I will be doing some yard work today. The only yard work I did in Xian was to play Rugby on the Astro Turf sports field. I do need to do somethings around the house because it needs to look it's best if we are going to put it on the market in the future. The experience in China was a good one and it has both Jo and I thinking about the next phase of our lives, retirement. I thought about what Jo and I would do after the daily routine of clocking in and going to work was over. I thought about that a lot in China, how nice it would be to return to China and teach a semester with JoAnne. We could enjoy the culture, relax, met new people, and afford to eat out every meal if we wanted. It is nice to only have to go to work and then have the time to do what ever you want. No yard work, no house, no car, you don't have to cook if you don't want. For a little while you are just free to enjoy your life and the people around you. You can stay very busy, rugby practice, English Corner, sights to see, new lesson plans to develop, doing things with students, you can find more to do than you will have time for.
So this next phase of life, the retirement years, should be interesting. We do plan to move to Silver City, New Mexico. A little town of around 12,000 people that has everything you need in it. It is right by a 3.3 million acre national wilderness area. It is high enough up in the mountains to not be too hot in the summer or too cold in the winter. I can start playing tennis again, and Jo can hang out with the artist folk. That will be or base for future travels and adventures. There are places we want to go and things we want to do and we do not have to plan those trips around a vacation for work.
The whole time I was in Xian people would ask what I missed most about being away from the USA. I would say, "morning coffee," and the evening meal with my wife. I really did not miss any of the food but I did miss drinking morning coffee, good coffee, not the instant stuff I did drink. But I really did miss eating with JoAnne and talking with her in the evening. That I did miss. It was strange to be in Xian, around people that you develop a close relationship with and yet you realize that you have not touched any one for four months. I have faculty friends in China that I miss dearly, students that I care about and still communicate with, staff members at the hotel that I saw every day, a whole lot of people that I was very sad to have to leave and yet for four months I longed to be with my wife and wondered what it would be like to return. Of course I know that when I am away from my wife that I am not supposed to touch any one but it is strange go and do things and always end up at an empty house and to always wake up at an empty house. It is good to be home now. It is good to look at the calendar and be able to mark off the days until I can start life all over again. I would hate to think I have to work another 10 years until I can retire. If that was the case then I should have never went to China, because it would drive me crazy. I need to get on some work clothes, pour a cup of coffee, and get some water and start on the brick wall. One thing we are going to do in Silver City, is to fix things the way we want them and then live there and enjoy them. It seems like we fix things to sell and then do not enjoy them long enough ourselves.
Guatemala, Mongolia, China, Guatemala, Mongolia, China. Oh I forgot about Antarctica. Hmmmm.
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