Water calm my nerve. I love to be near the sea, lake, river ! I loved the times when I have to take train every morning from South shores of Sydney to the North shores of Sydney for my work. The journey took me across Sydney darling habour, . Just looking at the blue sky, blue sea calmed my nerve :)-
I always wanted to live near a lake, my husband though loves to live on the mountain because he is from Tennessee Look out mountain areas; whereas I have lived near Sarawak River for most part of my younger years.
This house inspired me to dream on a house near the lake :)-. In fact, it is quite a big simple country home near the lake (probably build by the home owner himself, it is pretty easy to build home here in US, lots of people do it themselves, u can even buy house plan in home improvement stores or even on internet). This hse has lots of French windows and doors that allow one with a good view of the lake. This kind of house and acres is not that expensive here in the US. It is affordable.
After reading Zewt blog entry about green pastures on the other shores, I wonder if having the ability to enjoy things that Malaysia cannot offer is the main reason that drove many Malaysians to pack . Could opportunity like these : affordable home with a lake view on a 50acres country land , no traffic jam hassles, quiet and peaceful family life bring America many immigrants ?
An anterior view of the hse, lots of window and doors, good view of the lake.
Lots of running space for kids
A porch where you can rock yrself to sleep on a nice weather :)-
Leading to the lake.
The lake
Dream house and greener pasture
Monday, June 11, 2007
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19 comments:
Hey J - I found your blog (finally), only took me 1 day, he he. I am so glad we were able to catch up with one another at church Sunday. Can't wait until we can get together and talk, talk, talk! Tell hubby and son "hi" from us. Take care, &
Blessings!
S
wuah, nice house. i always like american houses made with timber. why cannot find here hor!
I think many Malaysians move away from Malaysia also to give their children more opportunities as well! The house looks lovely and it's so close to the lake! Must be nice for summer.
Sara,
Wow, u are very resourceful, the character of a home school mother :)-. Thank you for dropping by !
Wuching,
Nowsaday, sheet rock and vinyl siding are the in thing . They said concrete is very hot on summer and cold on winter, so it is more common to have wood frame and aluminum roof. They used to have abastos for roof but they said it is poisonous so the trend has change.
Forida is very hot so they don't like brick or concrete, they prefer timber (or wood). It is cooler in summer. It is very expensive on summer for air-con bill here if a house is not 'heat' friendly.
Colormecrazy,
U don't want to sit outside during summer, it is very hot and humid. It is nice to sit outside spring or fall.
Yesterday, our temperature here is 37 degree. Felt like i am in Arizona, scorching hot !!!All I want is stay inside in the air con room. Florida can be hotter than Malaysia during summer, and very humid sometimes.
So many angmo like the heat here so they own winter home or motor home here a lot. There are a lot of park where people park their winter motor home. Florida is famous for retirement home :)-
Wow...my dream house :) I can have BBQ in the garden with lots of fresh fish from the lake. I can build a small pool at the backyard for my "child" if I have one or two or three :P I can even play Tarzan with them when they grow older...LOL
Hey...I can even plant some beautiful plants to beautify the place more. I can even.....err too many things I can do with a place like that. :)
Jamy,
I think the relatively lower cost of living is an attractive point to move to some smaller cities in US. My husband doesn't like houses in US, he said it's made of wood and won't last long compared to a stone house that last for generations in France. I personally prefer brick bcos my old house in Malaysia is made of wood and it was very hot during the day whereas our new brick house cool down the temperature a lot.
Jamy,
Mountains or lake... both will do fine for me. indeed, we will never be able to have such life in malaysia. havings such a house, even if you can find a clean lake... we run the risk of being rob, crime is pretty rampant here.
like what many readers said... many ponders about the future. malaysia may be developing, but we have reached a stage where thinking about the future can be quite uncertain till the extend that it's scary... thus many decided not to stay back... rather not take the risk.
eh jamy, isnt tht ur hse?
Zewt,
It sounds like Malaysia is going backward than forward. It sounds like 3rd world South American kind of place, esp the safety issue.
The kind of hse I show is very affordable at my city. I was looking at an adv. for 20acres $120k. Say a professional like Eng. or Accountant would easily afford this kind of hse - downpayment $20k, $1k mortgage for 30yrs, senang senang. U have a piece of land where u can do whatever you wish. There is a private jetty, the owner has a sail boat.
I like America because I am a true blue capitalist. I believe if one work hard, one should be able to enjoy ones fruits. I don't like socialist country because we who are rajin are supporting those who are lazy !
There is this Burmese guy who is an Engineer, who started selling sushi in one of the chain grocery stores here. I wrote that in Wuching blog.
