friends,
still bogged down in seattle. i've had work and income over the last few months, but it seems to go right out the door as fast as it comes in. Tok and i have decided that were going to have to postpone the buddist wedding (again). we had it scheduled for november 11, 2008, but it's evident that i'm just not going to have the resources to pull it off. so, it will be... later. you marry three times in thailand- if you go the whole route. 1st is common-law: if you live with a person of opposite sex, and are known in the community as being married- you are. 2nd is buddist ceremony: you have the monks come and do the what-ever-they-do and have a wedding party. 3rd is to register civil union with the government: goto the local amphor (government district office) fill out the papers, pay $5.00 or so and get the papers and stamps. we've done 1st and 3rd, so we're good on 2 out of three. we decided that it was more useful at the moment to spend our money to the the bedroom house painted (stained) and send in the application for toks immigration. staining the house is about $500, and filing the immigration papers is $600 plus plus plus. THEN i can put the cash together for a plane ticket and life expenses to go home for a few months. whew!
at the moment, tok is at our house in rayong. she located a norwegian man online for her friend mot, acted as the go-between online, and now he has come to thailand for holiday and to meet mot. they spend nearly a week in bangkok, and are now in rayong. some friends of mine from seattle were in thailand the last three weeks of august on their honey moon. they came back to bangkok last week after going to phuket, and met up with tok. tok took them out for food and the market. if any of you readers come to thailand, we're glad to be helpful. just let us know. our house in rayong is available for supporting donation or whatever. and tok is only a phone call away.
there's all sorts of social/political trouble and noise going on in bangkok now (SNAFU). several people have asked if tok and the family are anywhere near it. no they aren't. tok has the sense to NOT go anywhere near protests and unrest. outside of a few specific areas of bangkok, it's not a problem.
we miss each other very much. this long distance thing is getting to be a drag, but, it is the best we can do at the moment. we've been using Skype for video, voice and chat, which is nice. works quite well actually. tok has to sit up in the bedroom house where the computer is though, and it gets warm (hot) up there in the day time. but i's free to use.
a friend of many years lives done in the san-francisco area. he's working on a computer related business, that has a good business model. he's asked me if i want to be part of the company, which i am excited about, but the company is in california, and i'm here. so i'm planning on going down there when work slows down here. i'm going to get my van running properly, put a penthouse on the roof and go down with all my tools. check out the business and see if i can help it become a revenue generator for me. if i can get handy-man work going, i'll stay down there for a while. stay tuned for that one.
we had a couple of weeks of nice weather in seattle, and then a little preview of it's like the rest of the year- grey, cold, and wet. since i've been converted to a tropical weather lover, i'm not digging it. california offers a bit of relief, so i'm working on getting there before the dread falls.
onward! NU
still bogged down in seattle. i've had work and income over the last few months, but it seems to go right out the door as fast as it comes in. Tok and i have decided that were going to have to postpone the buddist wedding (again). we had it scheduled for november 11, 2008, but it's evident that i'm just not going to have the resources to pull it off. so, it will be... later. you marry three times in thailand- if you go the whole route. 1st is common-law: if you live with a person of opposite sex, and are known in the community as being married- you are. 2nd is buddist ceremony: you have the monks come and do the what-ever-they-do and have a wedding party. 3rd is to register civil union with the government: goto the local amphor (government district office) fill out the papers, pay $5.00 or so and get the papers and stamps. we've done 1st and 3rd, so we're good on 2 out of three. we decided that it was more useful at the moment to spend our money to the the bedroom house painted (stained) and send in the application for toks immigration. staining the house is about $500, and filing the immigration papers is $600 plus plus plus. THEN i can put the cash together for a plane ticket and life expenses to go home for a few months. whew!
at the moment, tok is at our house in rayong. she located a norwegian man online for her friend mot, acted as the go-between online, and now he has come to thailand for holiday and to meet mot. they spend nearly a week in bangkok, and are now in rayong. some friends of mine from seattle were in thailand the last three weeks of august on their honey moon. they came back to bangkok last week after going to phuket, and met up with tok. tok took them out for food and the market. if any of you readers come to thailand, we're glad to be helpful. just let us know. our house in rayong is available for supporting donation or whatever. and tok is only a phone call away.
