Happier Abroad Forum Community

So this summer, got some reno work done over at Mom's Basementâ„¢.
These days, you can pick out all the components at home rather than schlep all over the home improvement store.

This post is about the guy who did most of the work on one project, though.
After seeing/hearing the process/progress day by day, I have a much greater understanding of why these projects cost so much.
Hard and heavy fricking work.

I risk making it sound like there was more talking than working, but there wasn't.
I'll try to just hit some of the high points:
He came from EE (I'm leaving out where), not speaking english, and been here about 15~20 years. Only stayed a few years at first.
Didn't like it at first (Hollywood didn't show the poor parts), but loves it now (going by what renos cost, I guess so).

Got his wife from his home country and knew her "before".
(I'd asked if he specifically went back home to find a wife)

Me: I'm on a forum that discusses retiring overseas a/o finding a wife overseas.
Him: If you have the cash to do it there, you can do it here.

We adjusted his start time so that he could wait for the baby sitter. Fine with me.
I chuckled when he asked me if I had kids.
Me (big smile): No.
Him (with an even bigger smile) : Well, I won't say that you are lucky ... because you are not.
He got jokes.

I've rarely met anyone this happy**, who was this age (mid to late 40s?) and also ... sober.
And certainly not with the work ethic.


*The other day, while I was working outside, a lady stopped her car out front to yell into the backseat at her kid(s).
Compared to the quiet I've been enjoying (not counting power tools), she didn't sound like anything I'd want to come home to.
I'll be staying 'not lucky' a bit longer.

**Part of his world view is that you can't control very many things so no point in worrying about them or "planning" too far ahead.
I think it takes a certain wiring to be able to pull this off.
Maybe the American dream isn't dead, depending on what your dream is.

Perhaps 5 days of hard work for decent money, a large house in the suburb, a good wife and a couple of lively (if noisy) kids to come home to, is what many people would consider a life worth settling into. It's not much about the American dream anymore, but how much you shape your dreams and expectations to keep just a few inches above reality, not off the mark sky high.

A good guy, I believe. By my experience, Estonian men are some of the most pragmatic go-getters in EE. Given a golden chance, they'll work hard to earn it and take it. If the metal is bronze or lead, they learn to get it anyway and adapt, waiting for something bigger and better without moaning too much in the process.