To us, pedaling to Mexico and staying to learn as much Spanish as we can in a semester seems like a next logical direction. We bicycle around town as a matter of course, and have done multi-day bicycle trips with the kids every summer except the ones in which they were born. Summer 2006 we pedaled two tandem bicycles (the kids were ages 8 and 10 then) for a month in Europe and loved our Canals, Croissants & Castles 5-country camping-all-the-way bicycle tour. Finishing in the Netherlands on a North Sea beach, we looked at each other and discussed how we would all be happy to just keep pedaling.
Learning another language has been a goal since before having kids, when my husband and I signed up for Spanish classes at the local community college and thought we would go to language school in Guatemala that summer. Instead we went to India with my Hindi/Urdu speaking brothers-in-law. How could we pass up their invitation? We lived with Afroz’ friends and family members for 5 weeks as we traveled to the places where he grew up - Kasganj and Aligarh in the state of Uttar Pradesh - and took side trips into the Himalaya and Rajasthan. If we lived nearer, I’d happily enroll myself in Afroz’ language classes at the University of North Carolina and learn Hindi/Urdu. (They are the same language spoken, but written in different scripts.)
So you blend the language fascination with our bicycling selves and you get what doesn’t seem weird to us. In fact, we think of it as perfect.
3 comments:
I think its perfect, too! You guys are inspiring.
Jen
Laural, totally lovely. What a fabulous writer you are. I feel so truly inspired myself. I desire to follow in your footsteps... and travel to find so much more than I can even fathom! Thanks for sharing your blog.
We are so inspired by your trips and your creativity. I dream of someday doing some when my boys are older. I've thought about bicycling from west to east, from here to Michigan to visit family. Thanks for the resources. Maybe I should just plan it so I'll have no excuse NOT to do it!
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