Possibly the greatest perk to being a teacher is summer break. It’s an opportunity to rest and reenergize after a long, busy semester. If the break is overbooked, disappointing, or otherwise not restful, a teacher could struggle to face the first day of school.
In Chile, our “summer break” comes in December, and we return to school in February. Tomorrow, to be exact (Feb. 12). Unfortunately for us, this break was a big fail in a lot of ways. I realize it will be hard to garner sympathy when we just wrapped up seven weeks off work, spent time with family, did some sight-seeing in Chicago for a few days, and got to see “Hamilton.” But trust me, it was disappointing.
We kicked off the break with a week at my sister Megan’s house near Destin, FL. My other sister Kate drove down from Michigan with her three boys, and my parents made the trek from their central Florida home. Day after day, we laughed till our faces hurt. The kids presented skits, and we had a “white elephant” gift exchange on Christmas Eve. We played many rounds of Quiplash (which led to a ban on answers that included “poop” or “fart”). Christmas day was a blast with our traditional Nerf war and cinnamon buns, excited kids, and beach time. There may have been a few pranks (mom’s Italian pitcher wrapped up as a gift for Megan, fake tattoos of my dad’s signature…). We also packed in a visit to a state park and a dolphin-watching cruise during our visit.
At the end of the week, Tony flew to Michigan and I spent another week in Florida, in The Villages. I wanted to hang out with my parents and check on my rental property. I sat with my dad at chemotherapy every day, ran errands, visited with my renters (who were former neighbors of my parents in Michigan), chatted with my mom, and watched the wildlife in the backyard pond.
For New Year’s Eve, we enjoyed a fancy dinner and music at Katie Belle’s in the Spanish Springs town square. This year’s celebration wrapped up at 10:30 p.m. (unlike the last time we did this, when the champagne toast took place at 6:30 p.m.).
On Jan. 6, I flew to Michigan to meet up with Tony. We had to make some tough decisions. We had purchased our lake house in 2009 when my parents lived in Michigan, and we enjoyed many wonderful summers with friends and family swimming, kayaking, paddleboarding, and picnicking at Lake Orion. Now, my parents live in Florida, and we work in South America, where summers are winters and winters are summers. Our long “summer break” no longer takes place when my nephews and nieces have their summer break. I knew there was no hope of luring everyone to Michigan during our summer break, which is North American winter. Heck, I didn’t even want to be there!
So … what to do with that house? Instead of making a decision, we drove to Chicago for a few days.
A couple hours into our drive, we got smacked with a blizzard.
That slowed us down a bit, but eventually we reached Chicago’s funky Wicker Park neighborhood and our fabulous art-deco hotel, The Robey. I felt pretty proud of myself for using the SpotHero app to find a cheap-ish parking spot right next to the hotel. Weirdly, there was no snow in Chicago … yet.
That night, we enjoyed cocktails in The Up Room, our hotel’s 13th-floor rooftop lounge. Almost froze my face off to get this shot.
Wicker Park is chock full of hipster cafés and restaurants, but we especially loved Sultan’s Market, just a few steps from the hotel. Who knew you could eat like this for 7 bucks in Chicago?!
Tony and I mastered Chicago’s public transportation. We walked, bused, and zipped around town on “the L.”
We bought a CityPASS and hit some typical tourist hot spots, including the Field Museum of Natural History, Shedd Aquarium, and the Art Institute of Chicago.
The Field Museum blew our minds. We spent a whole day there and could have used more time. Some highlights … One spectacular exhibit walked us through the earth’s 4.6-billion-year timeline, including the present ice age. Another highlight was the fossil skeleton of SUE, a 40-foot-long and 90-percent-complete Tyrannosaurus rex. Displayed in a reproduction of a Late Cretaceous forest, SUE came to life through a wonderful digital presentation detailing its physical characteristics and its role in scientific research. We also walked through the “Underground Adventure,” which “shrinks” visitors to 1/100th of their actual size for encounters with life in the soil beneath our feet. Having visited both Egypt and Peru, I was especially interested in an exhibit that compared the mummification practices in the two ancient civilizations. We also watched a 4-D movie about Egypt. What a fantastic museum!
My obsession with beluga whales brought us to Shedd Aquarium. We went to the show, which is way more educational and less exploitative than I remember from past visits to aquariums!
At the Art Institute, we definitely felt the benefit of traveling during the low season. There was no jostling through the crowd. We just meandered and paused at will, taking time to marvel at some of the world’s most iconic artworks.
