#155 Update on Travels
Another another long break from posting. Mainly because …
My stay in Medellin has been basically one long series of medical appointments. Nothing serious. But a lot of things that I probably haven’t checked for too long. Due to Covid, I missed my annual checkup that I usually do in Bangkok. But it has been quite good here. The medical care appears to be of the fairly high standard, extremely cheap, and what I have found (especially by comparison with the US) is that they are extremely punctual with appointments. They name the time, you show up, they see you at the time that your appointment was. It is that simple. Unlike the US where you have to wait weeks or months to get an appointment, and then when you do show up, you have to wait for an inordinately long amount of time before you can actually see the doctor. In addition, I find that with doctors in the US, I always feel like they are in a rush to get you out of their office so that they can move on to the next patient. Here, I have never gotten that impression from a single doctor. They are perfectly willing to sit and talk with you and discuss whatever it is that you may be worried about.
Probably the worst problem I’ve had here is this pain in my hip. And that turned out to be a combination of calcification, tendinitis, and the very early stages of arthritis. I have been getting treated at an arthritis clinic where they are doing a couple of procedures that so far, even after only one treatment, seem to be making it feel better. I have a couple weeks left. We shall see.
I just finished a book called the Evolution Of Desire, author David M. Buss. This book is about the roots of why men and women interact the way they do. I knew much of this. Not all of course, and I certainly was not aware of all of the studies behind the data. I am not going to try to summarize the book here, it was a lengthy read. But much of the book does speak to the way that women are treated by men (which as my readers know is a source of constant dismay for me) and why, from an evolutionary and social standpoint, they do this. The author’s final note on this, which I will paraphrase in my own words, is that in this day and age, knowing what we do about ourselves as a species, it doesn’t matter what the origins of the bad treatment may be, but it is completely unacceptable.
I am in my last two weeks here in Medellin, then two weeks in the US to resupply and regroup, and then on to Bulgaria. The city of Varna. I signed up for 12 hours of Bulgarian classes online today. Found a very nice Bulgarian teacher based in London, with whom I got on swimmingly. I am not going to attempt to try to get my Bulgarian to the level of my Spanish. But I would like to be certainly at an A2 level. Possibly even B1. But certainly able to converse comfortably in daily situations for the most part.
The plan is, since it is still problematic getting back to Asia, that my friend Jakob and I will rent a large apartment in Varna together. Housing is relatively cheap there. Cost of living is higher than Columbia for sure, but housing appears to be approximately the same. The advantage in Bulgaria is that it is a very convenient point from which to travel almost anywhere. Asia, Europe, Middle East, and even, via Madrid, a fair number of direct flights to South America. The other advantage, at least from my point of view, is that it is a relatively sparsely populated country. The population of Varna for example is only 330,000, that of the entire country is just over 6 million. I addressed that in a much earlier blog posting. Early indications are that we can get a three bedroom, two bath apartment, for something in the range of $13,000 per year (split between two people). That is a pretty good deal.
Long-term, I am thinking that possibly we might do the same thing in Medellin as well. The price will be about the same, although there will be some cost involved furnishing the apartment, since long-term furnished apartments are not common in Medellin. Then we’ll have 2 bases. 3 if the Philippines ever becomes accessible again.
At the same time, I have decided to pursue trying to get a long-term visa for the Philippines, if that is something I can fairly easily do from outside the country, and from outside the US at the same time. Since my income stream appears to be turning back on again, albeit at a reduced rate, I am once more in the situation where I cannot spend more than 35 days a year physically present in the US. Absolutely fu*king insane tax laws. A huge sigh and shake of my head as I write this.
What else is new? There is still a possibility of a job in the offing with that company that I mentioned before. I think there may be some movement or more information about that in the March / April timeframe.
And, at least at this moment, I have made the decision that I really want to get my private pilot’s license. Where exactly, and how, is up in the air 😊 (pun intended). Ground school will not be an issue. I am purchasing an online course, and some basic software and hardware for flight simulation on my laptop that I can carry with me. And once I’m ready for that I will just schedule a test the next time I’m in the United States and take it. The issue really is the approximately 60 hours of flight time that will be necessary in order for me to finish my check ride. I cannot really do that in the United States because of the 35-day restriction I have, so I am considering either trying to do this in Canada, where I have no physical stay restriction, or as my friend Jakob put to me yesterday, get the license with all the appropriate flight time in a country such as Columbia or Bulgaria, or somewhere else where the flight time is relatively cheap, and then see what needs to be done to get that license endorsed for the US. I am still exploring this, because I have no idea how private pilot licenses from different countries are regarded worldwide.
Okay guys. That is all for now. I just wanted to touch base and let everybody know what was going on with me. I hope you guys are all having a good year so far.