Author: matt.kelemen

There’s a tendency to focus on the momentous things in end-of-year reflections — new schools, homecomings, job changes, travels. And 2019 has had those things for us. But in some ways, 2019 for us is best reflected in the quotidian. Simply living together under one roof back in our home in San Francisco (something we last did in June of 2015). Having breakfast before school and work on a weekday morning. Or staying out late with friends on a Saturday night. Or coming home to find Mojito waiting for attention. Yes, perhaps this year can be best summed up as the year of the cat, the year when an adorable creature that Adela brought into our lives a few months before we ticked over to 2019 brought us all joy and anchored us even more to home.

Adela: I love watching my friends’ faces when I try to explain how classical music can be beautiful, with its fluctuating harmonies and mournful melodies. But, I bet they laugh at mine when they talk about the time it takes to memorize choreography. Going to art school is everything I could have asked for, getting to be with people who have such fascinatingly different interests, but all done with passion and love for our individual art forms.

The end of the decade has already brought some changes to my life. I ended middle school, thoroughly excited to join the Ruth Asawa School of the Arts, where I had been accepted in May after a nerve-racking audition in February. I was so thrilled my hard work had paid off, but so much more was yet to come.

Over the summer, I had the amazing opportunity to spend time in Greece with my grandma, aunt, cousin and mom. From dust-covered ruins to sand-covered beaches, we explored Athens, the Peloponnese peninsula, and two spectacular Greek islands. The interesting history and relaxing beauty of such an incredible place was a great way to spend time with family and learn more about worlds before us. Then, my mom and I traveled to meet up with the other side of my family in the rolling hills of Ireland. A whole new history, especially a more personal one, was one of the numerous spectacular things we got to do. I got to meet several distant cousins living there that I never knew I had, and we hit it off immediately. It was so fun to make new connections with people I never knew I had any connection to. It was so amazing.

August, the start of my first year as a high schooler at Ruth Asawa SOTA, was the start of a world I didn’t know existed ’til now. I got to meet so many great people so passionate about art, dance, architecture, creative writing, and so much more. It has been so entertaining. I’ve met artistic and interesting people, and I couldn’t have asked for better friends.

For two-plus years, I had been preparing for my Bat Mitzvah and, in October of 2019, I finally celebrated  it. It was not only a new pathway towards self-discovery, but also a way to connect with family and friends in a place that’s special to me. 

The decade might be ending, but my life is nowhere near that. I’m thrilled to continue growing and starting an adventure to last a lifetime.. with my cat.

Dylan: I am The Mover. This name was given to me for a variety of reasons, and it embodies every aspect of my life this year. This year began with my move back to the Bay, marking the conclusion of our time in Chile. This process turned my life on its head just as it had three-and-a-half years before as we packed up our house and headed off towards the unknown. Some will argue that the move back can’t be considered the “unknown,” but looking back at my life this year, I realize that it was nothing like my life before Chile.   

As most who read this letter know, I have been immersed in the world of soccer for many years. And this year was no different. Upon my return to the States, I completed my move to the club De Anza Force. I have been with them for the duration of this past year and have made various moves towards my future, whether that be pursuing a professional career in Europe or pushing towards a college education while continuing to develop as an athlete. The move has opened up many doors and opportunities for me to advance within this passion of mine and I look forward to what the future holds. 

Another big step I took this year was shared with my dad, as we sought Hungarian citizenship. We spent half of the year learning this unbelievably difficult language only to fake our way through a citizenship interview in Budapest. Thankfully (and miraculously), we passed said interview, submitted our documents and have been playing the waiting game for the approval of our application. This was an important milestone towards our goal to obtain a European passport and helps me move forward towards potentially living in Europe with a professional contract or attending a European university. This moves us closer to a new world of possibilities that I am intrigued to explore throughout next year. 

