Life as an expat or as a sabbatical family is as nutty as regular life. A favorite expat family recently lamented that friends back in England picture them in the pool sipping a pina colada when in fact, he reflected, that the same demands of life continue, just in a different location with different challenges. Back in London he wasn't worrying about a python on his patio- true story!
So, I stumbled upon this post that somehow never got published. I had to laugh because we've just moved again- after 4 houses we have finally found home. We don't regret the journey and this way we know how to spot a great gig when we see it. More on our new place and how to choose a locale another day.
____________This would have been penned more than two years ago:
We've moved. We've had 9 guests. We've had a power cord left behind in the States. . . you get the picture. Hello again.
We've also officially passed the six month mark living here. The kids can hold their own in Spanish and I know how to renew my car insurance with the national company. Gigi can take out arachnids and other creatures without hardly missing a beat. I told her she would probably be reincarnated as a Jain at the rate she's going. . .
***Update:
Gigi two years later is reading Don Quixote in Spanish and J just finished reading a novel in Spanish by a Chilean (Sepulveda) that is taught in University. Now, Costa Rican's look at them to communicate as if I can't speak Spanish because although I'm probably more fluent, their accents are more authentic.
Back to two years ago:
We've spent most of the last 6 weeks seeing the country through the eyes of guests. Costa Rica is the little country that can. Over 25% of the country is protected---a great thing for us all considering this tiny place, 181 times smaller than the US, contains 5% of the world's biodiversity.
That's considered the highest density than any other country in the world. What does that mean? 35,000 types of insects to keep Gigi busy. Over 50 species of hummingbirds. 10% of known butterfly species reside in Costa Rica. 175 different types of Amphibians live in Costa Rica- 85% of which are frogs. 225 reptiles are found in Costa Rica- we've been lucky to have had only encounters with snakes killed by the Nicaraguans who have worked the two places we have lived. We have, however, stood over wild crocodiles and so did my hair! There are 894 species of birds in Costa Rica. Gigi spotted a scarlet macaw recently and more than once we've had the honor of seeing and hearing toucans; there is something wildly impossible about their heavy beak and rainbow colors that make your hair rise for reasons other than does a crocodile.
Update: I saw these two the morning of my birthday recently, they were an incredible present.
There are 6 active volcanoes in Costa Rica and 61 dormant ones; we now live at the foothills of an extinct volcano. Nearly 20 years ago Rick and I camped below the active Arenal Volcano here in Costa Rica and woke up with a grey tent from the ash--- seeing the orange lava burst upward and spray out like a fireworks show in the middle of the night, is one of my top life experiences---it was also one of the scariest! In the pitch black, it felt like we should be running to get the heck out of dodge!
Sadly, Arenal went dormant in 2010. We will go back there in a couple of weeks with good friends from Washington, the hot springs are still flowing and it is a favorite place to visit for one and all.
Update: visiting our favorite hot spring hotel in Arenal a couple of months ago
Life goes on by way of learning.
The flora never ceases to amaze. Just moments after this photo was taken our toddler would bend over to smell a flower only to illicit shrieking from our guide and panic. He described it as poisonous- sure enough, before our very eyes a giant blister appeared on her nose. Days later it would look like she'd face planted on asphalt after being thrown from a bike- it was that bad.
*Update: she healed, but she has a series of freckles exactly in that spot.
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But our experiences remain with us
The good
The biggest lesson has been about not holding back.
Jumping into the very things that seem the most difficult.
And when you are on sabbatical a lot will be difficult.
I love the direct communion with wonder that happens with frequency if you choose to do this with the short and precious life we have.
You find out that you might start out hating papaya and grow to like them.
That there are as many different beaches as there are people and each one has their magic.
So, I stumbled upon this post that somehow never got published. I had to laugh because we've just moved again- after 4 houses we have finally found home. We don't regret the journey and this way we know how to spot a great gig when we see it. More on our new place and how to choose a locale another day.
____________This would have been penned more than two years ago:
We've moved. We've had 9 guests. We've had a power cord left behind in the States. . . you get the picture. Hello again.
 |
| Looking at the Continental Divide as winds from the Atlantic and Pacific pummeled from different directions. |
We've also officially passed the six month mark living here. The kids can hold their own in Spanish and I know how to renew my car insurance with the national company. Gigi can take out arachnids and other creatures without hardly missing a beat. I told her she would probably be reincarnated as a Jain at the rate she's going. . .
