This was a winter of our dreams. In late November I have managed to take few weeks of vacation and we went to beautiful Seychelles islands in the equator area of Indian Ocean. We have visited 3 islands - Mahe, Praslin and LaDigue and Jitka has made some great pictures while there. I must say that Seychelles look better on pictures than in reality. The level of services and infrastructure is far behind the paradisiacal look of the islands. Good hotels are so expensive, so we decided to go on our own and we were renting self- catering bungallows or villas. At the end we have spent most of our time on Praslin. One of the best things on that island was lack of any wireless internet connection, so I had no idea how many emails are comming to my mailbox and as a side effect I was not aware what is going on in the company I work for. We were going home very relaxed and well rested.
First day in the work after vacation I was told by our HR director that my position has been made redundant and that I am expected to leave. I must say, I was not that surprised as I have seen company getting rid of people in similar positions in the US few weeks before. It might sound strange, I even liked it. Since the aquisition about one year ago, I have struggled with the inner culture of that company, though our portfolio was terrific. On top of that I was going to leave with solid severance package. Who would give you that, when you leave on your own.
So from one vacation we have swiftly moved into Christmas - with no haste, no rush - just pure peaceful Christmas. Even shopping madness was not present this year, as people were more consciuous because of the emerging crisis.
Winter on the Czech highland where we live is not a very pleasant period of the year, at least for most of the time. So we have took the opportunity of not having to ask anybody for vacation time and left for Mauritius in January. Mauritius is a beutiful tropical island just east of Madagascar. We have rented a bungallow on the south west coast, just on the beach. The weather is stable on this side of the island and the surrounding nature here is still rather wild tropical forest with mountains and gorges. Originally we were going for 3 1/2 weeks and with Jitka's parents. But latter we have decided to extend for 3 more weeks as Jitka started to have early gravididity sickness (yes we are expecting the 3rd baby), which was easier to handle in the place with more sun and fun. (also easier than dressing up 2 small kids for cold winter few times a day).
We have returned back home in early March, still soon enough to enjoy plenty of snow. One moment I was not sure what our kids like better - beach or snow? This question is answered with much more ease by their parents.
Truly the winter of our dreams came through this year. I had a break from work. We had peaceful Christmas, winter with snow and 9 1/2 weeks on tropical islands.
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| Navratil's family |
