I boarded the plane, destination Bogotá Colombia, sniffling and brushing back tears that kept coming despite my annoyance they were there. But I was feeling the loss of so many things- people, places, roles – even as my heart was singing with excitement about what this next chapter holds for me.
For quite some time I’ve wanted to live in a Spanish-speaking country and really get into the life and culture more than a traveler passing by can do. That’s not just something that happens to a person; it either takes a courageous, maybe somewhat spontaneous leap of faith and love of travel, or it takes a long season of careful planning. I’m a planned-adventurer. To me, adventure doesn’t have to be spontaneous or hard core, but it is getting out of your regular life (wonderful as it may be) and comfort zone for whatever timeframe you have.
And I really liked my life. It’s had its challenges and disappointments for sure, and well over a year and a half ago when the idea to move to South America sprung into my head with a very clear force, I had the idea of making this a long-term move and actually not coming back to Colorado at all.
I’m grateful that I have the resources and support to even get to make a choice and change like this.
Over the course of about 20 months, the plans have taken on many new aspects but the end-goal has remained the same: to live a largely local life and work within a community in South America. I will be teaching English at a language school for business-people and using my other time to better my Spanish to fluency as well as explore my new community. And both of those are going to take some time… Bogota is more than 8 million people big! And as helpful as my Spanish has been on previous trips, I really think I speak at about a 7-year-old level. So, some room to grow. Like 30 years. Ha!
I was employed at my workplace, a well-respected and forward-thinking retirement community in Boulder called Frasier, for 13 years. I truly grew up there in many ways, as I began working for them not long after college. There I became the Director of Wellness in 2013 and it’s been a passion of mine to learn best practices in the field of aging fitness-and-wellness and to serve our clients extremely well.
It was a hard call to leave Frasier, and I’ll keep grieving (though not regretting) that loss for quite some time. I got really nervous (and I sweat a lot when I’m nervous…) when it was time to tell my staff. I literally gave & received 200 or more hugs on the day they threw me a goodbye party. (Not so much sweating then, thankfully). I cried when I cleaned out my office, and it took me twice as long as I thought it would because I had accumulated so many “treasures”, memories, and resources from working there for so long. There was no just throwing some books, papers, and the token office plant into a box and strolling to the car. Also, during the last two weeks of working there, I had to literally sneak around the hallways and back entrances at times because of how many interested, supportive, info-sharing Residents and Staff would stop me in the hall while I was en route to…what was I en route to..?….to ask me questions, congratulate me, or share info and advice. Bless their hearts but I was struggling to get stuff done!
I downsized a bit, packed and stored my stuff in Boulder – so now at some point I do have to go back to that beautiful outdoorsy playground! 🙂 I also have to give a thank-you shout out to my friend Kristyn Tobey for letting me store my stuff in her space. That was a huge help and blessing!
…Road-tripped to Northern California to store my car at my parent’s house and visit with them for well over a week as I checked a million (or so it felt) tasks off my to-do list in preparation to close up an established life in Colorado and start a new one in Colombia. I’ll admit that the words from a polite-but-possibly-inept call service person for fill-in-the-blank account, “I’m going to put you on a brief hold”, began to initiate a rise in blood pressure and an exaggerated eye-roll from me to whoever might be walking by while I was on said “brief hold”. Finally after about 10 days of phone calls and online work, I felt fairly confident about leaving a chapter of my life tidied up and launching into a likely really messy new one.
Thanks to a mutual adventurous friend, I was introduced to a fantastic guy named Brian who had traveled up and down South America for some years not too long ago. I literally interviewed him when we first met, trying to suck out every bit of helpful information for my own trip. Turns out our trips and goals were very different but he still offered me a ton of useful info and insights into South America and travel. Plus we had a great time together. ..Cue cheesy 80s romance ballad (only because he likes 80s music). Over the past few months we’ve had such a fun time together as he’s supported and helped me plan. We shall see how the cards fall as I continue forward with my Colombian life and work, and he remains in Boulder. It will be fun to keep in touch and have him come visit!
…I just wanted to see if you were still reading. Everyone loves the possibility for a romance story, don’t they?
Back to tears and sweating (nervous, remember) and boarding the plane. I dislike crying and try to minimize it, especially in public! But ironically, amongst the two thousand items I seemed to have packed with me, I had not planned for running tears and nose and nothing to wipe them on except my shirt. Which was short-sleeved so pretty awkward. A bonita Panamanian flight attendant named Maria came over to me looking very concerned and asked if I was ok and if she could help. I actually was a little taken aback – did I look that distressed? But through my blurry ones I could see her kind eyes so I just asked for some tissues. She brought me like 10 (seriously, folks, I hadn’t thought I was blubbering that badly), and then a few minutes later returned with a little package of Oreos. Ok, wow. Latin hospitality already. Which actually made me cry more! Damn it! I had the wherewithal to wait on eating them (yes, sugar does make me happier…how did she know?), until I was a little drier.
If I lost you in all those paragraphs, here is the summary you can read and then just look at the pictures and guess at the rest. I realize I mainly write this blog for myself, my parents and super-supportive Uncle, and a few family friends to read so if you wandered onto this page I don’t really expect you to hang with me. I’m wordy, I know.
Summary:
-Pursuit of living abroad started summer of 2016
-Earned TEFL certification (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) over about 6 months in 2017, followed by classroom observation with El Comite and Teaching Aide for Intercambio (a fabulous community—building Boulder non—profit)
-Ended a wonderful 13-year career at Frasier (retirement community)
-Endearing Frasier memories
-Went with the flow of some plans changing and new doors opening
-Brian
-Hired by “Raisbeck PES” language school to begin teaching in March 2018
-Downsized, stored stuff, drove to California
-Wrap—up of life in Colorado (one million phone calls and eye rolls); initiate life in Colombia (paperwork)
-Tears on the Plane
-Oreos make me happier
Stay tuned.
