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How is your daily routine as expat looks like?


DAN0

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4 minutes ago, KittenKong said:

Very true, thank God. Personally for me the right amount of cycling and fishing is none at all.

 

As for my day, once I have listened to some music, decided where to have lunch, and decided whether to have a nap before or after my siesta, there isn't much time left for anything else.

 

I retired at 50 and over a decade later relaxing still suits me fine. My only regret is not having done it at 40 or 30 or 20 ......

yes me to ,always my problem was when i had money ,i took time off and spent it . aint life grand .

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I am normally at home all day, with the 2 dogs, my office, and a beautiful garden.
 
Here is an account of a day I experienced a while ago ......
 
Ever woke up in the morning and though to yourself “It’s gonna be a great day?”
 
Well, I did the other day, and here’s how my day went …..
 
I actually awoke an hour later than normal, but my good old body clock was right on time, and ready for the morning dump. Bathroom isn’t free, not to worry, I’ll busy myself with some cleaning. 20 minutes later and I am ready to burst. Turns out my son is in the bathroom and he’s wearing my Bluetooth headphones while he sits and ponders life.
 
By this time I’m doing a unique Irish jig, and my dog has an expression on his face that I haven’t seen before, and just as I was contemplating digging a hole in the garden, son emerges from the bathroom. Aaaah Heaven!!!
 
I emerge from the bathroom a kilo lighter and in much better spirits, only to find my dentures are not in the glass by the bed. My search soon revealed a crushed set of teeth, probably thanks to the dog, who must’ve thought it was a new toy.
 
Oh well, who needs teeth anyway, they’re very overrated, and I refused to let such a minor thing get me down, and I even forgave my dog, who had a guilty look on his face telling me he chomped on my chompers.
 
Time to walk the dogs, and we get ready for the usual routine; I slide the front gate open and they tear off like a couple of possessed greyhounds, only this morning there happened to be a vendor riding past on her pushbike. Not sure what she was selling, I think I saw some cakes flying through the air as my boy crashed into her, sending the poor woman and my dog flying through the air. She got up and after a quick limb check, she smiled and began to clear up the debris. The dogs mistakenly thought she was a dog catcher and both disappeared as fast as their legs would carry them, and after helping her to retrieve all her stuff, she mounted her bike, and when I asked if she wanted financial compensation, she smiled and told me she would never ask a man with no teeth for money.
 
I’ve been awake for just over an hour and already had more drama that would normally occur in a week, and if I thought that was the end of it, I was to be sorely mistaken.
 
When I arrived at the piece of waste ground where my dogs do their business, I find the girl rolling in doggie poop, while the boy is nowhere to be seen. A yelp and a scream soon alerted me to his whereabouts, in a neighbour’s garden chasing her cat!
 
The cat was fine, they always are, but in his efforts to catch the feline, my Labrador had destroyed her collection of garden gnomes. After some serious groveling and apologies, I managed to coax Chokky out of her garden, and we went to finish our little walk. Time to return home and despite my attempts to get ahead, the girl, Lucky, goes straight into the living room and rolls around on the sofa, spreading the poo in every direction.
 
I duly drag the dog outside and showered her 4 times, then cleaned up the mess in the lounge (as best I could), then turned on the TV to see a “no-signal” message. By this time, I’m starting to think that the gods have conspired against me, and after checking that it wasn’t Friday the 13th, I decide to take a long shower.
 
I like to really lather myself up when showering, and just as I finished doing that, the water stops running abruptly, leaving me looking like a snowman. I don’t know if you’ve ever tried to remove soap without water, but take it from me, it cannot be done, and after using 5 towels, I was finally dry, and smelling sweet I might add.
 
My latent positivity told me that I was having a whole year’s bad fortune in one go, and I reasoned that this little series of misfortunes was not going to get me down.
 
Any thoughts I might have had that this was going to be a great day were shattered when I dropped a jar of coffee on the kitchen floor, and the dogs thought this was a new game and began to roll around in the brown mess I’d created. I used the 5 soap covered towels the clean up the mess, which turned out to be a great way to make the coffee bubble, while turning the floor into an ice rink!
 