***Update:
Gigi two years later is reading Don Quixote in Spanish and J just finished reading a novel in Spanish by a Chilean (Sepulveda) that is taught in University. Now, Costa Rican's look at them to communicate as if I can't speak Spanish because although I'm probably more fluent, their accents are more authentic.
Back to two years ago:
We've spent most of the last 6 weeks seeing the country through the eyes of guests. Costa Rica is the little country that can. Over 25% of the country is protected---a great thing for us all considering this tiny place, 181 times smaller than the US, contains 5% of the world's biodiversity.
That's considered the highest density than any other country in the world. What does that mean? 35,000 types of insects to keep Gigi busy. Over 50 species of hummingbirds. 10% of known butterfly species reside in Costa Rica. 175 different types of Amphibians live in Costa Rica- 85% of which are frogs. 225 reptiles are found in Costa Rica- we've been lucky to have had only encounters with snakes killed by the Nicaraguans who have worked the two places we have lived. We have, however, stood over wild crocodiles and so did my hair! There are 894 species of birds in Costa Rica. Gigi spotted a scarlet macaw recently and more than once we've had the honor of seeing and hearing toucans; there is something wildly impossible about their heavy beak and rainbow colors that make your hair rise for reasons other than does a crocodile. |
| Photo by expat Paul |
There are 6 active volcanoes in Costa Rica and 61 dormant ones; we now live at the foothills of an extinct volcano. Nearly 20 years ago Rick and I camped below the active Arenal Volcano here in Costa Rica and woke up with a grey tent from the ash--- seeing the orange lava burst upward and spray out like a fireworks show in the middle of the night, is one of my top life experiences---it was also one of the scariest! In the pitch black, it felt like we should be running to get the heck out of dodge!
Sadly, Arenal went dormant in 2010. We will go back there in a couple of weeks with good friends from Washington, the hot springs are still flowing and it is a favorite place to visit for one and all.
Update: visiting our favorite hot spring hotel in Arenal a couple of months ago
Life goes on by way of learning.
Gigi's creation for her presentation on medicine during the Black Death
The flora never ceases to amaze. Just moments after this photo was taken our toddler would bend over to smell a flower only to illicit shrieking from our guide and panic. He described it as poisonous- sure enough, before our very eyes a giant blister appeared on her nose. Days later it would look like she'd face planted on asphalt after being thrown from a bike- it was that bad.
*Update: she healed, but she has a series of freckles exactly in that spot.
There are over 200 species of Heliconias, we are reminded daily about the magic of nature.
Growth abounds in all ways. Especially in each of us.
Update:
This kiddo has now danced, sung and recited in more Costa Rican independence days than in her native country. It's an odd realization.
Here she is in this year's 2014 event. She's the far left with the flower headband.
So much has happened in the last couple of years. A dead goat . . . jumping off of waterfalls, a tarantula in the car, feeling like the language acquisition would never happen, getting used to driving in a country where road signs are as scarce as snow in the winter. . .
We've grown up
from when we first started writing about family sabbatical back when we spent some time in Andalucia
Marrakech when the kids were in 4th and 6th grade
The good
and the bad (and boring)
The biggest lesson has been about not holding back.
Jumping into the very things that seem the most difficult.
And when you are on sabbatical a lot will be difficult.
But even more will take your breath away.
Over
and over.
I love the direct communion with wonder that happens with frequency if you choose to do this with the short and precious life we have.
You find out that you might start out hating papaya and grow to like them.
You learn that stopping to take in a sunset over the ocean always is worthwhile.
That there are as many different beaches as there are people and each one has their magic.
Thanks to all of you who reach out wanting to talk about your own family sabbatical. I had a chance to sit down just yesterday and talk with a family whom I met via the blog last year and are now living here in Costa Rica with their four children. I've marveled at how well they have slipped into life and what a great job they do at enjoying it.
It reminds me that the hardest thing about a family sabbatical might just be
taking the plunge to do it.
If you want to talk about it, reach me at familyintow@gmail.com
I titled this post 'First with your head, then with your heart' because at the time, I was reading the great South African novel, The Power of One. Embarking on our third year of living away from the US, in a Spanish speaking country and where our children have also had to learn French, I will say that the experience changes you: first with your head, and then with your heart.
________________________________________________
From the first months of living here:
From a trip to Oxford, England on our first Family Sabbatical:
