We accepted an offer on the sale of our house on May 31, 2012. It was supposed to be a 45 day escrow and we would no longer own a home. We were selling the home for two reasons. First our son and daughter-in-law, who own the home with us, accepted teaching positions in Japan and were moving. The second reason is that we will be retiring in September of 2014 and are planning on moving out of the country. Plus, we don't want to take care of 4 acres by ourselves. We're getting lazy in our “old age”.
We have been slowing ridding ourselves of our anchors; our “things” that weigh us down and keep us from being mobile. With every item we jettison, we feel freer. We are only going to take what we can carry in 4 suitcases, two carry-ons, and two personal items when we leave the country in 2014.
So after an extended escrow of 180 days, we finally signed off and closed today and we are finally free from our largest anchor. What a relief!
Now we can concentrate on our trip to Japan next month to visit our family and then on our retirement plans.
Wednesday, November 28, 2012
Sunday, October 28, 2012
Try It All
We have been researching the internet where we might want to settle initially when we move to Thailand. We also have been researching where we can find good "Thai" Thai food here in the Eugene, Oregon area.
Thanks to Yelp and some recommendations from friends and family we have been working our way through the menu at Ubon Thai Kitchen here in Eugene.
http://www.yelp.com/biz/ubon-thai-kitchen-eugene
Pla and Bill are the owners and Pla is the chef. She was born in Lao and moved to Thailand as a child. She and Bill have a place in Thailand where they spend part of every year. Their plans are to open a restaurant there in a few years.
It's really nice to eat fantastic Thai food and watch their photos of Thailand scroll on their TV in one of the rooms in the house attached to their food "cart".
There is definitely a reason why this place is considered the most authentic and best Thai food around.
The photo above shows the Special Pad Thai and the Herb Stir Fry we had one night. Both are excellent and spicy!
The Pumpkin Curry (above) is one of the most highly rated and talked about dishes. Lin loved it and I thought it was good, but isn't my favorite curry. My favorite curry (so far) is the very spicy Green Curry (below).
We've also had the very good Panang Curry
...and the very flavorful Red Curry
It's really amazing how all the curries taste so different from each other but all are awesomely good!
One night I ordered the very, very spicy Pad Pet which I loved and Lin found to be a little too spicy for her taste.
Last night, while I was having the Red Curry, Lin had the Lad Na. So far it has been her favorite dish.
Pla and Bill have told us to come by sometime and see their photos of Thailand and we have talked about where we might want to start our adventure there.
To that we give a very large Wai!
Thanks to Yelp and some recommendations from friends and family we have been working our way through the menu at Ubon Thai Kitchen here in Eugene.
http://www.yelp.com/biz/ubon-thai-kitchen-eugene
Pla and Bill are the owners and Pla is the chef. She was born in Lao and moved to Thailand as a child. She and Bill have a place in Thailand where they spend part of every year. Their plans are to open a restaurant there in a few years.
It's really nice to eat fantastic Thai food and watch their photos of Thailand scroll on their TV in one of the rooms in the house attached to their food "cart".
There is definitely a reason why this place is considered the most authentic and best Thai food around.
The photo above shows the Special Pad Thai and the Herb Stir Fry we had one night. Both are excellent and spicy!
The Pumpkin Curry (above) is one of the most highly rated and talked about dishes. Lin loved it and I thought it was good, but isn't my favorite curry. My favorite curry (so far) is the very spicy Green Curry (below).
We've also had the very good Panang Curry
...and the very flavorful Red Curry
It's really amazing how all the curries taste so different from each other but all are awesomely good!
One night I ordered the very, very spicy Pad Pet which I loved and Lin found to be a little too spicy for her taste.
Last night, while I was having the Red Curry, Lin had the Lad Na. So far it has been her favorite dish.
Pla and Bill have told us to come by sometime and see their photos of Thailand and we have talked about where we might want to start our adventure there.
To that we give a very large Wai!
Friday, October 12, 2012
Where Should We Retire?
A couple years ago we decided that as soon as we could afford to we would quit the rat race and retire overseas.....but Where?
We began by looking at Panama, Ecuador, Uruguay, Colombia, and other South American countries. We would still be close enough for visits back home to visit our son and daughter-in-law.
After lots and lots of research we decided to make our first retirement spot in Cotacachi, Ecuador. We would start there and if we liked it stay for awhile or move on to another location if we felt like it.
Then last June our son finished his Masters of Special Education degree at the University of Oregon and decided to apply to the JET program in Japan to teach English there. He was accepted into the program and he and Lisa moved to Japan and will probably be there for the next 3 - 5 years. She is also a teacher, with her Masters in Science Education, and within a week or two of being in Japan has gotten a teaching job there as well.
Our feeling is that they will not return to the US as the state of Education in this country is deplorable and they both love to travel and enjoy other cultures. When his JET obligations are over we're sure they will either find another teaching program in Japan or move to a different Asian or Indian country to continue their careers.
We have been liquidating all of our "stuff" in preparation for our move when we retire. Our house is in the final stages of escrow and if the 1%ers don't screw things over for the buyers we will be FREE of all the anchors we have accumulated over the years.
These events caused us to look into retiring in Asia/Southeast Asia/India to be closer to them for visits. And that led us to decide that we will start our retirement in Thailand.
We began by looking at Panama, Ecuador, Uruguay, Colombia, and other South American countries. We would still be close enough for visits back home to visit our son and daughter-in-law.
After lots and lots of research we decided to make our first retirement spot in Cotacachi, Ecuador. We would start there and if we liked it stay for awhile or move on to another location if we felt like it.
Then last June our son finished his Masters of Special Education degree at the University of Oregon and decided to apply to the JET program in Japan to teach English there. He was accepted into the program and he and Lisa moved to Japan and will probably be there for the next 3 - 5 years. She is also a teacher, with her Masters in Science Education, and within a week or two of being in Japan has gotten a teaching job there as well.
Our feeling is that they will not return to the US as the state of Education in this country is deplorable and they both love to travel and enjoy other cultures. When his JET obligations are over we're sure they will either find another teaching program in Japan or move to a different Asian or Indian country to continue their careers.
We have been liquidating all of our "stuff" in preparation for our move when we retire. Our house is in the final stages of escrow and if the 1%ers don't screw things over for the buyers we will be FREE of all the anchors we have accumulated over the years.
These events caused us to look into retiring in Asia/Southeast Asia/India to be closer to them for visits. And that led us to decide that we will start our retirement in Thailand.
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