Integration
We decided to look at the different elements that are in our lives at the moment so that we can have a better look at how they can connect together, to see if any changes can be made. The elements we looked at were:
We made a web of connections to see how these elements linked together.
- Ohlis education (if and where he should go to school)
- Nomadic permaculture (the name we have given to teaching together, including our website and facebook page)
- Organic Playgrounds (the company we've created in the UK to work in schools)
- Bodhi clothing (my clothing project company from project 4)
- Can Silo (our home and land in Spain)
- Our temporary house in Spain
- My work with Jay (working in schools for somebody else, taking me away from home for 3 days per week)
- Organising volunteers for the land in Spain
- Oriol's potential work in Spain
- Our intentions of travelling Spain
- Our intentions to travel worldwide
- Running permaculture courses
We made a web of connections to see how these elements linked together.
This web has been really useful in helping us to see how the elements are connected. It is clear that my work for Jay in the UK doesn't connect with anything to do with our lives in Spain, only connecting with living in the UK and with Organic Playgrounds - the company that we are creating that leads on from this work and makes it our own. This led us to discuss how we could benefit from me leaving this work behind and focusing on developing Organic Playgrounds in it's place, as this has many connections that link to Spain, the UK, teaching permaculture, work for Oriol, and running courses.
We noticed that Can Silo, our land project connects with most of the other things that we want to have as a part of our lives. This encouraged us to think about returning there soon and how we can best use this amazing resource.
We noticed that Can Silo, our land project connects with most of the other things that we want to have as a part of our lives. This encouraged us to think about returning there soon and how we can best use this amazing resource.
Action
From this I decided to leave my work with Jay and now am focusing on Organic Playgrounds totally whilst in the UK. Immediately we have started having work offers coming in, which is amazing as this fits much more harmoniously with working as a family, supporting both of us financially. As we are working more locally I now can also be around in the mornings and evenings to be with Ohli.. and the well-being of all of us has been improved.
Helps
We next looked at the things that we have that are helping us. We listed these things as:
- having family support in UK and Spain
- supporting each other..
- having our basic needs met here in the UK means more time for work, study and rest, being able to dedicate more time to our happiness.
- Ohli has a great kindergarten here where he is really happy. There are also lots of options for schools here in Sheffield close to home.
- with our family business up and running we have more economic independence, less stress, and more freedom to make plans
- we are designing work that will be transferable to different countries enabling us to travel and be free
- having my family home close to us here in Sheffield gives us all an extra space to escape to if we feel we need it
- we have a passion and excitement for all we are doing, and it keeps growing as we step further into our plans
- we have trust in each other that keeps building
Reflection: Positive Negative Interesting analysis
From a few of the points that came out of this web of connections, we were inspired to make a positive, negative and interesting analysis of three elements that we had questions about - being in the UK, living in Spain, and options for Ohli's education. These practical issues have a big effect on our happiness, and we both feel that if we can take some time to look at how our practical needs are not being met then our overall happiness will be massively improved.
The question of education keeps coming up for us as Ohli is now at school age, which gives us some extra boundaries. If we choose to put him in mainstream education then it will most probably mean us staying in one place for the school year, which limits our other plans and love of travel. One other alternative we have been considering is that he could be home educated, but then this also limits the amount of time we will have available for other projects, and we're not sure this will be the best for him or for us. We have been including this in our design web in the hope that it will help us to explore the options that are right for our situation.
The question of education keeps coming up for us as Ohli is now at school age, which gives us some extra boundaries. If we choose to put him in mainstream education then it will most probably mean us staying in one place for the school year, which limits our other plans and love of travel. One other alternative we have been considering is that he could be home educated, but then this also limits the amount of time we will have available for other projects, and we're not sure this will be the best for him or for us. We have been including this in our design web in the hope that it will help us to explore the options that are right for our situation.
From this analysis of living in Spain, one interesting point that came up was that now when we return life could be very different than before. We have rebuilt the house to a much more comfortable living state, and are saving money to take back with us to support our lives there. We have much more interest from volunteers, and local work is now appearing for Oriol, which will have a big impact on the sustainability of our life there. We also have many more local friends and connections, which makes a big difference to our happiness.
We found that we had a long list of positives for living there, and a much shorter list of negatives. It was interesting to see that the negatives were mostly things that could potentially be different now if we were to return, such as no money and too much hard work for basic day to day life. |
This analysis of Ohli's education brought up the fact that if Oriol does work in Spain then the pressure is taken from me to be the main bringer of income, and so I will have more time to devote to Ohli at home. If we live with more stability and choose to live in Spain, his local school is very nice and we have good connections with the teachers after creating their school garden for them. They may be very willing to allow us the freedom to take Ohli out as we need to for the short term future. Another positive of being there is that Ohli (and I) are immersed in a new language and culture and it is a great time for Ohli especially to be learning at his age, and he was picking up Catalan very quickly. We both felt that full time home education wouldn't suit our needs as a family, as we live rurally and all the local children go to the local school. As isolation was a big issue for us before, there's great value on integrating into our local community and for Ohli to have stable friendships.
We did explore the points that our lifestyle could potentially be very interesting for home education, and my personal interests are in childhood education which would support this. The option of flexi-schooling (part time school and home ed) seems like a good in-between option that may suit our needs really well. |
Looking at being in the UK together, we noticed that I have much more support here in terms of family and work opportunities, and with the value of money made over here being worth more when we take it back to Spain. The main negatives were the weather, (for Oriol this is quite a big issue, being a Mediterranean sun lover), the challenge Oriol has to find other work here, and that our lifestyle here, in a city house with the winter coming, is very much indoors. This is a big change for us after being on the land every day in Spain. There is also the added expense of renting a house and the bills that come along with this.
We have spent a long time in Spain not having much of an income, whilst coming to the UK work opportunities have been much better and I've been managing to save some money from working in schools. Although we do gain many positive things from our lives in Spain, until now we haven't been obtaining any yields in a financial sense. This is so crucial if we are to be able to carry on there, and unless we can transfer this work to Spain with us we may need to be returning here to the UK very regularly to sustain us financially. We discussed that we could possibly have the best of both worlds by using this connection with the UK part time, so coming here for some months of the year to raise money for our other plans and projects. |