Our last night in Chicago, we went to The Second City. Here’s the website’s description of the show: “Unseen forces have assessed the data to create the perfect comedy content for all humans! Algorithm Nation or The Static Quo takes no prisoners (well, maybe just a few prisoners) during this frenetic, ultra-current, fall-down funny ride that focuses its sights on hyper-violence, astrological love connections, being woke, pyramid schemes, Facebook soldiers, Black Twitter, morning TV and a whole lot more. Consider this show to be the kind of escape room you’ll never want to escape from…ever.”
We had front-row seats, which I half-feared and half-hoped meant that we would be part of the show. Not only were we part of the show, I OPENED the show! After a simulated mass shooting, one of the “victims” crawled across the stage and handed me a piece of paper and a microphone. “Stand up and read it,” he gasped. So I did. It was full of hilarious – albeit crass – commentary on the impending performance, including one word I had never heard before. (It’s too gross to include on this family-friendly blog. Ha!) Anyway, I’m basically famous now. So cool!
The most stupendous experience of our week and, in fact, the whole reason we went to Chicago was to see the hip-hop musical sensation, “Hamilton.” I was more than a little excited.
Look how close we were!
Before the show started, I managed to contain my enthusiasm. That didn’t last long. As soon as I heard the opening notes, I got chills and started grinning. I kept catching myself sitting on the edge of my seat, mouth agape, eyes wide. Occasionally the people in the next row would turn back and look at me because I was singing out loud. I knew the songs by heart, but I couldn’t have anticipated how much the live show would affect me. Goosebumps. Tears. Overwhelming emotions. I almost can’t even write about it without getting the shakes.
By the time we left Chicago, it was transformed into a Winter Wonderland, aka Sharon’s Version of Hell.
Back in Michigan, the Polar Vortex was wreaking havoc. Heaps of snow, icy winds, and temperatures that dipped as low as -30ºF one night. Ice hockey players skated around the lake, and I even saw a guy ice fishing.
That was amusing for about five minutes. We knew we had to make a decision about our house, and I’m not gonna lie, this weather made that tough decision a little easier.
We decided to sell.
With somewhat heavy hearts, we sorted through 10 years of stuff that had collected at our lake house. Closets full of outdated clothes (we kept the same summer wardrobe here year after year). Thirteen life jackets with sizes ranging from newborn to adult XXL. Bins of old books and broken toys. Unwanted furniture and tools. A drawer full of chargers and random cords. Two children’s kayaks, outgrown by all the nephews and nieces. The list goes on.
After hauling many loads to The Salvation Army thrift shop, selling a few things, giving a LOT away on Craig’s List, and loading up our neighbor’s van with freebies, we packed up the rest and put it in storage. Then we cleaned. And cleaned. And cleaned.
Here are the “after” shots.
Living room/kitchen. 
Living room/kitchen. 
Kitchen. 
View from kitchen into living room. 
Laundry room. 
Dining room. 
Hall from living room to master bedroom (with pocket door to the basement). 
Hall closets. 
Master bedroom. 
Huge master bedroom closet. 
Built-in office space in the master bedroom. 
Master bath. 
Guest bedroom. 
Guest bedroom. 
New flooring in guest bath. 
Basement utility room. 
Basement. 
Basement storage space.
Our realtor plans to put our house on the market in March. Interested?
After escaping from blustery Michigan, I spent another week in Florida with my parents while Tony flew straight back to Chile to welcome his sisters. Liz had visited us in India, but this was Angela’s first trip out of the country. Tony played tour guide for a few days, taking his sisters to the hot spots in and around the Santiago.
When I returned to Chile, I joined them for a day trip into the Andes Mountains. We drove to Valle Nevado, a ski resort about two hours from our apartment. As we drove higher, the hairpin curves got tighter and steeper. At the top, giant condors soared overhead.
We ate lunch at the restaurant and then rode the chairlift up for the view.
A couple days later, Tony took Liz and Angela to the airport and sent them home to North American winter. And just like that, our “summer break” was over.
Unlike some of our friends and colleagues, we didn’t hang out at a Brazilian beach or shop for handicrafts in Mexico City. We didn’t hike in Patagonia or ski in Japan. We didn’t snorkel in the Galapagos Islands or traipse around Australia.
I had planned to study Spanish and practice yoga every day, but days slipped by without my cracking a book or rolling out my mat. I thought I would spend lots of time with my sister and her kids in Michigan, but once we decided to sell the house, we spent every waking moment working to get it ready. I found myself crabby and resentful over spending such a cherished holiday doing such mundane things.
Then I felt guilty for feeling crabby. We’re so lucky, aren’t we? To live abroad and have so many wonderful opportunities?
Then I felt crabby again. Of course we’re fortunate, but that doesn’t make it any easier to return to the demanding work of teaching young children without the rest and regeneration that usually comes with a long break.
So, here we are, back at school. You know what that means? Time to get away for a weekend!
