We've been here for almost 2 weeks and if we were really on top of things we would have had this blog set up before our departure in order to track and share the entire process, but preparing for this journey was very time consuming and we're just now getting around to setting this up. It's function is two-fold, writing about our experiences helps us to process how we feel about moving far
from home and becoming ex-pat's, and it serves to communicate what this lifestyle is like for those of you wondering and asking so many questions!
But first, let me go back to the beginning, the question we've answered most often...why move? and why Thailand?
Fuad and I both love travel, separately and together we have traveled all over the world. Traveling and seeing new places as well as meeting new people is a priority for us. Before getting married we had decided that at some point in our lives we would like to live abroad, we just didn't know where or when. Fuad found this job actually, and in order to gain the experience of applying to an International School, I applied. I applied for the job in 2010, it turned out the school didn't hire anyone that year, and we couldn't have moved anyway because we were getting married...so in February of 2011 I got the email asking if I would be interested to forward my application to this year's hiring. I, of course, said yes. Meanwhile, Fuad had gotten permission to transfer to the Asian Pacific Region of Leo Burnett.
I interviewed for the job first on skype and secondly on phone with both the principal and assistant principal of the Chiang Mai International School and just after a week, I was offered
the job, this was the first week of March. Fuad got the ok to transfer to the Bangkok office, we did some research on Chiang Mai and decided to take the leap! After making the decision to make the move, we both knew it was meant to be because everything fell into place so easily. For example, finding a sublet for our apartment with very little effort, selling our car with no effort at all and receiving a phone call from one of my new co-workers with a house that's exactly what we wanted across the street from her in Chiang Mai. Not to say that there weren't challenging parts of preparing for this move as well, going through all of our STUFF and saying goodbye to the city filled with countless friends we've both called home for over a decade.
After making the decision to move I found all kinds of blogs and web-sites about becoming an ex-pat, and how to prepare to move to another country. I was happy to find that so many others were or had gone through what we were going through. I found reassurance in knowing that there would be stages, the anticipation, the honeymoon, the culture shock and eventually the process of returning home.
Those of you reading who know me really well...you know that I don't really make decisions without having spent time reflecting, discussing, thinking, talking some more repeat over and over in order to seek and find clarity, so this is what I did...and realized that I had agreed to move to a country that I had never been to, where I don't know a single word of the language, cut my salary by about half, give away, sell or store most of my belongings, say goodbye to family and friends, put my puppy that I absolutely adore into a crate on a plane for 24 hours, in order to move with my husband all in the spirit of adventure. At this point I feel I have to acknowledge that I firmly believe when the Universe opens a door like this, you absolutely have to go through!
So after all that work, packing and storing and saying tearful goodbyes, after hepatitis & typhoid shots, after hours spent getting new passports, acquiring appropriate visas, after all that...here I sit in our lovely home in Chiang Mai, Thailand.
So before I continue on this adventure as it unfolds before us I want to remember a few things that struck me as we left Chicago.
On July 17th we packed our car with 7 suitcases Fuad, Baxter and I and drove towards O'Hare, and out of my side mirror I saw the city skyline in the rear view. There have been some people along the way who expressed that we can always come back whenever we want to...that it doesn't have to have this finality to it...but anyone who has spent any amount of time in another country knows that it changes you. We may be able to go back, but it will never be the same city to us, because we will have changed, we'll see everything with a new set of eyes.
The next day before saying good bye to my parents, I handed over the keys to our car, I want to remember the sensation of having no keys in my possession.
Lastly, I want to remember the heartfelt goodbyes and say thank you to all the people who took this opportunity to express how they feel, how they truly feel, about friendship, about yoga, about how Fuad & I had affected them. I carry each of you with me, I see this world for you and me and I know our paths will cross once more.
Thank you.
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