Four years ago: An alarm on my phone would sound at 9pm reminding me it was time to get ready for bed.

Today: I rarely go to sleep before midnight.

Four years ago: My vacation dates were pretty much the same time as every other teacher and every family with school-age children in the US.

Today: In the last year, I’ve been away from home for fifteen weeks. Only five of them were during traditional US school holidays.

Four years ago: I had to be to work at 7:45am.

Today: I don’t start work until 1:45 pm. At the earliest.

Four years ago: I drove a car every day.

Today: Here in Spain, I’ve been behind the wheel of a car on three occasions — two of those last week. Under the supervision of a driving instructor. Even though I’ve been driving for thirty years.

Four years ago: I woke up on weekday mornings–without an alarm–just before 6am.

Today: If I need to be awake before 8am, I have to set an alarm. I don’t make any appointments before 11.

Four years ago: I could count to ten in Spanish.

Today: I can get my message across in most any situation in Spanish. It’s not always pretty. But my four-years-ago self would be very impressed.

Four years ago: If my husband and I wanted to, in three weeks time, take a ten-day cruise across the Atlantic, I’d have to ask for time off. And leave eight days worth of lesson plans for my sub.

Today: In order to take a cruise across the Atlantic, in three weeks time, I canceled some of my tutoring sessions. Every one of my families said something along the lines of, “Of course! Go! Enjoy!” I didn’t need a sub. Nor to make any lesson plans.

Four years ago: I hadn’t written a blog post in six months.

Today: I’ve posted at least once a month ever since Michael and I left the US.

Four years ago: I would plan trips by reading travel blogs.

Today: I plan trips by watching Spanish YouTube channels.

Four years ago: An hour long lunch was rare, let alone leaving campus during the school day. So most of my lunches were packed by me and eaten at work, with or without other teachers.

Today: I get to choose how long lunch is. And if I want to walk into my kitchen to make it or go out. And if anyone else joins me for lunch? There’s a good chance it will be more than an hour.

Four years ago: My husband Michael answered my phone calls by saying, “Hello.”

Today: He answers my phone calls by saying, “Buenas días.”

Four years ago: I used YouTube to learn how to change the ink in my printer or replace the batteries in my mouse. I had no idea how one “subscribed” to a YouTube Channel.

Today: I’m subscribed to about 20 channels, all of them in Spanish. Last night, I stayed up til 1am binge-watching a Mexican YouTuber’s series–in Spanish–about his trip to North Korea. (No, I had no idea people could actually visit North Korea. For the record, Americans can’t at the moment. Not that I was planning on it.)

Four years ago: I owned and used a clothes dryer.

Today: I hang all of my clothes on a rack to dry them.

Four years ago: All my devices were in English.

Today: My phone, my gmail account, my YouTube account, my computer’s operating system: it’s all in Spanish.

Four years ago: Living in a foreign country was a dream I’d harbored for twenty years.

Today: I’m living that dream.