But, one of the major roadblocks has finally been moved.
The internet is a large place, and you never know who could be reading. So I'll say, without directing my frustrations anywhere in particular, that the relevant parties have finally decided to submit our visas for processing a mere 5 weeks after they received our completed paperwork.
This gives us our best chance yet of having them approved. Generally it's hard to get visa approval when they haven't received the applications.
Sooooo we are looking at maybe 10-14 days to get the visas, then we can actually work out a start date and get a move on packing up and moving out.
On a brighter note, on the Monday just gone we spent a whole day at Dan's work having a cultural training day. It was brilliant! Murali, the bloke running it, has experience as an organisational psychologist and university lecturer among other things, and spends most of his time coaching executives and other corporate contracts like this one. We were really lucky to be able to spend the day with just us and him, doing some psychological testing and covering all sorts of topics. Here are some from the itinerary he provided:
- Understanding the concept of culture, recognising how acculturation has impacted and influenced and moving beyond those influences
- Differences between home and host location cultural values and the implication of these differences
- Values and Stereotypes
- Business value contrasts based on cultural theorist Fons Trompenaars’ dimensions of culture
- Managing the Transition
- An examination of the psychology of transition and its impact on the assignee and their family
- Understanding culture shock and the adjustment process
He also talked about the impact on the rest of the family and other people who are staying behind. We definitely haven't forgotten about that, but it's hard to know what to say... I feel guilty for (let's face it - the only real issue) taking Niamh away from everyone. I know how lucky we are that she has so many family members who care about her here, and we really don't want to break those bonds. But, as Dan said on Monday when Murali asked him why he wanted to go to PNG, we don't want to look back at age 85 and say that we know Adelaide back to front but have never experienced anything else. Don't get me wrong, some people aren't nomads, and love having the stability of living in one place. But I think for us it would seem like a box we never ticked if we stayed here. We plan to come back. Adelaide is our home and we love it here, but we just want to get out and see the world!
As always, I hope for some more concrete information at the next update!
Hope you're all well - drop us a line :)
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