Is This Really Happening?

We'll soon be flying high in Beijing

Today is our last day in Linyi. I’ve still got two boxes to pack up and a bit of cleaning to do. Tomorrow morning we fly to Beijing to start our search for a new home. I feel strangely numb about the whole process, probably because I haven’t had enough coffee. I should be excited, jumping up and down. I am excited, but to be honest, I am still experiencing a bit of disbelief over this new job, new city, new life thing.

It was last February, after all, when the DH received an email about a possible new job. Back then, it seemed like all we had to do was say, “Yes!”, pass a medical exam and start the new job. But things are never straightforward and easy in China. (Actually, I’ve come to learn that the US is probably the only really efficient and straightforward country in the world.) We waited and waited and waited some more. The DH did medical tests and filled out forms and applied for a police certificate from Spain (two months and we’re still waiting for it!) We resigned from our current jobs. And you guessed it, we waited some more.

In most countries, when you want to leave one company and go to another, you just do it. In China, particularly in aviation, the process is a little more complicated. In China, a pilot’s pilot license is tied to the airline or aviation company employing the pilot. In order to change companies, the pilot is required to obtain a dismissal letter from the first company saying that he is free to go. Then the new company must apply for the licenses to be transferred. Bureaucracy is a wonderful thing. We wonder if this is related to the old work unit system in China, wherein everyone belonged to a work unit where they were employed, fed and housed for life. Ideally, obtaining the dismissal letter and license transfer should be a simple process, and in our case it was not complicated, it just took a long time. I suspect that companies could make trouble for an employee they do not want to see go.

The good news is that all the waiting has paid off. The DH is going to be a first officer on a Lear 60XR business jet. For those of you who know nothing about aviation, that is a mid-size jet airplane with seating for ~6 passengers. And since I’m no expert, all I can really say is that it looks cool and flies really high. (That’s one in the pic above.)

I’m not sure what I am going to be doing. I want to focus on Mandarin for a while and my first order of business is going to be finding a tutor or class that I can join. I really, really need a structured environment to learn a language. I am too introverted and too shy to pick up a language on the street. Another expat in Beijing joked on Twitter that I’ll be enjoying the tai tai life of leisure from now on. Perhaps I should change the tagline on my blog, as I like the sound of it. A tai tai is a “Mrs.” in Mandarin. I’ve never been a trailing spouse, and I’ve never really thought of myself as a Mrs., although I’ve been married for nearly nine years. I’m sure I’ll have a lot more to say about discovering the tai tai life!

So we’re entering a new phase in our expat adventures. We’re upgrading, in a way. In another post I’ll share how I feel we’re growing up. Is this real? I think that maybe tomorrow when the airplane climbs up and away from Linyi I will really believe this is all happening!

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Tagged as: Beijing, Daily Life, expat, Moving, tai tai, trailing spouse