It has been several months since I have put up a post and I had to chuckle a little when I revisited the blog to see what the last thing I put up was. That was written in a time when I was increasingly sure that Rose and I would be heading back to the US, but when I was completely uncertain of the terms etc...
Since that time there have been many, many developments in our lives to get us to the place we are today and I hope to introduce you to many of them (without boring you into oblivion!).
While in India Rose and I finally agreed after weeks at loggerheads that things were not going the way that we needed them to so that our family could thrive. Ennis was doing well, learning Hindi, being a very well-behaved young man, and growing increasingly aware of the dangers of strange dogs and monkeys. I was doing very well, having time for exercise, personal reading, all of my work, and some other adventures on the side. Rose was struggling through the challenges posed to her of being a white woman in a culture that has a not-so-rosy view of white women, an empowered woman in a culture where women are just starting to gain a foothold for their importance and wellbeing, and a young mother of an active young man starting to take many risks in the world around him. There were many other things, but I generally boil it down to these things and Rose hasn't said that I am wrong, so I will just leave it at that.
When we starting thinking of coming home my first impression was to start a business or be self-employed. I looked into the Go-Fer Cabins again, I applied to positions all across the state, I contacted some of my friends who have their own businesses. The choices we had were:
1. Go-Fer Cabins-- Required investment and a lot of work
2. Wedgewood Motel-- Required MORE investment and a lot of work
3. Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) Farm-- We would live on site and work in exchange for rent.
4. Bike Shop-- Do part-time work at the local shop
5. Cook County Visitor's Bureau Marketing Specialist-- Getting people to come north!
6. Grand Marais Parks and Recreation Manager-- Managing the public resources of Grand Marais
7. Maintenance Manager @ Bluefin Bay Resort-- Making sure that all of the properties were working properly
8. Technology Specialist at an outdoor non-profit in the Cities
9. Director of a small non-profit bike shop in the Cities
10. Director of the Bear Center outside of Ely
11. Adventure Curriculum Specialist at Wolf Ridge ELC
12. Marketing Manager for the City of Duluth
13. Teaching at Shattuck-St. Mary's in Faribault
14. Starting a small business in Faribault
15. General Manager of several hotels in Grand Marais
Now, these are all across the board with all kinds of pros and cons. I believe that I could do all of them well, but I struggled with the same message that I wrote about in an earlier post speaking about working for your lifestyle instead of working for money. Security won this battle this time and even though I wasn't offered many of the jobs I applied for (there were hundreds of applicants for one of the positions, including people with doctorates and masters degrees... these are NOT high level positions, but I digress), I was offered some of them and they offered us some good opportunities. We ended up taking the position managing the hotels in Grand Marais because we felt that it would offer us a good amount of co-working time, time together, and time to spend with Ennis while accomplishing something meaningful, being able to do the job very well, and being able to be in the community we feel a deep connection to.
We think that we made the right decision.
So here we are at the Aspen Lodge Hotel in Grand Marais, MN. I have been starting to brainstorm new ideas for other projects (in posts to come!), reading some good books, working hard, and getting some time with the family.
There are still challenges in this situation, but they are very minor compared to the challenges we faced in India or moving back from India. The US is a very, very good place to live despite its rough edges, there is a LOT of nice smooth area in the middle. We are happy to have landed on that smooth area and are ready to start making waves!
But for now, if anyone wants to come up to the North Shore and hang out with us, let me know. We are running the hotel, so we can give you a "good" deal! It will be great to reconnect and revisit the past year with everyone!
In the future, keep checking in for new posts on some of the interesting things that I have been learning about Cabin Industries and self-sufficiency...
Since that time there have been many, many developments in our lives to get us to the place we are today and I hope to introduce you to many of them (without boring you into oblivion!).
While in India Rose and I finally agreed after weeks at loggerheads that things were not going the way that we needed them to so that our family could thrive. Ennis was doing well, learning Hindi, being a very well-behaved young man, and growing increasingly aware of the dangers of strange dogs and monkeys. I was doing very well, having time for exercise, personal reading, all of my work, and some other adventures on the side. Rose was struggling through the challenges posed to her of being a white woman in a culture that has a not-so-rosy view of white women, an empowered woman in a culture where women are just starting to gain a foothold for their importance and wellbeing, and a young mother of an active young man starting to take many risks in the world around him. There were many other things, but I generally boil it down to these things and Rose hasn't said that I am wrong, so I will just leave it at that.
When we starting thinking of coming home my first impression was to start a business or be self-employed. I looked into the Go-Fer Cabins again, I applied to positions all across the state, I contacted some of my friends who have their own businesses. The choices we had were:
1. Go-Fer Cabins-- Required investment and a lot of work
2. Wedgewood Motel-- Required MORE investment and a lot of work
3. Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) Farm-- We would live on site and work in exchange for rent.
4. Bike Shop-- Do part-time work at the local shop
5. Cook County Visitor's Bureau Marketing Specialist-- Getting people to come north!
6. Grand Marais Parks and Recreation Manager-- Managing the public resources of Grand Marais
7. Maintenance Manager @ Bluefin Bay Resort-- Making sure that all of the properties were working properly
8. Technology Specialist at an outdoor non-profit in the Cities
9. Director of a small non-profit bike shop in the Cities
10. Director of the Bear Center outside of Ely
11. Adventure Curriculum Specialist at Wolf Ridge ELC
12. Marketing Manager for the City of Duluth
13. Teaching at Shattuck-St. Mary's in Faribault
14. Starting a small business in Faribault
15. General Manager of several hotels in Grand Marais
Now, these are all across the board with all kinds of pros and cons. I believe that I could do all of them well, but I struggled with the same message that I wrote about in an earlier post speaking about working for your lifestyle instead of working for money. Security won this battle this time and even though I wasn't offered many of the jobs I applied for (there were hundreds of applicants for one of the positions, including people with doctorates and masters degrees... these are NOT high level positions, but I digress), I was offered some of them and they offered us some good opportunities. We ended up taking the position managing the hotels in Grand Marais because we felt that it would offer us a good amount of co-working time, time together, and time to spend with Ennis while accomplishing something meaningful, being able to do the job very well, and being able to be in the community we feel a deep connection to.
We think that we made the right decision.
So here we are at the Aspen Lodge Hotel in Grand Marais, MN. I have been starting to brainstorm new ideas for other projects (in posts to come!), reading some good books, working hard, and getting some time with the family.
In the future, keep checking in for new posts on some of the interesting things that I have been learning about Cabin Industries and self-sufficiency...
