Sometimes you just have to travel. If you’ve been lucky enough to have been bitten by the travel bug (and not bed bugs!), you know what I mean. So, I’m off to Ecuador for the second time in a year. This time I’ll be staying for two months and will be renting an apartment in Cuenca. Nothing in terms of my work will change as Melibee Global has always been “location independent” and I have always worked from the road.
However this time WILL be different because my husband, Tony, is coming with me!
Holy smokes! Did I just say (type) that out loud?!
I’m sure there is some sort of quote about the strength of your relationship being related to how well you travel abroad together. This will certainly be a great test of our partnership and we are excited. Well, Tony is a bit nervous. I’m just ridiculously giddy about the whole thing!
We depart on Thanksgiving Day (isn’t that so much better than overstuffing ourselves on turkey?!) and landing in Quito at a very late hour. We’ll spend a few days in a hotel there to help Tony adjust to the altitude, hearing Spanish 24/7, the food and city life. Then we’ll fly to Cuenca to start our daily living routine.
We will both be taking Spanish lessons. My goal is to bust through that plateau of a low intermediate level that I’ve hovered around for the past 20 years or so. Tony’s goal, as a beginner, is to be able to have simple conversations with locals and to illustrate his desire to learn their language and culture in every interaction.
Another goal is to avoid the tremendous expat community in Cuenca. We don’t want to be US Americans living in the bubble. We want to get WELL off the veranda and experience the community we will be living in.
As many of you know, Tony is the mastermind behind my new website. As the web guru in the family, he is already in touch with a colleague in Cuenca and is readying for his first tech meeting. Mind you, he does not speak any Spanish (yet?) but I suspect once the computer screen lights up, he and the developer will be speaking the universal language of WordPress and absorbing tech language in each other’s native languages.
Watching my husband prepare for this trip has been eye opening. It has helped me to revisit different angles on pre-departure again, which was the original point of my trip to Ecuador in January 2012. I will be documenting my experiences, observing my husband’s adjustments and talking with as many students and faculty as I can through 3rd party partners such as El Nomad and CEDEI.
While two months is not a long time, we hope that by dipping our toes in the water as a couple, this will become more routine. A few months in the US, a few abroad.
After all, how we can be Melibee Global if we’re not … GLOBAL!
I will be blogging (and working from our laptops) along the way. Our hope is that you’ll share your observations of our adventure from wherever you sit in this world.
As we continue to plan for this journey, I would like to take a moment to thank our friends and colleagues at El Nomad for their incredible support. From house hunting locally for us to providing cultural insights to connecting Tony with local developers, to connecting us with Spanish tutors, we are well on our way to feeling that we’ll start off on the “right” feet! Gracias El Nomad por su ayuda!
Hasta pronto Ecuador!
About the Author: Missy Gluckmann is the founder of Melibee Global. You can learn more about her here.
Good luck. I lived in Cuenca for 6months. Heard about you through a friend who attended one of your webinars. CEDEI is a great school. I worked for them. I’d offer my blog but I’m afraid my posts are dated and probably wouldn’t offer much, just my perspective as an Asian American in South Am. But nevertheless, wanted to stop by and wish you and your husband, a safe and fabulous journey!
Thank you Lani! I know about CEDEI and will be meeting up with them when in town!
Gracias Lani! I have visited CEDEI before and will be sure to see them again this visit!