I have moved through three educational systems in the last year, all fundamentally different. While leaving Chile, I was also leaving a private education, something I have been exposed to exclusively in South America. Then, upon moving back to San Francisco in January, I took the first half of the year to devote my time to things that felt important to me. Obviously, soccer was involved as I continued to develop my athletic ability; but these months provided me with a freedom that I had never experienced before. Among the things that I devoted my time to, I like to highlight my decision to volunteer substantially with the SF/Marin Food Bank. I volunteered multiple times per week and over the seven months totaled more than 200 hours packing food for those in the Bay Area in need of help. This experience opened my eyes to the reality that I had returned to and moved me, both intellectually and emotionally, to understand that I have the ability and responsibility to provide what I can for those in need. However, this is not where the year ends. After the seven months of “free time” I decided that I was ready to return to the traditional institution of school (ugh). Come late August, I re-enrolled in the SFUSD public school system at Lowell High School, reconnecting with many old friends that I had left four years prior. This moved me as a person and demonstrated to me what kind of a person I really am. I as a social, interactive mover, who can’t sit still (literally) and someone who needs to be engaged with others at all times to grow as a person. All of these changes enlightened part of me that I had only caught glimpses of over the years and I am humbled to have had this special opportunity to move through these many environments at such a young age.  

Finally, and most importantly, this year was the first time I got to spend any substantial quality with our amazing 5th family member. Mojito has revolutionized our lives in ways that we couldn’t have imagined (and some that we could) and in the spirit of reflection he has given me this title. To him, I am The Mover. I pick him up, imposing my affection on him — maybe too much (especially when he doesn’t want it)… and so I have officially earned this label. I am The Mover, and this is reflected in how I present myself to the world and it encompasses my life as a whole. 

Matt: I spent half of 2019 learning Hungarian. Or at least enough of that very tricky language to complete a quest that started in the 1880s, when my great-grandfather Albert Kelemen was born in Debrecen, Hungary, allowing me a century and a half later to apply for Hungarian and European Union citizenship. Dylan joined me on this quest, unraveling the mysteries of Hungarian with the amazing assistance of our teacher-by-Skype Lídia Körmöndi (Köszönöm szépen, Lídia!) and traveling to Budapest to sit for an interview and submit proof of ancestry. We have a few months yet to wait to learn our fate, but the hard part is over and we expect to have EU passports before 2020 comes to a close.

The other half of the year was consumed with a new job. I have, with great excitement, re-joined New Leaders, a non-profit committed to transforming educational opportunity for students of color and students facing poverty by developing effective school leaders. I am leading a new line of work for New Leaders, one that is focused on partnering with colleges and universities to transform principal preparation. While it is difficult to set aside the good work Jeannette and I have been doing together with our clients, I know that Kelefors Consulting, LLC is in good hands.

In between these two half-years, we enjoyed a truly memorable family gathering in Ireland. Twenty-two of us — my mom, her sister, and their families — crossed the Atlantic, met up with our Broderick cousins, saw the homesteads of our Irish ancestors, skulled pints, crooned ballads, and spun yarns. It was the homecoming of all homecomings. And it was made all the more special when all of those family members, plus more family and many friends, traveled out to California just a few months later to celebrate Adela as she became bat mitzvah.

A few other notable memories: traveling to Montreal to see Jason and to meet Emily and Maurice; accompanying Dylan to Southern California as his team advanced all the way to the national semifinals; and, for the first time ever, having a pet.

In five months time, I’ll be 50 and will have shared 20 years of marriage with Jeannette, milestones we are celebrating with a 545-mile bike ride from SF to LA. Many of you have graciously donated to our ride and we are so grateful for that.

Jeannette: Despite having a new constant in Mojito to our daily lives in San Francisco, I started 2019 not sure how many months I’d be spending in Chile in 2019. Dylan made the decision in mid-January to return to the U.S. for school and soccer, kicking off a month of flurried activity to terminate our lease and pass on a household worth of stuff. I was hopeful that I could maintain some work on exciting and interesting projects, visit with friends, and keep up my Spanish, but I just wasn’t sure how it would all work out. 

In March the Chilean government notified me that my request for permanent residency (a saga which began in Sept 2015) had been approved, but would require me to complete the process in person, so I planned a trip to Santiago in April to claim it, further some work projects, and reconnect with friends. Of course the bureaucratic process caused me some white knuckles moments to the very end, but alas I have an official “home away from home” for as long as I can keep up an annual trip to Chile. In August I returned for an intense work-focused trip, grateful for opportunities to advance several projects related to teacher and school leader training in project-based learning. The tumultuous events of mid-October threw everything up in the air (more about that below), but I have planned my first 2020 trip to Chile toward the end of March.

