20071218

071218 Thaikarl - I'm going home again Jan 10th

friends,

I'm going home again January 10th.  Yippeee!  i only get to stay three months this time.  oh well.  i've had some good work since i've been back from the last trip home.  paid off what we owed to the wood shop for building the Lucky Moon House.  hoping to have enough to buy stain/paint for the house to do the job when i'm home.  all depends on how much work i have these last few weeks.  looking good at the moment.

after much discussion, tok and i decided to postpone the formal wedding, and the party until fall of 2008.  when i get to bangkok, we're going to have a civil wedding.  with that document in hand we can start the application for immigration for tok.  it's about the only way she can get to come to the U.S. so yall can actually meet her.  its a long, and now much more expensive process.  common law marriage is customary in thailand, so as far as tok and i are concerned, we are already married.  the buddist ceremony and party formalizes things, and the government registration give you the legal paper that you need for immigration etc.  i can get a better- longer term visa if we have the government registration as being married.

a surprising (to me) number of people from the states have said they would really like to come to thailand for the wedding, so yall will have a little more time to plan the trip.  late fall is a better time to visit thailand for most foreigners, the  weather is cooler and the rainy season is over.  AND you get to skip out on what ever winter you have in your life.

looks like our life plan will be to live in thailand, but come to the USA for working, then go back home.  we can make money faster in the states.  employment possibilites are very limited in thailand, and even if i got a job there, the pay wouldn't allow us to get ahead any.  the two of us working here can save money- especially if we live cheap.   6 months of my work, coupled with whatever tok can make will get us a long way back home.  we still have a lot of things to build on the house, and we have no "retirement"

so you can be expecting fresh travelogues from thailand january thru april.  if you are forwarding my emails to others, and they want to be added to the list, have them contact me.



attached is a photo of a very important document.  it is a house registration document for foreigners.  it says that i live in ban don khwang village outside lomak, i.e.  toks house.  so i am officially registered with the thai goverment as living there.  with this document, i can buy something like a motorbike or a car, and have it in my name.  since i don't have an apartment in america, it means that i (semi) officially live in thailand!  well, i have a residence there.




onward!!!
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Read my Thailand adventure ::: http://www.thaicountrylife.com