I was going to write another recap of my adventures in the UK during my second year here. I got out my ‘diary’ for the year, and realised that with everything that happened this year, I could easily write a page, or more, for every month. That seemed a bit over the top for a note though, so I decided to do something less detailed. Maybe I will go ahead with that blog page that a friend suggested so I don’t lose the opportunity to share everything that’s happened.
The year started with the festivities and events of my daughter’s wedding. What an incredible day, and while I didn’t actually do much of the planning and preparations – mostly just moral support and a bit of financing – it was such a great time for the entire family. In April I spent a very memorable and moving Easter weekend in London, experiencing the journey to Easter at St. Paul’s Cathedral. The other big family event in the spring was my step-daughter’s graduation from UMass with her nursing degree. So, the beginning of the year had a bit of business travel and a lot of family time.
The rest of the year went by in a blur of increasingly intense business travel. My business bought two new companies to create our batteries group, and I was deeply involved in the pre-closing and integration activities on the ‘people’ side. This gave me the opportunity to spend most ofthe summer in China working, and taking a bit of time to explore HongZhou, Beijing and Shanghai. The people, the food, the country are so very different than the west that it was truly an incredible learning experience. I started traveling to China in January, but the intense part was spending up to 2 weekseach month from May until September. We closed the transaction and had a traditional Chinese opening ceremony in October – it reminded me so much of a wedding with all of the different activities and celebrations associated with starting up our new business.
While going back and forth to China, my boss and I had a serious discussion of ‘what’s next for Jeannine?’ With my expat assignment officially ending in August, it was time to decide whether I would return to the US, or whether I would stay on and ‘localise’ (meaning that I’d be‘permanently’ based in the UK without the bells and whistles of the expat package). After a lot of praying and consideration of the broader family impact, I decided that I am really enjoying the work I’m doing in the mergers and acquisition space. So, I agreed to stay on, with the caveat that I needed to move closer to London so that my husband could finally move over and join me. In the middle of increasing trips to China, I loaded up my Prius and headed south to a small market town called Hitchin which lies strategically placed between Royston (where I would be spending some of my time) and London (where it turns out I spend most of my working time now). My husband started the process with his company of officially relocating to the UK and joining their operation here.
As if the business travel and move weren’t enough, my business unit boss decided to buy another company. We hadn’t really finished the purchase of the 2nd one, and we were on to a 3rd.This one is located in Quebec and Germany (with several other employees in Asia). So, in July I made my first trip to the south shore of Montreal. The negotiations process dragged on for a bit, and the real work didn’t start until November, but this meant the concept of multi-tasking became a reality in my work – sometimes it worked well, but most of the time I just feel like I’m constantly falling behind.
With the amount of work for the business, plus major changes going on in the HR function at the corporate level (which drove additional travel), there was no way we could take a summer vacation. At this level of activity, no time is a good time to go away for a week, but we decided the end of October would be the ‘safest’ time to go. I chose Majorca for the trip since we’ve never been there, and I remember hearing that it was a very popular destination with British tourists years ago. We hit the jack-pot on this trip since the weather this time of year could have been cold and rainy,but instead was beautifully sunny the whole week. With temperatures in the high 20’s C, it was absolutely perfect. Though we were having some issues in China, and I ended up with a daily wake-up call from my Chinese colleagues, it was a very relaxing week.
The fall involved travel, travel and more travel, witha 4-day visit over the US Thanksgiving weekend from my son in November. It was really nice to have time with just the two of us, exploring London designers and fancy restaurants, as well as introducing him to the gourmet kitchen in the new house. We had a good laugh as he was leaving over the fact that as he headed back to Dallas, I was getting on a plane for China. I told him that I really didn’t want to go, and he asked whether I ever thought in my life that I would be complaining about going to China – no, but then, I never thought I’d actually go there to begin with. . .
We were finally able to sell the house in New Jersey in October, and this solidified the fact that we were moving on to a new life in the UK. Originally, we weren’t going to sell the house until much later, but my company gave us a little help to do it sooner. While this was good from a‘getting going’ perspective it changed our plans for Christmas and New Year’s week when I was scheduled to return to the US for two weeks. Rather than spend those two weeks preparing for a move in our own house, we ended up spending them in various hotels as we travelled around the US saying our ‘good-byes.’ We had a few days in Atlanta, Christmas in Houston and New Year’s in the Boston area, before I returned to the UK, and he joined me a week later.
January kicked off the new calendar year with my husband over, and my travel continuing at a high rate of 3 weeks out of 4. If my first year in the UK was all about exploring the country, this past year has been all about business travel. I hope that it starts to slow down a bit so that we can take advantage of being so close to the continent. Though we are planning long weekend trips over the ‘bank holiday’ weekends, it would be nice to have a bit more time to get out and see the sites in England. Perhaps that will come, but for now, the adventure continues.