Home Sweet Home

Forgive the delay in sending another update... the day after we wrote our first post, we moved into our new place and have been busy unpacking and setting up what will be our home for the next eight months.  You know we've been on the road for too long, when Damien is overjoyed at the idea that we get to stay in one place for eight months!!  In true Guatemalan fashion, here is how we found this place:

On a Friday afternoon (three weeks ago) we wandered into a property management office that we had heard of, and thought might have a place or two we could look at.  It was 4:30.  On a Friday afternoon.  The owner of the company thought he had a place that would meet our needs, so we all piled into his car and came to take a look.  By 6pm we had seen the place, decided it was great, and barring final negotiations with the owner the plan was to sign a lease over the weekend and move in on Monday!!

As I said, we've still been unpacking and navigating where to find things like potholders in a town where apparently they burn their hands getting food out of the oven.  So we unfortunately don't have many pictures to show yet... stay tuned for those in a subsequent post.  The gist is it's a really nice two-bedroom "townhome" (in quotes, because they wouldn't call it that here, but you can imagine a two-floor unit in between two other units in the complex), in a really nice area just outside the city called Jardines de Antigua.  The biggest selling point for us is that we are walking distance to the kids' school.   We have opted not to have a car for the year (despite many expats encouragement otherwise), so walk-ability and bus-ability are important considerations for us. It's not cheap... Antigua has gotten a lot more expensive in the twelve years since we lived here, but in my mind it's worth paying for a nice place in a secure complex.  Anyhow, pics of the house to be posted soon.  In the meantime, here's the other part of being "home" that has my mind occupied right now...

Part of why we took this year away is to figure out the concentric circles of our lives:  what we want to do professionally, where we want to live, and how/where we want to school the kids.  I know, big life questions and understandably something that we knew deserved more attention than the 15-minutes a day that we seemed to have in our previous existence.  So, we still have a lot more figuring in relation to this question (we're only 1/9 of the way into our time here! ;)) but the idea of "home" has certainly been on my mind.

Partially because we just moved into our home for the year.

Partially because we spend a fair amount of time pointing out things to the kids that are different in our home this year, and that they'll come to miss once we're back in the states -- the most recent being that we're going to be walking down the street in some U.S. city saying "buenos dias" to the passerbys!

Partially because, although we have a lot more figuring out to do, we have begun the conversations around where we will call home next.  For those of you in Colorado who are anxiously awaiting our return, don't despair -- Boulder is still on the list.  We have a wonderful community of friends there and it's probably the most sensible place for us to be professionally, since we both have good reputations there.  That said, we're also considering things like: holy moly, we have to both work a lot (certainly more than we want to) in order to afford the lifestyle we want in Boulder; it might be really nice to live near my family's beach cabin so we can utilize it more than once a year; being closer to family certainly  has its benefits; and wow is it nice living in a temperate climate and the thought of returning to snow isn't so exciting.  So vamos a ver... lots to still figure out.

And last but certainly not least, the idea of "home" has been on my mind because we found out that two of our dearest friends are divorcing and we were both heartbroken at the news.  What has made it even harder is how very far away we are, when all I want to do is hug my friend as she navigates this intense journey.  And it has begged the question -- if we were stateside, anywhere in the country and I weren't a nursing mom (OK, two big "ifs" but still) would I be on the next plane to see her/them?  I'd like to think so.  And that to me is the definition of "home".  Not geographic.  But where you sink in, where you land.

We don't have that sort of grounding yet in Antigua, and I honestly don't know if we will.  Because we know its temporary.  But we have pockets of that in the states -- CO, WA, CA, and AZ -- and the question will ultimately become where is "home sweet home"?

I digress.  Enough philosophy for one post.  Scroll down for some of the visual highlights of our past few weeks here. 

Know that we love you and miss you, especially right now as we experience how very far away we feel.  But also know that you all are close in our hearts, and are welcome to come visit us in our new home anytime...

The famous Antigua arch!!

