https://www.wsj.com/economy/housing/baby-boomer-home-sales-real-estate-879614be
Angela and Victor Martino raised their two daughters decades ago in a ranch house measuring less than 2,000 square feet. The empty-nesters recently bought the 5,000-square-foot house next door.
After a year-long renovation, the Denair, Calif., home has a huge kitchen with space for the commercial meat slicer that Victor uses to cut a leg of prosciutto at family events. There is a playroom with polished concrete floors meant to withstand damage from their seven grandchildren. The primary bathroom tub has features to help them get in and out more easily as they get older.
“We’ll downsize when they plant me 6 feet into the ground,” said Victor, 64.
Meanwhile their children cry that Mommy & Daddy are burning thru their inheritance. LOL
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He was born in 1962. The very last of the baby boomers if a boomer at all. My older brother, 1954 vintage, went bigger, but if he lives through the pancreatic cancer (1 in 10 chance) he will down size from 10 acres and 2400 square feet to a much smaller place. If he doesn’t his widow will. My older sister, vintage 1952, already down sized from 2000 to 1600 square feet. I never went big, but hey, I am barely a baby boomer at December 1959. Also, still thinking of selling everything and moving out of the country and renting forever. Cuenca has good weather, Mendoza has good wine and steaks.
It is a tough call. probably go to Cuenca first and finish Spanish, then Mendoza.
Cheers
Qazulight
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What’s your approach to learning Spanish, if you don’t mind sharing?
We have been using DouLlingo for a long time, Took 10 hours of one on one from Christian Spanish Academy, on line. They are from Antigua Honduras. We then took a two week trip to Honduras and took 4 hours a day one on one for a week, the went to Lake Attilan for a week.
It was enough to prove to our old brains that we could endure 4 hours a day. So we are thinking 4 hours a day one on one in Cuenca for a month. We will probably also take another 10 or 20 hours one on one online from Christian Spanish Academy before we go to Cuenca. It just helps get ready to talk.
Personally I think 6 months of one on one at four hours a day would make me able to talk and understand conversations, read the paper, watch a TV show. As Central and South America, especially Argentina compared to say Mexico, are very different, I would expect that 6 months in Cuenca , or Honduras, would only get me ready for more Spanish in Mendoza Argentina. But, I think, and may be wrong, that six months in Argentina would have me ready to go to Spain as I believe they are more simular than Mexico and Spain.
As it is, we can order a meal, get a taxi, check into a hotel. But not discuss travel plans or negotiate a fare with a Tuk Tuk or explain a problem to a doctor in detail.
Cheers
Qazulight
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Qaz, makes sense to me.
What I did was High School Spanish made pleasurable travel much easier, and opened the immense and marvelous world of Spanish literature to me, from Cervantes through to Unamuno and Ortega y Gasset.
But to become reasonably fluent the key was regukar intensive socializing (dinner parties, slow group hikes) with bilingual friends who wanted to practice English as much as I wanted to practice Spanish.
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