Departing Medellin

Remember many moons ago, all the way back in July, when we told you of our plans to stay in Medellin until the end of 2019? Well, oops. We really meant March of 2019. Yep, we are making new plans. Feel free to roll your eyes, we know you want to. We do too.

We love Medellin, we really do. Our life here has become almost routine, somewhat predictable, although still in it’s “you never know what will happen” kind of way. But even the most travel-weary Shermanos get itchy feet and we’ve decided to leave in March.

Why Are You Leaving?

It’s not that we don’t enjoy Medellin. It’s been a fantastic stay, and we’ve met so many wonderful people – both Colombians and expats.

But if we wanted to stay somewhere for a lengthy period of time, and have a normal life again, we’d just go back to Arizona. There are still other places to see in the world. And frankly, we are ready to swap our current set of challenges for a new set. We know that no where is perfect (Dan will tell you that Arizona is, but he’s wrong about that, although it’s pretty darn nice). But sometimes the current set of challenges just get tiring. You want a new scene, with new challenges. We made this visual of all possible challenges (there are more but these are the biggees). Medellin has a few of these, other places will have a few different ones. We are ready for the different ones.

When Are You Leaving?

We will leave in early March, after 15 months in Medellin. That’s the longest we have stayed in any place, including our first Worldschooling stop of Panama. The girls are leaving behind some good friends and I have my rock-star schedule of Spanish class and Pilates, my friendly guards and my beloved taxi-driving friends. But still, it’s time to move on.

Why March? Well, staying until March means that the girls can return to Colombian school with their classmates for a few weeks, including giving Haley a chance to be an Once Girl. It puts us on the right schedule to be where we want to be this summer (not revealing that part until we have firm plans – haha!) and, frankly, March is when the Cate Family is leaving too. No Cates? No Medellin. Buh bye!

Where Are You Going?

I’ll give you a hint. It’s an island and it’s Spanish speaking and it’s in the Carribean (back to warmer weather and warm seas).

Why Dominican Republic?

Who knows why we choose anything we do. Sometimes it’s just an idea, that then continues to not get shot down. Bottom line, we want the beach.

Haley has an acute interest in Marine Science and now that she has her GED, it’s a great time to start exploring some of those interests. Dan has an interest in warm weather, umbrellas by the pool and quiet, air conditioned apartments. I just want a rental car. Not being able to drive for over a year, relying on Uber and Taxi and private drivers… it gets old. Mommy wants a road trip!!

We like the idea of Dominican Republic with it’s Spanish speaking, expat-friendly, good (relatively low) prices and easy proximity to the USA. And it has great diving. We are planning to learn how to dive and explore the underwater realm for awhile.

But what about our awesome neighbors? The Cates? Well, they are headed off to new lands too. We’ll meet up with them again in another country at some point. And given that we are both from Gilbert, Arizona, we know that life will eventually put us to the same place again, by chance or choice. Either way, they can’t get rid of us.

And Then Where Will You Go?

Visa issues tell us we can spend a few months in the Dominican Republic. Maybe 2 or 3. That puts us to early summer. We think we know where we are going after that but we aren’t going to tell you. You’ll just roll your eyes and say “We don’t believe you”. You’ll just have to keep reading and we’ll tell you when we have plane tickets!