Our surprise Sydney journey

[Tntaglia]

It's Monday morning, and the Oz team that I'll be working with is arriving at our offices in less than 2 hours. I'm nervous about meeting them, but it's also super awesome to spend the week focused on what will hopefully be my new job soon.

 

The job is still not final in that the new company we're creating does not exist yet (my company hasn't signed the paperwork yet to make everything official). It was supposed to happen last week but didn't, now hopefully this week. I'm not sure what the holdup is, I have some indications (and it has absolutely nothing to do with me, luckily!) but I just want them to sort it out now and get the ball rolling!

 

So the week is about the team from their side coming here to get some IP transfer and meet people and discuss etc. A whole week of workshops. First time I've been this happy about a whole week filled with meetings!
 

In other news, hubby's laptop was stolen out of his car last week. Ugh. Probably jammed, because there was no sign of entry and now the insurance won't pay out. At least it's his work laptop so it's not our damage (and his work won't make him pay for it, thankfully). But yeah, lots of little nudges pointing out that this is a good thing that we're doing. 

[Husky]

And? How did it go with the Oz team?

I have a particular interest in work culture and often wonder how we will fit into the Australian way of working.

[Tntaglia]

My apologies for not checking in sooner! It's been a bit crazy here.

 

The week went really well. I feel good about the team, I think we'll get along well and they seem to value my input and skillset, so that's a plus. No real red flags anywhere, including culture-wise - although the "beer trolley" every Friday was a surprise! Is that a common thing, that people basically don't work much on Friday afternoon and socialise a bit more?

 

So we still don't have anything definite (limbo limbo I hate you so) - the legal stuff is still not signed from a company perspective and once it's signed I will only go over once we have a client or two lined up. So at this point it looks like around April 2017 if all works out the way it should. Hopefully I can go for a visit earlier than that to get a feel for the place etc.

[RedPanda]

On 9/13/2016 at 10:35 PM, Tntaglia said:

So we still don't have anything definite (limbo limbo I hate you so) - the legal stuff is still not signed from a company perspective and once it's signed I will only go over once we have a client or two lined up. So at this point it looks like around April 2017 if all works out the way it should. Hopefully I can go for a visit earlier than that to get a feel for the place etc.

 

So...April 2017... that's 7 months away... I hope you are moving on the papers you need from Home Affairs, and the IELTS etc, cause they can take unexpectedly long sometimes. As well as reading up about the Vetassess process and the visa requirements, so that you don't have to hold up the process because of visa related delays. Just a heads-up  

I wish you all the best!  

[Tntaglia]

I have applied for unabridged birth certificates (for the adults, anyway, we have for the kids), and for the unabridged marriage certificate. Have not yet booked Vetassess or IELTS (thinking about doing Pearsons rather anyway) but plan to do both of those by end of September - last time I looked I could get bookings very quickly so I'm not too worried about the timing for those two. 

 

I must admit in my head April 2017 is still at least a year away - how are we already in mid September?!?

[Tntaglia]

Wow that was quick! I just received a confirmation SMS from home affairs that hubby's birth certificate is ready for collection - less than 2 weeks since I applied. 

 

Still no news otherwise on the job front. My boss said again on Friday they expect to sign the joint venture by this week, but I'm not holding my breath.

[Tntaglia]

Since I've started this journal hubby has now done a total turnaround - last night he said that if the job doesn't happen we should talk about going anyway. This is a HUGE shift for him, I think he's really getting excited. Which makes me even more excited - and more frustrated that they won't just sign the papers. Sigh.

[RedPanda]

 Greatstuff!!!

[Tntaglia]

We had an interesting experience this weekend. Driving in the inner city (Johannesburg), I was telling my husband about things I've read here on the forums, about differences between SA and Oz. One of the things I mentioned was that someone said their Uber driver from the airport had his phone in a holder right next to his window, with the window open, and he didn't seem to think there's any risk to the phone. My husband has a similar holder. Not a minute later, a guy comes up to the window and gestures to the back wheel, as if we have a flat. Husband rolls the window down a few cm and the guy makes a grab for the phone. Talk about timing. He didn't get the phone (hubby was really quick) but that obviously lead to some long discussions on Oz. We never considered reporting to the police because we know it won't make any difference, and there's no point because they probably won't even try to catch the guy. But it was a good example of how run of the mill crime has become in SA - it was entirely opportunistic, this guy walked past the car and saw that there's an opportunity for a phone grab, so he took it. Hubby fell for it and nearly lost a phone in the process. 

[Dora]

....meanwhile in Aus...yesterday when I walked back from school dropoff I saw some coins lying on the sidewalk. Thought it was someones lost tuckshop money and just left it there incase they came looking for it.  This morning that same coins are still lying in the same spot. Nobody even touched it.

[Tntaglia]

6 hours ago, Dora said:

....meanwhile in Aus...yesterday when I walked back from school dropoff I saw some coins lying on the sidewalk. Thought it was someones lost tuckshop money and just left it there incase they came looking for it.  This morning that same coins are still lying in the same spot. Nobody even touched it.

 

That is AMAZING. Wow.

[Husky]

Same thing happened to me in Braamfontein a few months ago. Unfortunately I wasn't as quick and petrified at their aggression and what they said to me. I am so looking forward to being able to drive with my window open and not feel nervous every time someone walks close to my car. I want to feel safe and brave and ok with trusting all people, which is my natural style.

Any movement on your side? We're in another limbo stage and I am trying not to stress about other people's ITAs on 190s coming through so quickly and ours not. To be fair, it's only been 3 weeks.... 

Grateful that we have this opportunity.

