long distance love in the oven: November 2011

Whew! What a whirl of wind we ride! Please forgive me for not communicating on a more regular basis! I have been so extremely busy since my return from the states, that I have guiltily placed the updating on the back burner!
So here it goes, finally a free minute while my two men are fast siesta-ing.

I have opened the doors to my very own school! A dream come true. For the past 4 years strong we have been sub-letting rooms in hostels around town to give Spanish classes to travelers, and finally, after 4 years strong we have decided it was due time to have our own space.

Upon returning to Rosario after my last trip I put to my nose to the job and began looking for a suitable space. It needed to have at least 3 spaces suitable for classrooms and at least one bathroom...well I looked and looked and really hated everything I saw. None of them "spoke" to me. All of them were over priced due to location, most of them needed work, and none of them had what I was looking for; the whole kit and caboodle.

Then, Claudio, ingeniously called on a place that had been for rent for close to 3 years. This is a place I have passed nearly twice a day, tattered FOR RENT sign hanging by a thread, big bay like stained glass windows with balconies overlooking the avenue, and not once had I called on it. Why you might ask? I simply assumed it would be a fortune...
Well I was wrong.

When I went to see it, I fell in love, my eyes filled up with tears and I saw it as my own. I knew it had been waiting for me. In less than a month we have put together the money necessary to sign the 3 year lease and I opened my doors after 3 12 hour days of hard cleaning.

Now, 3 weeks later, classrooms are full, students are rolling in for high season and I am busy busy busy dedicating time and energy to making, each day, a little bit more mine.

And that is not the only new change, we, as a family, have decided to make a big shift in lifestyle. Claudio will be quitting his job at the end of the year and will begin working at my side. He is going to start managing all of the administration for the school and will be able to spend more time with Juani and I and we have decided that he should go back to school to finish his accounting degree. All of these changes mean downsizing in things like having a car, but up-size our quality of life in things like family time. So we are happy with the decision and are sure it is the correct one to take.

Also, Juani is going to start school on December 5th! I found a great little pre-school that is right down the road from the Spanish school where he will go 3 hours a day. I chose it based on the selling point: "He will learn to make friends, to share, and to do everyday things like, wash his hands." I don't want him to be pressured to learn things too fast or in too stimulus an environment, so this will be perfect. It will give me a bit of time without him attached to my hip and it will give him time to make friends and begin socializing with other kids.

Now, I know that, while you love reading about all of these new changes, what you really are waiting for are the photos, so I will detain you no further. Enjoy!

Juani at 20 months