In 2019 we have the amazing opportunity to live in Europe while Rick is doing research during his sabbatical from Brigham Young University and then to spend part of the summer in Beijing while he teaches for Lion International. This experience is the culmination of two years of planning, praying, hoping, disappointment, praying and planning some more. It has been a rollercoaster and we are enjoying (and surviving) the ride! This blog is both a journal of our experiences and a chance to share our adventures with friends, family and anyone else who wants to laugh (and cry) at our experiences.
"A mind that is stretched by a new experience can never go back to its old dimensions." ~Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
I love this quote because I feel like it really describes how our lives have been changed by the travels we have taken and, most especially, by the people we have met. New languages, new cultures, new foods, new sights, new experiences ...
Many people have told us we are crazy for not only taking our family to multiple countries for a good part of the year but also renting out our house for an entire year and then living in temporary housing (aka - airbnbs and friends' homes) until we leave the country. Maybe we are crazy .... or maybe we're "crazy like a fox." Ha ha!
Don't get me wrong, it has not been easy since we left our home, especially living in a small 2 bedroom basement apartment with 7 people and commuting 30 minutes across town for school and work. And living as a single mom with 4 of my children and moving from airbnb to airbnb while my husband and oldest daughter lived in China for two months this summer wasn't an ideal choice either. So, why did we do this to ourselves? I've asked myself this question several times ...
I think the most compelling reason is that I have been changed (in a good way) by the travels I have taken and the people and cultures I have met. Living in a foreign country and learning a foreign language can be very challenging but so much good has come from those experiences - empathy, compassion, lifelong connections, exposure to different people and different ways of doing things, new foods (some good, some bad), personal growth from overcoming challenges, and so much more. I LOVE to meet new people!
Whenever Rick and I have talked about visiting other countries I've always said that I don't want to just visit a new place. Visiting can be nice but it is when you live somewhere new that you really come to know people, the language and the culture. This can be true even within your own country, especially one as big as the U.S. Moving from the west to the deep south for Rick's PhD was an adventure and we often felt like we had moved to a foreign country. I thought I knew English but sometimes I wondered if we were speaking the same language while there! But I'm so grateful for the time we lived in the south and the people we met! I am different because of these experiences.
The title of this first blog post is "And so it begins..." But, really, all of this began many years ago with Rick's and my travels and, especially, our proselyting missions for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (him to Ecuador and me to Portugal and Cape Verde, West Africa). Now, we are carrying on that experience for our children, hoping that together we can grow and learn and come to know and love some new cultures and people. Oh, and let's not forget the new foods!
I know many of you want the details of our travels/experiences so here are the nitty gritty details:
Summer travels:
June 27th - we moved out of our home, Rick and Danika left to Shenzhen, China for Rick to teach with Lion International and I and our four other kids stayed to wander the deserts of Utah and Idaho (2 airbnbs and the homes of 3 friends/family)
Aug. 11th - Rick & Danika returned from China
Aug. 18-25th - Rick went to Peru to teach/train as part of a BYU program
Aug. 26th - moved to our 3rd (and last) airbnb where we will remain until we leave the state around Christmas
Future travels (some dates still being worked out):
~ Christmas - leave Utah to visit Rick's parents serving a mission in Tucson, Arizona
Jan 11th (arrive on the 12th)- fly from Tucson to London (spend 10 days visiting London)
Jan 23rd - train to Amsterdam
~Jan23 to June 30 - Live in Hilversum while Rick does work at the University of Utrecht in the Netherlands and with the University of Primorska in Slovenia and participates in various conferences in Europe (some time in May/June we will be traveling to Slovenia as a family while Rick completes his work with the University of Primorska)
~June 30 - fly to Beijing, China
~June 30 to Aug 3 - Rick teaches for Lion International in Beijing, China
