Sabbatical - in Retrospect

Sunset on Oaxaca

As we near the end of our Sabbatical, we are reflecting on our time here in Oaxaca. In a sense, we are already emerging from our 6 months off -  we even have dates scheduled for dinners back in the States with family and friends!

As we look back on our time here, some questions come to mind...

What did we learn? 

Well, it was ordinary. That is, it was not a magical experience that resulted in us somehow discovering hidden talents and interests that will shock our friends back in the States, and send us off on some new career we have never thought about. And when we came here, we brought ourselves with us - our habits, preferences, tendencies. So we quickly found ourselves overbooking our time, not exercising as much as we'd planned, eating out at restaurants more than we'd budgeted. But we did have the luxury of starting over from scratch, and deciding what to put into our days, and what to leave out. And so we explored some things quite different from anything we had explored previously. 

I found this to be one of the
more interesting religious
icons. I called it "Jesus has
a Bright Idea."

Sarah
One of my goals for being here was to have a "come to Jesus" with Spanish. I've been learning and forgetting it for 35 years and decided if I was ever going to really master it, now was the time. After all, I'm at a point in life where I'm forgetting words in my native language - why would I think a second language would get easier? And I learned a lot. I learned a lot of Spanish and my ability to understand and speak improved dramatically. I also learned that I will never understand with the ease, nor speak with the fluency, that I had once imagined, let alone "master" the language. But I know that I can continue to improve and for the most part I feel confident navigating in Spanish.

Helping women in San Miguel apply for microloans.
Was it something I said - in Spanish?

Wrestling with Spanish, and specifically taking on a translation job with En Vía, helped me learn something else - the role of my ego. During a crisis of confidence with the translating, my supervisor laid it out like this: "No one is on this tour to hear you speak perfect Spanish." I realized that this was, indeed, my problem; I wanted to impress people with my skill. Once I let go of that, things flowed. I concentrated on my relationship with the women and making them feel comfortable presenting their businesses to the visiting tourists. After all, it really was about them, not me! 

Saturday morning Spanish/English intercambio
with the Marquez kids.

Being away from my usual surroundings and normal routines made something else possible. I used to be a news junkie, spending as much time as I could each morning with coffee and the newspaper. I even got a couple of digital subscriptions so I  could continue while in Mexico. But for some reason, maybe because it was online, I never really took to it. Instead, I starting reading a daily devotional, and books on Buddhism and philosophy. I found that my mood and outlook improved and instead of stewing throughout the day about this tragedy or that politician, my mind was more peaceful and centered on the present moment. While our kids were here one of them asked "What's happened to you?!" In a good way.

Maybe the most surprising thing, however, was how easy it was for me to be away - from the home and neighbors I love, the rhythm of a contented life, a job that was satisfying. Being away from the kids was harder, but with so many ways to stay in touch even that was okay. Plus, hearing them say they were inspired by us was soooo worth it!

Randy

Randy in his zone

I was able to volunteer a couple of days per week at El Pedregal, a Permaculture demonstration site in a nearby pueblo. I started out as a permaculture farm laborer (my first choice!), but soon found I needed a more purposeful role on the project. The site was 95% complete when I arrived in October, and most of the remaining work was construction of a few sustainable buildings, which did not fire my imagination. So I proposed a "compost and compost tea" experiment. Even with all of the other improvements made at El Pedregal, the soil was still very poor. So the experiment was to make compost from a couple of different recipes, using materials at hand on the property as much as possible, and to see which combination of compost types produced the best results. My pet formula, which worked wonderfully back in Minnesota, "failed" in Oaxaca. But in the process I learned how to make compost that "succeeded" in Oaxaca. 

We learned a lot about trees and plants as well

I also found that I like writing. This blog has been a lot of fun, and cathartic in the same way that songwriting used to be for me. I also wrote an article about El Pedregal for Permaculture Magazine, which may or may not get published, we'll see.

We never did figure out
what this tree is

I enjoyed learning something about Mexican history while we were here. Not that I have become an expert, or plan on going back to school to become one. In fact, maybe it's just that I knew pretty much nothing about Mexican history and was embarrassed into studying up on it.

Finally, I got better at communicating with Spanish-speaking people. I still stop short of calling it Speaking Spanish. There are still a lot of hand gestures and blank stares, but it's a lot better than it was. 

What worked, what didn't? 

Cooking intercambio at our house with
friends from the U.S., Mexico and Japan.
Spanish was the only common language.

We set out to structure our time, to be intentional about how we spend this precious break from our regular lives. We used our calendars to put into our days those things that we wanted to make sure we got to. This was at the advice of the TED Talk, "The Power of Time Off" by Stefan Sagmeister. This was good advice, and it has served us well.

Sarah's original plan to find a job teaching English didn't pan out. Here in Mexico, you can't take a job that a Mexican can do, but teaching English is one of the jobs that is OK for us "gringos". However, when we got here, Sarah found that it wasn't that easy to find a job, and those that were available were very low paying. So she decided instead to volunteer at En Via.

Randy found himself selling
wicking beds at the Library Bazaar

One of the things that Randy set out to do was to cook. He had visions of taking cooking classes, shopping daily at the open markets for fresh meat and produce, following traditional Oaxaca recipes, and having dinner waiting for Sarah on the table when she got home from her job teaching English. As it turned out, Sarah didn't get the job, and Randy didn't cook. Except for breakfasts, which he cooked every morning. He did hunt down "huevos criollos" (heirloom chicken eggs) at the open markets, but he got his fresh fruit mostly from the convenience store across the street. 

What advice can we offer? 

If you are thinking of taking a Sabbatical, we can offer a few suggestions, from our experience.

We think it is important to get away from home, physically. That way you don't let your time slip away with day to day care for the house, the yard, etc. Sure, bathroom water came through the kitchen ceiling in our house back on York Avenue in Minneapolis, but - case in point - all we could do from here was make a few phone calls.

Randy giving a tour of El Pedregal

We also suggest that you have a plan to get involved in a project or two. Something new. Something a little outside of your comfort zone. If you can do it on a volunteer basis, then your options are much more open. We both benefited greatly from our volunteer gigs, and learned a lot about ourselves and the world in the process.

But more than anything, we suggest that, if you get half a chance, you GO FOR IT. There will always be issues to work through, timing problems, and other possible excuses. But if the stars align and you get a chance to take a Sabbatical, do it. There is no way around pulling the trigger when you have skin in the game (wow, how's that for mixed metaphors?). 

What do we think will be different going forward? 

First, we hope to do it again next year. We found a place here in Oaxaca for next winter.  Sarah is putting out feelers about private English classes she'd like to offer, and has already been invited back to do translation work for En Vía.  Randy built some compost piles (based on what he learned at El Pedregal) at the property of some friends here in Oaxaca, and hopes to collaborate with them in selling compost in the future. 

We appreciated having so much time to meet
and spend with new friends.

Finally, we hope to carry with us back to the States our new attitudes toward family, work and life. We hope to spend more time with our kids, and to be more present when we are with them. We plan to choose our work to suit our lives, and not just to work to make a living. And we hope to carry back with us the Mexican enjoyment of life - stopping to chat when we run into people, eating well and often, and walking a lot. I guess we'll just have to wait and see how much of that sticks.