We are Michael and Jolandi, two South Africans, living in the United Arab Emirates. Over many glasses of wine, we have dreamed of a life unencumbered by the demands and restrictions of corporate life, and as we grew older, realized that unless we make a decision to take the plunge, we will find ourselves stuck in the same rut, ten years from now. Not wanting to risk a life of regret, we have purchased a 3 ha piece of land in rural Portugal, and are planning to, over the next couple of years, set up our life, so that we can move there. We originally aimed for December 2019, but realised that a dream like this needed a lot more patience, time, and money than we initially expected. Throw in a pandemic, and things got even more messy. Despite all of this I (Jolandi) moved to Portugal on 9 October 2020, while Michael is still working in Abu Dhabi for the time being, as a regular income will allow us the freedom to build more infrastructure, pay off an apartment, and set up our life in a way that will provide us with a bit of financial freedom.
“One cat won’t fix all of your problems.But three might.Or they might just cause enough problems for you to forget all about your old problems.So get four.”– Unknown Years ago, when we had to put our first rescue cat in the UAE down, we were heartbroken. When Michael, not long after, came home one day […]
The new season of Threshold entitled Hark, an award-winning podcast concentrating on environmental journalism, starts with Amy Martin asking listeners to hit the pause button and listen to all the sounds they can hear. Perhaps do the same as what she suggests, and close your eyes for a moment to listen to what you can […]
“Do I have a single identity – based on nationality, ethnicity, religion, class, gender or geography? Or am I essentially a mixture of multiple belongings, cultural allegiances and diverse inheritances, backgrounds and trajectories?”– Elif Shafak In her book How to Stay Sane in an Age of Division, Elif Shafak urges the reader to ask the […]
“We are all driven to belong. To be part of the tribe, but not everybody fits in the same way. We want a life rich with purpose and meaning. That too is in our DNA, but that meaning can’t be prescribed. It must be sought, and found, and sometimes wrestled with, and fought for.”– Aaron […]