OUR JOURNEY? {PART I}

'Why Switzerland?' This is a question I'm often asked. 

'Why, {oh why must you be so Swiss} Switzerland?' This is a question I often ask.

We moved here in July 2009. That's three and a half years. Longer than we had originally planned, shorter than far too long. I am ready to make moves towards Blighty but more of that another time. For now, Switzerland is home. We are really enjoying the life we have here. As much as we miss our family and friends, there are a lot of positives to being here and I, for one, am so thankful that we made this move. It has proved to be a positive step for us in our own journey. We have had to rely on each other like never before. 

Funny that we arrived as a couple and now have two children... almost three. Since July 2009... that's a lot of breeding for three and a half years!

Switzerland sort of just happened to us. I know that you can't just wake up in a different country without any input but we just rode a wave and that's exactly what happened. Here's how...

So. Well, lets see, we were living and working in London. Fantastic. London! Loved it. We have a cosy {tiny} little flat in Greenwich and loved life in the south east. London offers a great lifestyle. It's London. Just walking her streets is enough for me. There is an endless amount of shopping to be done, shows to see, restaurants to eat in. All the loveliness aside, neither of us were very keen on the jobs we were in. I was working in a Postgraduate Medical Deanery, the same sort of work that I had been doing in Belfast. I absolutely loved my job in Belfast. I mean it... I loved going to work. Monday's didn't bother me. Coming back from holiday didn't bother me. Working weekends didn't bother me. I loved it. The same set up in London proved very different. Without going into the why's and wherefores, I hated it. Alex was a totally fed up in his job too. He was in auditing which didn't inspire him much at all.

Greenwich Park, I love you.
We'd both get the Sunday night horrors at the thought of the week ahead and spend the 9-5 longing for the next weekend. I realise this is the case for a lot of people but enough was enough for us. We were engaged and about to get married at the end of the year. The start a new journey and I for one didn't want our story to involve being miserable five days a week. Life's too short, right!? We are all responsibile for our own happiness. We have to make changes and not just dream about them.

Our Greenwich Days {with youth on our side!}
 
So that's what we did. Alex quit his job with three months notice. Three months notice. Those pesky 'three months' were hindering his search. So... three months, that's loads of time to find a new job. Right? Not so... something rather unpredicted happened. The old credit crunch hit. London was out of bounds for Alex getting a new job. Nobody was hiring new staff and everyone was making cuts. Eeeeeshk... so much for 'Life's too short, right!? We are all responsibile for our own happiness. We have to make changes and not just dream about them' With his notice period up and no joy in London job hunting, we got to talking about our options. There weren't many. Alex said he thought going back to Guernsey would be a safe bet as a short term solution. He had trained there, his dad lives there, he has friends there... seemed a good idea. He set up a couple of meeting and, praise be(!), was offered a couple of jobs in one morning. Phew! Sort of. He has a job. It's in Guernsey. He was now in Guernsey and I am in London. I hadn't moved to London for the love of love to start doing long distance all over again. We were about to get married. What a pickle. What to do?

Easy. It wasn't a difficult letter of resignation to write. I pretty much skipped out of work that day knowing my days at the Deanery were numbered. Post wedding, I'd move to Guernsey too, find a temp job of some sorts and we'd figure out the next step together.

To be contnued...

1 comment:

mamaktbug said...

looking forward to more!