It has been three month since I said good-bye to my colleagues in Saudi Arabia and faraway places like Texas, Louisiana, Michigan, Switzerland, The Netherlands, Germany and Kuwait.
The first weeks were all about getting ourselves newly organized in our penthouse in Cyprus. We had to unpack 900 Kg of our personal belongings which had been sent by air from Al-Khobar. It was challenging to fit all this in an already full apartment, but with all our packing and unpacking experience, it did take us only a few weeks to complete that task. Now our apartment has a real homely feeling.
When I quit my job I was leaving my comfort zone, but it wasn’t a daunting process as I was expecting. To the contrary, I felt a big sense of new freedom, being able to fully control my own time and arrange everything myself without any interference.
Initially Francien and I had this vacation feeling, being away from work for a few weeks, not worrying what was going on in Al-Khobar. However, this feeling subsided after 4 -6 weeks.
Between our travels to Germany and Holland where we reconnected with old friends and family, we socialized in Paphos to establish an active social lifestyle. This will take time to find people with similar ‘expatriate’ interests. There is an active but small expatriate community in and around Paphos, but we have made an excellent start!
At the same time we avoid the temptation to remain within that bubble and try to meet the locals. The fact that we will soon be moving to Malaysia for a longer period of time does not help this process!
With all that, managing our apartment in Berlin, building this blog and preparing our coming ocean trip kept me very busy to an extend that the weekend has been truly a time for some relaxation as much as it was when I was still working. Indeed I did not have the time yet to read a book! This activity level is certainly something we want to maintain going forward.
Yes, Frank merging into Francien’s household is a big change for both of us, something which is working out and which we both are still working on.
I do not miss work as I managed to successfully complete my assignment in Saudi Arabia and are proud of my achievements. It was a timely conclusion off a great career!
Francien does miss her part-time job at the Dhahran International School, in particular the interaction with the children and colleagues.
Moreover, we both miss the exciting events, stories and incidents in and outside of work in Saudi Arabia;
no drama about the drivers coming late, no issues within the compounds with the housing, no project milestone celebrations at work, no fascinating tales about travels inside and outside the Kingdom, no waiting at the shops because of the prayer time closures, no two hours waiting at immigration on the Bahrain causeway, no horror stories about the unsafe driving conditions on the Jubail highway, no more conversations held inside a small conference room refurbished as cafeteria during the Ramadan.
Obviously we miss the people we worked with and had so much fun with playing volleyball, BBQ at Sunrise compound, running half marathons, attending parties and having many dinners together with.
There was always a story to tell!
Francien and I are really enjoying our new lifestyle; with few datelines forced onto us our life has become more relaxed.
It has been three month since I said good-bye to my colleagues in Saudi Arabia and faraway places like Texas, Louisiana, Michigan, Switzerland, The Netherlands, Germany and Kuwait.
The first weeks were all about getting ourselves newly organized in our penthouse in Cyprus. We had to unpack 900 Kg of our personal belongings which had been sent by air from Al-Khobar. It was challenging to fit all this in an already full apartment, but with all our packing and unpacking experience, it did take us only a few weeks to complete that task. Now our apartment has a real homely feeling.
When I quit my job I was leaving my comfort zone, but it wasn’t a daunting process as I was expecting. To the contrary, I felt a big sense of new freedom, being able to fully control my own time and arrange everything myself without any interference.
Initially Francien and I had this vacation feeling, being away from work for a few weeks, not worrying what was going on in Al-Khobar. However, this feeling subsided after 4 -6 weeks.
Between our travels to Germany and Holland where we reconnected with old friends and family, we socialized in Paphos to establish an active social lifestyle. This will take time to find people with similar ‘expatriate’ interests. There is an active but small expatriate community in and around Paphos, but we have made an excellent start!
At the same time we avoid the temptation to remain within that bubble and try to meet the locals. The fact that we will soon be moving to Malaysia for a longer period of time does not help this process!
With all that, managing our apartment in Berlin, building this blog and preparing our coming ocean trip kept me very busy to an extend that the weekend has been truly a time for some relaxation as much as it was when I was still working. Indeed I did not have the time yet to read a book! This activity level is certainly something we want to maintain going forward.
Yes, Frank merging into Francien’s household is a big change for both of us, something which is working out and which we both are still working on.
I do not miss work as I managed to successfully complete my assignment in Saudi Arabia and are proud of my achievements. It was a timely conclusion off a great career!
Francien does miss her part-time job at the Dhahran International School, in particular the interaction with the children and colleagues.
Moreover, we both miss the exciting events, stories and incidents in and outside of work in Saudi Arabia;
no drama about the drivers coming late, no issues within the compounds with the housing, no project milestone celebrations at work, no fascinating tales about travels inside and outside the Kingdom, no waiting at the shops because of the prayer time closures, no two hours waiting at immigration on the Bahrain causeway, no horror stories about the unsafe driving conditions on the Jubail highway, no more conversations held inside a small conference room refurbished as cafeteria during the Ramadan.
Obviously we miss the people we worked with and had so much fun with playing volleyball, BBQ at Sunrise compound, running half marathons, attending parties and having many dinners together with.
There was always a story to tell!
Francien and I are really enjoying our new lifestyle; with few datelines forced onto us our life has become more relaxed.