laughingboomeradmin's blog

Hi:

One consideration about teaching ESL is the country whre you are teaching. There are a few hints that might make your experience more satisfying.

As an example, I spent a wonderful evening with three young teachers in the little town of Cahuita, Costa Rica. It's a pretty primitive town, and as we sat under the thatched roof of the open-walled restaurant, they shared their experiences. We heard interesting chirping sounds all round us as we enjoyed our rice, fish and beans.

These kids were young, just-graduated from university, and eager. They were having the time of their lives, getting teaching experience, living out on their own and enjoying the fantastic beauty of Costa Rica. But in fact their experiences were of living in small villages with poor families. They had little privacy, meager, boring meals and little intellectual stimulation. Their pay was poor.

As I listened to their tales, I realized I would not like to be there. It was a great opportunity for them, but not for someone experienced and needing more.

I know of others who end up all over the world in small towns, living a plain, almost subsistance living difficult conditions. I think it's a great way to start, but not to finish.

However, if I was to consider teaching ESL, I would want to go to a city with cultural significance. I would want to spend all my spare time looking the architecture, visiting the galleries and soaking up the atmosphere. I would also want to have my own place where I could write and attend to all the other things in my life that matter to me.

Another point of teaching in remote places is the opportunity, or lack of it, to travel. A friend of mine teaching in Greece used her weekend and holidays to see all of Europe. She used her area as a springboard for extensive exploration. That would be more satisfying to me.

By the way, the lovely chirping sounds I heard as we ate - rats. It did spoil my mood.


M.

Hi:

Well, with real estate prices up world-wide, those people who own real estate are feeling pretty good. Depending on where you live in this world, considerable appreciation now gives you more options upon retirement.

If you are planning on staying in the same market area, the discussion on garnering appreciation can be somewhat academic. To trade one house for another won't make much difference, unless you either move much further out or downsize appreciably. Even downsizing to a modern urban highrise might yield less space, but the costs of that convenient and trendy location might be comparable or more than your current house.

Think that real estate in Canada's two major centres of Vancouver and Toronto are out-of-sight? Get on the web and check other major world cities. Paris has apartments at $1,500 per square foot, and homes in Spain, Portugal the U.K. and are up there in the stratosphere also.

The fact, parts of Vancouver are now internationally priced. If people have a few well-placed homes around the globe, Vancouver might be where they spend a few months a year. We have been ranked time and again as one of the best cities to live in, although the weather over the last month gives me pause.

Not to despair though. Most of B.C. is reasonably priced.

My main concern is the several million baby boomers living in Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec who want to escape their winters. Watch out for the avalanche!

M.

Hi:


A Vancouver Sun article March 28,2006 describes how women retire for lifestyle reasons.

Based on research done by Lynn McDonald of the University of Toronto, this Canadian study examines how baby-boomer women will change retirement forever.

With many baby-boomer women working for their entire adult lives, many now have options which in the past were unfathomable. The report describes women's retirement as "amorphous and fluid".

By "amorphous and fluid" it appears that women are choosing to retire when they want or need to based on personal or family needs. They may also retire and then at a later date go back into the work force.

The driving force behind this "fluid" retirement date is in part caused by their family life in general, and in particular their caregiving role. In the early years, women opted out of the work force to care for their children, and now they are doing the same for their aging parents.

There are positives and negatives to this of course, but the main message is that women now do have choice and are managing their lives according to their needs.

Mahara Sinclaire









retirement

Hi:

Well, how do you do it - become an expat, that is.

After you have applied and been accepted, there will generally be some time before you actually start the job. This is where you have to get busy!

What are you going to do with your belongings? Of course this depends on how many you have and what your personal relationship status is, etc.

In the simpliest case, if you are single, and rent, it is relatively easy. You can organize a container and leave.

The moving companies now have wonderful systems in place. They basically load your stuff into a container and store the container. It is not unpacked and repacked. It is simply locked in a warehouse. When you return you get your container back.

I had the full contents of a two bedroom apartment stored for around $250.00 a month. I didn't think that was an exhorbitant price.

If you have a house or apartment to rent, you need to make decisions about where you will rent it furnished or unfurnished. It is also wise to get a property agent, to whom you will need to pay about 10% of your rental income. They can handle any issues. Specifically stipulate the handling of marijuana grow-op inspections.

If you want to do a short term contract to try it on for size, it might be just as wise to find a friend, family member or other contact and leave your house intact. However, you would need time off to come home and get it organized if you wanted to stay.

This all points in one direction. Now is a good time to get rid of things you won't or don't need.

If you are finally moving out of your profession, you definitely won't need all the related books, journals and information around it. Have your grown children take their stuff. Cull, sort, delete, hold garage sales. Keep the best and pitch the rest. Time to move on.

More tomorrow about government, taxes and non-residency

M.

retirement and expatriates

Hi:

Although many younger people think of retirement in the Go Slow mode, most baby boomers retiring today know they are Go Go’s.

But the Go Slow days will come. This is generally in the mid to late seventies. The prospect of hiking around the world and staying in uncomfortable beds to get a deal or putting up with bumpy bus rides becomes less palatable.

They find they don’t have the energy to go all day, but perhaps would like a wee nap in the afternoon. Medical issues start to take on some importance, especially when they must take medications regularly and “be careful”.

The energy just isn’t there and the step isn’t quite as sure or lively.

Now is the time to stay home more. Working in the garden and enjoying more sedentary pleasures become paramount. Reading, watching TV and socializing are great ways to spend the afternoon.

For Go-Slow’s, tours are ideal. The driver takes care of all the details. Your suitcases are dropped off at your door, and picked-up the next morning. If you want to miss an event, that’s just fine. Also, many tours that cater to seniors of this age have a slower pace. You don’t change hotels every night, but stay in one city for a few days.

If you don’t want to climb up the pyramids or the ruins of Tikal, you do not need to. You can just enjoy the view.

The Go-Slow days will come for many of us. This is the true retirement.

M.