We Were Asked To Extend Our Assignment In China

May 26, 2008

Not completely unexpected, I was asked today if we could extend our international assignment till the end of 2008.

With only 4 weeks left, we are starting to look forward to everything that is going to happen when we get back. We can finally start to consolidate our stuff and find a place to settle down. It will be nice not to have to live out of a couple suitcases when we get back. That said we are really enjoying our time here in China. We have experienced so much in just the first 6 months of our marriage including visiting Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, and several spots in China.

If we were to stick around for another six months we have a number of things to figure out:

Finances - We need to sort out if it makes financial sense for us to stick around. There are a lot of financial implications if we stay vs going home. Tax situation changes, my wife won't be able to contribute to a 401k in 2008, etc.

Wife's Career - my wife won't be able to slide back into a teaching position at the beginning of the school year. This could potentially be an income loss up until the beginning of the following school year and make it more challenging to find the type of position she is looking for.

Rental Properties - We need to rerent both rental properties. We were going to be back in the US in time to turn around and rerent both of our rental properties . We need to figure out a plan on how we get this done if we are not going home.

Petcare - We have a pet that we have made arrangements to have taken care of while we are gone up until June, but after that we are going to need to make new arrangements.

Spending Time With Family - We are both pretty close to our families and had planned to spend time with them when we get back. If we stay we need to address this.

Life Planning - Even though we are still currently thinking a lot about our long term plans, we need to figure out if and how this fits in the big picture. If this does not move us towards our long term goals then why would we do it?

Guess my wife and I have a lot of stuff to talk about tonight.

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Comments (2)

Hey 2million--how did the conversation go? I think people should take advantage of situations like the one you're in right now, but I'm also in favor of leaving the table while you're still ahead. Sounds like you've had a great time, and you might want to walk away happy. Maybe make a plan to do this again?

Posted by Starving Artist | May 27, 2008 3:58 PM

Looks like we are going to stick around for awhile longer.

Posted by 2million | May 30, 2008 8:29 AM