Layout:
Home > Busy Living and Loving Retirement

Busy Living and Loving Retirement

March 23rd, 2013 at 11:54 pm

I decided to do a quick update or another month will go by. I am alive and well in the City of Trees. Tomorrow we leave for China, where we will spend almost a month seeing much of the country. We will be on a Road Scholars tour with a small group and an English-speaking guide. We will start in Beijing and will return from Shanghai. I appreciate the educational component of this tour... we will learn much during this adventure.

The best news in a while, is that in early February our grandson was born, about two weeks early but healthy otherwise. He is adorable, but I guess I am just like any grandma when it comes to thinking ours is the cutest. We love being grandparents and spending time with him as much as we can. Fortunately he lives only a few miles away.

We recently finalized plans to have a new house built, just a few miles from our current home. The new house should be ready this summer. We felt it was the time to do it because real estate and building is starting to take off in this area. We looked at several pre-built homes but none of them had everything we wanted, so building seems the best option for us.

My sister and BIL are in the process of downsizing in CA, from their home of 30+ years to a condo in an "over 55"community near our former home. I think they will love their new, simpler and less expensive life.

Well, I need to finish packing, so I'm off. Hope all at SA have a Happy Easter in the company of friends and family.

5 Responses to “Busy Living and Loving Retirement”

  1. rob62521 Says:
    1364084257

    Enjoy yourself...you deserve a happy retirement! Your new home sounds exciting.

  2. laura Says:
    1364087689

    Happy travels! Sounds like all is the best that it can be!

  3. CB in the City Says:
    1364137102

    Good to hear from you! A trip to China sounds amazing!

  4. snafu Says:
    1364154562

    Nie Haw...Wish I'd known about your plans for PRC, I work one or two semesters in GZ [was Canton in ancient times] most years. The flight is exhausting so tell the cabin attendant to wake you for meals & snack but I hope you will try to sleep as much as possible. Did someone tell you to bring medical type face masks as air pollution in BJ is not to be believed. It feels like you can grab the green colored air that makes eyes sting. Don't let it freak you out when locals ask your age, to take photos with you and touching your skin. They love to show off their English vocabulary.

    If you're bored on the l-o-n-g flight I suggest you brush-up, read-up on haggling/bargaining skills. The locals entertain family and friends for months telling jokes about tourists and how they spend money stupidly. Except for tourist hotels, western style shopping centres and restaurants, everything has a negotiated price. Basic starting point is about 1/2 asking price, and be mentally prepared to walk away if the vendor won't accept 2/3 of asking price. There will be another vendor selling the same stuff. 2nd nearly everything is fake, knock off, polyester not silk etc. The knock offs are really well done, many are made by the factory girls working off hours with end rolls of cloth/leather/ceramic/jewelry etc. 3rd the gov't operated jade shops are the biggest rip off. Merchandise is authentic but price is more than double what it should be, even for trinkets.

    Check every seem and join...you likely already know all this from your previous travels. Warranty/guarantee/ letter of authenticity isn't worth the paper it's written on.

    Have a wonderful trip, Perhaps you will journal & send photos.

  5. scfr Says:
    1364311329

    Congratulations on the birth of your grandson!!
    Have a wonderful trip.
    You are a role model for all of us on how to prepare for and enjoy retirement. Thank you.

Leave a Reply

(Note: If you were logged in, we could automatically fill in these fields for you.)
*
Will not be published.
   

* Please spell out the number 4.  [ Why? ]

vB Code: You can use these tags: [b] [i] [u] [url] [email]