Hello my friends. It's been forever since I put anything up on this blog page. Just so much other stuff happening that I haven't gotten around to it.
I had my 60th birthday in February and that meant that I had to go to Delhi for a big Air Force medical exam to check what's going on in the body. They always require a sonagram and that showed a gall stone. The doctors here don't like gall stones as they can be debilitating in flight so I had my gall bladder out by laparascopic surgery on the 9th of March. It's only been two weeks and I feel just fine, able to do anything I want to do. But, I only found out this week when I went back for a follow up check at the Air Force base that any surgery in India grounds you for 6 weeks time. That means that I can go back and get my full fitness report and medical on that date.
In the meantime, the company that I have been working for the last two years decided NOT to renew my contract this time so I have been looking for work again. Now, almost a month after their announcement, I have a verbal offer and should have a signed contract by the end of the day. It's kind of wild to think about but this job was told to me by a friend and when I called them they basically made the offer over the phone about 6 hours after I knew that Airone wasn't renewing my contract. So, since airplanes come and go and I have been in this situation about 6 or 7 times in my life, this qualified as the quickest that I had ever received any kind of offer when I needed it. When you work overseas, they want these signed contracts and it kind of prevents job shopping while you are working for someone. That means that you are only available when you are not under contract, which isn't very much of the time unless you can convince your current employer that you need out of your contract.
I am writing this on March 24 and I will be heading for the USA in a few days. While there I have to get my new visa, do my recurrent training program for the Citation that I will be flying and then still visit my kids and NEW granddaughter, Lucy. Brad and Jessica have wonderfully provided me with my second grandchild, Lucy was born on Feb 18, so missed my birthday by three days. I was hoping. Brad enjoys his career working with HMO type healthcare organizations, while Jess is working with a Pediatric practice in Cleveland, TN, where our family lived for 28 years. I will get out to Thunderbird Academy in Arizona for my high school reunion the first weekend of April and then also get up to Michigan to see my daughter and her husband. Keith continues his studies at the SDA seminary while Shayna is working her profession as an optometrist, enjoying having her chosen career. Since Keith is planning on doing some extensive studying there, they went ahead and bought a fixer upper house.
Karen is getting some beautiful, new dental work done and also recently had one cataract surgery, to be followed by the other one here this week. She is thrilled with her new eyesight, now not needing reading glasses and when her dental work is done, she should have a gorgeous smile. Its great to be able to get this stuff done here without going into huge debt.
Well, I hope you all are doing well. Karen is going to America a couple of weeks after me since her dental work isn't quite done. She says she is not coming back to India since I have been flying so much and she basically is home alone most of the time. The culture shock and no real expat community here for her to socialize with has finally made her choose to be home with family and I cannot blame her one bit.
The company lost it's permission to park at Mumbai airport last July and since that time I haven't been home for more than a couple of days per month, which makes it very tough for all of us. Well, we look forward to seeing all of you and will keep you informed of our progress, mostly on Facebook but also with my Delhi letters email and here on the blogpage. Take care, everyone.
I had my 60th birthday in February and that meant that I had to go to Delhi for a big Air Force medical exam to check what's going on in the body. They always require a sonagram and that showed a gall stone. The doctors here don't like gall stones as they can be debilitating in flight so I had my gall bladder out by laparascopic surgery on the 9th of March. It's only been two weeks and I feel just fine, able to do anything I want to do. But, I only found out this week when I went back for a follow up check at the Air Force base that any surgery in India grounds you for 6 weeks time. That means that I can go back and get my full fitness report and medical on that date.
In the meantime, the company that I have been working for the last two years decided NOT to renew my contract this time so I have been looking for work again. Now, almost a month after their announcement, I have a verbal offer and should have a signed contract by the end of the day. It's kind of wild to think about but this job was told to me by a friend and when I called them they basically made the offer over the phone about 6 hours after I knew that Airone wasn't renewing my contract. So, since airplanes come and go and I have been in this situation about 6 or 7 times in my life, this qualified as the quickest that I had ever received any kind of offer when I needed it. When you work overseas, they want these signed contracts and it kind of prevents job shopping while you are working for someone. That means that you are only available when you are not under contract, which isn't very much of the time unless you can convince your current employer that you need out of your contract.
I am writing this on March 24 and I will be heading for the USA in a few days. While there I have to get my new visa, do my recurrent training program for the Citation that I will be flying and then still visit my kids and NEW granddaughter, Lucy. Brad and Jessica have wonderfully provided me with my second grandchild, Lucy was born on Feb 18, so missed my birthday by three days. I was hoping. Brad enjoys his career working with HMO type healthcare organizations, while Jess is working with a Pediatric practice in Cleveland, TN, where our family lived for 28 years. I will get out to Thunderbird Academy in Arizona for my high school reunion the first weekend of April and then also get up to Michigan to see my daughter and her husband. Keith continues his studies at the SDA seminary while Shayna is working her profession as an optometrist, enjoying having her chosen career. Since Keith is planning on doing some extensive studying there, they went ahead and bought a fixer upper house.
Karen is getting some beautiful, new dental work done and also recently had one cataract surgery, to be followed by the other one here this week. She is thrilled with her new eyesight, now not needing reading glasses and when her dental work is done, she should have a gorgeous smile. Its great to be able to get this stuff done here without going into huge debt.
Well, I hope you all are doing well. Karen is going to America a couple of weeks after me since her dental work isn't quite done. She says she is not coming back to India since I have been flying so much and she basically is home alone most of the time. The culture shock and no real expat community here for her to socialize with has finally made her choose to be home with family and I cannot blame her one bit.
The company lost it's permission to park at Mumbai airport last July and since that time I haven't been home for more than a couple of days per month, which makes it very tough for all of us. Well, we look forward to seeing all of you and will keep you informed of our progress, mostly on Facebook but also with my Delhi letters email and here on the blogpage. Take care, everyone.
No comments:
Post a Comment