Not exactly, but pretty close, at least for me. 6 years ago, I nonchalantly asked my boss if I can relocate to another country. He’s pretty cool so he was like, sure. The hard part was getting his boss, and his boss’ boss to say yes, because it takes money and a lot of other resources to move an employee from a low-cost country to a high-cost country. By some miracle, everyone said yes. It was so fast that when the director talked to me, he asked me where I wanted to go (global company with offices all over the world), and I answered “I don’t know, I didn’t think I’d get this far”.
Fast forward to today and I now have permanent residency. Sometimes when I’m just chilling, it hits me and I still can’t believe I’m here now, with what started as a random throwaway question.
When he asked you where you wanted to go, were you thrilled or maybe a little scared since it was unexpected?
Both! This was pre-zoom time so I was talking with the director over a webex call without video, and I remember I was doing the excited jazz hands motion by myself in a conference room. I only felt the nerves when the wheels actually started turning and the actual process started, which was a couple of months later, because that’s when I knew for sure it was actually happening. I just told myself this is a once in a lifetime opportunity and I would be stupid to not take it even if I was uncertain of what will happen. Besides, if it doesn’t work out, I can always go back home.
Which countries did you move from and to?
I’d rather not say, but somewhere in Asia to the US.
Back in the 90s my father to us on ski trip to the Rockies. We grew up in the midwest, and even though snowboards were still new, we were masters of the tiny mounds we call ski hills in Wisconsin.
Before he would let us go on our own, my dad insisted we take a lesson. When the instructor asked what we wanted to learn, I said “Jumping cliffs and tree skiing”.
We went up the highest lift, and then proceeded to hike another half hour. Well above the tree line, on a narrow ridge, the instructor stops, straps in, and says we are dropping in here. He asks one last time if this is what we want to do, then he went off the damned cliff.
So now my brother and I, both teenagers from Chicago, are alone on the top of this mountain watching our guide shrink off in the distance.
We looked at each other in disbelief, and realised we were either doing this, or walking another half hour back down without a guide.
Strapping in and psyching myself up to push off into what seemed like open sky was maybe the biggest “Wait, how the hell did I end up in this situation” moments of my life.
