Excited About Continuing Family Internationalization

(Please, do read the previous post, the beginning is boring, but the last part is not that bad ;-)

And now I've got news for you!

My brother just confirmed his acceptance of a job offer to work in Auckland, New Zealand and I'm so excited about it! I mean, I thought it would be interesting to visit him in China, but I do have a very dear friend in New Zealand and I've always wanted to go there, but I figured I'd never be able to afford it, but now I have extra motivation and will most certainly visit!!

The thing is, my brother was happy at his job (he's a forest engineer who was basically teaching the Chinese how to plan eucalyptus, working for a Swedish paper company which is trying to open a paper factory in China), but he doesn't really like living in China. He doesn't like dealing with the people, particularly with the unsurmountable cultural differences that make his work there extremely hard, he doesn't like the language, and he can't stand the food. He and his wife also (who is the only one studying mandarin) lived in a comparatively remote region, in the city of Beihai, which has approximately twenty foreigners in all.

The main reason to move, though, is this: they're planning to have a baby!!!

And my sister-in-law is terrified of the incipient medical care there. They would most probably have to go to Hong Kong to have the baby, which would be extremely complicated. So, SIL has been looking for jobs in my brother's area for months. And he's been sending applications to various places. So two weeks ago he got in touch with us via Skype and said he wanted to talk to my parents. We were able to call him and they talked for a long time, that's when he first told us about the new job prospect. My parents were a bit taken aback, but this was NOTHING compared to how my mom totally despaired when she heard about the China job back in 2006 (and I had to tell her then at my brother's request).

Anyway... they're thrilled, although financially it won't be as advantageous for them, but they're excited about living in a "First World" country, and one that they visited six months ago and absolutely loved. And I can't wait to (1) have another nephew or (that would be heavenly!) niece -- the first related to me, not only to my sons; (2) visit New Zealand!!!!

P.S. and in NZ they'll be able to check this blog since they cannot open it in China.