Kalamazoo to Dubai

Today we got a tentative flight arrangement. Detroit-Atlanta-Dubai as expected, with the second leg being about 14 hours. And on Delta. We are hearty Midwesterners so we will find a way to survive it. This is the thing that for me makes our big plans ultimately true. After a failed attempt to work in the US Virgin Islands public library system a few years ago, I am not quite as ready to say I’m 100% sure about these things as some people might be. But my name on a plane ticket, that is something.

I have spent a lot of time in the last week figuring out how to get our 24″ iMac there in one piece, and barring a $600 hard case meant for trade show types, I’ve decided we will take it in a cheaper hard suitcase and cut the foam in the original Mac box to fit. I’ll add a few layers of thin plywood or cardboard on either side, and anything soft we can stuff in around it to protect things. There are no suitcases on the market that will fit the original box inside them, and it’s too much of a risk to just put it in that, I think. We bought that computer a few weeks before Rodney’s layoff when life was pretty good–had we known this all was coming it would have been laptop(s) for sure. We love it and don’t want to sell it. Plus it’s going to be our TV when we’re there too. It’s kind of pathetic how attached we are to our technology, but it is also going to be our main link back home. We’re on skype: stepintomythimble. PLEASE call sometimes.

Dubai got iPhones last year, so I’m going to take that too. It means buying my way out of my stupid AT&T plan, but over there the phones cost $650 to start (you do “own” it though, unlike here). I think I can just change my SIM card and get service with one of the two carriers, whoever we choose for all our telecommunications at the apartment too. No word yet on housing but it should be soon.

As we continue to get things ready, we have discovered that our kid fits neatly inside the hard suitcase we bought for the computer, one of those multidirectional roller types, so we are having fun zipping her in with a bunch of stuffed animals and rolling it around. We can do this when we get there too, before we make friends, yay! We get six pieces of checked luggage, plus two additional or the equivalent funds for shipping stuff. We’re going with option 2 so that my parents can mail us a few boxes of Maeve’s books and toys, a couple of our favorite cookbooks, and a few other things later on. None of this $12,000 car-shipping nonsense for me! Our other luggage is just going to be a few cheap duffle bags with rollers in them, an internal-frame hiking backpack, and a garment bag. That should be more than enough room.

Last week I wrote to my HR contact at my new employer, mostly to find out about our specific housing assignment. There is a lot of general information about moving to the UAE on the university’s web site, including things like what it might cost to buy a used car and insurance, the relative cost of foods, and even typical housing. But it’s like one month until we go! I wanted to know exactly what kind of apartment we’d get, and where in the city.

The answer was that they probably won’t be deciding until the middle of January.

We did learn that we’ll probably be put up in a hotel connected to Dubai Festival City for the first week we are there. Festival City is a gigantic mall with all sorts of familiar shops (IKEA, Toys-R-Us, Marks & Spencer) and things to do. I was surprised, since I’d read that there is a Holiday Inn Express right by the campus. I’m such a Midwesterner, assuming the cheapest option…

We will get opportunities on two or three of the orientation days to shop. Right now I’m planning on IKEA all the way–what else makes sense for a temporary housing situation than furniture that has a typically short lifespan but also a little style? For a long time I’ve surrounded myself with darker, earthy kinds of things, vintage odds and ends picked up here and there in life, 1920s apartments and what-have-you. I am excited by the possibility of a bright and modern living space, something completely different. It seems appropriate.

I also asked HR about shipping things to ourselves. I only meant a few boxes. The reply compiled opinions from several other Americans who had moved over recently, and they all talked about getting a big metal shipping container in the US (like the kind they kill people in on The Shield) and filling it with all their junk, even shipping their cars over. It just seems so American to do that. The money they spent on those shipping costs could easily have paid for a storage unit at home for many years–and when you get back how much of it would you want anyway? Is your 2003 Ford Explorer really THAT important? I don’t get it. We receive a generous “furnishing allowance” as part of our contract. Although some things I am planning to leave at home will probably be missed, I am 100% sure that I can occupy myself with other activities in the meantime.

I’ve also heard there will be five or six newcomers at the orientation in January–much less than usual because they ordinarily bring people in before the school year, in August. I am hoping to make a lasting friend or two in the group.

One thing that we still have to figure out is the tax situation. Income in the UAE is not subject to taxes, but as American expats we are liable after a certain amount. We are only allowed to come back to the US four or five weeks per year, and since we are not leaving until January 22 or 23 (no travel arrangements yet) that means we may not get to spend a month here in the summer as we’d hoped. The distance doesn’t make coming home for a week worth it. There’s always London.