I decided to treat myself to a glass of fresh orange juice, and to my surprise, the fridge light didn’t come on when I opened the door, probably due to the fact that someone had unplugged it. At this point, I thought about going back to bed and starting again, after all, it could never be as bad as this, could it?
 
I did have a brainwave, which consisted of me sitting in a chair and not touching anything for the rest of the day, but in the end I decided to continue my day like nothing happened.
 
The TV remote was nowhere to be seen, and while searching for it, I found a few pieces of my dentures, damning evidence indeed, as they were right where my dog sleeps. I thought about booting up my computer, but decided against it, fearing the dreaded blue screen, or worse, no power, and besides, the world can wait, at least until my life calms down.
 
I began to search for the car keys, not expecting to find them, so it was no surprise that my search yielded nothing but more bits of my teeth.
 
At this point, my other half gets up and wants to know why the bathroom has been coated in soap, and remarked on the brown mess in the kitchen, I simply smiled and said it was “one of those days”.
 
The afternoon …….
 
The car keys magically turned up, so I decided to risk a trip out on the roads ……
I mean, what could go wrong?
 
I knew the old girl was low on fuel and to my amazement the engine cut out just as I rolled into the LPG station, how perfect was that? Except the pump station was closed!
 
I duly waited an hour and sure enough the pump attendants arrived, so I told the girl to fill her up, which she did. I then realised I left my wallet at home!
 
Being a regular customer and fluent in Thai allowed me to drive away on the promise of returning later to pay my bill, which I did, of course.
 
The ATM
These hole in the wall cash dispensers don’t normally mess with me. I normally get exactly what I want and have never had an issue, in fact, I tell everyone I know, next birthday, I’d like an ATM if possible.
Armed with my wallet, I proceeded to do a little shopping in my local 7-11 and when confronted with the checkout, I naturally chose the till with only one person in front of me. Sod’s law was at work here, as the elderly woman in front of me produced a fistful of utility bills. It matters not which line I get in, I always seem to get the one with a heap of bills.

Finally on my way home, I reasoned with myself that this is all in my head, and that in fact, it was purely down to coincidence that my day was one catastrophe after another, when I suddenly realised that I had a rear tyre problem. Turned out that my brand new tyre just happened to make contact with a nail, and was now hissing like an angry King Cobra!.
 

I'm well-versed with changing a wheel on the car and get to work, only stopping when I couldn't find the jack! Turned out my son used it to jack up the back wheel of his Yamaha R3, to lubricate the chain. I actually laughed out loud at this point, looking up at the sky and shaking my head. God knows why I did that, I mean I am not a believer of any religion, and there's certainly not an old bearded man looking down on me, yet I do know that my own consciousness can affect physical outcomes, however, I think nothing but good thoughts, so that can't be the reason for having a lifetime's worth of bad luck in a single day.

 

Son brings jack, wheel gets changed and I arrive at home, wondering what catastrophes have occurred in the short time I'd been away, but, to my surprise, all is well. Dogs laying on the porch, and everything was where I left it.
 

It is now close to evening, yet it feels like a whole week has passed since I awoke that morning.

Time for some work, so I set up my laptop and boot her up on the porch, which doubles as my office.
 
The-Office.jpg?fit=980,735%26ssl=1&key=bc299d8de7a57b26863f5694e963cb0d74f0bdfb01d4db792c2b0b48f704e1b0

 
 

 


Enjoyed reading “a day in the life of Geronimo” immensely. Made me chuckle. More installments please.
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Wake up at 430. Read news. Leave for work at 600. Bust ass. Leave at 4-430. Return home. Have dinner. Have a scotch. Wife comes home. Chat. Fall asleep together. Rinse, repeat M-F. Make bank.

 

Weekend: 

 

Wake up at 600. Have coffee. Read news. Work. Hang out with wife. Have a scotch. Go to restaurant. Bang the wife. Have a scotch. Watch a movie. Fall asleep.

 

Wake up at 600. Have coffee. Read news. Check real estate. Work. Hang out with wife. Have a go or two. Wife cooks big meal. Have a scotch. Relax. Watch a movie or two. Read. another scotch. Fall asleep together.

