Rob Kaplan and Diane Mak-Kaplan
@rodimy
Canadian looking for information about Malaysia
Forum posts
8
Contacts
1
About me
Canadian
Lives in Walnut Creek CA
Speaks English, some Chinese (Diane)
Registration: 23 October 2014
About
Occupation
I am Retired.
My expat journey
Malaysia
San Francisco, USA
Life is mostly about commuting and sleeping in The Bay Area and we've had enough. Deciding to retire early, we're taking an enormous leap of faith and moving to Penang in late spring 2015 even though we've never been there.
Sadly I was laid off from my financial services administrative job on 11/1/2013. I've had numerous jobs in the field over the course of 30 years. Diane is a Registered Nurse and will continue working until we move to Penang. We will file for MM2H in April when i reach age 50
Salaries are higher than most American cities but so is the cost of everything. The weather is temperate; other than that, we hate it here and are ready to leave.
San Francisco is a horribly dirty city filled with homelessness and quality of has decreased significantly since I arrived in 1988. House prices are the highest in America; average middle class neighborhood houses tun about 700-800K. Traffic is beyond horrible every day including weekends and people are not very approachable.
Calgary, Canada
Diane is Canadian and a Registered Nurse that was living with me in the USA for 3 years. She had an opportunity to return and I needed a change so we back to her home province.
Financial services administrator
Love the proximity to Banff ab=nd the Rocky Mountains. Love the modern new housing and open space. Love Canadians in general.
HATED the weather; too many months of cold and too many crazy weather events
Activity
Your experience of culture shock in Malaysia by Christine
Hi, Living in a foreign country implies to discover its culture, to learn and master the cultural codes. How did you deal with that? Share with us your culture shock stories where you experienced a funny or awkward moment in Malaysia. What ...
Speaking of culture shock; There is one issue so insanely ridiculous I can't even fathom it. The toxic chemical and burning ash inhaled by 30 million Malaysians thanks to irresponsible neighbors breaking every rule in existence and complacently ... Read More
Your experience of culture shock in Malaysia by Christine
Hi, Living in a foreign country implies to discover its culture, to learn and master the cultural codes. How did you deal with that? Share with us your culture shock stories where you experienced a funny or awkward moment in Malaysia. What ...
Didn't really expect to see such powerful negativity when I clicked on this topic. Sadly I'm sure it's all mostly true and even sadder, we don't experience any of it because we are two American professionals: registered nurse and ... Read More
Newbie early retirees moving to Penang - seeking contacts by rodimy
Greetings to everyone My Canadian wife and I are moving to Penang in the spring and wanted to introduce ourselves to the community. We currently live in a suburb of San Francisco, USA. Exactly one year ago I was laid off and we decided to try early ...
Thanks, although we are not in Malaysia and will not be arriving until summer. We need to sell our house then apply for MM2H and I am waiting for my 50th birthday to do that in April. Read More
Newbie early retirees moving to Penang - seeking contacts by rodimy
Greetings to everyone My Canadian wife and I are moving to Penang in the spring and wanted to introduce ourselves to the community. We currently live in a suburb of San Francisco, USA. Exactly one year ago I was laid off and we decided to try early ...
thank you. We are getting excited. Read More
Newbie early retirees moving to Penang - seeking contacts by rodimy
Greetings to everyone My Canadian wife and I are moving to Penang in the spring and wanted to introduce ourselves to the community. We currently live in a suburb of San Francisco, USA. Exactly one year ago I was laid off and we decided to try early ...
Hi Thanks for the message. We don't agree with most of the stuff the written in the above post either. The poster is very cynical and has no business staying in a place he thinks is no good. The world is a big place and if you don't like ... Read More
Newbie early retirees moving to Penang - seeking contacts by rodimy
Greetings to everyone My Canadian wife and I are moving to Penang in the spring and wanted to introduce ourselves to the community. We currently live in a suburb of San Francisco, USA. Exactly one year ago I was laid off and we decided to try early ...
The only thing that springs to mind that you may not have considered is you are not permitted to take up paid employment when you are on the MM2H programme, or to clarify that only 20 hrs per week and with a small range of sectors, mainly education. ... Read More
Newbie early retirees moving to Penang - seeking contacts by rodimy
Greetings to everyone My Canadian wife and I are moving to Penang in the spring and wanted to introduce ourselves to the community. We currently live in a suburb of San Francisco, USA. Exactly one year ago I was laid off and we decided to try early ...
We both think that Penang possesses the best work/life balance opportunities and the most easy-going culture in Malaysia. On the other hand, Malaysia as such is suffering from increased radicalization and I do not know if and how this would affect ... Read More
Newbie early retirees moving to Penang - seeking contacts
Greetings to everyone My Canadian wife and I are moving to Penang in the spring and wanted to introduce ourselves to the community. We currently live in a suburb of San Francisco, USA. Exactly one year ago I was laid off and we decided to try early ... Read More