Back at home, I was delighted to continue compelling work with my U.S. clients, and engage a new project with the Learning Policy Institute founded by my thesis advisor and mentor Prof. Linda Darling-Hammond supporting the California Performance Assessment Collaborative (CPAC). 

Celebrating life was a big part of this year. I turned 50 in May, with a surprise visit from my brother, and an amazing dinner party planned and prepared by Matt, Dylan and Adela. The celebration continued with a once-in-a-lifetime trip to Greece with Adela, my mom (also celebrating a milestone year in 2019), niece Claire, and sister-in-law Laura, and an unforgettable family heritage trip to Ireland where I met Rooneys & Brodericks (Matt’s clan in Lough Rea and Ashbourne) and Sleaters (my Nana’s clan from Sligo). Additional get togethers with friends celebrating 50 enriched the year with much love and reflection. And Adela’s bat mitzvah was a true blessing for me and our entire family.

But this year I also mourn the loss of two dear souls. Prof. Ed Bridges, one of my dissertation committee members whom I could always count on to encourage and support my academic and personal growth. And Daniel McLaughlin, co-founder of Envision Schools who championed a world-class education for all students, but especially for first generation college-bound youth. It is an honor to remember them and their gifts as inspiration for not only my work, but also for ways of being.

I’m grateful our nuclear family was together magnitudes more than we had been in 2018 (7x, for the curious). For Dylan’s soccer games, Adela’s musical performances, training rides and date nights with Matt, our family dinners, play sessions with Momo, quiet evenings reading inspired authors, and live engagements with notable thinkers and doers among us, for good health and new year ahead. Violetta Parra’s world-renowned song, “Gracias a La Vida,” rings truer than it ever has for me. Gracias a La Vida.

*****

The start of 2019 was the culmination of three-and-a-half years in Chile for our family, in one form or another. It was an experience that brought all four of us immense joy and growth. So, it is with deep sadness that we have watched events unfold in Chile this year, as decades of structural inequality and a failure to reckon with the legacy of the dictatorship exploded in angry protests followed by a brutal and senseless response from the government and military. Tanks rolling down the avenues, hundreds with maimed bodies and lost eyesight from supposedly non-lethal weapons fired by police, failed and hollow leadership from the president and his allies. It is a wrenching feeling, equal parts gratitude to be out of the fray, guilt to be unable to stand in close solidarity with our friends and with the Chilean people, and hope that a promised new constitution will bring real change in Chile.

Meanwhile, we have so much to do here in the U.S. in 2020. Now that we’ve really settled back in, we begin the year knowing that the whole of this year will be a fight to reclaim our democracy. We’ll be doing our part and we hope that all of you will be united in that fight. 

The year in numbers

1 – number of new drivers added to our car insurance this year (uff!)

2 – high school PTAs of which we’re members

3 – bridges crossed in one of Jeannette & Matt’s best training rides to date

3.6 – magnitude of the earthquake we felt the morning of Adela’s bat mitzvah

7 – months of active instruction at Kelefors Academy of Learning and Empowerment (KALE) during the year

13 (approx) – vocal and musical theater performances by Adela

22 – members of the extended Rooney clan who traveled from the US to Ireland for a get-together in July

58 – number of teeth Adela brushes each night . . .  30 of them are her cat’s so he won’t have to go to the cat dentist

60 – number of days after she left Chile that Jeannette received permanent residency status in Chile (gotta love the bureaucracy)

98 – percent decline in Hungarian language retention since Matt and Dylan’s citizenship interview in Budapest

225 – Greek islands left for Jeannette & Adela to visit (2 down!)

600 – percent increase in the number of date nights for Jeannette & Matt in 2019 compared with 2018

7,345 (approx) – The number of articles of impeachment left on the cutting room floor

9,000+ – number of miles Dylan traveled for away games with De Anza Force

Everywhere is within walking distance if you have the time. — Steven Wright

It’s easy sometimes to forget that a family of four is not only a single unit. Nor is it merely a collection of individuals. It is also a network of dyads and triads. Father and daughter. Mother and son. Et cetera. 2018 brought this reality into sharp relief for us, as we navigated a life in two places, one foot in San Francisco and another in Santiago. With high school on the horizon, Adela was glad to be back in San Francisco where she could nurture her gifts as a singer and actress. Meanwhile, Dylan’s continued journey toward professional soccer was best accomplished in Chile. So, with the kids anchored in their schools and lives, we parents took turns accompanying them, an arrangement that gave us a profound understanding of single parenting and some truly incredible windows into the lives of our children.

