Gittans bloggis

So now it is all decided. Prinsen got quite a good offer and we are moving to China. I will stay here in my little alpine village more than four months from now and Prinsen might stay two or three.

Prinsen feels like he's won the lottery. He doesn't care about the money as long as it pays for him and me (in my new life as a desperate housewife...) and an ok apartment. I am the one who forced him to ask for more salary during the negotiation! Prinsen was just happy to go to China but I told him to ask for more salary which he did and which he also got. :o) So then I will consider the extra money he got as my spending money...!

I am probably not just as overwhelmed as Prinsen. Maybe because I will most likely resign without having a new position, which is always scary. In addition, I've spent two days in Singapore (plus some airport visits in Hong Kong and Singapore) and that is my only contact with Asia. I will start studying mandarin and chinese culture pronto! Also, I think I've always been the one who liked the cheesecountry the most. I have really good friends here and I love the skiing and the nature. Shanghai is the most densely populated city in China 16-20 million people live in that city alone...! Approx Sweden's total population times two! I guess I won't understand it untill I go there. If even then! I'm happy though about going! It'll be exciting and the timing is good.

Vanessa and Sue Ellen are a hundred percent supportive of the idea to move. For Vanessa it is easy to understand cos by then she will have moved back to the States anyway and we can be desperate housewives together (via Skype??). Sue Ellen doesn't even know yet that it has been decided. She is in Libya this week, but I'll try to text her. I am pretty sure she is pro though. Other people who are pro is Kusin and my mum. Always good with the support!

To the con-crowd I really only have to people. My dad and Hank. My dad really appreciated when I moved out of his and mum's house (we've never been compatible when it comes to living under the same roof). But as long as I don't live at home he really prefers to keep me close. He supported the cheesecountry because of the skiing but he is definitely not excited about China. He even tried to convince me by using Midsummer and other holidays he knows I like. Hank, I guess will feel quite left alone now that both Vanessa and I leave the field. I would be really sad to having to be the last one standing too. But he is the only one out of the three of us who likes his job so it makes sense that he is staying.

That's the story about being an expat though. Most expats will move on or back to their homecountry after a while. Either you leave your friends or you will be left by them. The people you get to know will most likely be the people who are new when you are new. You are lost and you make friends. Hence, you and your friends will stay approx as long and you will then leave at the same time as well. The secret is to move to the same place when you move. I guess Vanessa and I must have missed that part.

Soon my messages here will be in mandarin! Be prepared and go and get your dictionary!
Gittan

PS. My parents and kusin's parents together with our uncle Mr Evil Eye visited the ski resort E where Kusin lives last week. On the saturday we went for a great fondue (after a really great after ski with live band etc). After that KlackGittan was set free and together with Kusin made E a dangerous place to be. The night was approximately 4,5 times crazier than I had planned for. The sheer fact that we both managed to have lunch in the slopes with the whole family and be happy and cheerful the whole day was really a work of pros!

Skrivet av Gittan, 2008-04-03 22:51