The movers are here, and this time they are packing up our lives – furniture, books, kitchenware, crystal, art, photos, even the Christmas decorations. Nick’s contract has been renewed and which had a flow on effect on our apartment lease. Our landlord not being amenable to negotiation we went hunting in the same condo block and when presented with two lovely unfurnished options we decided to explore having our furniture moved rather than have the company keep paying for storage. Which is why I am sitting listening to the rustle of paper and rip of tape as the international shipping packing standard is applied to all the crystal and kitchenware.

The words “shit just got real” keep going around in my head. Our dipping our toes into the adventure of an expat assignment two years ago has transformed into a life choice.  Leaving New Zealand this time two years ago there was a degree of uncertainty about what living in Malaysia would be like and how we would handle living there. Now we are looking at being there – or if not there, not in New Zealand for the foreseeable future. Somewhat unexpectedly even though I have lived most of the past 15 months in New Zealand my sense of home has changed – Wellington feels constricted and small. I frequently remind people that, evidence to the contrary, KL is where I live and I am only here for a short while.

I am grateful for the last 15 months of living a long distance commute. Apart from the family reasons behind the choice, it has contributed to my feeling comfortable with the prospect of the next few years. I have had the freedom to explore career options I would not have been able to had we stayed here. And having seen what Nick has been doing in Asia it is clear that there was never going to be those kind of opportunities in New Zealand.  It has also ticked off a lot of boxes – refreshing my experience for when I am able to job hunt in KL, ensuring my residency meets superannuation criteria when we get back to New Zealand, re-building my confidence having been pretty burnt out when we left. The ability to step back and look at what I do and how I work has given me some surprising insights.

This time two years ago I would have never anticipated that this was where I (or we) would be two years later – yet the fact that we have survived and to some degree thrived with meeting the challenges gives me confidence for the next two.