From Matt: In case you’re confused, from February to July, I lived with Adela in San Francisco, and from August to December, I lived with Dylan in Santiago. Returning to the Bay Area was a chance to re-acquaint myself with all the things I love about this place — Sunday old men’s fútbol in the East Bay with Chris, Wade, Walker and the rest of Alameda United, cross country skiing in Tahoe Donner, (did you know that most Chileans I’ve talked to have NO IDEA what XC skiing is?!), jogging through Land’s End and Golden Gate Park, ramen in Japantown, dim sum and boba tea in the outer Richmond, and, of course, burritos in the Mission.

It was also a chance to be Adela’s dad. Immediately after Jeannette and Dylan took off for Santiago, I got a fortune cookie with the message, “You should enhance your feminine side at this time.” I kid you not. I enjoyed helping Adela grow as a scholar, singer, actress, swimmer, and debater, though I could live without being her taxi driver. We spent quiet evenings and car rides expanding one another’s musical tastes, we marched together against forced family separation, we explored our city together, and we traveled together to Chicago and Indiana for a great visit with the Cone clan.

The second half of the year gave me one-on-one time with Dylan, watching him continue to mature as a student, friend and footballer and making sure he got enough to eat. At the end of the year, I asked him what was different living with me (instead of with his mom), and he summarized it as: “more meat and fewer desserts.” A highlight of our time together was a 24-hour trip to Buenos Aires to take in an important match at La Bombonera, one of the great cathedrals to football. And for a few weeks, we hosted “Camp Católica,” when Liam Nesbitt and Sven Meacham lived with us and trained with their respective age groups at Dylan’s club.  Before leaving Chile, I took one last solo trip (while Dylan was in Brazil with his team), car camping in the extraordinarily beautiful Araucania, with its stunning volcanoes and alpine lakes, and then cruising the central coast to get one last taste of the incredible bounty of Chile’s seas.

As for work, I was excited to reconnect with former colleagues at SFUSD, as I started working closely with Kristin Bijur to build a new leadership framework for the school district. And I volunteered time with Griptape, being a champion for young people pursuing their own passions as learners. Jeannette and I are now full-time business partners and we worked together to support the important high school transformation work being done by XQ and to expand the use of high-quality project-based learning through the Buck Institute for Education (now known as PBL Works).

From Jeannette: I spent as much of January as possible soaking up time with Adela and Matt and reconnecting with dear friends. Once back in Chile, Dylan and I set about finding a new apartment and making it a comfortable home. Thank goodness we had the help of wonderful friends and a good sense of humor. A special shout out goes to the Fuentes family for sharing their beautiful home, storing our things before we could move in, and helping us get settled; but there were many folks who offered us help. During the summer Dylan trained in the mornings, but we had time to check out various apartments and we took turns selecting different things to do together. See if you can figure out who proposed which of the following activities: a) see the Black Panther blockbuster; b) go to a house-party to hear world-famous pianist Paulina Zamora play; c) plan a pool party; d) go to an outdoor performance of Santiago’s “Festival el Teatro”; e) apply our sophisticated hamburger rating system to various joints across the city; and f) take a walk in the park.

Once school began, we maintained a different rhythm. Dylan was up early and back late most days, and I had lots of work trips that took me out of town. When June arrived, my “Soccer Mom” status intensified as we welcomed Liam Nesbitt into our home for Phase I of “Camp Católica” and watched as many World Cup matches as we could. The guys were terrific about doing their share to run the household and we enjoyed various activities which included some volunteer work at Habitat for Humanity, evenings out, and soccer. Soccer in the park, Soccer on the field — both home and away — soccer in the snow and soccer on the tv. You get the idea.

My emotional reunion with Adela came at the Miami airport in July where we met up for a week-long trip to Cuba with my dad to help install a water purification system in Holguín. Before returning to San Francisco we enjoyed family, friends and adventures in D.C., Columbia, Baltimore, New York and Philly.

