Mauritius

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It feels a bit like a dream, still far enough away that it's not yet a reality.  But, whether I can believe it or not, in August we'll be moving there.  The husband is up to his eyeballs in French class, which is a constant reminder to me of how atrocious my French has become.  As he reminds me, though, I haven't spoken it in 10 years so I suppose that's allowed, but still.  I am thrilled at the prospect live in a French speaking country - to get some French back, or at least to improve it, in any way shape or form.

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As we are still 7 months away from our departure, we don't know any specifics about where we'll actually be living.  We are learning bits and pieces about our soon-to-be-home as we go, though.  In case you've never heard of Mauritius or you just don't know anything about it, it is located about 1200 miles off the Eastern coast of Africa in the Indian Ocean.  Portugese explorers discovered no indigenous people living there when they came across it in the early 1500's, but they didn't settle.  The Dutch, however, colonized it in 1598, but after unfortunately assuring that the Dodo bird (only ever found in Mauritius) was good and extinct, they deserted it and the French then colonized it in the early 1700s.  Then the British took control in the early 1800s during the Napoleonic Wars and wikipedia tells me it became an independent state as a commonwealth realm in the late 60s and a Republic within the Commonwealth in 1992.  And that's your history lesson for today!

Poor Dodo.
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French is the most widely spoken language, which I'm thrilled about.  We know that the island is small enough to drive across in about 45 minutes, and the traffic can be infuriating because - well - there's only so much room for roads.  There more than enough things to do on the island, like snorkeling, catamaran sailing, diving, swimming with dolphins, golfing, horseback riding on the beach, even horse racing at the track.  There are plentiful markets, botanical gardens, a theatre, even a couple of museums.  The dozens of high-end resorts on the island ensure that a good dinner out is never hard to find.

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But, if we find ourselves bored, we can hop over to one of the neighboring islands to see what they have to offer.  In fact, the Seychelles are just a quick 2.5 hour flight away and fall under the jurisdiction of the US Embassy, in Mauritius, and we understand that a few trips to the there will be necessary.  Here's what we might see while we're there:

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Hideous, isn't it?

We have yet to find out where we will be living, and I'd imagine we won't know that for a while.  We have been asked what our preferences are: proximity to the city or to schools, do we want a garden?, do we want a pool pool?(!?!?), do we want a garden, etc.  It's a tough decision given that C will likely only be in school for our last year there, and it's always harder to determine where you want to live if you haven't been there yet.  I'm a city lover, but if I m going to live on an island I think I'd be just fine with a beachside home...  Goodness, I've just realize how absolutely ridiculous this sounds.  It's all beautiful and wherever we live will be wonderful, I am sure!

Well this is about as much as we know at the moment, in case anyone was wondering what the latest is.  We will be organizing our flights soon - we're hoping to stop in Ireland on our way to see family and friends that we haven't seen in entirely too long, so if you're one of those people, make sure you're around at the beginning of August!

Questions about our new home?  Go ahead...I'll do my best!

Right, back to daydreaming about white beaches and unbelievably blue water...

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