Nearly one year ago, I was having a chat with my dear friend Lainie on the phone, and she mentioned that she'd recently written her 'bucket list' for the next ten years. I was inspired and set about immediately to write my own.
It wasn't a huge surprise, but when I looked at my top ten, nearly every dream or goal involved travel, and right up there at #1 was "Live overseas for a year".
The idea mightn't have taken such a hold on me if I hadn't coincidentally grabbed a book from the library the next week called "A Baby in a Backpack to Bhutan" by Bunty Avieson, an Australian woman who travelled with her husband and baby to Bhutan where they lived for 6 months. I finished reading that book on a Sunday afternoon, relaxing on the couch. As I put the book down I called over to Bob, and said "I'd like to go and live in Bhutan!", to which his muttered reply was something like "No way!" (what will she think of next???!!!).
The magic of google meant that a quick search on 'teach in Bhutan' revealed an organisation called the Bhutan Canada Foundation - a charity that places native english speaking school teachers in Bhutan, but had just finished the recruitment process for their 2012 intake. Looking back at how the ideas fell into place so quickly, I'm left without a doubt that our journey to Bhutan is meant to be.
Incidentally, half an hour after I told Bob my outlandish idea, he came back with his well thought through answer, and I love him for it: "If you think that will be good for us as a family to do, then let's go".
Of course, there has been a lot of water under the bridge (rustic and wooden - Bhutan-style!) in the past year as we have researched, problem solved, soul searched, read and dreamed about whether we really could take a giant leap into a big unknown to live as volunteers with our little boys in what is likely to be a remote himalayan village. It has been particularly painful to consider taking our boys away from the life that they know and love, including their friends and loving extended family.
Time and again we've concluded that for just one year, we will step onto the road-less-travelled, open all our lives up to infinite possibilities we can't imagine, knowing that -inshallah- we will return to our familiar home just 12 months later, our backpacks bursting at the seams with souvenirs and our hearts full of memories.
Do you feel inspired to write a bucket list? Would living overseas be on the list? Where would you love to live for a year?
What a good man Bob is! You are all going to have a ball!
ReplyDeleteI've never written a bucket list, but after these 6months in Italy, living overseas (again!) would def be on it! xx