 

2 2 week holidays per year. One international, one local.

 

Focus on saving money for next 2-4 years. Life is good. Pay is good. Living is cheap.

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I early wake up and make my partner a full breakfast.

after breakfast i start cleaning the property and watering the plants.If lucky i am allowed to go online for max 30  minutes at TFV Website.

Then the rest of the day it is for my partner to decide what will happen but usually her in-laws will visiting us.

This is a typical day for most of the expats here who think they are in full control of their lives.

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41 minutes ago, KittenKong said:

Very true, thank God. Personally for me the right amount of cycling and fishing is none at all.

 

As for my day, once I have listened to some music, decided where to have lunch, and decided whether to have a nap before or after my siesta, there isn't much time left for anything else.

 

I retired at 50 and over a decade later relaxing still suits me fine. My only regret is not having done it at 40 or 30 or 20 ......

I did two things I swore I wouldn't and I'm a better man for it.

 

Got married

Went back to work.

 

Set a new retirement target. 60, 62 or 65 depending on how the day at work is going and if we pull up and go back to US having enough of this dog and pony show.

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Get up at 3 AM drink coffee smoke a few ciggies, get licked by the dog. wait until the monks in the village start chanting, around 4:30 AM and then start my walk around the lake usually 5 to 10 Km depending on the humidity and whether I trip over a water buffalo resting on the path, has happened. I water the plants next to two small plaster statues of an old couple, the villagers used to do it but I seem to have been made the unofficial keeper of the statues, they are apparently the first couple to have settled in the area and started the village and are venerated, they are protected in a little open wooden teak hut that I sweep clean. The people around the lake all have small vegetable gardens around the lake and are all up and about by 5:30, I chat to a few of them before heading home 500 meters away at 6:00 to make my sons breakfast (he wants an English cooked breakfast before school) I sometimes read English with him before the missus takes him to school. Switch on the computer read 5 newspapers online, TV, write a few emails until midday. Do some work in the garden if it's not too hot. Shower, an hours meditation in the bedroom, get on the computer, TV, youtube etc. Son comes home wants to connect his laptop to the modem, arguments, do something else first etc. reads Thai with me, I cook all his meals as he doesn't like Isaan cooking, I go to bed at 7 PM everybody else goes to bed at 8 or 9 PM. end of another exciting day in the pampas.  

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Today is a break from the daily routine as shortly I get to drive to a wat about 7 or 8 km away, join the endless stream of cars looking for a parking space. Find a spot to sit down on the “ mat “ for maybe an hour listening to something completely foreign to me, struggle to stand and then walk round the monument with the multitude, dropping hot wax on my feet and struggling with the smoke from a thousand candles.
Join the endless stream of cars back home !!

Keeps the little lady happy and that is all that matters , seriously !!

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45 minutes ago, Destiny1990 said:

 

Then the rest of the day it is for my partner to decide what will happen but usually her in-laws will visiting us.

This is a typical day for most of the expats here who think they are in full control of their lives.

555 if it makes you feel better. 

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1 hour ago, Number 6 said:

I did two things I swore I wouldn't and I'm a better man for it.

 

Got married

Went back to work.

OK, each to his own.

 

I can guarantee that short of an apocalyptic event I will never get married and I will never work again. Suits me fine and I would rather stay the man that I am than "improve" in any way.

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1 minute ago, KittenKong said:

OK, each to his own.

 

I can guarantee that short of an apocalyptic event I will never get married and I will never work again. Suits me fine and I would rather stay the man that I am than "improve" in any way.

Certainly. And if I'd not met my wife I'd prolly be doing exactly as you are. But I'm back to making good money, less drinking, stable woman who loves me in my life. Even I'm shocked by it - often 555.

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Play golf, swim, read books, listen to music. Alternate between city and village life. Massage twice a week. Read and respond to posts on TV. Manage my investments in Oz. Search out restaurants for lunch. Play cards with my GF. Bonk her when either of us feel horny. Stray about once a month for variety.

No time to be bored. Every day is an adventure.

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I have no routine quite frankly. I get up and whatever seems like a good idea, I go off and do. Every day is different. I spend little time indoors, not too much time on computers. I enjoy having a wide variety of varying hobbies.