Once back on the west coast, Adela and I didn’t waste any time taking advantage of San Francisco’s cultural offerings, and every week we went to a live performance of some kind: opera, musical theater, vocal concerts, plays. Adela’s swim practices and swim meets converted me from “Soccer Mom” to “Swim Mom”. We harvested peaches. We baked. We binged on mom-daughter movies and shows. We listened to musical theater soundtracks over and over (and over!) again. You get the idea. In addition, we fit in myriad high school visits to help Adela decide which high schools in San Francisco Unified to list in the school assignment process. We volunteered at a few activities together and I canvassed to get out the vote. We reconnected with beloved family and friends, and we adopted the sweetest kitten.

In addition to living out both the benefits and challenges of being a single parent a continent away from my other family half, I spent the year working with school teachers, school leaders and support organizations focused transforming teaching and learning. I cherish the partnership with Matt in Kelefors Consulting that allows us to work together on compelling projects and look forward to both continuing and new projects in 2019.

From Dylan: Let’s start at the beginning. My grandfather and a good friend kicked off the new year watching fireworks over Sydney Harbour. We spent a wonderful three weeks “Down Under” exploring cities, diving on the Great Barrier Reef, and rafting through glow worm caves. It was an incredible experience that I would repeat anytime. I got back to San Francisco from the southern hemisphere in late January only to turn around less than 24 hours to head back to Santiago for my soccer preseason practices. My mom and I got on a plane, leaving the other half of our family in the ‘City by the Bay’. This marked the beginning of our year of separation, and all of the complications that came with it.

We lived apart for 341 days. It was quite a change having only two people in each household, but there were some good things about it. Like doing my own laundry. Not.

Playing on the highly competitive U15 Católica team in Chile was a highlight for me. As most of you know, I compete at a high level in soccer, and every year the challenges have grown exponentially. So, as you may have guessed, this year was the most challenging thus far. As a team, we battled all year for the championship against many great teams in hard-fought clashes. Five days a week — every week — my teammates and I worked out on the field towards a common goal. I’m very proud that we defeated our rivals Colo-Colo for the first time at the ‘Monumental’’ (their home stadium).

I started and completed my sophomore year in high school this year. All 10th graders are required to complete a “personal project” and I embarked on mine to research, build and reflect on games ancient civilizations used to play that were closest to modern day soccer. I started this project in March, and the final presentation was in September. That’s a fair bit of time if you ask me, but all of it was filled with work and more work, bringing this project to life, and my peers and I will tell you that it was hard work. We culminated our work in September when the entire 2020 class presented their projects to the Santiago College community in a showcase where not only the parents, but also other students got to explore the work that we had done over the course of the year. I’m proud of my work, and it was interesting to see what my classmates had taken on in their personal projects as well.

As this year came to a close, I found myself flying to another island with my paternal grandfather (and some cousins) to have a great trip in the Galapagos. We saw tons of wildlife, snorkeled with sharks and sea lions, explored the habitat for giant tortoises and didn’t have any WiFi…

Thankfully we survived all of this.

I moved back to the U.S. right before New Year’s, and recently joined a competitive soccer team in the Bay Area: DeAnza Force. Stay tuned for that story in next year’s letter . . .

From Adela: 2018 was a year I experienced lots of change. After returning to the U.S. from Santiago where I had spent the last 2.5 years, I started a new school, applied to high school, joined a new swim team, and got back into the arts. But it’s also when our family separation began.

One of the reasons I came back to the United States was for the arts. I’ve always loved to sing and perform, but while we were living in Santiago I wasn’t able to do much in the way of performing arts. After our time in Chile, I told my parents I wanted to move back to San Francisco. Sure, I had managed to find some ways to sing, but I knew I needed something more. I came back, re-joined the Girls Chorus, joined the vocals class at Everett Middle School, and started singing with the American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T.) middle school cabaret, expanding my repertoire from classical music to the world of musical theater. Being reintroduced into the singing community was one of the best things that ever happened to me, and it made San Francisco feel like home again.

My brother, on the other hand, wanted to pursue a career in soccer, so our family split up. It was very different living with only one parent, but it was a great learning experience. I’ve made new friends, and reconnected with old ones. Most importantly, I adopted a kitten we named Mojito, whom I love very much. He’s been a great addition to our family, and even when he scratches the couch we forgive him (all of us, except maybe Mom a little bit less). He’s super sweet and affectionate, everything you could ask for in a cat. I am really happy to finally have a pet in the house, especially one I love so much.

