New Blog - Post 1
I'm starting a new blog, a *real* blog. But until it's up, I will be posting here to keep record so I can transfer any worthy material to my new site. Once the site is up, I will be posting that URL here for you all to enjoy. I will be collaborating on this new site with my travel companion Val (aliases yet to be determined). It will cover our preparation for, move to, and settling in and sustainability in Costa Rica.
There will also be some sort of fund-raising efforts on the site for those inspired to throw us a dollar or five.
I will be moving to North Carolina to join Val in about 2 months. We will live together there until we move southward. Since the living situation will be ideal, I think we are going to take our time getting prepared and not try to rush things by moving in February, but maybe more into the summer. We have a lot of Spanish to learn and money to save.
There are several components we have decided on to aid us in the challenge of learning a foreign language quickly:
1) Having a Spanish tutor come by the house once a week
2) Studying our Rosetta Stone software relentlessly
3) Post-it note labeling everything in the house
4) Eventually having certain days during the week that we only communicate in Spanish.
Of all the books I have been recommended or sought out myself so far, the most practical, applicable, extensive, and invaluable one has turned out to be Carla Emery's Encyclopedia of Country Living (I have the 9th edition). There's everything from making fruit leathers to slaughtering chickens to catching a pig to making your own skin care products to growing just about anything you can think of. I have been pouring over it at great length.
I have been checking out yurts online (which is what we will be building for our homes). I have found some amazing photos that have inspired me. I am quite giddy thinking about buiding my own home:
http://blogs.salon.com/0002007/images/yurt.jpg
http://ursispaltenstein.ch/blog/images/uploads_img/yurt.jpg
http://www.unchartedoutposts.com/resource/slideshows/africa/tanzania/Nduara%20Loliondo-Loliondo%20Seregenti/09%20interior%20yurt.JPG
Val and I should be making our 2 week visit to CR in a month. We will be checking out land while we are there. We'd like to get somewhere around 10 acres with the ability to expand in the future, but we'll see what we can afford.
I'll be sure to take tons of photos for your viewing pleasure!
There will also be some sort of fund-raising efforts on the site for those inspired to throw us a dollar or five.
I will be moving to North Carolina to join Val in about 2 months. We will live together there until we move southward. Since the living situation will be ideal, I think we are going to take our time getting prepared and not try to rush things by moving in February, but maybe more into the summer. We have a lot of Spanish to learn and money to save.
There are several components we have decided on to aid us in the challenge of learning a foreign language quickly:
1) Having a Spanish tutor come by the house once a week
2) Studying our Rosetta Stone software relentlessly
3) Post-it note labeling everything in the house
4) Eventually having certain days during the week that we only communicate in Spanish.
Of all the books I have been recommended or sought out myself so far, the most practical, applicable, extensive, and invaluable one has turned out to be Carla Emery's Encyclopedia of Country Living (I have the 9th edition). There's everything from making fruit leathers to slaughtering chickens to catching a pig to making your own skin care products to growing just about anything you can think of. I have been pouring over it at great length.
I have been checking out yurts online (which is what we will be building for our homes). I have found some amazing photos that have inspired me. I am quite giddy thinking about buiding my own home:
http://blogs.salon.com/0002007/images/yurt.jpg
http://ursispaltenstein.ch/blog/images/uploads_img/yurt.jpg
http://www.unchartedoutposts.com/resource/slideshows/africa/tanzania/Nduara%20Loliondo-Loliondo%20Seregenti/09%20interior%20yurt.JPG
Val and I should be making our 2 week visit to CR in a month. We will be checking out land while we are there. We'd like to get somewhere around 10 acres with the ability to expand in the future, but we'll see what we can afford.
I'll be sure to take tons of photos for your viewing pleasure!