So that whole business about trying to post more regularly was really malarky. Its been 6 months since a post, but in my defence I never claimed to be a good person! :)
So how to sum up the last six months in as little words as possible? An adventure. That's for sure. Between travelling, working in a foreign country, learning a ton, being home, going through some more medical bullshit, the list goes on, but it's been a doozy. In some respects it's been much harder than I'd ever imagined it would be and in others it's been easier.
The distance from home, Lisa, family, friends, the dogs, that has been solidly the hardest part of the whole thing and I think caught both Lisa and I off guard. The silver lining being the perspective it has granted me on what things I previously took for granted will be something that I cherish the rest of my life. It has firmly re-aligned my world view and provided some much needed adjustments in some areas.
The work side has been challenging but rewarding. I continue to be excited by the work I encounter every day. A challenge is hard to come by, and something I'd been missing in my work life for a long time so this has been pretty fantastic. The team here is dynamic, interesting, and constantly evolving so it really keeps me on my toes - something that I need to stay engaged.
Lisa and I had the incredible opportunity to spend two weeks in the UK. In typical Sinfield fashion the first thing we did was rent a car and promptly drive around the entire island covering England, Scotland, and Wales in a little under 14 days. It was the trip of a lifetime, and the first real trip that we've taken just the two of us since our honeymoon. That trip alone was more than worth the year, we both agree.
Since then there hasn't been much adventuring travel wise as I've been back home for the rest of the rotations for various reasons, but more travel is planned for 2014. Which I guess leads perfectly into the next bit, it hasn't been "publicly" shared but the opportunity arose to stay in Madagascar and renew for an additional year as they were apparently OK with my performance thus far. :) Lisa and I discussed and made the decision to sign for one more year, so I will officially be extending my initial 1 year journey to Madagascar into a two year with my contract end date set at November 9th, 2014.
The decision was conflicted as it's obvious that I/we want me to be home, but at the same time the opportunities it affords us both travel and otherwise is something that we were unable to ignore. Short term pain, long term gain as they say.
With the decision made, I somehow managed to catch Lisa in a weak moment and prompt bought myself a cheap dirt bike here for getting around. The one regret I've had in the year I've spent here thus far is that I haven't been able to see any of the country itself. Everything I've seen I've posted about on this here blog. Really. It has been that boring. I have been out and about but mostly to the same places, doing the same sort of things. The bike has allowed me to travel and we've done one Sunday trip thus far which I will post about soon.... :)
So yeah, that's six months in a page or less. Apologies that it's a touch disjointed, but you get what you pay for I suppose. Will actually try to post more often than every six months this time, I promise!
<3
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