Salem Oregon

Parting With Stuff In Oregon

Posted on by Laughingnomad

Darn, saw where the teachers, on strike, closed the airport in Oaxaca. But I suppose nothing lasts very long. I fly in next wednesday. Things should quiet down a bit after the elections Sunday. Now, of course, with the bloqueos and Pemex gas stations being closed I won’t be driving much…if they keep this up.

The medical follow ups turned out better than I expected so guess I’m not going to die pronto.

It was really harrowing in Salem…trying to get everything sorted and out of the house before the new tenants moved in. And contract for roof repair, fireplace repair and house painting and buying a new stove, repairing kitchen sink faucet, sending towel warmer off to be repaired etc. etc.

I sold some stuff on Craigslist, took a half dozen pickup loads of stuff to Goodwill, gave some stuff away and still filled up the storage unit. Filled up an entire large recycling can with Greg and Josh’s college notes. All while carting Doug around town. He is preparing his “babies” for planting in the greenhouse. Rules on the new legalization supposed to come out by July 1. I stayed with him in his little trailer and saved a couple thousand dollars on hotel. But he was really crabby with me in it invading his “space.” Glad to be out of there.

Some stuff I couldn’t bare to part with…children’s books, my books, all the artifacts we had collected traveling. And of course kept household stuff I’d need if I moved back to Salem in case of health. Bob said get rid of everything of his. Just don’t tell him what it was or he would say “oh no not that!” Ha! The new tenants are lovely. Professional photographers, middle age, no children and they fell in love with the house.

It was weird to realize I was sorting with the assumption I was going to come back. But the thought came to me…I am 70. I was sorting with the assumption of course is that I have years ahead of me…

Me In Las Vegas

Posted on by Laughingnomad

After a week in Hong Kong,  just in time to avoid the worst of the burning of Bangkok just up the road from Sukhumvit 20 where I was staying, I flew to Portland Oregon with a transfer in San Francisco on my favorite airline…Cathay Pacific.  Travel time from Hong Kong to the west coast is much shorter (about 10 hours) than a flight from Bangkok with a long layover in Taiwan or Seoul (14-18 hours).

But after 8 months in Asia, the jet lag and culture shock really hit me hard, as usual, flying to the western hemisphere from the east.  In short feeling like I have the flu on top of disorientation, lack of short-term memory (where are my glasses now…and those damn keys…and my phone!) and feeling scattered, very fatigued and strange.  So I holed up in a hotel for a week in Salem…not wanting to inflict myself on my friends…and where I could curl up on a cloud-soft mattress like a baby.

But then, beginning to feel somewhat normal again and stuck in a “cell”  the weather turned from rain to sun and I really wanted out of the hotel. And didn’t appreciate US CNN which is incredibly inferior to International CNN!  I missed the superior BBC, Aljazeera and Russia Today that I could get in Bangkok so I just relied on my computer on free wireless internet which was better than TV anyway. Then a very generous friend offered to have me stay with her and her husband.  This couple had spent a few years in Thailand in the Peace Corps in the 70’s, so it was wonderful to have someone to trade information and debrief the chaos in Bangkok with…especially since they had been following the web videos, articles, forums and tweets like I had been.  Thank you so much Judy and Bob! I hope someday I can be as generous with you!

So now, after almost missing my plane because of bumper to bumper traffic from Salem to Portland, I am in Las Vegas with weather in the 80’s and enjoying my son Greg and his new toddler, Val, a very sweet yellow labrador 18 month old puppy.  We have plans for a Bar B Q with his friends and a Cirque du Seleil show based on Elvis. If it is as good as the one based on the Beatles during my last visit to LV, it will be a fine evening. Greg is at work. Think I’ll curl up and take a nap.