I grew up with an English father. Although we were raised pretty typically in suburban Chicago and Detroit, the periodic visits to the UK to visit relatives helped a lot to broaden my perspective of the world outside of the US. When I got older, I tried to travel as much as I could. It was the 90′s, the world was mostly at peace, and the economy made it easy to make money to fund a variety of trips all over the world. Eventually, Heidi and I settled down, but there were always some places that were “on the list” so to speak.

I remember reading “The Saudis: Inside the Desert Kingdom” by Sandra Mackey probably nine or ten years ago. Although it was written in 1987, the idea of a society that was so wealthy it could afford to hire people from all over the world to educate their children, tend their illnesses, build their roads, etc, etc fascinated me. The exotic nature of their culture, religion, history, language, was all something I had hoped to one day have the opportunity to explore for myself. I remember talking at length to an older guy in a youth hostel in Spain, an art teacher from Vermont, who had taught in Saudi Arabia in the seventies for the royal family. A great aunt of mine was a tutor in Africa, for potentates who wanted their children to be educated in the British manner. These are the sorts of past associations that help prop up the situation we find ourselves in today.

The world is not the same place as it was even ten years ago. The Persian Gulf is at the center of a cluster of countries that are riddled with radical elements hostile to me just by virtue of my nationality. Saudi Arabia (Osama’s homeland, lest we forget) shares a land boundary with the UAE. On the other side of that nation is Iraq. Iran is right on the other side of the Gulf. If you follow the shore you come to Afghanistan and Pakistan, a couple of nations that have been in the news a time or two recently. If you head west after exiting the Gulf you run smack dab into Somalia, the textbook failed state with a coastline filled with pirates. PIRATES!

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There is some concern, but mostly I’m excited to be where the action is. The UAE is an ally of the US, and hosts a lot of navy warships, and is in all probability a way station for American troops going to Iraq or Afghanistan. When was younger I wanted to be in the State Department. I studied Anthropology and hoped to go work with some group of people out “in the field”, in the hopes of discovering some valuable piece of information that would benefit…somebody. Now I and my family have that opportunity. We can live in a society, and in an informal way represent our nation in a city that is a truly cosmopolitan place where everyone from that end of the world mixes freely. When I think of countries, I associate them with friends I have made in those places. I don’t blame them for the decisions their leaders make, and I think it works that way to my, or any other American’s benefit. This is why it is necessary to shake yourself out of your comfortable life and try to make a connection with people who are different on some very deep levels. My daughter is going to be able make a wide variety of friends and be exposed to all kinds of languages and cultures. It may not be perfect, but its the kind of life I want to offer my child, and hope that it enriches her in ways Heidi and I have had to swim against the current of US culture to provide for ourselves.

Weirdly, I had applied for a new passport for myself and Maeve a few days before I even found the job posting in Dubai. My other one had been expired for a couple years, and early in the summer Maeve and I got passport pics thinking that maybe someday we’d go out of the country. Like to Windsor, Canada. Ha.

Yesterday we met with the realtor who helped us buy our house 4.5 years ago. He brought a pile of market research that was all kind of interesting, but no surprises. We had a conversation the night before about a reasonable listing price, and the realtor actually thought we could do a little better for starters. This was good news for us. I am hoping there are some people out there like us, a couple or family with one kiddo, who want to live in an affordable and stable older neighborhood surrounded by mostly liberal neighbors. Whenever we get the MLS info I will post a link.

It is a little hard to set up a house for sale at this time of year. We’ve got about 10 inches of snow on the ground right now.

Well, there are some, even for the most global-minded of people we know.

• One: A big one, maybe more for myself than anyone else. Moving to somewhere like Dubai will definitely reduce the sting of having to leave so many good friends, a good job, and of course our families behind. I anticipate being preoccupied enough with the adjustment to our new life that I won’t get to wallow. Of course, these kinds of adjustments often end up being protracted any way you slice it. Even after only two years teaching English in Japan, it probably took me at least another 18 months back in the US before I got my head around that experience. I made some big, dumb choices in the fog of repatriation. I learned to give myself more time.
• Two: We were slowly outgrowing the house in Kalamazoo. I am so sick of having the office be my bedroom. I want project space for crafts. Maybe I won’t exactly get that in Dubai, but if/when we return, I can add that to my list of priorities for the next living space.
• Three: It is a great character-building experience to find out what you can and can not live without from your previous life. The answer is usually that you can live without a LOT of it, but being a sort of typical American, I’m sure I’ll be filling the void with odds and ends we pick up there. Don’t ask about my giant tub of stationery I collected in Japan 12 years ago and still drag around.
• Four: The employee benefits alone make it worth it. They are what we should have in the US.
• Five: A simple one. Moving somewhere like Dubai should be FUN. Maybe not always, but for sure we will do some cool new things we couldn’t do here, like ride camels in the desert. Don’t talk to me about the crazy nightclubs, indoor skiing or refrigerated beaches–I don’t care about that ridiculous high-roller lifestyle over there.

