Let me also say that this is kind of my journal for my time here. It’s a way for me to write my thoughts and experiences, which I think will be therapeutic for me. I am a woman, so expect me to get emotional from time to time. :) I also think it will be an awesome way to connect with many of my loved ones, but it will not replace the more personal Skyping, telephone conversations, and texts, so let’s also keep up with those people! Furthermore, you all know me and know how detailed I am. So when I commit to doing a blog, I will likely try to include EVERYTHING, so I apologize in advance for my long posts. Read, skim and skip what you wish! See why Facebook just wasn’t enough? J
I will start with the why and how we got to this point:
We started talking about the possibility of moving to Singapore in February 2012 (hence the back date of this post), when I was 7 1/2 months pregnant with little Adriana. I remember, it was the day before we left for my baby shower in Pennsylvania when Mark came home from work. Prior to that there were talks of Shanghai, China and even before we were married, I knew there was a possibility of an international move for Mark’s career. So, WHY exactly did we move to Singapore? Mark works for Illinois Tool Works (ITW), a company based out of Chicago. ITW is a large multinational corporation with operations and customers in over 40 countries. ITW has several areas of business including welding, food equipment, automotive components and more. Mark started with an ITW business, Hobart Brothers, in Troy, Ohio as an engineer upon his graduation from UD in 2005. He didn’t stay in his engineering position long and soon found himself going back to school for his MBA while working his way up the ladder at Hobart. In his most recent position, he was the General Manager for two business units at Hobart Brothers, solid wire and stick electrode. Since ITW is a global company, the company has interest in developing employees by exposing them not only to their different areas of business, but also to the different cultures where they do business. So, Mark has been assigned to a position as Business Unit Manager for ITW Welding at their Singapore office. The position includes sales, which is a new area for Mark, but is still in their welding business, which he is very familiar with. ITW’s plans for Mark are to expose him to the business and sales culture of Southeast Asia and then bring him back to the US in 2-3 years, what that entails is still undetermined. Maybe, their food equipment group in Texas?!?! ;) That would make many family members, VERY happy. We really do not know where it will be next for us, only that it will be back in the good ole US of A!
So, while we are here in Singapore, Mark will be based out of Singapore, but traveling throughout Southeast Asia to sell ITW Welding products to many customers primarily those who need welding supplies for the construction of big oil rigs out in the ocean. Yes, my initial thought was, sooooo you are going to move me and our daughter across the world to Singapore, and then leave us? LOL!! I am actually very excited for this aspect, as many of the trips will be short and once Mark has his first go around, checks it out for safety and cleanliness, Adriana and I will get to go along for the ride!!! Other countries include Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, Taiwan, South Korea, Thailand and Vietnam. We would like to vacation in Australia, Bali, China and Japan. Why not see this side of the world why we’re over here? It’s going to be quite the adventure and we hope to get you pictures and updates from each.
Many have asked, what is going on with my career through all of this. Let me tell you, this was a hard decision for me, as you all know how much I have poured myself into pharmacy. I haven’t lost my commitment to it and I do miss it very much already, but I just could not look past the once in a lifetime opportunity God has given us. I cannot even comprehend what we will learn and how it will change our lives and views of the world forever. It also goes without saying, this is a GOOD career opportunity for Mark. It is also a very good time family wise, considering Adriana is not of school age yet and we aren’t too old and set in our ways not to try new things. So, yes, I obviously had to quit my job at the VA, a job I loved! But while here in Singapore I do have to keep myself up-to-date not only for my continuing education but for my wellbeing when I rejoin the workforce, whenever that may be. It could be here in Singapore, as I do plan on pursing some leads on consulting positions that I can do online for a US company. I also do wish to get board certified and was pleasantly surprised to discover that there is an exam site here in Singapore, so I don’t have to fly home and take the exam with a mega time zone change! Many people study for this exam for a year, so it will definitely keep me busy and allow me to keep up with my continuing education requirements. I also already have a contact to a faculty member at one of the schools of pharmacy here in Singapore, which I am super excited about. Even if I can’t get a position there, it will still be super, nerdy awesome to see their school of pharmacy and maybe even do one guest lecture or a talk on US pharmacy. As for my actual employment here in Singapore, it is an option but a hard one. ITW would pay for me to get my pharmacy license here, however once I got it, I would likely have some issues getting hired. Only because in Singapore, they will favor a native Singaporean, over a permanent resident, over a temporary resident (which is what I am). So I may do all of that work to get licensed and never get hired. So as it stands now, I will take the first six months or so to get settled and when we come home for a visit at Christmas I may interview for an online position if available. If that doesn’t work out at the least I will do my continuing education work and sit for my board certification exam. And lets face it, all along I will be doing my most important job of all…being a Wife to Mark and a Mommy to Adriana Marie!
