Friday, October 24, 2014

The "Big Dream" ;-) (a Sabbatical in Europe)

I had to spill all the beans in the title because, well, if all you see are my blog post titles, at least you'll know what my greatest dream (for now) is! ;-)

You know, the thought of not having a career, a job/jobs is pretty freeing, actually. But I know I will need to figure out something to continue helping to support my family.

While that doesn't get decided/settled (will it ever?), why don't I take to dreaming? Half-an-hour of research about traveling in Europe reminded me of my "big dream" and gave me a small epiphany: maybe not having a job could help in this dream? Or the contrary? K and I have often talked that having an actual job I could request a semester of unpaid leave from would be the most important condition to actually act on our dream. And maybe that's true. Sigh... :-(

So, the dream is simple. When K got his current job at first he was told that they were no longer doing sabbaticals, but then things changed and there are actually sabbaticals to be had -- after he gets tenure (which hopefully will be in the Summer of 2016). And the dream would be for him to find an institution in Europe to do research during the sabbatical semester -- preferably in France, Switzerland or England (to make it easier for the boys in school).

The dream would be to go in the Spring so he could also do research in the summer and then we could travel around. If we were to go to France, particularly the greater Paris region or to England, I think I could also get a teaching job (language, literature) for one semester. I mean, anywhere close to a big university would give me a chance to do something too.

Anyway... it would be challenging for the kids (who would be 13-14 and 16-17), but it would be a once-in-a-lifetime experience!

I'll let you know if any of this ever transpires. In any case, it's several years into the future.

Dreaming doesn't hurt, does it?

(big sigh... not whiny, but the "smiling"/content kind of sigh :-)

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