For a situation like this, it’s really nice to resign at an employer where a global perspective, exchange students from the far corners, and international-themed activities are just daily features of the work. Many people had nice personal stories to share of their own travels, an aunt who taught abroad with the Department of Defense for over 40 years, the places they hoped to see in the Middle East eventually. They were really understanding and mostly excited for us. I am anticipating a lot of justifying and defense with certain other groups in my life.

I spent about an hour doing just that at the storage unit place the other day, talking to a woman who was “mortified” of the Middle East and never wanted to pick up and move so far away, etc. etc. Rodney pointed out that that may be why she manages a storage unit place.

I did not cry, except alone in my office a little bit when writing a mass email to the people I see less frequently. I’m really hoping they decide to take me out for lunch instead of having some farewell with speeches and whatnot. Or like in Chicago, cake and pop. Always cake and pop, never cake and tea/coffee, or even just water.

I’m currently vacillating between “Yes we can manage dealing with all of our possessions in the eight weeks before we leave” and “We will never get this stuff under control.” Like before I got the job offer, I continue to go to sleep decently at night and then wake up around 4am and obsess until Maeve crawls in the bed. I do good thinking then but never, ever get up to write any of it down and forget my brilliant plans by daybreak.

We meet with the realtor on Thursday morning. A will is in the works (should have done that ages ago). Tonight, maybe I organize Maeve’s old clothes.

Got a kind of grubby storage unit yesterday. We don’t want to burden our families with our junk. But some things we just have to keep. KitchenAid mixer, canning gear, homebrewing gear, bicycles, craft supplies that don’t get used much (hardwood needlepoint stand anyone? six-drawer, quarter-sawn oak card catalog from the 19th century, full of beads, rubber stamps, etc?), all of Rodney’s role-playing “archives.” There will be a major, major purge in the weeks to come though, probably 75% of what we own. We only have a tiny 2br house and not that much stuff, but it’s time. Maybe this will help down the line with taxes if we end up having to donate it all. December and January are probably the least desirable months for a garage sale in Michigan.

Tomorrow, I submit my resignation at work. In the past I cried. I hope I can hold it together with this one. I don’t like leaving good jobs. I’m also in the middle of a temp position elsewhere on campus that I am going to have to back out of. I hate bailing on things I have agreed to, but I think they’ll be OK. I still haven’t gotten all the way trained to do what I’m supposed to be doing and have been finishing up the work of their student employee each day.

I’m also calling a realtor tomorrow, the same one who helped us buy the house a little less than 4.5 years ago.

And, I made an appointment to have the last of my major dental overhaul completed. Two crowns, some replaced fillings, maybe a root canal. Things I would rather do in the US–no dental insurance in Dubai anyway.

We set up this new blog to track our big adventure moving from Kalamazoo (Michigan USA) to somewhere in Dubai (United Arab Emirates). Here’s how this came about:

In mid-October, only a day after finishing his second full marathon, Rodney got laid off from his health care job at one of the two local hospitals. We had suspected this might happen for quite a while, and he was already halfway through the prerequisite classes toward applying to the local Physician’s Assistant program. Even when you suspect it, it’s still a blow–and why do these things always happen right before the holidays?? He spent that week with post-marathon pains and the bug everyone else seemed to have (maybe H1N1, who knows), and I spent the week driving and crying. Maeve was still in the dark.

The next week it was time to pull ourselves up by the midwestern bootstraps, so we did, task number one being looking for a job that would get this family some benefits. Both of us had to apply–my current job is part-time, and although it’s wonderful there is no hope of it becoming full-time. I am well aware that locally the opportunities in my field are scarce; I already turned down a full-time position at the other academic institution over the summer, and the local government had essentially just shuttered their own archives program. This means leaving the area–or trying to wait it out, who knows how long, which both of us agreed just wasn’t a good idea. Even with the COBRA subsidies (something like 65% for six months) it was still hundreds of dollars to continue basic family coverage. That on top of a mortgage, at least one car that needs replacement soon, my ever-lingering student loan debt, and various other expenses, would not be squeezed out of a part-time paycheck and would quickly dry up the savings we’d worked so hard to build.

The first position I applied for was a university reference/instruction position in Morocco that I’d heard about through my graduate school listserve. I wasn’t sure we could make it as a family there, in the sense that if we had any expenses back home (like continuing to pay for a house we couldn’t sell) we would not be able to afford it. It still sounded kind of cool though. I really hadn’t expected international opportunities to come up for me at all, especially the kind that don’t require a second or third language. Then I remembered that the Society of American Archivists has a new-ish job bank that I had been shilling like crazy in my role as District 5 Membership Rep/Key Contact for Michigan. I signed on, and the first thing that looked relevant was again international, in Dubai of all places. I filled out their form and moved on.