Edited October 5, 2016 by Husky
Spelling

[Tntaglia]

No news here. It's driving me insane. I guess it's a good thing that it's taken this long because we've had time to assimilate all the info and do research and really get excited - but now that I'm excited I want to start!

[Tntaglia]

Finally, we have news!!! 

 

Just spoke to my boss. The company is finally happy with the contracts and will sign when they are in Australia at the end of the month (unfortunately I'm not invited along ) - so it looks like things are happening! Timing is probably still for mid 2017, in the meantime I'm going to start the application for 189 visa and hopefully get an invite to apply before I lose 10 points because of age in December. My occupation is on the skills list and last time I checked only 24 of max 1000 invites had been issued so I really hope it will be a relatively easy process. Admin-wise there is still some stuff outstanding (reserve bank approval for the new company, registration of the new company etc) but all in all it should be a go.

 

Wow, my heart is racing. I'm super excited.

 

 

[Guest]

Fantastic news all the best going forward. Where are you going to be living?

[Tntaglia]

The job is in Sydney - haven't decided on an area to live in yet. I haven't been to Oz yet but will hopefully travel for work at least once before we actually make the move, to have a chance to see a bit of the city etc. And will ask work to pay for at least one month's accommodation so that we can shop around when we get here.

[Tntaglia]

This whole process is... well, interesting I guess, in the "may you live in interesting times" sense. I hate the emotional roller coaster. With everything going on in SA there is part of me that feels maybe God created this job opportunity in Sydney for us as a way out of the chaos - what an amazing thought. 

 

I had my head in the sand so much the few years, refusing to admit that things are really THAT bad in SA, it will all get better again, it's a great country with awesome people etc etc. And now #sciencemustfall (seriously, google it and watch the youtube video) and Pravin is in trouble and Thuli Madonsela couldn't release her state capture report and I'm grateful for a chance to maybe raise my kids where there will still be a good economy and solid universities in a few years. 

 

And yet, we had a lovely weekend, very social (exhausting for this introvert!) but spending great times with good friends and it's just hard to know that I won't be seeing much of my people a year from now, in all likelihood. 

[RedPanda]

Yup. You will miss your loved ones. (We miss our loved ones. And this is also the #1 reason for people returning). There is no perfect solution: short term comfort + uncertain bad future (we can all guess, but it's not actually certain) vs major short term upheaval + stable future (once again guessing). Everyone who's made this journey is in it for the long run.

And even then, just remember: You are not falling off the face of the earth, you are just moving, far away. Stick it out for 4 years to get your Aussie passport, then if you don't like it, you can change your mind. Simple as that. At that stage you will have insurance should you choose to go back to RSA, and you will have gained life experience, and your children will also have seen more of the world.

Keep courage.  

[joweni]

Yip so right Red Panda- it is all about the big picture and the long term benefits. Even after 11 years in Oz I still have the occasional sad,bad day but then I look at my beautiful grandkids ( 3 of them now) and think how lucky we are. I get to help provide day care for these little people and love the time I spend with them. Very grateful that we took " the road less travelled" even though there have been some huge challenges along the way.

[Tntaglia]

Finally, finally, finally! The joint venture was signed today so the new company that I'll be working for exists (at least legally). This is progress!

 

I also wrote Pearson this week, waiting for results, and our unabridged birth certificates are ready for collection, so all moving in the right direction.

[RedPanda]

Yeah!!!

[Tntaglia]

I just received my Pearson results, scored 90 on all 4. I am very relieved and very happy. It feels like doors are opening everywhere right now which is awesome.

 

On the downside, I told my mom last night about our plans. She did not take it well at all, just pointed out how hard we're making things for them and that it'll be expensive to visit and we should be paying for their flights to keep them in touch with the grandkids. Never mind the fact that they're visiting the US or Europe every year at the moment... Anyway. That wasn't unexpected, it's part of why I hadn't told her before now, but it still wasn't fun. At least my dad called back later and congratulated us on the job opportunity and it was a far more human response.

[WayneAndMel]

Well done @Tntaglia! Those are great results.

 

Unfortunately your mom's response is more common than many of us would like it to be: her reaction itself sounds a lot like my own parents'. 

 

However you're your own person and a great opportunity awaits.

[Tntaglia]

More open doors: Hubby spoke to the senior executive at his job, explained that he'll probably have to resign towards mid 2017 (he is highly, highly valued so we knew this is not a risk). The exec asked whether he knows what he'll be doing and he said he'll find a job flipping burgers, and then the guy said no, they must talk since he has some business interests in Oz so they may be able to offer him something good. This is huge for us, we've worked on the assumption of one salary for at least a while and now it sounds like that may not be the case. God is good.

[Tntaglia]

This week I've actually done a bit of work for my new company - that was fun. I am really bored in my current job and the change of perspective and extra pressure coming from the new job will be great. 

 

I picked up our unabridged birth certificates and marriage certificate from home affairs yesterday, that was fairly painless. I was surprised that the marriage certificate was there - I had received SMSs that the other certificates were there but the turnaround time on the marriage certificate is longer and they hadn't let me know yet. So I was quite surprised when I asked for birth certificates and they brought everything out. So that brings all the documents I have to get together.

 

I have not yet started on Vetassess for my skills assessment, should do that soon. I just need signoff that I can spend the money on my company's account. I am really grateful that I have a company to pay for this, it's quite a bit of money already and we haven't started on actual visa applications or moving costs!

 

Other than that we are fixing up everything at home to get it ready to sell. Redoing 2 bathrooms and rhinoliting the bedrooms (still has a horrible 1960s uneven plaster finish) and painting everything. So the house is a mess, but it will be stunning when done. And then of course just when we love it we'll sell it, hopefully!