Living in Santiago was a great experience. I learned so much by being abroad, but I am grateful to be back home in San Francisco. I am very happy my family and I are reunited once again, and I look forward to 2019 as a family of five.

Post-Script: While 2018 was a year when we were spread across two continents, we’re looking forward to 2019 together as a family of four (five when you count Mojito) in San Francisco. You can reach us at the following numbers and emails: Matt: 415.949.8653 (matt@kelefors.com)/ Jeannette: 415.425.7589 (jlafors@stanfordalumni.org)/ Dylan: 415.910.8408 (dylankelemen@gmail.com)/ Adela: 415.949.8963 (adelakelemen@gmail.com). You can follow Mojito on Instagram @momo_the_kitty_98.

2018 By the numbers . . .

1       Number of Momos now living as part of our family

1       Miles Adela swam in open water in the SF Bay

3       New babies born into our extended family: Mynt (Jan), Alexander (Apr) and Finnian (Nov)

4       Senate seats Dems need to flip in 2020

5       Hours of sunlight you lose when you leave Santiago for San Francisco in late December

5       Number of prototypes that Dylan created for his 10th grade personal project

9       Number of conferencing platforms employed for work and family communication

17     Number of visitors to Chile (from the U.S. and New Zealand)

32     Days we had together as a family of 4 in 2018

130   Average number of years tortoises live in the Galapagos

245   Worst air quality rating recorded in San Francisco in decades (Camp Fire in Butte County)

250   Number of doors we knocked on with California Away to remind registered voters to vote

270   Number of days Adela was a 7th grader

285   Days Dylan trained or played soccer in a team setting

300+ Number of choristers signing in Davies Hall along with the Kronos Quartet

In a way, this letter should be all about Chile, since we spent almost the whole of the year there. But it’s hard to focus on the middle when the bookends were so staggeringly beautiful and impactful. We started the year at bottom of the world, where no humans live save a small number of scientists dedicated to understanding — and sometimes preserving — our world. It is a breathtaking place, with icebergs the size of towns and sunsets that last forever.

We ended the year surrounded by family and friends, celebrating Dylan becoming bar mitzvah along with our California homecoming. We are grateful to all of the grandparents, siblings, cousins and friends who made treks short and far to join in the festivities and to witness Dylan do a stellar job reading and interpreting Torah. A special shout-out to James Green, who managed to make the Friday Shabbat all the way from Beijing, China.

As we reflect on the year, we are reminded of Nelson Mandela’s words: “There is nothing like returning to a place that remains unchanged to find the ways in which you yourself have altered.” Each of us has been profoundly altered by our time outside of the United States.

From Adela: Change is something we encounter in our everyday lives. It may be hidden, but our lives are constantly changing in more ways that we realize. My life this year has been impacted by change, from little things like winning my first gold medal in swimming, to big things like moving to another country. The two biggest changes in my life this year have been my trip to Antarctica and my return to the US. I’ll start with my trip to the Antarctic. We traveled by boat for one week and four days, and I saw wondrous things that could not be described, as words seemed too simple and plain to make someone understand the stunning beauty of the Antarctic. I was fascinated by the intricate ecosystem that survives in the most hostile place on earth. I also noticed that it was hot some days. Hot. The Antarctic is not supposed to be hot. Our pollution and waste is destroying the most beautiful place on earth. It made me so sad and so angry. It changed me and made me want to help save Antarctica, but I can’t do it alone. I want to use part of this letter to try and convince you to do what you can to help the environment. I have tried to conserve more water and recycle more often, because even the smallest act can make a difference. I am concerned more and more about the earth’s health and well-being because, one, I want to preserve its beauty and wonder, and two, this is a world that my family, friends and I are growing up and living in. I don’t want to live in a world that’s slowly dying from global warming, rising sea levels, or even the poison of nuclear radiation. It’s our responsibility to protect our home.

On another happy note (sarcastic voice), our family is going to be living apart for who knows how long, and it’s going to be hard. I am starting off 2018 living in San Francisco with my dad while my mom and brother will be living in Santiago, Chile. Half-way through the year, my mom plans to return to San Francisco and my dad will go to Santiago to be with Dylan. It’s hard to contemplate that I won’t be constantly annoyed by my brother and that I won’t always be pestered by both my parents to do my chores. Just kidding. I’m going to miss my brother a lot, and whichever parent will be in South America. Luckily we have plans to visit each other frequently throughout the year. This will be a big change for me, but I think I’ll manage.