Rodney applied left and right, to VA hospitals, small town hospitals in Kentucky, Arizona, Washington State, South Carolina, everywhere. He began working with a head hunter in Ireland that places people in Saudi Arabia. At this time of the year we really didn’t expect to hear much–and in fact, after more than 6 weeks of applying, he still hasn’t had any response, other than a few acknowledgements and one or two places telling him their position had already been filled. This is exactly the kind of silence and delay that really crushes one’s spirit, making me think more and more that not waiting for him to find work before I got proactive was the right choice no matter how much I like my current job and comfortable life here in my home town.

Surprisingly, I heard from the university in Dubai within a week of the application. They had short-listed me for their position of University Archivist, and wanted me to do a video-conference interview in a few days. OK, why not? I had no idea how things worked there. Maybe they video-interviewed 300 people before deciding who to bring in for on-site follow-ups. Maybe they really did like me. I had felt like my qualifications were a pretty good match for the job. I got up at 5am one weekday and went down to a court deposition place in the basement of an old apartment building downtown. They had a conference suite set up. I’d read online that for a video interview, you definitely want to dress professionally from head to toe even though you’d most likely be sitting through the whole thing, and this was good advice–when I walked into the suite, the people in Dubai had already dialed in to test the connection. They saw it all, as it were. The video interview itself went well enough. Their interview team was split between two campuses, so I had to follow along with six or seven people on two screens. One thing that is hard to adjust to is missing the nuances of facial expressions. Sometimes you can get a sense of how you’re being received that way, and those two little screens at the opposite end of a long conference table made it very hard to do. I felt like most of my answers were good enough, maybe one or two were great, and one I could have done much better on (the one about working with diverse groups–an essential feature of this job). But for a 7am video thing, with all of them on two little screens and all their questions crammed into a 50 minute session, I left feeling OK about it.

Rodney is always ready to throw his possessions into an internal-frame backpack at moment’s notice and move anywhere in the world. He was quite hopeful this would work out. His family knows how much he likes to travel, and their own sort of international past makes them more open-minded about these things in some ways. Mine, we can be honest, are more naive and not so excited about the idea. But they know me and my strong will–their opinions haven’t ever slowed me down.

Regarding Maeve, working in Dubai provides a lot of really great opportunities for kids. An old friend who just returned from three years there assures me it’s a great place for families and kids. She’d be eligible for private school tuition once she turns five, and the salary will probably afford some kind of preschool and/or childcare until then. Rodney will be able to find a job there much more easily than in Michigan, and once he works, we may even be able to hire a nanny. My own job includes 40 paid leave days (yes, 8 WEEKS) as well as 15 paid sick days, which I think will work out to plenty of flexible time to be with her and go home for a month or more every year. While I do still have to adjust to the full-time life a bit sooner than I’d wanted to, this is a million times better than doing it in the American system where there is barely enough time to be away for illness or breaks when needed. So far my future colleagues seem very understanding about family concerns, having moved there with their own families as well.

Anyway, within a week the university got back in touch and asked if I was interested in proceeding to the next step. If so, I was welcome to submit any questions about work or life there that hadn’t been answered in the video interview. I said yes, and sent a ton of questions. They contacted all of my references, and two of them even sent me the answers they provided (such generous and kind people–I am very lucky). I was expecting to hear an offer (or not) by December 5, since they would be away for national holidays for a while. But since the references came back quickly, they were able to send their offer before the holidays.

It was a good one, but I figure since I’m going on my fourth professional position in the field, why not try to negotiate for a little bit more. I did, and as of this morning they came back with an acceptable amount somewhere between the initial offer and my proposed increase.

HOLY CRAP, WE ARE MOVING TO DUBAI.

Like, where Michael Jackson went to hide out from all the bad press. The Vegas of the Middle East. All those superficial stereotypes–oil billionaires, development of the insanely unsustainable variety, indoor ski resorts, air conditioned beaches, gender segregation (somewhat less strict than the rest of the Muslim world, but still), a huge huge gap between the haves and have-nots, and yes, Arabs. It will be great to learn so much more about how that part of the world works. There is nothing better than moving beyond stereotypical information and really getting into a place. Americans so rarely get to do this with our limited vacation time, lack of foreign language skills, or plain old lack of interest.

I have a lot to say about what I think is the really good life we’re giving up here in Kalamazoo. But for now, let’s focus on what’s to come. We ship out on January 23.