A New Chapter: Bangkok Bound

The only thing certain in life is change.

When we first found out we were moving to Shanghai, I was terrified. When we arrived in Shanghai, I was terrified. Our first few months of living in Shanghai, I was terrified. But, as time went on and we settled into our new lives, I found myself getting used to our new lifestyle. Actually, I found that I really liked living abroad. Most of my fears went away and we all settled comfortably into life abroad. 

That being said, living an expat life usually comes with an end date. You agree to a certain amount of time and understand that you need to make the most of it because before you know it, you will be packing your things to move back home. Our initial assignment in Shanghai was set to end, well…now. It was a three-year gig. However, we liked it so much that when we were given an opportunity to extend another two years, we jumped at the chance. Not only would it let us live our newly adapted expat lifestyle longer, but it would also allow our 16-year-old, Elijah to graduate from an international high school, which we agreed was a huge opportunity. 

So, we all happily resigned ourselves to the fact that we would be in Shanghai until 2020. Silly us. We should have known not to get too comfortable. Along came a work opportunity for my husband Brett and, BAM, we were told to pack up our things and move to Bangkok.

 Whoah, Nelly! Ok, that’s a curveball, but if living abroad has taught us anything, it’s that we are so blessed and always need to be adaptable. So, how long do we have to pack up, move to a new country, enroll the boys in a new international school, find a house, transport our dog, and say goodbye? Let’s say two months, but only one month of hands-on time to pull everything together. Because, why not? Might as well just rip off the Band-Aid, right?

As you can imagine, it’s been a bit of a roller coaster. Another international move makes a move across town look like a cake walk. But things are coming together. We are all wrapping our heads around what our “new normal” may look like, and although I am back to being a bit terrified about our new home base, I now know I can do it. Hey, if we picked up our lives and moved to China of all places, we can certainly make a move to Thailand (at least this has been my mantra lately). 🙂

So, stay tuned for our new chapter. We will have a lot of twists and turns over the next few months. I’m sure it will be entertaining and I hope you won’t mind what is normally a little bit of crazy turning into a whole lot of crazy! 

So, here’s to another new adventure! 

The Burin Bunch 

is 

Bangkok Bound! 

(say that 5 times fast) 😉