better adorned with some Prada.