From Matt: For me, 2017 was the year of the pichanga, which is Chilean for a pick-up game of futbol. I feel lucky to have met Rodrigo Diaz Mery, a work colleague, who introduced me to his tight circle of friends since forever. Wednesday and Sunday nights became my weekly social anchors, though with the inclusion of a beer and sandwich after each game, I can’t say that my fitness improved. I will definitely miss Mery, Tito, Topo, Checho, Cabezón, Kiko, Pelado, Panchito, Flaco, Pato, Gato, Gringo, Simpson, Cristian, Arquero, Pablo and the rest of the Cancha Siete gang, both for the football and for the camaraderie. And, of course, it was tough saying goodbye to Paula and Gonzalo, my dearest friends in Santiago.

Professionally, it was satisfying to see the Chilean congress finally pass the New Public Education law that paves the way for the creation of school districts. I had the pleasure of working on the implementation strategy for the new law and designing a university-based training program for professionals who will work in the new school districts. At the same time, much of my work was focused on improving schools in the US through amazing organizations like New Leaders, the School Leader Lab, Matriculate and XQ. It was somewhat surreal to spend many of my days on the phone with colleagues in the states and then walk out the door to shop and see friends in Santiago. I am grateful to be in closer proximity to colleagues and to be back in the heart of the resistance.

Jeannette and I celebrated 17 years of marriage this year and marked it with an incredible weekend in Buenos Aires. Sumptuous food, boulevards that recall Paris or New York, late night speakeasies followed by later-night dancing. And it was made all the more special by Jeannette’s insistence in doing all the planning. All I had to do was show up.

Among the many gifts of parenting this year, Dylan becoming bar mitzvah stands out. His standing at the bimah not only represented a personal accomplishment and a deepening of his spiritual life, it also continued a generational thread back through my dad, my grandmother, and her family before her. It was a happy day for us, and I know it would have meant a lot to her.

From Jeannette: This year was a great year in travel for me, and two highlights from my year occurred more than 7,500 miles from one another, and lots in between.

The furthest point south was just past the Antarctic Circle on our family trip to Antarctica in January . . . Sailing from the Falkland Islands, across Drake’s Passage, and crossing the Antarctic Circle was a remarkable adventure. I saw and learned so much about:

• the remarkable albatross, which can live for up to 60 years, has a 3.5m wingspan (nearly 12ft), and can fly for up to five years (!) without landing
• behaviors of gentoo, adelie, and chinstrap penguins — I especially loved seeing porpoising gentoo penguins (jumping out of the water at speeds of more than 20mph), and rooted for penguin parents protecting their chicks from hungry skuas
• the magnificence of several species of whales — humpback, fin, minke — especially from a kayak. Breathtaking. Humbling.
• the triumphs and tragedies of courageous polar explorers
• how people who brave life on the coldest continent live — we visited 4 bases/research stations

The northern-most highlight was on a week-long trip to Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island to surprise my mom for her birthday. We covered a lot of ground visiting places where our Acadian ancestors lived before most were deported by the British to Maryland during the Seven Years’ War. Everywhere we went we met extraordinarily kind people who helped us investigate our “new world” family history as far back as the early 17th century.

I lucked out with two short trips to Buenos Aires — one with Matt for our anniversary in May, and one with Adela in November. We four took a road trip south to Valdivia and Chiloe for the week celebrating Chilean independence, and we treasured weekend getaways with friends. I was also traveling a lot for work — mostly training educators how to design and implement project-based learning. I relished my days visiting schools to see students publicly exhibiting their work and powerfully reflecting on their learning experiences. My U.S.-based work with XQ is exciting too — and I look forward to continuing and deepening that impactful work in 2018.

From Dylan: As you can see, this year has been pretty uneventful for the Kelefors family. We didn’t visit multiple wonders of the world. We didn’t make a family decision to live in two different cities so that Adela and I can pursue our dreams and talents, and we definitely didn’t create a wonderful family reunion around my coming of age in the Jewish community. So, as I said before, 2017 wasn’t very interesting for us.