The shop open 24hrs x 7 days a week. He sells abt 150 rolls a day and we have abt 10 stores around our areas. Imagine the kind of he earn say he earn $3 a roll (he sells them at $5 a roll)
$3x150x7x10x30x12 = US$1.2million.
There are a lot of bad medias about America and a lot of people have a lot of misconception about America. I personally find America is a country that I can identify most as an Asian or Chinese. Our mentality of 'pian' , work hard, aim higher. It is a place where you will be ahead if you work hard. It is very much of most of us who is oversea Chinese.
I have lived in Australia, travel Europe. None of these places can offer what US offer , in terms of a capitalist mindset !
Most of these countries are pro-socialist kind of system, high tax, good welfare. But always remember wool comes from sheep skin. It is an institutional kind of benefit. You paid upfront on your tax and the authority (beuracate) distribute it to the poor or the lazy ! Why should a middle man (the authority or beuracate) help me to spend my $ ?
I just pray that (and I will be active in the local politics) the liberal left will not get too powerful that we will become more and more like European countries.
A lot of my friends who migrate to Aust find it life is very relax and laid back there, nothing to do !!! Not in US, the only time u have nothing to do is you donot have $ :):):):). NO $ no talk here :)-.
If u decided to want to explore America , let me know, I can be of help.
In fact, I like to bring a few biz to Malaysia. 2 that are close to my mind is medical transcript and online education.
MT is a %1.6bil. biz. It can be brought offshore. It is a matter of logistics.
Take care.
Jamy
BE, I used to like brick or block as it is term here too. However, after owning home myself and doing a fair bit of renovation, I realized the usefulness of wood. It is so much easier to do renovation if you have wood building. Say u want to add extra bedroom, extra dinning room, extend kitchen, add a new porch, having wood building is so much easy. Wood frame can be pre-make or custom made.
I used to be a programmer. When I was in Aust. , we used to do modular kind of programming. I used to work for software house. We don't develop the software all by ourself, we bought software from company and we only need to made certain changes, for eg. the s/w is for most retail company order system. Say for eg. a jewelry company order form is a little bit different (say invoice form) but overall retail function (say all the other functions like order entry , ledger, etc are the same except the invoice form , billing form), so what we do is customized their forms and apply all the other functions across all the retail companies that buy our software.
When I went back to K.L to work, it is really backward. We have a software for British assurance, Asian mutual , DBKL etc. Everyone of them we have to reinvent a new software even though a lot of them practically use the same logic/concept.
This kind of add-on concept is very much like American house. Nowsaday u can even buy modular home. It is made in factory. I believe in another 50yrs or so, modular home would be the standard kind of home in US.
This kind of concept is very welcoming in US because US is a disposal society. We love paper plate, we love everything that can be thrash ! In a way it is not environment friendly, on the other hand it is very convinient. Every since I live here, I have hardly used any non paper plate for my monthly Indonesian fellowship !
Also in the US, most people move hse every 5-10 yrs or so, some do it for investment, some do it for upsize or downsize. No body would stay in a hse for 100yrs or so, if so, even the style is out of date. Of course there are people here who appreciate vintage hsing but for a disposal society , it is in the minority.
I think with most houses here in the US having central air conditioning and heater, having wood hse is not a problem as far as temperature control is concern.
One thing I can say is Americans disposable income (take home pay ex tax ) is a lot higher than Europeans (compare apple by apple). Despite the fact that European might enjoy universal health care and etc. I don't think it is easy for family to have a 1- income family to enjoy a high standard of living. The thing that kill Europeans are their high tax !
I think one of the benefit of America is its huge population , its land areas, and consumption power. I like the options here we have to live in a small city and yet able to have a decent living. A lot of industralized nations are more centralized, that is to say one can only find better living in a few big cities. Americans have more of a decentralized system. Every states bound to have at least 10 to 20 universities that help to sprug growth in the areas around it. So, one can choose to live in bigger cities, mid size cities, small cities or country. There are jobs for everyone, not only for city dwellers.
Like now we live in a small city of pop. 120k, there is a huge uni, a no. of hosp., a lot of frenchies rest. etc, it is enough to sustain its population for jobs...But because it is a small cities, you drive 10-20 minutes, u are into the country and u can afford to get a land of 5-20 acres and build yr dream home.
When I was in Syd., hse is expensive in the city, to enjoy the suburb kind of lifestyle, u need at least drive 30-45mins. To be able to live in a small city and to get a good job is quite difficult.
I really like the decentralize concept of America social economics.
I don't know, I just like America, not just because I am one but I thought wow, there are so many opportunities, how come people don't know ? Is it like when I was in Brunei, I thought wow, what a place, big salary, high exchange rate, good expart deal, tax free, aiya, how come people don't know. A no. of my bro. friends retire at 40 after working in Brunei for 15yrs.
