Back to Fundamentals

So, why move overseas?  What exactly is it that I think I will find outside of American borders? 

Well, to begin with, there is definitely the adventure aspect.  I've been fortunate to have traveled on every continent except Antarctica:  Asia (Thailand, Burma, Indonesia, Singapore and Hong Kong); semi-annual trips to see Andrea's relatives in Australia; vacations in Aruba and Venezuela; small parts of Europe (England a few times while her brother lived there, Germany, Gibralter, Hungary, Spain and Italy); Morocco and South Africa; and Mexico a few times along with various Caribbean islands.

These trips have only served to whet my appetite for more.  I used to piss off Andrea big time because I would usually bring my dive gear and would always want to stop in a hardware store.  I know – hardware store – are you kidding?  Well, with my remodeling background I am always curious to see how another culture tackles the same problem.  What creative way has someone else (likely with far less in terms of tools and materials) found to do the exact same thing that I did when renovating a building?  What role did their culture and access to resources play in the process? 



Ni, the Buddha carver

 These are some of the things I find fascinating about another country.  Roll your eyes if you want (Andrea sure did!), but this is the way I connected with a shop keeper whose family builds hand-made doors in Bangkok; the carver of Buddha statues in Mandaly, Burma; a mason in the Kasbah of Tangiers; and a panel bender (auto body mechanic) outside of Sowetto in South Africa.

This may not be your idea of adventure, but it is the stuff that gets me excited about submersing myself in another culture.  Our way of doing things is neither right nor wrong… just different.  This leads me to ask one of many fundamental questions:  While I would hardly describe myself as an adrenalin junky, would I be satisfied to live in relatively tame Belize or Uruguay?  Or do I need the greater stimulus of seaside Ecuador or a suburb of Chiang Mai?  Exotic is very cool when you’re on vacation, but is that the way I want to live for years on end?

If you’re starting to count the question marks (assuming somebody is actually reading my ramblings), you can stop now before you break your abacus.  There are a lot more questions than answers to come as I continue to think about more “fundamentals” before getting down to the plusses and minuses of specific locations.