So it begins...

 So this is where it all begins, apparently...

Welcome to this blog. Hopefully you will find something useful or interesting

The point of this blog is to chronicle our travels as a family as we move from the UK to Penang, Malaysia as I take up a teaching post outside of the UK for the very first time.

At this point we are still in the UK and will be for the next six months, but I thought I'd get started by sketching out the thinking behind the move and the process as it unfolds. Hopefully this will help our friends and family keep up with what we're up to and how we're getting on and maybe shed some light on the reasons for our move. Also it may be useful for anyone else considering something like this to see the processes involved laid out as they occur.

So let's start with who we are.

We are a family of 3: Nicola, John and Thomas. Nic and I have been married for 12 years (or near enough) at the time of writing and Thomas is our (currently) 8 year old son. We live and work in Northumberland in the North East of the UK. We are both in the education sector; I am an English teacher and Nic works at a local university.

This is the view just down the street from where we live, out across the bay to the lighthouse - there are worse places in the world to end up!

I feel the need to say that I think there are very few places in the country that can offer the quality of life you get here in Northumberland (okay, strictly speaking I live in a different council area, but I'm referring to the old geographical county - basically anything north of the Tyne and west of the Cumbrian border). The mix of urban and suburban amenities - schools, hospitals, museums, parks, leisure facilities and infrastructure - is excellent and the range of green open spaces and historical buildings make this a place where you are unlikely to get bored. The cost of living is very affordable (for most people, there are, unfortunately, still considerable pockets of deprivation) in comparison to many other parts of the country. It is, therefore, not a desire to leave where we live that brought us to this point.

So why an international move?

The idea of moving abroad first came about nearly two years ago. Truth be told, it actually first came up nearly six years ago, but at that point we had something like six weeks to move, Thomas was still a toddler, we were still leaning on family for childcare and I didn't have enough time to give the minimum notice period at work. So it was simply out of the question. However, this time there was more notice and the timeframes were going to be more workable. In both of these cases it was through Nic's job that we would have left these shores. As a consequence we began seriously looking at what life would be like in a fairly distant part of the world: Singapore. 

We decided that if it came about then we needed to grab the opportunity. It turns out that, after some considerable backward and forward discussions, this opportunity didn't happen. We were a little crestfallen.

A few months later this proposition was dangled in front of us (or more specifically Nic) again. Again it did not come about, but by this time I was applying for posts overseas. From October to March things did not go our way. Nic was once again offered a chance at this opportunity, but again this didn't happen and I had applied for at least a score of posts to receive only two interviews, neither of which was successful.

Then it did happened - I got a job offer. This was in the second week of March, but by the third week the world ground to a halt. Covid-19 shut everything down. No flights. No medical examinations. No legalisation services. No way to get the house ready to rent. In short everything necessary to complete the visa process and move abroad stopped, with no indication of when this would end and movement begin again. 

Regretfully I had to withdraw my candidacy - this was no time to be handing notices in and gambling on a job that might not even be there if I should, by some miracle, manage to get into the country in question.

Eventually things began to move again in the UK, but by the time it became apparent a move abroad may have been possible it was too late. To add insult to injury, Nic was offered and interview for a post in our target country. By now we were in the final half term of the school year and our hopes of moving abroad looked like they had come to an end.

Or so we thought...

Lockdown, the new normal, tier 3, then tier 4...

So September rolled round and after a really good summer, which included a fantastic trip to the Lake district in what has to have been the very best weather we've ever experienced there, we were back to the regular working year again. Only this time it was anything but regular.

Buttermere looking like a mirror in the August of 2020.

It was during this grind of an academic year that we decided to roll the dice one more time. It was now or never for a move abroad. Covid-19 had shown us how random and fragile the world could be and if we waited too long we would never have the opportunity to experience living in a different culture; seeing the world, not from a hotel window, but as part of a different community. So I began the process of applying for overseas posts again. This time I had refined my CV and covering letters and I also upped the number of schools I was applying to, getting in early in as many cases as possible. In short, I became much more systematic; I picked and chose my target territories carefully, selected schools I felt I would be happy teaching at and more importantly that I would be happy for Thomas to go to. 

I still ended up sending over 40 applications.

But this year was different.

I had at least ten hits, starting with a school in Malaysia in the December. Then there was a lull over the Christmas break... and then all hell broke loose. In the first two weeks 'back' in the new term I ended up doing a further five video interviews and two second round ones. I ended up with three offers and still had four more interviews stacked up with good schools in parts of the world where I would have been happy to live and work. However, by this time I had accepted a place at the school which is to be my new place of work for the next 3 years! Writing this makes it seem so much more real.

So that's the 'what', but what about the 'why'?

Well, the ideas I mentioned earlier pretty much summed up why. This was something we had not been thinking about until someone else planted the seed. Once we had been through the mental gymnastics of altering our mindset to accept the idea of a move overseas we realised that we now looked at our situation very differently. 

There was (and is) nothing wrong with our lives. We have friends and family on hand, a good lifestyle and decent careers. In short, we are comfortable. This is a relatively 'easy' existence, but that no longer seemed like it was enough. We had considered the advantages that moving overseas could give, the experiences it would bring and we couldn't ignore them. It wasn't a career move on either mine or Nic's part that drove this decision and it certainly wasn't about gaining a financial advantage; truth be told, we will be significantly worse of in that department. It was about something more - an experience that would be literally life changing.

These are the reasons, as I see them, for making this kind of move:

1) The opportunity to see a part of the world we would never otherwise see. 

2) The chance to live in a different culture, one which is more diverse than our own.

3) To experience a different quality of life. Not better or worse, but different.

4) To see how education is done elsewhere (okay this one is all me).

5) To give Thomas an experience that he would never otherwise never have.

So there it is. At the time of writing this we are just beginning the process of getting visas and work permits. I have handed in my notice and we are committed. I've already been in regular contact with my new school and I'm planning courses and having meetings to clarify roles and responsibilities. It's all starting to move from abstract concept to concrete reality.

I hope this gives a bit of context to what might otherwise seem like a bit of a hatstand decision. I'll post some more bits and pieces as the process unfolds.

Until then stay safe and well.

All the best,

John, Nic and Thomas.