Big announcement today!
If you are new to my blog, let me give you a quick recap on A House of Sparrows and our family's plan on traveling for an entire year.
During the summer of 2017, our family sold nearly everything we owned and packed up our toddler, our dog and cat, nine pieces of luggage and left Texas for paradise in Costa Rica. We had a work opportunity in a small town in Costa Rica and planned on calling this tropical destination home for 12 months.
But life doesn't always go according to plan.
After 7 months of living amongst the rainforest, our work opportunity relocated back to Texas. While we could stay in Costa Rica and focus only on our online work, there was nothing really keeping us in the country. Don't get me wrong, we have loved our time here. We truly enjoyed calling Costa Rica home.
It was such a valuable experience living in a different country with a completely different landscape than what I am used to. I loved being able to learn about a new culture and feel truly immersed in nature. However, with only a few friends in the area and no family, our hearts were pulling us in another direction.
Since we technically don't have a home that we need to go back to, we pulled out a map and began exploring new places our family could relocate to. While I'd like to say we anguished days, or even hours, over our decision it actually happened pretty quickly. And if you know our family background I'm pretty sure you have an idea on where we are moving to next!
So with all of that said, our expat family is moving to...
Lich, Germany!
Your first question is probably, "Lich? where on Earth is that?" And you are right to wonder. It is a small, almost insignificant town that means a great deal to our family. It is the town where Ryan, my husband, was born and it is located only 20 minutes from my in-laws!
So, it isn't hard to determine why we chose Germany as our next home. My husband's family live north of Frankfurt and while we visit every year, the two week long vacation are never enough time to spend with them. We've wanted to move to Germany for several years but haven't had the opportunity or the courage to make the jump. And since this year has been about self-discovery and adventure, we decided to head over to Europe and spend several months with family while exploring a new country.
While this won't be new for Ryan since he lived in Germany until he was 17, it will be a whole new world for Milena and me. To say it lightly, I am beyond excited! I studied abroad in Prague back in 2009 and have wanted to live in Europe again ever since. I cannot wait to call Germany home. From the amazing bakeries to their beer culture, their fairy tale castles and eclectic cities, Germany is one of my favorite places on the planet!
One of the main reasons I am excited to be moving to Germany is for Milena. She is half German and we really want her to know the language and the culture while she is still young. Living in the country for six-8 months will not only let her get to know her German family but also know her father's home as well. She's already been there twice and its always a joy to see her with my in-laws and devouring those delicious, German pretzels!
We leave in 10 days and while I will miss Costa Rica, I'm counting down! We plan on traveling a lot throughout the country and Europe to take advantage of the cheap transportation.
So whats next?
Last week, we traveled back to Costa Rica after a quick stay in the States for my brother's wedding. When we headed back to Texas we brought back a lot of our outdoor gear we won't need in Europe along with our dog and cat. Unfortunately, we decided to not take the pets with us to Germany. Our dog has high anxiety and we were worried about the 10+ hour flight with him stuck in cargo. He had a hard time with previous flights and since we aren't planning on staying in Europe for long we would hate to put him through added stress. So my amazing brother-in-law is watching over our fur kids while we travel. Thanks Robby!
Our final week in Costa Rica is going to fly by! We are heading to the Caribbean coast to check out another beautiful part of the country before we leave. We are planning on seeing a few friends before move and eat at our favorite places. Its weird being back in Costa Rica and knowing our time is quickly coming to an end. I am trying to soak up as much as I can during because I know for a fact I will miss our secluded days in the rainforest and our daily trips to the beach.
We have a lot to do before we leave but we don't want our last few days in Costa Rica to be stressful. So we are slowly packing for Germany while not skipping our morning coffee breaks in the hammock. Stay tuned tuned for a post on what I'll miss most about Costa Rica!
So Adios Costa Rica, and Willkommen Deutschland!!