Grown-Up Gap Year, Part One (of one)

Winter break has officially begun and at the risk of repeating myself, this has been the fastest semester of any school year - ever. Maybe this is because I'm not working, but Jonah feels the same way. So, again maybe it's because I'm not working, and our family pace has shifted in a way that has made time pass faster than the norm. But there were school years before there was a family. In the end, I'm not sure it matters one bit except to say that we are all very much looking forward to a three week holiday, a change of scenery, a travel adventure, a break from the routine.

Before we hop on that plane tomorrow (tomorrow!) - and because it has been a long time since I sat down to write - setting aside time to reflect upon and write about my "grown up gap year" thus far. Truth be told, this post has been put off and put off and put off again because who would want to read it, anyway? But with the clock ticking down the hours until we fly off, I will finish this work in progress knowing that someday (very soon), I'll wonder what I have to show for my hiatus from full-time employment. So I'll just leave this here, if for no other reason than to remind myself what I did with the unexpected opportunity to step away from work for a while.

First, a few things I have not been doing. Not that there is anything wrong with any of these activities, but assumptions are made about how an "expat wife" or (my favorite) "trailing spouse" spends their time.

• Sleeping in/napping
• Going out to lunch
• Learning Portuguese
• Sunbathing by the pool
• Tennis lessons

For starters, to say that I am not employed would be misleading. I do report for duty as a (paid!) Learning Partner to two grade 5 students every school day, spending about 45 minutes with one student and an hour and a half with the other. I provide academic support within their regular classroom, whether they be working on drafting personal narratives, calculating area and perimeter, or gathering information on the various units of inquiry (peace and conflict, migration, and energy have been the big concepts so far). This hours of this job are pretty sweet - starting around 10:15am and ending at 12:45pm. Our school follows the Primary Years Program (PYP) of the International Baccalaureate (IB). Our previous two schools had only the Diploma Program for grade 11 and 12 students so PYP (and its grade 7-10 companion Middle Years Program - MYP) has been new to all of us this year. An added bonus of this gig is that Liam is in grade 5 (in the one class that I'm not) so I am exposed to some of what he is doing  in school and then we can have conversations about it at the dinner table that leave Jonah and Asa totally out of the loop. Anyone interested to see what Liam's class is up to, can click here to access his teacher's blog.

Beyond the schedule of my Learning Partner commitment, I'm on my own.What has been perhaps the best aspect of this gap year is not having to do a thing for myself before everyone heads out the door - no shower, no checking work email, no getting frustrated with anyone because they're not moving fast enough or finding their shoes or filling their water bottles. I am totally relaxed. I wake up, pour whatever is left from the French press into a mug, say goodbye to Jonah, calmly make Liam's lunch (two peanut butter and jelly sandwiches), make sure the boys have something for breakfast, run through the checklist of what is needed for the day, chit chat, and off they go. Since we live on campus, they stroll out the door between 7:30-7:45am and after that, all is quiet until the boys return home - at either 3:00 or 4:00, depending on whether they have an after school activity.

A few or more hours each week are spent volunteering around campus. I contributed to the design of our school's new website (to be launched in January) and really enjoyed collaborating with the team from across the community. An ongoing endeavor has me spending time in the secondary school library updating the series collection. It's a simple task - updating the online catalog, labeling books, and making the bookshelves look pretty - but so satisfying. A third volunteer gig is reading with a class of kindergarten students. My task is simply to listen, to be the audience while they practice their skills. Oh my, they are so tiny and adorable and chatty.

Without work email bombarding my inbox, there is time to actually read books - a luxury usually reserved for vacation. Two incredible resources for finding the next great book - Goodreads and the public library where we spend each summer. If not familiar with Goodreads, it's social media for readers. And thanks to OverDrive, books are magically downloaded to our Kindles in Luanda from our library in small-town Massachusetts.

Listed below are books, podcasts, documentaries I've read/listened to/watched (in chronological order) from July to December. There is a theme connecting several of them (and other media recently consumed), chosen to further my understanding of current events by learning more about American history.

I've also had time to obsess on what to make for dinner. With very limited restaurant options, nearly every meal since we arrived in Luanda has been prepared and consumed in our apartment. One goal of mine was to cultivate and maintain a sourdough starter. The cultivation part seemed to work but using it to make dreamy bakery style boules was a total failure. I was able to follow a recipe down the path of bagel success. Of all the things I have ever created in the kitchen, these seemed to be the most impressive and most appreciated. And yes, cream cheese is available here (Philadelphia brand, in fact) to complete the perfect plate.

Other activities occupying my time include planning upcoming travels, a bit of family tree research on ancestry.com, and participating in sporty activities. Last weekend, the boys and I participated in our school's touch rugby tournament. This video captures some great moments (including one of Asa's tries at about the 3:35 mark) and the fun spirit of this community.

So with the gap year finally documented, the sun is setting on this experience. I have accepted a half-time position starting in January to be the Designated Safeguarding Lead for our school. This is a new role for both me and the school and a terrific opportunity to collaborate with stakeholders throughout the community - students, teachers, administrators, parents - as child protection and other safeguarding policies and protocols are developed, implemented, and shared out through workshops, training, and classroom lessons. This, in addition to continued work as Learning Partner, will keep me plenty busy through the end of the school year.

Before that reality sets in, we will be road-schooling around Southern Namibia for the next three weeks. Blog posts will happen in January with updates via Instagram while we are away.

For those curious about what the holiday season looks like in Luanda, a photo from the Shop Rite entrance. No shortage of Christmas decor here.

And today there was a DJ set up outside the store:

In case that wasn't enough, a few more seconds of Jonah dancing.......

Wishing our family and friends a wonderful holiday and all the very best in the New Year!