there's all sorts of social/political trouble and noise going on in bangkok now (SNAFU). several people have asked if tok and the family are anywhere near it. no they aren't. tok has the sense to NOT go anywhere near protests and unrest. outside of a few specific areas of bangkok, it's not a problem.
we miss each other very much. this long distance thing is getting to be a drag, but, it is the best we can do at the moment. we've been using Skype for video, voice and chat, which is nice. works quite well actually. tok has to sit up in the bedroom house where the computer is though, and it gets warm (hot) up there in the day time. but i's free to use.
a friend of many years lives done in the san-francisco area. he's working on a computer related business, that has a good business model. he's asked me if i want to be part of the company, which i am excited about, but the company is in california, and i'm here. so i'm planning on going down there when work slows down here. i'm going to get my van running properly, put a penthouse on the roof and go down with all my tools. check out the business and see if i can help it become a revenue generator for me. if i can get handy-man work going, i'll stay down there for a while. stay tuned for that one.
we had a couple of weeks of nice weather in seattle, and then a little preview of it's like the rest of the year- grey, cold, and wet. since i've been converted to a tropical weather lover, i'm not digging it. california offers a bit of relief, so i'm working on getting there before the dread falls.
onward! NU
TK,
ReplyDeleteThere are plenty of 'overseas' jobs available, so I have to ask: Why are you going stateside to seek work to support you and your wife? There are many US expats working in the Mid-East and although that may not be your thing but there are other areas as well (i.e. Africa, South America, etc.). Do you prefer the states over those areas? Some people are making 'bank' overseas yet it appears that you are 'eking' out a living...
P4
ah yes, P4... 'overseas' jobs. abound. i just haven't found one that would be any better than the situation that i have now. you have to understand that i've havn't had a "real job" in years. i've freelanced for more of my working life than not. so i haven't much of a 'resume' to offer. most of the jobs i've seen or heard of are requiring experience in the field and/or degrees- which i don't have. and to be honest, the thought of having to work at a "JOB", especially when it requires 40+ hours a week gives me the creeps. i did it for a long time. i haven't for a longer time. my list of experience and skills is far to long to fit on one page, and it doesn't add up to the neat qualifications list i see in most job listings. i keep looking tho, and listening, and asking around, but nothing so far. i'd love to do what ever it is i would do in another place besides the USA- but the problem is getting hired/paid for it. the handy-men (which is what i'm doing at the moment) who work on our house in thailand make $5.00 a DAY and can do many more things than i can.
ReplyDeleteso P4, do you have any specific ideas for me? Sites to visit? companies to contact? i'm open to many things, closed to others. i realize i am looking thru my own narrow field of view- i can only see what i know how to see. and i admit, i don't know enough.
Hey Karl,
ReplyDeleteGreat blog, good guy. And good luck in your life.
I'm a retiree from the UK, living in cheap Bulgaria. I'm building/restoring a house here but looking to escape the freezing snowy winter which starts soon.
A New Zealand lady suggested Thailand! Oh btw I'm on a budget of around 1000 USD a month. While googling I stumbled across your great blog.
Any ideas? I'd be grateful for any help or pointers. I prefer village life to hustle and bustle, but not in the absolute boondocks!
Hey there!
ReplyDeleteWe’ve got some great news regarding Thai-Stars.com. The user voting has been set back in order to guarantee that small but good websites have a chance to move up in the list. Pagerank, Technorati and Alexa are no indicator for rank/quality on Thai-Stars.com anymore.
Our second contest has been launched today! The winning website will get a free 125x125 pixel ad banner slot on 6 different Thailand related websites which will drive massive traffic and new readers to the winning site. Please have a look at Thai-stars.com/contest.php for more info. Don’t forget to place a banner (found on thai-stars.com/buttons.php) or a textlink anywhere on your website. Otherwise it’ll be removed at the beginning of next month.
Chock dee Khrab and best regards,
The Thai-Stars.com Team
deubug, thanks for the comment. i'm understandably biased, but thailand is a great place to retire/live. you can find a good living setup anywhere- in city, near city, or out in the fields. i would suggest you just come on over and have a holiday here. winter here isn't winter. i can't stand being cold anymore. hell for me wouldn't be burning fire, it would be Antarctica. email me at indiakarl on yahoo and i can tell you more. i heard on the radio that bulgaria is a good place for expats with a little income, but the winters... couldn't handle that. it's 8 degrees C and raining here in seattle at the moment, and i'm NOT digging it.
ReplyDelete