What to do when I grow up

This time of year, around my birthday, I try and take stock of my life, where I am and where I am going.  I still have not figured out what I want to do when I grow up.  As I have mention elsewhere I suffer from a strange combination of wanderlust and not liking to travel.

A few things have really “forced” the issue this week.

• My Birthday and realizing I am not getting younger.
• My brother having a stroke ( he is doing fine)
• My mother recovering from an operation
• Needing to decide if I will teach for another cycle
• previous plans not working out
• almost out of tea

I miss my friends and family in Canada.  I hope that they would some day come and visit me here, but realistically the chances of that are very slim.  If I want to see them I have to go to them, they will not come to me.

I am making an OK wage from an Ecuadorian point of view, and live pretty well, but from North Americian point of view ( and spending power) I don’t make a lot, so to pay for a flight to Canada would require about a year of savings… or a year to pay off my credit card.  I have had credit card problems in the past, so I want to do it from savings.

I have been seriously thinking about a couple of business opportunities here.  The biggest issue is that this is Ecuador, and everything and everybody operates on different time and speed than I am use to.  I do get frustrated with Ecutime…. but the relaxed atmosphere is also what makes this place so much like paradise.  I know that if I do this I will have to do something mostly by myself.  But I need to have a local partner for several various reasons.

My spanish is still very very bad, but slowly getting better.  I hope to be very bad, or even bad in 6 months.  One of the things I have been doing is studying to get my Moto License.

So where does that leave me?

Choices:

• Travel/ move back to Canada in February and try and find a job… +  family and friends  –  Cold, dark, depressing
• Keep teaching in Zamora…. + love the place and the school     – working for others who can change, not a good, long term future
• Set-up a business ( photography, web) become the Bob House of Zamora  +  Photography  – rates are low here so not a great income potential and have to invest in equipment ( new computer etc)
• And…. I could always move back to Tokyo or on to Thailand……..

I am open to suggestions/ ideas