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All the airports I’ve been to are so boring. Did you say that is SF?

I read the other night that you’re returning to the East. Why so soon, may I ask?

Hi Lady, The little Chinese figurines are from the Taipei airport in Taiwan, all the silver I've been posting is from the SF airport (as I transfered to my Taiwan flight) and the flowers are from all around my top secret home town.

Yes, I'm back in the East right now. I've been teaching English in Asia, but my degree is in information systems, and I've written web applications for some of the larger companies in the world.

I had considered going back to software, and it was interesting to see the changes that have occurred over the last 3 years that I've been out of it. But to get back in fully I must complete 5 certifications to show I'm top notch (I already hold two of them, but they're old now so I must redo them and add three more for the full designation)

Anyway, I've been playing fast and loose with the finances, buzzing through Thailand on my way back for one month, then a month in India, then zooming back to our (relatively) expensive country, and so I didn't budget enough finances to pay all my expenses while I regained the modern certifications.

I was going to do some simple labor while I finished the certs., but with my rich resume and, oh I don't know, strong bearing, I guess, I found people at that level wouldn't have any part of my being around. What's more, the tech study was interesting, but I could sort of feel that once I digested the last 3 year's changes, well then it would be back to the boring life of doing the same thing every day that made me quit and come to Asia 4 years ago!

So there's the long answer to your question. With lowered cost of living, and much lower tax rates here, I can bank more than double my rent payment in the US each month! In five years (or even one, I guess, if I settle for just one acre somewhere) I can buy my retirement farm and just grow expensive plants in a greenhouse or write, or do whatever I want. So here I'll stay. Plus with the languages and foods around here, there's much to hold the interest of my "proactive mind", as one colleague once described me!