Lots of wrenches in plans!

We sadly have to skip South Africa. Omicron has taken off there, and we don’t feel comfortable entering into the fray, particularly with all the complicated travel restrictions we might face. This is such a shame, as we were all excited about seeing Cape Town, and I have been keenly anticipating the residency (and access the art materials). Oh well! We knew we needed to be very flexible and that covid would present many wrenches in plans.

After some more complicated maneuvers, our new strategy is to pack up around the same time, visit two locations we have yet to see on the Kenyan coast (including Lamu, which most say is unmissable, and now we can check off our list), and then back to Nairobi briefly where we will be able to stay at a friend's house during Christmas while they are away. Then, we'll head to Egypt. We're gifting the kids a surprise few days at an over-the-top resort on the coast with water slides and such, and then diving into a 10 day tour of Egypt's greatest hits. From there, we'll hopefully be able to get to Morocco, where I have a residency in Tetouan in the North of the country. That is all contingent on Morocco opening its borders to travel, as it closed them completely for 2 weeks following Omicron news. If we can't get to Morocco, we'll have to figure something else out. Whatever that is, I hope it entails an art-making space and access to art supplies, as I'm sorely missing both.

This time period will also compose the fully 'worldschooling' portion of our year with the kids, and Carl will largely head up the project of working with them on some academics. We'll see how that goes.

In February, we're heading to the New World for a little while. We have a 6 week plan for the kids to attend a kind of homeschool/school hybrid in Cabrera, Dominican Republic. However, Carl has been offered to be the keynote speaker at a conference for Founder’s Pledge in the French Alps in early Feb. I'll likely take the kids first to DR for a while on my own, as I can't conceive of what it would entail to have all of us tag along (despite the offer of room and board), what with more travel hurdles and the cost and hassle of all the winter gear which we obviously don't have in our carry-ons. We aim to head back to Europe in April.

For now, we’re still deep in the logistics game, while simultaneously trying to soak up our last days with the kids in school at Woodland Star. Their big show was postponed from Friday to tomorrow due to rain. Hopefully, the weather will cooperate this time!