We moved!
After 3 years living in Monteverde, Costa Rica, we moved back to the U.S. this month. It was very hard to say goodbye to our life on the green mountain. We recognize what a privilege it was to live in Costa Rica. We had the best friends and felt very safe and supported. We got comfortable with the bugs, the rain, and slower pace of things. The kids learned Spanish and speak it to each other everyday now. A piece of their identity was formed by Tico culture and we are very thankful for that. I had lots of opportunities for meaningful community engagement. Working with teenagers gave me great insight into life beyond the surface- they tell it like it is! Having the boys play fútbol gave us the opportunity to visit small communities up and down the mountain for matches. Through the Quaker meeting, we volunteered on lots of environmental projects and humanitarian efforts for migrants passing through Costa Rica. As a family we dealt with some tough stuff away from home like car problems, broken bones, and stressful jobs. Everyone around us was going through similar situations so we were together in the struggle. So many families helped us out and we helped others.
I will miss the youth the most, the new babies all the way up to the young adults. Being with them at school everyday, at birthday parties, at festivals, at the grocery store, and at the coffee shop down the road always made me feel good about our decision to move there. Everyone was a friend and it didn’t matter if they were 5 years younger or older, they would still trade Pokemon cards, share a bag of plátanos, join the fútbol game, or climb trees together.
The landscapes and people captured our hearts as well. From the Pacific coast to the Atlantic coast we explored beaches and forests that are among the most beautiful in the world. My kids had great teachers at school and I had wonderful colleagues at work who helped me grow as a teacher and mom. We had amazing side trips to Panama, Nicaragua, and Guatemala. Visiting these places helped us better understand U.S./Central America relations and showed us a deeper picture of the social make-up of these places.
Last year I received a National Geographic Explorer grant to create lesson plans about the human diversity in Costa Rica. I’ve been working with educators all over the country to create educational resources about Afro Descendants, Indigenous, and immigrant Costa Ricans. Our book of resources will come out next year. Stay tuned!
So what is in store for us now?
After summer travels to the Family Olympics (the first without my mom) in Indiana and a week in Massachusetts for a teacher training at Walden Pond, we have finally landed in Poughkeepsie, New York. We are about 1.5 hours north of NYC and easy to get to on the Metro North line or Amtrak. Poughkeepsie is on the east side of the Hudson River and close to lots of hiking and cool towns up and down the Hudson Valley. We are about an hour from Symeon’s mom, 3 hours from Philly and 3 hours from Boston. We still have our house in Philly for now. We will likely sell it next year.
Samson is 12 and going into 7th grade. He is excited to join school sports teams. This summer he went to 2 overnight camps (Camp Dark Waters and CISV). He made lots of new friends and tried out so many new things. His camp stories are really funny. It felt like forever when he was gone!
Desmond is 10 and going into 5th grade. He is very homesick for Monteverde and missing his friends. He isn’t fully on board yet with the move here but we know once he does make friends he will be all in. He tried some local day camps, including a Red Bulls MLS soccer camp.
Symeon continues to work as an independent contractor, fundraising and strategic planning for nonprofits. Right now he has two contracts for non profits that keep him busy full time. He will be looking for his next professional step soon. He is honestly the best. He worked hard to keep us afloat financially in Costa Rica and was often in charge of all the logistical life stuff in Spanish. He kept his online job going even when the power went out, or the wifi wasn’t working, or the rain was too loud for video calls. When I was in full panic mode about moving and finding a house, schools for the kids, a job, etc., he was calm and reassuring. He told me it would all work out. 🙂
I start a new job in a couple weeks at SUNY New Paltz (State University of New York). I’m leading special projects for the Institute for Disaster Mental Health and joining the counselor education faculty. The Institute provides leadership in disaster trauma response through training, research, and service. I’ll be training students, teachers, social workers, first responders, and organizations locally and abroad and coordinating grant funded projects. I’m very happy to find a role that puts me in the classroom AND the community here and globally. And my new boss is from Indiana and was a professor at IPFW for many years. We think it is really special that we both have 260 phone numbers!
We are looking forward to experiencing the fall and winter seasons again since we haven’t experienced them in 3 years. We plan on making trips to see all our family & friends in Philly, NY and MA, and seeing Grandma Bibi and Grandpa Pops as often as we can.
Be Like Barb 