Tina's wanderings around the world

 Let's dive right back into this mess, shall we? Company coordination Immigration Property management Home maintenance/improvements Cars Bills, expenses, miscellaneous Work Friends and family All of things I've already covered took up a lot of time and effort, but these last two categories were (are) the hardest. Work I've done a lot of job hopping in my time. I have had nine different jobs in the last seven years. Nine frickin' jobs. Two of the nine were promotions, so those were good ones, but I spent probably more than a year out of those seven years looking for a job. Like, in between jobs looking for a job. And I hate the job search. It's a pain in the ass and takes months to land something. I've been wanting to work in a corporate social responsibility role for many years now, and I'd finally landed a job working on a Microsoft Philanthropies team. And here's the kicker-- they found me . A recruiter reached out to me about this role and my backgro...

This relocation took more effort and emotional stamina than I initially thought it would. Optimism? More likely self-willed ignorance. If I don't think about it, maybe that will be less stressful. (That is sometimes true.)  This has been a long year. Then there was just all of the  stuff  of this year. There was Covid, working from home, and adjusting to the anti-social life. A long year without any vacation, so during quarantine I decided to give myself a break and allowed it to be a partial vacation. Staycation, really. Crocheting, reading, and generally not job searching were totally permitted without shame or guilt at not being more productive.  Because it's been a ridiculously productive year. The only days Marcus and I took off this year were to visit family, and those visits are wonderful and yet decidedly not vacation. Important. But not R&R. Both family visits this year were surrounded by home purchasing and a lot of time was spent on both visits trying ...

Singapore is now the fifth continent I've lived on. Well, that's if you're of the persuasion that there are seven continents, which counts North America and South America as separate continents. I don't know how they're teaching the kids these days, so I'm going with the seven continents standard.   First, North America (obviously). Second, Europe when I studied abroad in Vienna my first year at UW,  when I was 18. Third, South America when I was 24 and pulled up stumps to become fluent in Spanish and to travel. Where I both skipped about the continent in proper traveler style and settled into daily life in Peru and Buenos Aires, spending a few months in each. Fourth, Australia where I moved for love at the age of 25. Three and four--best decisions ever. Now fifth, Asia. Singapore.  With these moves under my belt, it would seem as though another international move wouldn't be a huge deal. But this move to Singapore, it feels very different to the previous mo...

 We're officially out of quarantine. And it's HOT. Muggy. Breezy. Rainy. Mostly overcast, though sometimes haltingly sunny. Glaring. And most of all, it's the kind of warm that envelops you as soon as you walk outside, clinging to every inch of your body.  I always knew it would be warm, but degrees on a thermometer don't convey how your body is going to feel. The degrees are mental constructs until you're in it. It's 11:30am and I'm outside sitting in a shaded spot by the pool (just knowing I can hop in the pool is relief). Drinking mint tea (hot--bad move). I know that when it's 88 degrees in Seattle I overheat. Seattle, however, has that lovely sea breeze, so that even when it's hot, you still get that cool breath of relief. Even in Sydney 80-90+ degrees was hot. But somehow Singapore's hot is overwhelming.  Getting out of quarantine was a milestone that signaled our ability to move once again. My first post-quarantine errand--finding yarn to ...

 I haven't worn shoes for eight days now. Or socks. As it turns out, you don't need shoes when you can't go anywhere.  The government continues to monitor our location, with the app constantly running on the phone (and draining my battery at least once a day) and sending vaguely threatening messages to get us to submit our reports three times a day. I take pleasure in logging unkempt selfies. Of course I'll comply, but I'll give you some unattractive photos! (Fist shake.) This is one of my more attractive photos, btw.  They also call each of us at least once a day asking the same questions. What's our immigration pass number. What's our immigration pass. Where are we staying. What room. Who are we staying with. Do we know we can't leave our hotel room. It feels like they're trying to trick us into saying something wrong. Marcus tends to get calls twice a day since the location on his phone is a little wonky and shows his location as being a few block...

I am currently sitting at a floor to ceiling hotel window, looking out at a gray, cloudy sky that is spitting out lightning and intermittent rain showers. Tall apartment buildings, cranes, and a construction site. Green leafy trees lining the roads that are lightly flowing with afternoon traffic. A familiar scene anywhere in the world, particularly back in Seattle.  But we're not in Seattle anymore. Life has evolved and put a new opportunity in front of us. Earlier this year, in the midst of Covid and the upheaval of 2020, Marcus got promoted to Chief Regional Counsel of Southeast Asia. It had been an opportunity we were aware of back in January, but when Covid hit, all of our plans (like those of everyone else in the world) went up in smoke. We were surprised when the actual offer came through, and even when it did we knew there would be significant immigration hurdles to overcome. By the time we made it past those hurdles, it felt like our relocation was a rumor rather than a rea...