Cabarete
Endless Summer
Figuring it Out as We go
Homeschooling
Love & Learning
Things We Miss
Trump is Not Our President
Gloriously Grateful, Occasionally Grouchy: Our Lives in Cabarete
9/02/2017September 1, 2017. Right before our family paddle out to the reef. |
Yup! That's a swing AND a pool at the restaurant. And to think in the States we go out to dinner to just eat. |
Hudson and one of his new best friend, Sebastian from the Cayman Islands. They ripped up the surf until the sun went down. |
Double Decker. |
You're not getting the full ride unless you're riding them all the way to the beach. |
Waiting for CHINOLA! (AKA passion fruit juice). |
Viv and Hud began CIRCUS SCHOOL last week and the two of them are both completely hooked. Their weekly class includes floor exercises, trampoline work, and trapeze. |
Back to school! In addition to joining the circus, Viv began 2nd grade and Hud 5th grade last week. Homeschooling has started with a bang. |
Watching the action on Kite Beach. |
One of our favorite fruit and vegetable stands in downtown Cabarete. |
The Ives family from Telluride, Colorado were in Cabarete for some kite surfing and of course, to determine which family deserves the title "Noodle Battle Champions of the Caribbean". |
Winding down with a little ukelele action |
Cafe Fresh Fresh. Jen is all about a place that serves a yummy salad in a huge bowl for $4.00. |
Viv is all about windsurfing! Actually, we all are. It's definitely one of our favorite family activities. |
Hud makes everything look easy. |
Sometimes German tourists get their kites stuck in palm trees. .. |
...and then a local kid with some sweet tree climbing skills and a lack of acrophobia climbs up and makes everything happy again at the beach. |
"Smile, guys!" |
7 AM, dawn patrol. Hitting the waves before the wind picks up, always a good way to start the day. |
Facebook and Instagram (and even blogs like ours) can lend people's lives a rosy, glossy veneer.
A slice of life that is Fresh from the Package.
Tidy.
Sanitized.
But you know as well as I do that all of these picture-perfect snapshots do not begin to scratch the surface of the whole enchilada. And let's be real about enchiladas: they look delicious, but there's always a gross little pool of cheese grease under all that sauce. In the interest of honest writing, I feel it's important to mention that not every waking minute of our adventuring is pure bliss.
For example, there are things from home that we really miss. A big one for us is SKIING. Skiing runs deep in our family culture (we put Moog on skis at 22 months for crying out loud!), and although we are definitely enjoying this endless summer, we are still missing our favorite sport. One day in Maine last summer the four of us were on a walk and found ourselves at the top of a steep gravel pit. We looked down from the high, rocky edge and were all silent for a moment, our thoughts unified.
Hud said it first, "I'd totally ski that."
...to which Trav replied, "Pick your line."
And Hud enthusiastically proceded to tell us exactly where he'd turn his skis all the way down that hill, what tricks he'd do, how fast he'd go. We all stared at that little potential ski run, WILLING it to be snow-covered, imagining our feet with their long, slender appendages, and we heaved a collective, wistful sigh.
There are other missing pieces in the puzzle of our traveling lives. I for one, miss art, and specifically THEATRE. I miss being involved in creative projects, and I miss and having daily conversations about theatre and about all things weird and wonderful with my funky, art-centric community. Since we began traveling, I've learned that the majority of the world is NOT art-focused the way Telluride is, nor are the arts so universally celebrated or prized (or even discussed!) I miss having theatre in my life and I'm going to do something about it. I reached out to the director of the Mariposa DR Foundation, a non-profit organization in Cabarete that provides educational and cultural experiences for girls. I am going to start volunteering drama classes for the children there, and I can't wait to start. Teaching theatre is what I know best and what I do best, and I need to be giving back to this community while we're here. And I also know that teaching drama again will be a really good way to feed my soul.
One of the hardest things we've found on our travels is how to process the daily horror show we subject ourselves to via the political and social news from home (read between the lines: Trump). So many times in the past weeks, we've found ourselves banging our heads against the wall in total frustration and despair. We've felt helpless, watching so much hate and ineptitude spew out from our "leader", damaging spirits, pulling our country apart at the seams. We've spent a lot of time sharing stories we've read online and commiserating about how unbelievably awful it all is. For a solid week, the US news consumed us, and the results were not good. So just today, Trav and I made a pact. We can't begin our day reading the news anymore. It starts us off on the wrong foot. We can't change what's happening there.
We need to stay focused on the here and now, and the here and now is this sailing trip.
It's Hud and Viv, and striving, with every cell in our bodies and every spark of our imaginations to make their days here remarkable and filled with love, each and every one.
It's homeschooling creatively and surfing with gusto, and starting Spanish lessons.
It's cleaning the plastic off the beach every day.
It's buying medical supplies for the security guard who is covered in cuts and who lost fingertips from a motorcycle accident and who can't afford Neosporin.
It's asking people we meet to tell us their stories, and it's listening to what they have to say.
It's reminding ourselves that we worked hard to get to this point, that we don't have an infinite amount of time to be traveling, and that making the NOW count is our priority and our obligation.
That's it for now. Thank you for your listening ear (or, I guess, your READING EYES would be more correct). We appreciate you! Thank you! xo
1 comments
We've been thinking about you guys! Hoping you came through the hurricane safely.
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