Nords said:On a submarine it's called a "galley", and it serves 120 meals four times a day...
Aw, c'mon Nords, the galley on the USS Bowfin was bigger than that, and you served on big-@ssed boomers, right?
Nords said:On a submarine it's called a "galley", and it serves 120 meals four times a day...
OK, I'm exaggerating. Maybe a submarine galley would need two of those if we had to feed the spooks or the SEALs in addition to the crew. Of course for the SEALs it wouldn't be necessary to actually cook the food and there wouldn't be anything to clean up...bpp said:Aw, c'mon Nords, the galley on the USS Bowfin was bigger than that, and you served on big-@ssed boomers, right?
ladelfina said:The one shown is a bit drastic, but their popularity is probably due to the increasing number of older buildings chopped into ever-smaller studio condos, esp. in the city centers.
Just saw one listed in Rome for 194 s.f. (that is not a typo.. 18m2) for €160,000 ($203,000).. oh, AND it needs complete restructuring. Even elsewhere, though, people just tend to live in smaller quarters.. saving on heat, materials, taxes, etc. Single-family houses are a small minority of housing units.
I imagine it can't beat Japan, though.. right bpp?
I imagine you had a lot more of a culture shock than I did, and that you probably had to jettison a lot more American "stuff". Got any pix of the place you live in, or something similar?
Do you like it there? What is the weather like where you are? Do you have AC? If so, how high are your elec. bills?I love it here. The alternative would be to work full time for a few more years in the US. Instead we decided to go part time and enjoy life. Sure we had to sacrifice a little but what we gave up doesn't compare to what we gained.
I was actually born here but moved to the US when I was five. I lived in the states for 28 years and returned to Panama last year. I have plenty of family here so not really homesick. I travel back to the US about 5 times a year and my wife spent 30 days visiting family so can't really say we are homesick. THe flight from Panama to Atlanta is 4 hours nonstop so that makes it nice if we have to go back. Even with all that traveling it is still cheaper to live here and the quality of life is better for us.Also wondered about property taxes. I know you are building now, but do you know what your taxes will be when you finish your house?[qoute]
There is no property taxes on new construction for 20 years. You pay taxes on the land only during that time. If you bought a home that was built in 2000 then you would have 14 years left on the exemption. I think last time I checked the tax rate was 1.5% but hard to say what it would be when we are finally required to pay them in 20 years.
[qoute]Do you get homesick much? What do you miss most, and what don't you miss?
ladelfina said:Ha ha.. Kitty, that is so true.. My favorite 'Ugly American' story (personally witnessed): on a London bus circa 1983, a middle-aged blonde American lady screaming to the bus driver as if he were deaf... "Do you take MONEY?? You know... MUHNNNNEYYY??!?" Waving American dollar bills at him..
We were on a Mediterranean Cruise and had arranged to meet our walking tour guide near the train station in Rome. Imagine our embarassment when we had to keep asking where is the nearest McDonalds (the guide had suggested)! There were three of them!Mr._johngalt said:... The problem with "Ugly Americans" is that most of them are right here
in the USA, IMHO.
JG
WRBT said:Are no requirements for job/study to get an apartment or anything?