While our passports and photo albums didn’t change much, we did. More than anything, 2017 was a year of growth for me, both psychologically and physically. For starters, I passed both of my parents in height, a feat I knew I would accomplish sometime in my life, but definitely not this soon. Also, I have been fully immersed in my soccer development, and that has forced me to build muscle and try to gain some fat (which my parents say is good for some reason).

I didn’t just grow physically. Since March, I have been studying tirelessly for both school and my bar mitzvah. While it’s been fun, and I’ve learned a lot, it was hard. I would get home at 8 o’clock in the evening after training and would have to do another hour of work before bed. But, all this hard work paid off. I expanded my scientific knowledge, taking Physics, Biology and Chemistry this year, along with an eventful year in history, literally. We learned about WW1, the Russian Revolution and a bunch of detailed Chilean history (that part wasn’t so fun).

The other part of my development as a person was my bar mitzvah training. In addition to the practice of my torah portion and blessings, I challenged my knowledge in conversations with Rabbi Jason Rodich, ranging from “what it really means to be Jewish” to what the topic of my D’var Torah would be. For all of you who attended my bar mitzvah celebration, you might say it looked easy. Well it wasn’t, but I can assure you that it was fun. As Simone Biles once said: “At the end of the day if you can say ‘I had fun,’ it was a good day.” I think that everyone should live by that because life is way too short to have any boring days.

And that takes me to my final point. My social life, which is literally the center of my life. I don’t function properly without social interaction, and this year has been a perfect example of it. In Chile, I had a fair number of holidays and long weekends without my friends. These days were the most challenging for me, as I literally couldn’t find activities that could entertain me for more than 30 minutes. My friends were so very important to me this year. As my dad always says; “Dylan, what would you do without friends?” and recently I have asked myself the same question. But each time I ask myself, it’s a dead end. I think about my friends every second of every day of every year, whether they live in San Francisco, Santiago, or anywhere else in the world.   

2017 by the numbers:

0 — number of red, white and blue teams that the Kelefors roots for in soccer that qualified for the 2018 World Cup

1 — number of times Jeannette used the Heimlich maneuver to save a friend from choking on a piece of (deliciously) grilled meat

2.5 — hours Adela pored over the books at El Ateno Grand Splendid bookstore in Buenos Aires before Jeannette bribed her with gelato to explore other parts of the city

3 — upcoming eclipses with great views from Chile (2/15/2018; 7/2/2019; 12/14/ 2020)

8 — number of snow-capped peaks we could see from the lookout at Parque Oncol in Valdivia

10 — countries recommended for travel by Lonely Planet in 2018 — and Chile is number 1! (Chile’s 200th anniversary of independence happens in September this year.)

14 — number of family members and friends who came to visit in 2017 — shout outs go to (in order of appearance): Elissa Pearlman, Karen Adair, Gail Langkush, Sheryl Cornelius, Kary LaFors, Judy Boroschek, Karen Hébert, The Kaden-Castillo family (Andy, Suzanne and Delilah), Kati Haycock, Jan Somerville, and Margaret & Ben Fisher — we so loved seeing you!

41 — points earned by Dylan’s soccer team in the second half of the year (out of a possible 51)

50 — number of miles (80K) we backpacked in Torres del Paine over 6 days/5 nights

66°33’47.0” (plus a little) — southernmost latitude we reached in Antarctica — just past the Antarctic Circle

150 — number of Americans (Adela and Jeannette among them) who gathered in Santiago for a candlelight vigil condemning white supremacy and offering solidarity with the defenders of justice in Charlottesville

1006 — days without XC skiing for Matt (dating back to March 2015), a slump ended in December 2017

*****

2018 promises to be a different kind of year. Dylan wants to be a professional soccer player and has a path to do that with his current club in Chile. So he will be returning in January and staying there indefinitely. Adela wants to pursue her interests in music and theater and has a path to do that in San Francisco. So she will be staying there indefinitely. For Jeannette and Matt, that means taking turns in Santiago and San Francisco and finding midway points to meet up as a family. We will be welcoming visitors in either of the great cities we have the pleasure of calling home. We wish you a healthy, happy, and meaningful 2018.

Peace,

Jeannette, Matt, Dylan and Adela