bakedbean

It never ceases to amaze me when folks (usually those working) say What on earth do you do all day in retirement? Well...quite a lot actually.

Anyway, here's a place where we can share all those things you can do that you never had time to do when working. So, a few ideas below. Please add anything that you can think of. I am, by the way, not admitting to any of the following. You'll have to guess which ones I do

Start a Malaysia blog
Learn Malay
Learn Hokkien
Write a book
Learn to paint or draw
Learn to play golf / tennis / bridge / mahjong
Walk every day
Join a church / a temple / a mosque
Go to concerts
Try out all different local foods then write a blog or website on it all
Travel around Malaysia
Travel to other countries in Asia
Learn all the history of Malaysia
Do some volunteering
Take up photography
Learn to play the piano / guitar / cello/ drums
Write poems
Write an article for Britishexpats
Learn to cook
Start up a retirees' group
Check out all the heritage sites on Penang
Learn to swim / dive / fish
Go to the wet market and buy something you've never ate before

bakedbean

There's several great books about retirement by Ernie J. Zelinski. If you plug his name into google, several sites will come up.

Several years ago I bought one of his books, on recommendation from someone else, called The Joy of Not Working (a book for the retired, unemployed, and overworked). It's a very funny book but....also full of good ideas and I thoroughly recommend it.

One of the things in this book is something called The Get-a-Life Tree. Hopefully the pic below will come out OK. It's a great tool to try out. Basically you put 4 squares in the middle of a sheet of paper:
1. Activities that turn me on now
2. Activities that turned me on in the past
3. Activities that will get me physically fit
4. New activities I have thought of doing
Then expand outwards from that (see pic)

ex reg

Well I don't do at least 18 of those things in your first post and I haven't got a minute to myself.

Davita

OR.....one can always go to the local expat bar, get loaded, and B/S to all the other losers how you saved the world and nobody noticed, nor even cares!!!

bakedbean

Yep exReg me too....I counted 17 that I don't do (yet).

Thanks Davita.....so we may add
Visit pubs

Davita

bakedbean....hehehe....Top of my list...

gobbledonk

Damn, she's onto us - you fuel the chopper while I empty the safe !

The bars are OK for 2-week millionaire trips to Thailand, but as a longterm option I cant think of anything more tedious. On my 3-month stays, I found it was much better to treat the nightlife as a 'weekend' thing, even though I didnt have to go to a job during the week. As things continue to unravel in Thailand (and I dont believe anything will be resolved by a change of government) I am increasingly happy with my choice of retirement destination, but my initial decision-making was heavily influenced by the realisation that living in Toyland was only going to end one way.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_of_Toys

Let's hope I dont find myself with long ears and a tail 12 months from now

Davita

This morning my eyes are a little blurred so it took a while to read bakedbean's first 3 items on her excellent bucket list.
After fummaging to find any of my precious spectacles and, sipping the nectar of tea my wife religiously brings every day....I reviewed the list
.
Start A Blog....well this is it!..... Done
Learn Malay....satu, dua, tiga, ampat,..... Done
Learn Hokkian...eet, ngo, san, see or is that Cantonese?..... Done

Well...there goes half my day already....what time does the pub open?.......

bakedbean

Hehe you do make me laugh, Davita

I'm still learning Malay in fits and starts. I may really get going with it one of these fine days.

Hokkien? Eeek

I've not attempted a blog. Have set up a couple of small websites. By the way.....if anyone has a blog or website, it is okey dokey to put a link in your "signature" on britishexpats forum (you can see how Atilla has done it on here), but not allowed to self-promote it on threads. Just so's you all know. Err...it's kosher to put some odd links to other's blogs and websites if relevant.

steveMY

I do not want to spoil the party here
when adding a serious question, where to learn basic Malay e.g. in a 3mo. course, like YMCA does it with learning Mandarin? Any recommendations?

Bluenose1

I actually signed up for a Diploma in Professional Photography with the Photography Institute. Not sure whether it will help me to achieve my aim, which is to set up my own photographic business in Melaka though. It seems that the course is not an accredited one. Also, from what I can tell, photography is one of the businesses that foreigners are not allowed to own! Oh, well. I guess I'll have to become my wife's employee if all else fails! (so that will take me out of the retired bracket anyway!).

Steve, I actually bought a book that comes with 2 CDs from Waterstones before I left the UK. It is called "Teach Yourself Complete Malay" but of course it is nowhere near complete! It says it is from Beginner to Level 4 and is by Christopher Byrnes and Tam Lye Suan with Eva Nyimas. ISBN 978-1-444-10199-7. I have also bought an English-Malay Dictionary (Oxford) here in Malaysia and between the 2 should be more than sufficient for a good grounding. I have been hoping that our nephews and nieces (aged from 4 up to 15) would provide help on a tit-for-tat basis (although the 15yo's English is very good!), but no joy so far!

Davita

Ok! Ok! sorry guys...you all know I was just kidding about my retired life. I don't sit in pubs ALL the time.

Today I'm laying on the beach in Bali...watching the bikini-clad surfing girls. Now there's a sport to keep one fit that I might take up...naagh! I'll just watch it more.

Have to stop posting now 'coz my massage appointment is nigh! and it's Saturday....I've got to be ready for the jazz night in the sushi bar.

Yeah....retirement can really get one down...I've been trying since 1990 and still not used to it. anyway...

Mbat...lagi satu Bintang dan glass dingin....terimah kasseh....cantik!

roystevenung

<--- The man who knows a bit of Hokkien...

bakedbean

Yes, thought you might know some, Roy

Bluenose, reckon you've got a head start with Malay as you have plenty of relatives to practice on. The other thing is, as one of my Penang born friends has told me, Malay has changed over the years and it seems that some books don't keep up with the plot. And then there's the slang and the colloquialisms

gobbledonk

All reasons for my fiendishly clever strategy of waiting until I can immerse myself in the language with a native speaker

Had a conversation with an Iranian guy who came to Oz a few years back and he surprised me when he told me that he got very high marks for 'English' at High School despite having almost no conversational skills and a very poor ear for different accents across the English-speaking world (for the sake of argument, lets not count Scotland as part of that world - he was referring to Aussies and Americans). He told me that he and his wife had become so frustrated with the old Michael Douglas flick 'Wall Street' the previous night that they were forced to turn on the *subtitles* - we take it for granted that everyone can understand us simply because we all speak English, but how many of us speak the Queen's English perfectly ? I'm hoping Bahasa wont prove to be as problematic .....