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13 hours ago, DonDoRondo said:

My afternoons are either a 2 hour thai language class or a massage.

 

If you're moving to a larger city that has language schools signing up for

lessons right away is not a bad idea.  I always have taken private 1:1 lessons.

It's just you and the teacher, who may or may not be a hottie, and you'll be able

to ask questions about Thai culture and share your experiences with her.  

 

With the massage, 2 hrs with an occasional massage with sugar.

 

However, after 7 years, in 2 weeks, moving to Vietnam. 

Hey, thanks for sharing,
Where in vietnam are you moving to, and even more important why?? ????

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12 hours ago, Andrew Dwyer said:

Usually wake up around 7.30 , breakfast, shave and shower.
Out in the garden, gardening or diy projects until 11.30 ish.
Out for lunch or buy to eat in-house.
Usually visit some place, shopping or relax in house, do a little work on the house ( painting or diy ).
Around 5.30 out on the bicycle or drive to a nearby park for walking/jogging, call in the local market for some food.
Back home for evening, rarely go out in the evening unless it’s to visit a night market that is on every 2 or 3 months.

I’m retired so my routine is usually divided between resting or working at home. Still feel that I’m wasting my life if I’m not working and wondering why I’m working when I’m retired !! ????

do you live in a big city? don't you feel for going out in the evenings / meet people?

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Get up at 6 make breakfast for the wife and dog.  Take dog for walk.  Wife goes to work.  Shower and walk a mile into town and do shopping , eat lunch.  Walk home and house and garden repairs and feed and walk dog again.  Make dinner - takes a while because I make my own ham and bread and grind burgers and such - everything from scratch.  Online with my children and grandchildren in America and do computer and mobile phone stuff.  Wife gets home and we go out or eat at home and watch a movie.  Bed at 10 PM

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7 hours ago, GarryP said:

My biggest fear is having nothing to do and wasting my life. I will retire in 3.5 years and am seriously thinking what I will do once I retire. You can only do so much cycling and fishing.  

if you like your job and fear retiring then just keep working lol easiest solution xd.. what's your profession if i may ask ????

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32 minutes ago, JAFO said:

I have no routine quite frankly. I get up and whatever seems like a good idea, I go off and do. Every day is different. I spend little time indoors, not too much time on computers. I enjoy having a wide variety of varying hobbies.

Sounds about right. I hate routine and every day is different.  It helps to have a much younger and very active wife, to keep things interesting.

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4 hours ago, simon43 said:

Get up at 4.45, go run for 30 minutes, come home, coffee, fruit and muesli, teach English online (30-50 kids in Chinese schools) for about 3 hours. Rest for a couple of hours, maybe go swimming at the pool, teach Science and History online to Burmese students, rest/relax again, eat salad and fruit for lunch, teach Science online to private Chinese kids, relax again, supper (fish), bed at 9 pm.

 

But since teaching online from Thailand is a grey area (legally), I'm off in a few weeks to live in another, more welcoming country....

do you actually enjoy teaching online those students abroad? what's so fun about it? wouldn't you prefer just be free of total commitments and just do whatever you feel for in the moment??

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8 minutes ago, DAN0 said:

if you like your job and fear retiring then just keep working lol easiest solution xd.. what's your profession if i may ask ????

I am but a lowly employee in an office in Bangkok so not my choice. They will probably be glad to see the back of me so they can start to pay someone much less than they are paying me. 

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2 minutes ago, GarryP said:

I am but a lowly employee in an office in Bangkok so not my choice. They will probably be glad to see the back of me so they can start to pay someone much less than they are paying me. 

then find something else or work for free aka voulnteer won't be a problem.. people would love a virtual assitant for free or cheap xd

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14 hours ago, BritManToo said:

Slowly but steadily drinking myself to death while sitting in front of the Tv.

Not long to go now (thank god).

 

     Wow ,  your life is a hive of activity compared to mine . 

       However that said , i do out once a week , shopping for two hours . 

       Boredom is a long and slow death . 

       My pensions are worth living for, just about..  555

 

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