New Season, Episode One
Friday, October 12th, 2007Over a decade ago, Rob went to work and a colleague had put a job advertisement on his desk.
It was actually for the job he was hoping he would move into in ten years’ time. He applied, got the job, and now…..he went to work yesterday and a colleague had emailed him a job advertisement.
It’s a three year contract in the United Arab Emirates.
Now, hang on. We’re going to minus twenty degrees and snow in Mongolia.
Not fifty degrees on the Arabian peninsula.
We had decided leaving for China in February was a bit too soon.
So how could you even consider a “start as soon as possible” job?
You were a bit iffy about taking 12 months leave without pay.
How could you walk out on your job altogether?
We wanted a break from rampant materialism.
Wouldn’t that be the LAST place on earth to go to fulfill that goal???
Actually, I didn’t say any of these things to Rob. I asked him what he wanted to do. I asked him if he were serious! I asked him how things were at work.
I re-discovered that, although the pay packet was very appealing, there’s more to life than money. I discovered anew that Rob puts wife and children before himself. While it would be an interesting job for him, from what he’s heard, it’s a pretty dismal existence for the spouses (I’m not sure why, but maybe we can find out). And so because of that, he’s not really interested at all.
We woke up this morning and I said, “Why don’t you just apply and see if you get it? They probably won’t even give the job to someone with eight kids. You could always turn it down if you decide you don’t want to go.”
No wonder my wild and wacky friend (oops, here’s what she said about that last time I called her that: you can call me pathologically cynical, socially challenged, borderline-Aspergers, absent-minded to the point of danger, you can call me an empty wreck of a woman, but just don’t call me wacky!) friend said, “Rachael, your life is my favourite TV series.”
It's pumpkin soup and freshly-baked bread for dinner tonight.
I wonder what we'll be eating in a year's time.
We'll just be beginning our adventure into the food of other cultures and hopefully there will be some culinary ... 
rayres