Outbound....

Well, the paperwork's been in the pipeline for about a month now, and it's now down to the last two signatures (one of which is mine, the other being management's). Early last month, one of the seniors posed the question along the lines of "Anyone interested in working in Amsterdam for a while?" As the title of this post implies, I was/am interested in the opportunity to work abroad, and decided to follow up on the offer.

A few of the details are still fuzzy, but all of the most salient issues are known. The first and foremost one is timing -- April, 2008. It's coming soon. Very soon. The bright side is that there's very little to pack. The second key point is duration -- Up to two years. I was originally expecting it to be for just a year, but there seems to have been a bit of miscommunication. One year, or two? It should be confirmed in a day or two. If it's two years, I can adjust my expectations accordingly. The third issue, salary, wasn't revealed to me until a few days ago which is why I have been reluctant to commit until now. This was really the last piece of information that I needed to know before committing to the relocation. Exact numbers aside (don't really want to put that out in public) it will be enough to live reasonably. Roof over my head. Internet access. Medical insurance. Food. Drink. Nothing really extravagant, but enough to get by.

As for the Why of the matter, I'm not trying to leave or escape anything here. I see great opportunity for both personal and professional development, but would very much like to return. Presently, I'm at a point in my life in which I am effectively unburdened -- not much by way of posessions to move, no dependents to take care of, and no girlfriend to break up or stay in touch with. The timing simply couldn't be better. I can't think of any really compelling reasons against it, though I'm sure that a few will crop up in hindsight.

In any case, don't consider this a goodbye. I certainly don't, and I do intend to keep in touch. At the very least, I'll be doing some more active blogging or facebooking or flickr'ing in the future, so stay tuned for updates :)