Finland – traveling4family

November 25, 2018November 25, 2018

Focus On! -Robyn

From the moment I learned of the Fulbright, I began scouring the internet to read alumni blogs and posts. Initially, I was baffled why so many started with, “I got the Fulbright…” and then jumped to, “I’ve arrived in Finland…” or “Singapore”, or “New Zealand”, or even “UK.” what happened to all those months in between?

Well, I get it now that I am in it. It’s crazy busy, but not in a bad way, just in a making a never ending list and then crossing items off before realizing that the list has doubled and quadrupled– kind of way. Each action item is totally achievable. However, it’s the change rental posting, to responding to an insurance question, to finding temporary housing and making doctor’s appointments, to finding medical insurance, to don’t buy food at Costco because we are moving out, that makes it all an adventure. And oh yes, who exactly is going to take care of the dog while we are gone? All of this swirls around in our heads in addition to our amazing day jobs and the desire to prepare for the actual inquiry project while we’re away.

It’s all exciting and truly good. Yet, when people ask how’s it going I am careful in choosing what to say. What I want to say is there isn’t enough time in the day/week/month before asking if they know of any probable tenants to rent our home as the sweat of anxiety pops off my face. Instead, I share how thrilled our family is for the opportunity, and that we can’t wait for the adventure to continue. Focus On!

September 3, 2018September 16, 2018

Finland-The Devil is in the Details

If you’ve ever gone abroad for a long period of time, you will understand how many details there are to take care of before you can actually relax on the plane with a mai-tai. And if you’ve ever had to move out of your house and rent it out while you arrange new housing, visas, and permits you will know exactly how intricate of a dance this can be. As we started to prepare for Finland, our To-Do list started to grow at a quite alarming rate. The moment we decided to rent out our home, the house rebelled and started to begin to fall apart. The garden that had been holding its own against the long standing Southern California drought and invasive weeds, decided to give up the fight, and within one night (or so it seemed) a jungle stood in its place. Our small dog refused to go outside to lift his leg fearing for his life from unseen predators lurking in the bush. Indeed, the very town was threatened by one of the worst wildfires in California history.

Fortunately, we held to our lists. I worked on the house and the yard while Robyn took care of the longer administrative chores. As more information came in from Fulbright, more was checked off and more was added:

-Visiting the Finnish consulate in Los Angeles for Robyn’s resident permit. Check.

-Airline Tickets for the Fulbright Orientation Conference in Washington DC. Check.

-Updating each family member’s passport. Check.

-Researching medical insurance for the duration of the trip. Check.

-Establishing contact with Fulbright “buddy” and host in Finland. Check.

-Finding viable housing in Jyvaskala. Check.

-Sauna desensitization (naked saunaring is the norm, and is apparently a great way for people to spend time together in Finland). Not check.

Then, of course there are the details here in Cali we have to take care of:

-Organize leave of absence (me) sabatical (Robyn). Check and denied…

-Finding accredited online school for daughter’s high school classes. Check.

-Landscaping backyard. Check.

-Posting house for rent. Check.

-Sell car. Check.

-Yard sale for extra items. Almost check.

-Pack-up house and store possessions. Soon to be checked.

-Buy warm clothing (In southern California?!) Hopeful check.

-Living on one income to save enough for trip and return until wages kick-in. In progress check.

-Find caretaker for pet dog. Maybe check.

And so it goes! This all sounds like a lot, and it is. Yet it’s kind of like riding a roller coaster: the drop bars are in place, the car has started to climb, and everyone has that silly “why did we do this?” smile on their face with perhaps a slight nervous tick in the corner of the eye. However, when the ride is done you just want to jump back on and do it again. What a great opportunity, and how fun to break out of the usual working rut to remodel your life. Thanks, Fulbright!

September 3, 2018September 16, 2018

Finland-A New Type of Trip and a New Beginning

You may not have heard about The Fulbright Distinguished Awards for Teaching, and if you have you may not realize just how prestigious it is. I actually fell into that category when my wife, Robyn first applied for it. Contenders have to put together a comprehensive project application that describes their area of study, why it is important, how it will be conducted, and finally an action plan that implements their gathered knowledge to enrich the methods of instruction in their home school districts. Of course, this is a simplified overview; creating the actual project and then going through the various phases of the application process/meeting the requirements was quite arduous and took about a year.

Every email that Robyn received was opened with equal measures of dread and excitement. And wouldn’t you know it? Robyn made it through each phase in turn much to our surprise, until finally, she made it to the very last evolution: a telephone conversation with a panel of members from the selection committee. Robyn sat in her car in her school’s parking lot (the only quiet and private place available to talk) and prepared herself to answer a lot of deep and very searching questions about her proposal. Positivity was the key, but would they understand her project? Was it worthy? Would it be a viable option and help make her district better in the eyes of the Fulbright committee? She called me to see if her phone was working. It was. Time lengthened and the excitement and nervousness grew with each passing moment. Her cell rang and it was time to shine. Five minutes later it was done. Why so short? Was it simply a matter of determining if the person was truly who they said they were, or did she not manage to generate interest in her project? Self doubts set in. Several days later, Robyn received official confirmation that she had made it and was now the proud recipient of the Fulbright Distinguished Award in Teaching, one of only 35 teachers across the entire USA. More information was to follow…

And it did. Robyn was awarded Finland as her host nation. This was good news, although for a southern California girl starting her study sometime in January, Hawaii may have been more comfortable. Perhaps even Tahiti…However, Finland is the best choice for robyn’s project as it is consistently ranked as one of the best (if not the best) educational systems in the world, perfect for Robyn’s project which focuses on inclusion for students with disabilities specifically, Autism.

It turns out that Robyn was indeed allowed to bring her husband and family with her. The Fulbright Award even provides some financial support in the form of modest housing and cost of living stipends that if managed frugally, and supplemented by our family, provide just enough capital for us to live in our new country. We shall homeschool our two children while based in the beautiful university town of Jyvaskala in the country’s central Lake District, a few hours north of Helsinki. We shall be in Finland for 6 months in total and will travel the country at every opportunity. This is a new type of trip for us as we shall have a long period of time to immerse ourselves in this very culturally interesting location. Sure, we will be in a small apartment in the coldest and darkest time of the year. Yet this is part of the allure, and the Finnish people appear to spend as much time outside in the middle of winter as they do during the warmer summer months. This is great for us as we are definitely an outdoorsy family. There is also a saying that I’ve been repeating to my daughter who has zero body fat to keep her warm, “There is no bad weather, only bad clothing.” In other words, time to learn how to layer clothing! Finland, here we come!