We made it through the first week!

And so it begins… our year of magical traveling kicked off last Saturday, when we had an epic day of traveling. After an early morning flight to Miami, 8 hours hanging out in the airport there, and a 5 ½ hour flight to Lima, we arrived late at night, breezed through customs, were greeted by a giant throng of people, and were launched into a relatively warm Lima night. It took another hour or so to reach our hotel, and the epic day finally concluded. Simon was a real trooper; his day began at 4:30 a.m. and ended at 12:30 a.m., and still he was his normal fabulous self. (And he liked carrying his backpack full of his treats – see the pic.) He had a blast in the taxi from the airport: for the first time outside of a carseat and facing forward. He joyfully called out every car, truck, and bus he saw for the first 20 minutes or so... which meant he was pointing and exclaiming nonstop.

We’ve finished our first week here: a week of Spanish classes and a week living with a family. This household is very international: the señor is from Peru, the señora is from Colombia, and they have a 10 year old son. There is a retired Canadian banker who is here for another couple of weeks who is also studying at our Spanish school, a young Japanese businessman, and then the three of us from the States.

It takes about 20-25 minutes to walk to our school. More on that in another post. It’s nice to have a 40-50 minute walk in each day, something we didn’t necessarily do in Indy.

We have three weeks more of the Spanish classes/homestay.  It’s clear that the family loves Simon, but their ways of expressing it are a little much for us at times. The señora and her son have very big personalities and are very in-your-face. (Such as: one time Simon and I came out of the bathroom and were immediately surrounded by the señora, her son, and the dog. The idea of personal space is very different here!) Simon tends to be a little timid until he feels comfortable, and so the first week was full of them picking him up and trying to get him to do certain things, with him having a panicked look on his face and calling/reaching out to me. I was trying to set a balance between not offending them and responding to Simon’s pleas.

Maybe it’s culture shock, and maybe it’s just that I’m too sensitive/take things too personally, but several things are make me uncomfortable here in the house. The one that I’ll mention today is that the señora is full of opinions and is very vocal about them. Here’s a sampling: you guys are crazy for traveling with a small child; he needs to stay at home more; he needs to be with other children in a day care; he needs more clothing; you shouldn’t let him use sign language because boys learn to speak later than girls anyway and he needs to learn how to speak instead of just using his hands to communicate – it’s too easy for him; he should eat differently. Whatever!

In general, I am trying to just let her express her opinions and then just keep doing whatever we would do anyway. We probably are pretty crazy in some ways, but I think it’s pretty funny that she thinks we are doing everything wrong, yet she keeps commenting on how well-behaved Simon is, how he never cries, etc. Of course, part of that is the luck of the draw. But I’d also like to think part of it is because of how we are parenting him.

If it weren’t for our concern about Simon, it would be a pretty ideal set up. The food is amazing, there are lots of parks nearby, it’s on a quiet street, the family is generally pretty welcoming. And then the señora tries to force food into Simon’s mouth or take him into a different room when he is crying for me… no. So, in general, we reformulate our strategy day by day for dealing with the señora and Simon. If you’ve had any experience with Latin American cultures and your children, I would love to hear your experiences/recommendations!

The food in the house is incredibly delicious, of course. The juices, a different one every morning, made minutes before we come to breakfast, are fantastic. The soups at dinner… I don’t even need more food than that, if could just have two or three bowls of it. They are so, so delicious. I asked the señora this morning if she’d teach me how to make the juices and she said no. No!??! Wow, I was thinking it would be a compliment to her as well as something that Sam, Simon, and I could continue to enjoy once we have our own apartment, but perhaps we’ll just have to wing it. She said, essentially, that there wasn’t anything to it and that sometimes she would put spices in it that perhaps I couldn’t eat, being celiac, and since there wasn’t a recipe, then no. Oh well. Maybe now I’ll just ask each morning what is in it and take secret notes!

It will be nice when we feel more comfortable and at ease with things. Everything takes time, a lesson I need to relearn every single day!

The Big Change

Our church publication asked me to write something about "Big Changes" for an upcoming issue with that theme. I figured that article was a good way to kick off this blog, too.

One of my favorite bosses was fond of saying, “Change is the only constant.” While I didn’t quite understand or believe her at the time, I now find myself thinking that same phrase with some frequency. The last year and a half has been a big change for me, period, as I had Simon and left work. For all the planning that went into both of those events, those changes were pretty seamless.

And now we are in the middle of another big change. For years Sam and I have talked about living and volunteering in a Spanish-speaking country. Figuring out the timing pre-Simon was the hard part – neither one of us was ready to leave our job. And then we had Simon – how practical was it to consider traveling & living in another country with a toddler?

We quickly decided that Simon would be a fantastic traveler: he’d help start conversations and break down cultural barriers. The timing was right to leave this fall. Sam asked the Global Gifts board for a sabbatical, which they generously granted. Sam hired an interim director and we left mid-September.

I’m writing this four days into the big adventure, so not much has happened yet (at the same time that so much has happened). But I’m constantly reminded that these experiences are always cycling through highs and lows, sometimes many times in a day. There’s the high of speaking Spanish and the low of having our parenting openly judged. There’s the simultaneous high and low of doing something crazy and scary and life-altering: having the dream but also making it happen. The high of meeting new people and planning the next stage of our trip and the low of missing the comfortable routines of home and friends.

During college I took off a semester and went to the Yucatan Peninsula to learn Spanish. I was miserable and considered returning home. I stuck it out, though, and what helped were simple things like looking forward to an activity scheduled for a week later, or walking around and exploring somewhere every day. And now the overall experience is one I value intensely. Remembering that as I cycle through elation and panic is helpful. For all the constant change that we are creating this year, we’ll also create a lifetime of memories for our family.