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If this does not seem to be too personal of a question for you, I would like to know how some of you spend your time in your daily lives. What gives you meaning to your lives? I was wondering how a retired expat fills his/her time if not working or managing a job. Thanks.
[quote=”jmi82060″]If this does not seem to be too personal of a question for you, I would like to know how some of you spend your time in your daily lives. What gives you meaning to your lives? I was wondering how a retired expat fills his/her time if not working or managing a job. Thanks.[/quote]
It depends on your age and gender.
As a 78-yo female, I was bored. I joined online writing groups, wrote a second book, finished a third, wrote many articles for an online newspaper (pronlinenews.com), did some legal consulting for fans back in Massachusetts, had many email arguments with my landlady who in my opinion was a thief (my water bill was for TWO houses; there was NO septic tank; and so on).Most single or divorced or old or alcoholic or recovering alcoholic men were seeking and/or sought young or much younger Costa Rican women for sex. The CR women wanted money of the men, who were willing to provide for those women and, sometimes, their families. The men were generally unattractive.
The married expats varied in size and age and money. I was friendly with one Canadian couple, but they had their own busy life.
I did meet many Ticans. All were amiable and they tended to bring their relatives around to my house. I was invited to several parties at their homes.
But in summary, I was bored. What I was doing could be done in any country, provided I had a computer.
After three years, when my lease was up, I returned to the USA. I still have many problems, the biggest one being lack of sufficient money.
My SKYPE phone, 1-978-961-0079, is you have other questions.
Barbara “Barb” JohnsonAfter the cooking, cleaning, shopping, gardening, pet care, laundry, bill paying, orchard tending get done, then it’s time for the full-time job i have. i don’t have a bored minute in my life. i am busy from the time i get up in the morning until i fall into bed at night to read. life in this country IS a full-time job.
Presently we live in a rural area with only a few houses around, but in our immediate neighborhood there is only 4 houses consisting of a working [i]Tico[/i] couple, a usually empty vacation home, and a single man who is next door to us, so with hardly any neighbors I hardly ‘see’ anyone besides my husband for days at a time. Like [b]Maravilla[/b] we are busy, doing exactly what, varies on the day and the hour.
I find that cleaning takes a lot of time, as the dust and dirt gets inside, everywhere.
I garden, watch the birds, walk with the dogs, take and edit [b]many[/b][i][/i] photographs throughout the day, working on the computer and updating some websites, read and take care of my husband and our home. I also am involved with various hummingbird study groups and share my collective information with them.
Realize that by 6pm it is dark here, year round, so maybe an hour or two of watching TV.
I do, of course, participate in several online forums, some relating to life in Costa Rica and others around gardening and birds, so usually do this when I return inside to cool off.And I do it all again, the following day….:lol:
oh, yeah, i forgot about the 6 p.m. curfew! jajaja by the time it gets dark here, which is 6 p.m. every day of the year, you are ready for bed! life is exhausting here, and there are so many things to do. it’s not like you only have to clean once a week. now if i had 5 kids, i wouldn’t have time for all the other stuff i do.
Over the last 6 years, I have spent a little time each year in Costa Rica. The one aspect of life nearer the equator that bothers me a bit is how short the days seem and how long the nights are. It gets dark every day at 6 PM. It stays dark till 6 AM. The days seem to be cut short and there is not enough day light. Since I only sleep 5 or 6 hours a night, I awake at 3 AM and I am left with 3 long hours of darkness waiting to start my day. No matter how good Costa Rican coffee is, I can only drink so many cups waiting for the sun
I suppose after some time, one would get used to this. One would have to.
you get used to it, and your body adjusts. now it seems totally normal to get up at the crack of dawn and be ready to go to bed by 8. it’s actually a much healthier rhythm for your body and mind. i thought it was odd at first, too, after the long long days we had in colorado, but now this seems normal to me.
[quote=”maravilla”]you get used to it, and your body adjusts. now it seems totally normal to get up at the crack of dawn and be ready to go to bed by 8. it’s actually a much healthier rhythm for your body and mind. i thought it was odd at first, too, after the long long days we had in colorado, but now this seems normal to me.[/quote]
sprite
I understand this exactly. what I usually do is take care of alot of personal research, reading and writing at 3am. then at 5 I go to the gym
of course I need a little nap in the afternoon but this works for me.
I am in bed by 8pm.. LOL
Ah those afternoon naps! But semantics is everything. When you say ‘nap’ you think of a 2 year old (or a 92 year old). I really prefer the word ‘siesta’. Siestas are for everyone! Now I can na…I mean take a siesta, and don’t find it at all strange.
As for how you spend your time in CR, it can be anything. We are still adjusting to being retired but find plenty to do. Read, write, garden, play cards and board games with friends, sit in a roadside restaurant and chat with anyone who comes bye, garden, garden some more, go sailing, fishing and, if you absolutely must, watch some American football. My poor hubby would be lost without some football:D
[quote=”VictoriaLST”]Ah those afternoon naps! But semantics is everything. When you say ‘nap’ you think of a 2 year old (or a 92 year old). I really prefer the word ‘siesta’. Siestas are for everyone! Now I can na…I mean take a siesta, and don’t find it at all strange.
As for how you spend your time in CR, it can be anything. We are still adjusting to being retired but find plenty to do. Read, write, garden, play cards and board games with friends, sit in a roadside restaurant and chat with anyone who comes bye, garden, garden some more, go sailing, fishing and, if you absolutely must, watch some American football. My poor hubby would be lost without some football:D[/quote]Thank goodness for American football. Are there a good selection of games.
[quote=”sprite”]Over the last 6 years, I have spent a little time each year in Costa Rica. The one aspect of life nearer the equator that bothers me a bit is how short the days seem and how long the nights are. It gets dark every day at 6 PM. It stays dark till 6 AM. The days seem to be cut short and there is not enough day light. Since I only sleep 5 or 6 hours a night, I awake at 3 AM and I am left with 3 long hours of darkness waiting to start my day. No matter how good Costa Rican coffee is, I can only drink so many cups waiting for the sun
I suppose after some time, one would get used to this. One would have to.[/quote]
The extra dark hours are perfect for checking and answering e-mails, and do whatever else on the internet. You don´t need daylight for that. This way you have all the daylight hours for daylight activities.
We have been in Costa Rica for 3 1/2 years. The first 2 years we concentrated on developing our garden from virgin soil and that took nearly all of our days except in the rainy season when we were very grateful for a few hours of doing “nothing”. The last year and a half have been so full with no time to either be bored or having to look for something to do. There is just so much here in Costa Rica but it is entirely up to the individual to go out and find all the fascinating and different aspects of living here. We are both in our 60 + years but it makes no difference to our getting out there and doing it! Pura Vida.
[quote=”jmi82060″]If this does not seem to be too personal of a question for you, I would like to know how some of you spend your time in your daily lives. What gives you meaning to your lives? I was wondering how a retired expat fills his/her time if not working or managing a job. Thanks.[/quote]
I have researched economics and economic history for years and now I spend about half of my time writing articles on economics and the economy.
The rest of the time I spend repairing things or teaching the kids in the house what I know about a variety of subjects.
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