Don't forget the beautiful view through the arch!

Gemma spent the first week in our new house only wanting to eat lunch out on our porch/sunroom...
nothing like some tipico PB & J! ;)

View of Volcan Agua from right outside our house!
On a clear (i.e. not cloudy) day you can see the very top!

Damien has decided he wants to be a volcanologist when he grows up.
He's certainly in the right city and has the right outfit! ;)

Our walk to school or the bus into town.  We're averaging 13K steps a day!!

View of Volcan Fuego on our walk.

Damien's last day of Spanish School (before starting Montessori).

Caoba Farms is an amazing organic farm / store / farmer's market right near our house,
frequented by expats and locals alike!

Just one of their amazing gardens! (Steve, check this out!!)
The expats like to buy lettuce here, just to be safe!

You know our kid is from Boulder (and we've raised him right) when he gets super excited that the farm separates their garbage, recycling, and compost!  That's one thing about living here that is really hard for us... pretty much nonexistent recycling and composting. :(  We did find a place in the mercado that will take used containers to resell to other people, so at least there's that...

Because of course, why not have yoga classes at the organic farm!
(Stephanie, I totally thought of you!! :))

Look again... this is Guatemalan Scouts and it's mixed gender!!
If Damien wasn't already in school five days/week and Gemma were a little older, we'd seriously consider
 putting them in Scouts here... maybe all the fun without all the politics of Boy Scouts.  Maybe.

Resident volcanologist! <3

Gemma was fascinated by the bunnies at our friends' house in Reno too.
Here she is admiring the bunnies at Caoba Farm.

I guess you can see why... how cute are they??

New baby bunnies.

And a mama coming back to protect her young when she senses we're getting a little too close. <3

What's that noise??  It sounds like a chicken, but where is it coming from?  The kids went searching, only to find...

A hen laying an egg!!!

First week at Montessori... apprehensive but excited!  (That goes for mama too! :))

I couldn't resist but put this picture in... it captures Gemma perfectly.  Moving, moving, all the time! :)

This girl is growing leaps and bounds... whether that's just the reality of being an adventurous, want to be self-sufficient two-year-old or whether that's the result of living abroad (or both) she's determined to get her own filtered water.

Victory!!!

No joke, Damien is explaining chess to Gemma.  She's of course not getting it,
 but listening to him describe the movements/roles of each piece is beyond sweet!

Our first party hosted by a Guatemalan!  One of the kids in Damien's class invited us to their Halloween Party...
we were the only gringos who came, so it was an awesome and pretty overwhelming (all in Spanish) experience!!

When it's three days before a Halloween Party and you say to your very literal child "let's just look around the house, and find something here to use as a costume", he comes up with the amazing idea of being a clothesline!!! :)

Cutest clothesline posts ever!

Playing at the party!

In case the pinata wasn't enough, there was jello and decorative cookies  Holy sugar high! :)

And who could forget a professional clown hosting the fun!

You know you're immersing when your goal is to understand most of what the clown says to the group of preschoolers! ;)

Pinata time.  Mesmerized Gemma!

Y comida tipica!  Super yummy tostadas for 5Q (about 75 cents).

I don't know who this kid is, but he was too cute not to photograph!

And of course so is this cutie!

The view of Volcan Agua from the party.

One of the best things about leaving the party at dusk was walking home as Volcan Fuego started to erupt!  It's an active volcano about 15 minutes (as the crow flies) from our house, but this night in particular it was really active!!

!!!!!

!!!!!!

This photo was taken by somebody else here in Antigua, but it is SO amazing that we
 wanted to make sure you saw how crazy Fuego can get!

Halloween Trick-or-Treating at Parque Central.  Same costume, different day!
Got lots of smiles from the locals at our creativity!

Requisite candy sorting.

First year that I think she really gets the whole idea of this Halloween thing! :)

You know you're a play therapist when you end up strapped down in your own living room!

Hasta luego...

Love,
Selena (and Michael)