Another thing we obviously considered before we decided to move: Is this place called Singapore a safe place to be? Is it especially safe for a little baby girl? With some reading, we found out, Singapore is one of the safest cities in the world. It is actually safer than most US cities. Here is some info I found online when reading up on it:
"The crime rate in Singapore is one of the lowest in the world. There are reports of petty crime such as pickpocketing and street theft which occurs at airports, tourist destinations, hotels and on public transport. Incidents of violent crime are rare in Singapore. In the Corruption Perceptions Index 2010, Singapore was ranked 1stout of 178 countries for corruption (least corrupt countries are at the top of the list)."
With this safety comes a more strict government, so from what I have read some Americans feel “restricted” here. Big laws include, it is illegal to own a gun for personal use and bringing illegal drugs into the country is punishable by the death penalty. Some offenses are also punishable by caning!!! A weird law I have told many of you about already, is it is illegal to chew gum here! I guess years ago someone put a piece of gum over one of the subway system sensors and shut the whole thing down, so the government banned chewing gum. The law says you can chew gum only for personal consumption, so I guess we can chew it in our apartment, but you can’t find it anywhere in the stores! So we have a stock of it here from Sam’s Club, but will only chew it at our apartment. A few other laws I like are, it’s illegal to spit on the ground and its illegal to leave your dog’s poo behind. I guess if you break these rules you get a pretty hefty fine, so people follow them. This and many other laws, make for a very clean city. J I am sure there are many other laws I will learn about along the way I can update you on. Some other stuff I looked into was natural disasters. This is a quote I read from National Environment Agency, Singapore: "Our geographical position and the relatively shallow waters of the Straits of Malacca and South China Sea make it highly unlikely that we will be affected by a tsunami cause by an earthquake in the region. We are also located away from the tropical cyclone belt and earthquake epicentres which makes us at a low risk of being affected by these natural calamities."
Last but not least and the hardest decision of all was to leave our loved ones. We knew this would be difficult and it has been. To tell you the truth, I don’t even really think it has hit me yet. I said good bye to many people, some I may never see again and I didn’t cry more than a few times so far. That tells me I am being typical Emily and not processing some of this yet, but I know when I do, many of you will be there on the other side of a Skype, e-mail or phone call! That is also one of the things I considered when making the decision to make this move. It really is amazing how we all can keep in touch now, even instantly on the other side of the world. If this was during a time when I had to hand write a letter for snail mail to keep in touch and pay outrageous money to call home, I don’t think I could have done it. But between our Magic Jack phone, Skype, e-mail, and Facebook, I was much more comfortable with the move. Plus, we get to fly home for Christmas once a year, paid for by ITW. Furthermore, if you think about it, 2-3 years is not very long at all. It’s crazy to think, Mark and I will already be married for 4 years in September. Crazy, huh? Time flies! We will be back home before you know it! So, I am going to soak up as much Singapore rays as I can, try to enjoy each and every moment and leave my worrying days behind. It will all work out, God has us, and has a plan and purpose for us being in Singapore. Even for little Adriana, who knows, she may break some little boy’s heart over here, haha! Just playing, Mark. I can see his face turning red now! J J J
So it was looking like we were gonna move to Singapore, but I wasn’t completely 100% sure yet. I had to deliver our 1st baby, get settled into motherhood and take a trip there to check it out before I would fully commit.
More on that trip in the next post.....
