#1 reason for teachers:
Our son's language education.
Only by living fully in a Spanish language culture will our son Luke gain native language proficiency and confidence in already functional Spanish. Bogota Colombia is the single best place in the world to develop and practice a version of Spanish free from local dialects and accents. (That's what I'm told.) (Oh, I'm in crash language learning mode too. And in this context "crash" is the important word. :-)
#1 reason for parents:
We are selfish.
Our son is now twelve years old. We've always dreamed of creating a once in a lifetime family adventure and having him all to ourselves before the press of high school starts. By the time a US child reaches high school age and its social and educational constraints, our chance for either selfish goal we felt would be too small. Time's up. (I can get so bummed thinking about this aging thing. Ugh.) So, now or never. :-)
#1 reason for adventure:
Many family adventures are very close.
Colombia is both very close to our Miami home (Colombia's closer to our Miami home than New York.) and a great starting point for other travels to points south. The Andes mountains, Amazon rain forest, Galapagos Islands, and Caribbean coastal mountains are all less than two hours away.) Colombia is one of the world's most culturally and ecologically diverse countries on earth, and is bigger than France and Germany combined. Within Colombia we have easy access to peoples of every social background, and natural environments that rival any int he world. :-)
#1 reason for personal sabbatical:
Unstructured personal growth.
Friends, this has not been easy. Intentionally and consciously not thinking, while giving my mind a chance to wander, settle and absorb has been extremely difficult for me. Month two was especially difficult. (Re)reading Siddhartha, Darwin and analyses of Colombia's situation, and making my way through Bogota's huge spectrum of society became nearly overwhelming (without the constant distraction of "real work"). Where this leads I don't yet know, but that's exactly the point, isn't it?
#1 reason for easy:
Colombian friends.
From our Miami life, we have many generous Colombian friends that have made our stay here very easy. They showed (or often, handed) us the ropes that make things happen. They are great! (You can do this without local help, but friends are always better.) :-)
#1 reason for timing:
There's always a reason to not do something. But the things you don't do are the things you truly regret (See Ogden Nash's analysis on the video to the right.). When a friend declared that this was the moment to act on our long-stated adventure wish, we looked down the highway and saw all the lights turn 'green'. Go. So we stopped out-thinking ourselves and went. (It helped that business-wise this was a near-perfect year to go. Sure that helped, but really, ask yourself if another life is possible other than the life your job gives you? Then act.) :-)
#1 reason for back-up plan:
What's the worst that could happen?
We change our mind and return home early? If that were to happen, we'd still end up with a life adventure shared with our son. And interesting stories to share with friends. Other disasters were just as likely to happen in Miami as in Colombia, and those would be far less interesting. So, easy decision: Go. :-)
#1 reason for money:
The cost of living and exchange rate.
The spectrum of the Colombian economy and society means that we can enjoy a very high standard of living at very low risk. There's always a place in the world with similar conditions, so find it and do it.
People's responses.
When we told friends and family of our plans, we got two types of reactions:
1) Fantastic! Can I come too?
2) Are you crazy? Why would you ever want to do that? Haven't you seen 'Narcos'?
There were no middle ground responses.
I hope this blog's many entries help explain our personal experience and point of view.
We seek your comments and can't wait to see you here or back in the States.