They taught in the uni, their salary is abt B$90k a yr, free lodging, + I think is 30% loading f yr salary after 3yrs or so for bonus. I knew those young guys are loaded when I met them, they were all in their mid 30's. Say u save $900k in 10yrs and u return to Penang ( I knew 2 of them were from Penang), u just put that $ in the bank and not have to work. With 5% interest, u will have $4500. I think a bachelor guy should have enough to spend and eat lah with that $. So, I tell myself how come people did not know this kind of opportunity. Is like I ask myself why people does not know abt opp. here ? I can tell you why ? because not everyone is like Jamy , capitalist , ha ha ha ha ha.
Though I don't believe $ is the most important thing in the world but I do believe it comes handy when u needs it. $ talk. U don't have to worry to look for cheap ticket to go home, u don't have to worry if you need to go back to work when u have a baby, u don't have to worry if you have $ to support yr kids education funds etc.
I sound very materialistics. No, not exactly, it is because I have gone though a period of my life where I really knew that $ comes handy and $ talk ! That explained why my blogger name is kayatan :):)
No, Farina, it is a friend hse. This family is very involved with the international ministry. We were involved quite heavily until I have JJ.
We are going to move out of the city and go to our country own land probably in 1 or 2 yr or so. I don't think we want such a big hse. We probably will build a smaller scale.
Cikgu Criz,
Have u find yr Jane before u play Tarzan , he he he he :)-
I'm with Cikgu Criz :)
I love this kind house. I love water so much, i want to have water around my house if can. But sadly, wife not. Hahhaa. She scared, phobia the right word here.
So i just settled for the malaysian style of getting the corner house thats all we can afford. So, need more sponsored post from now on. LOL
jamy,
dont worry, this blog is part of my read list so i will be here one way or another.
medical scripts? hmmm...maybe you should blog about it?
yeah, malaysia is kinda moving backwords. i am not sure if you're aware but some ministers were actually comparing ourselves with countries in africa and asked us to feel contended. it has reached that stage. and of cos, there are other things which i am not allowed to talk about.
capitalist huh... sorry but i dont think i am as rajin as u... maybe i am feeling too jaded becos here, not all will reap the fruit of their labour.
I agree with you Jamy. Those who knows how to make good use of capitalist will profit from it. For poor people, socialism is the best system for them, but for middle and upper classes, capitalism would be better.
The French right wing is expected to do alot of reform and poor people and immgrants here are very scared.
Hey, I noticed that most Asian in US are for the republicans, do you think it's bcos Asian are usually more money minded than others? hehe
BE, I think there are a few reasons : "most Asian in US are for the republicans"
One of them is $ minded like me, ha ha ha ha, the other one is conservative thinking, ie pro same sex marriage, pro family value etc...
I think most American Asians would want to have a president who is family oriented like Bush but not one who has sex scandal like Clinton, right. They are happy to see 1st lady who is of family kind of woman than Hilary :)-
Zewt, Have u ever read docs hand writing, do u understand them ?
Well, in the US, MT is a requirement by law. Docs need to detect their diagnosis/ consultant, and whatever they have done to a pt. in a recorded audio tape. It is an evidence of their work , be it for future reference or insurance reimbursement. Don't forget in US, we don't have free medical, we have to get insured to get medical care. That is why our MT biz is a hug biz. If u can get say a little junk of that biz say 1% 1.5 bil x 0.01 = x ? how much, do u think u will be happy ? Ha ha ha ha. An Indian guy started a 1 man biz on MT for 2 of his cousins who are docs in US, turn out into a multi mil biz, now his MT bis hosted in a 10 stories complex (India eh ? :)). U can just google and find this guy on net. How he get famous etc...
This is a very viable offshore biz :)-. Why not , if PPP can get you guys in Malaysia to blog for them paying peanut amt of $, MT is even more lucrative for Malaysian.
It is $1 a line and when I said line I am saying not a whole sentence, might be filling in here and there. But, the difference from PPP is you got to know medical terms, ya , that is the catch !!! U can easily earn $40k a mth senang senang typing our yr transcript and upload to us in US. It is audio file download and text upload. In fact, there are many things can be done offshore, all u have to do is a good lead.
So tell PJ that PPP is not a big deal lah :):)- ha ha ha ha.
Yes, I am seriously consider bring MT to M., it is a matter of time, stay tune :)-.
ahhh... this is what MT is all about. i think someone started doing translation here and is now a millionaire. may not be the same thing but the process was quite the same... started as a one man show just like your story.
when u bring MT to M... let me know ok? i wanna be a partner... haha!
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