On the clock
Well, it's official--we're going home sometime around the end of March.
Not that it's a surprise; after all, I've known all along that my contract was expiring this spring and that my employer back home was expecting (even if not eagerly anticipating) my return. But since I went through the formality of submitting my resignation today, it's all starting to feel more real. Or unreal. Or surreal. All of the above.
Making it even more complicated is that there was actually a possibility we could have stayed. A really good job opportunity happened to arise recently, and unbeknownst to friends both here and back home (until now, that is), I decided to throw my hat in the ring but didn't want to make a big deal of it. It's not that we were looking to stay--as a matter of fact, we were doing a lot of soul-searching about whether I would even take the job if it were offered because we didn't know if we would want to raise Baby so far from family and friends--but it was at least something we had to consider. To make a long story short and put a positive spin on it, we were spared having to make what would have been an incredibly tough and emotional decision. (In other words, I didn't get the job.) But as long as it was even a long-shot possibility, it was hard to focus our minds on getting ready to return.
So now we know that we're going back, and in most ways we're really excited about that. In particular, we have friends and family who we haven't seen in several years and who haven't yet met Baby (and in some cases they have babies of their own who we haven't met). For that matter, I expect we'll both have lots more to say about other things we're looking forward to upon our return. But I also expect that we're going to experience the full gamut of emotions over the next few months as we prepare to leave our expat lives behind and mourn some of the things we'll miss about life here. So I wouldn't be surprised if the blog becomes a bit manic-depressive during our remaining months as we swing between the excitement of going home, the stress of planning our move, and the sadness of leaving.
Not that it's a surprise; after all, I've known all along that my contract was expiring this spring and that my employer back home was expecting (even if not eagerly anticipating) my return. But since I went through the formality of submitting my resignation today, it's all starting to feel more real. Or unreal. Or surreal. All of the above.
Making it even more complicated is that there was actually a possibility we could have stayed. A really good job opportunity happened to arise recently, and unbeknownst to friends both here and back home (until now, that is), I decided to throw my hat in the ring but didn't want to make a big deal of it. It's not that we were looking to stay--as a matter of fact, we were doing a lot of soul-searching about whether I would even take the job if it were offered because we didn't know if we would want to raise Baby so far from family and friends--but it was at least something we had to consider. To make a long story short and put a positive spin on it, we were spared having to make what would have been an incredibly tough and emotional decision. (In other words, I didn't get the job.) But as long as it was even a long-shot possibility, it was hard to focus our minds on getting ready to return.
So now we know that we're going back, and in most ways we're really excited about that. In particular, we have friends and family who we haven't seen in several years and who haven't yet met Baby (and in some cases they have babies of their own who we haven't met). For that matter, I expect we'll both have lots more to say about other things we're looking forward to upon our return. But I also expect that we're going to experience the full gamut of emotions over the next few months as we prepare to leave our expat lives behind and mourn some of the things we'll miss about life here. So I wouldn't be surprised if the blog becomes a bit manic-depressive during our remaining months as we swing between the excitement of going home, the stress of planning our move, and the sadness of leaving.
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