Air Where?

June 1, 2011

We are spending a few weeks in Laos. I knew nothing about Laos except what I learned from the 1990 movie featuring Mel Gibson (before he went nuts) and Robert Downey Jr. (between his 2nd and 3rd relapse) called Air America. Air America is a comedy about pilots who worked for an ¨airline¨ that was [...]

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The Problem with a $6 Room

May 21, 2011

Things are inexpensive in northern Thailand.  One can get a bowl of tasty noodles for $1, a fresh fruit smoothie for $1.25, an hour massage for $4 and in some cases, a hotel room for $5. Since I am traveling with someone who deserves a certain level of comfort, I opted for the more luxurious [...]

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Are We There Yet?

April 19, 2011

We found ourselves in Japan between gigs and needing to kill 4 months so had the perfect excuse to spend time in SE Asia.  Tickets to the US would have cost more than our living expenses in SE Asia so in addition to fun and food we had financial justification for the adventure. My first [...]

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Feet First Into a Virtual Void

March 17, 2011

We have been in Chiang Mai, Thailand for the past couple of weeks.  Chiang Mai is famous for its Buddhist temples, adventure tours, cooking classes and cheap massages. An expat here recommended a particular foot massage clinic. Since it was my first foot massage I do not have adequate experience to do a proper review [...]

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Touched for the Very First Time

March 8, 2011

Though I had been able to put it off for the past several years, due to my advancing age the inevitable “procedure” stared me straight in the face and I had no choice but to give in.  The positives now outweighed the negatives.  For my health,my future, my yet-to-be conceived grandchildren I had to overcome [...]

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Chinese Immigration Torture

March 6, 2011

We were flying from Japan to Thailand and had a 1.5 hour stopover in Beijing which required a quick and simple customs process for transit passengers. There was only one agent but the line was short.  There were three Japanese students ahead of us which is always a good sign since Japanese are rarely targeted [...]

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Recognizing Home

February 28, 2011

My brother sent a video of his grandson who is staying with them while their daughter visits her sister in Europe.  I enjoyed watching my great nephew play with his grandparents but I was really focusing on how few furnishing there were in the background.  As the camera worked its way around the room I [...]

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Sick is not an option

February 7, 2011

This is my first real job in years and I was looking forward to working for a company with an HR structure so I could take advantage of sick days.  I had been practicing my “sick voice”, keeping detailed notes on  episodes of “House” of one-day illnesses and their corresponding symptoms (seeping pustules should stop [...]

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Snot for the Timid

February 2, 2011

I was talking with a friend in the US today who is a 5th grade teacher and the mother of 3 teenagers.  I mentioned that I was assigned to “teach” five 9 month-olds yesterday for an hour. She said kids that age frighten her and congratulated me wholeheartedly.  This made me think that perhaps I [...]

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Planting the Expat Seed

January 28, 2011

Though it appears that independent expats flit and flutter from country to country by whim alone, there is usually a method to our meanderings. The seed for our first international move was planted long before we got serious about the idea.  Whenever we even got slightly fed up with a job, a neighborhood or a [...]

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