What in the world is a “Traveling Jiichan? Well, that would be me. Basically it means Traveling Grandpa. You see, in Japan, grandkids call their grandparents Jiichan (grandpa) and Baachan (grandma). Since the most beautiful granddaughter in the world, Violet, is one-quarter Japanese, thanks to her baachan, Midori, who also happens to be my spouse of almost 35 years, I am referred to as Jiji. So that explains the Jichan part….kind of. Funny thing is I don’t even know if I spelled it correctly, although Midori assures me my spelling is fine (fine being a word I usually give a negative connotation to). Unfortunately, when I googled jichan most postings came up with jiichan. I have been saying it for years, I just never wrote it. Sigh.
As for the “traveling,” this past summer Midori and I packed our bags, jumped on a plane and moved to Bali. I was in the midst of retiring after a long career in the military, and promptly grew a beard, got my first tattoo and moved halfway around the world to a tropical island. Midlife much? We decided it would be fun to kick back, enjoy the tropics and figure out the next chapter. My mantra has been, “nothing involving an office, a cubicle or a desk.” I have kept to my mantra so far as I sit in a storage room surrounded by dry goods and empty suitcases, with a laptop on a folding table and a mangosteen rolling around at my feet (I need to pick that up). The kids are out of the house, on their own and doing well spread out all over the United States living in Oregon, Los Angeles and New York City (so to be centrally located we would need to live in Iowa….or Bali). The pension allows us to live in a place like Bali where the rent is reasonable and the local life is within our means. So here I am, the traveling jiichan.
Since July we have traveled back to the states once for a wedding and a funeral and we spent a week in Singapore just to eat all the wonderful food and visit with cherished friends (we previously were stationed in Singapore for two and a half years). We have upcoming trips to the US, Japan, Singapore and Vietnam so we are definitely trying to stay mobile. Even while we are in Bali we are making a point of traveling around the island to see the sights and to better understand this mysterious and complex culture.
We have made some amazing friends while we have been here and look forward to more friendships down the road. I am going to play around with some writing, post some photos and occasionally some video to capture the adventure. At the very least our grandkids will have something to look at and to understand what we were all about. My Grandma Murdock was a world traveler and whenever we saw her she would break out the slide projector and we would be treated with a slide show chronicling her most recent adventure. Perhaps that is where my wanderlust comes from…
So come along as I write this new chapter of my life, see a little of the world and perhaps do some good along the way. Now, where did that mangosteen go?
Tattoo?? I have to read every blog now and find out what’s the tattoo about.
Ha! I have yet to write about it!
So excited to read about your adventures in Bali, Scott and Midori!
Thanks Karen! It should be a fun ride!
👍👍👍