Tuesday 29 May 2012

Flying by the seat of our pants?....

I spoke to a friend last night and was telling him about how our plans are going.  We have sold most of our furniture, cleared out our house and found a tenant to rent our house.  We have spent ages looking at places to live on the internet and it all looks amazing.  Somehow it seems really hard though to make a decision about where we are going to live, from the other side of the world.  How do we really know what the different neighbourhoods are going to be like?

The problem is we have one week to find a home, nanny for our children, car, bank account and everything else, before we have to start our new jobs.  We are also being a bit mad and only going out with a suitcase each and that is it!  We couldn't decide whether to ship our things out or not and decided it was all part of the adventure to start again with new stuff.  

My biggest worry is leaving my children after being in KL for one week, in a new country, with a nanny or in a daycare centre whilst we go off to work.  Once the term has started and they are at school then it  will be easier.  I spoke to our Admin/HR man in our new job and he was telling me to watch out for unregistered and illegal nannies/home helpers.  So I haven't a clue how to find anyone and we don't really want to use an agency and import a nanny from the Philippines, as we have to sponsor their visa.  Supposing she arrives and we don't like her, can we send her back??  So many unknowns.

I told my friend all of this and he did say......."Well you always have had a habit of flying by the seat of your pants!"

1 comment:

  1. Hi Isabella – looking at your posts I do feel you are flying by the seat of your pants. Let me to totally honest with you – to do all that you wish to do in one week (with jetlag) is a tall order. There are many questions I am asking myself that need to be addressed. • What relocation assistance is the company you and your husband are joining giving you? It doesn’t sound to be a lot. • Are you looking to place your children in international schools in KL? Have you determined the cost, made the applications and confirmed they have places? • Are your work visas approved? You’ll need these to open bank accounts and sign leases etc. and your children will need a dependents visa.

    Do you have Skype with a webcam? I feel it may be best to discuss this ‘face-to-face’. You can e-mail me at up.north.expat[at]gmail.com. Just replace the [at] with @.

    I will ask the relocation company I consult for to let me know what they would quote to assist you for your house hunting, school search, car search etc……. You need help from professional people. This is not a hard sell. I’ll just enquire for you. Also I am a member of a business organisation that has service providers in KL in many professions and I could put you in touch with them later if you wish. Just trying yo assist you with help my wife and I wish we'd had when we made the move.

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