Is it time?

Is it time to leave the US for overseas? I've always wanted to live overseas for a year or two but haven't really put in effort into researching the possibilities. My company is headquartered in Germany. When I lived in Houston the company I worked for was based out of India. These last few weeks I'm watching a lot of my friends and coworkers leave for overseas. Could I be next? I mean I'm not opposed. I'm not married I don't have any children and my parents are in pretty good health. At this point in my life I don't even have a significant other. I want out of my job and what a great start it would be in another country! I really need to think and pray on this!

My homeboy left this morning for Dubai. He quit working at my company last year because he said there was more to life than working 18hr days! So, he quit. He chilled, traveled and took a 4 month consulting job in Jamaica. He started to seriously look for a new job about 6 weeks ago and he lands at a company based out of Dubai! He's agreed to stay for a minimum of 18mos. I WILL BE GOING TO VISIT HIM NEXT YEAR! Dubai is on my bucket list! Two of my coworkers moved to Hong Kong. J left our firm because MS was paying him big bucks to go to Hong Kong. He only had to commit for one year! R is leaving Friday for Hong Kong and she stayed with the firm but just took another job! She's my favorite person at work plus she writes my reviews! I've watched her have so much anxiety over the last month about the move and if she's doing the right thing etc. She already lived in London ten years ago but came back when her father passed away! She said she's giving it one year. If she likes it she'll stay if she doesn't she's out and she may change her profession altogether and move back to the states and settle down in LA! My other homeboy A quit working last week. He was passed up for MD and said that made him re-evaluate his life. So, he quit last week and is moving to LA to do something on the business end of fitness(what better place to go). He has NO job,is subletting a place for 60 days and is going to figure out what he wants to do! He has a daughter who just finished her freshman yr at pretty prestigious college. He told me has her tuition covered for the next four years along with plenty of stacked paper. He said if he's not worried he can always go back to what he was doing. Plus he has excellent academic pedigree(US Naval Academy and Harvard Business School). Last but not least a blogger buddy named Arnetta is moving to Japan tomorrow to teach English for a year!

I wish I would've done this earlier in my life but I was too busy traveling and partying! I definitely have to think long and hard if this is something I want to pursue. Or is it that I want out of my job and I'm thinking of anything. I think the international experience would be so fly! What say you? If you had the chance would y'all move overseas?

Decisions Decisions Decisions

I said I would write my review of Black In America on Friday and today is now Monday and no review. I will write it on Wednesday since I'm trying to blog three days a week now. Plus I feel like I have other pressing issues to deal with.

Last week I was selected to attend a Lunch and Learn that was scheduled for today. It's thrown by the Black Women's Leadership Group at my job. When you see something from them you have to immediately jump on it or it will fill up. So, I got the email and sent it in my rsvp. All in all only 20 people were selected and I'm happy I was one of them. They had two Managing Director's speak one black and one white. They happened to both be promoted to MD the same year. The topic was on Mentorship and Sponsorship but it turned to other topics. The women at the table were incredibly candid in their questions and answers. In case some of you don't know. Having a title of Managing Director is huge in the financial circle. There are very few black MD's and even fewer black women MD's. I think there's like 20 for the company I work for and I work for a big azz company.

One of the things one of the women said is "you have to create your own destiny" and that statement really resonated with me. I've been thinking about this in both my professional and personal life. My job is stagnant and I don't think I will be able to move up with the group I'm in. I keep getting paid more money but it's really satisfying for me. I thought for a minute that I keep taking the paper and do the same stagnant job but it it's not working. I am good at my job and very knowledgeable. Hell I know more shyt then people who are above me and I know more about what the other groups are doing. I could go to any job in my department and do well but that doesn't matter. They're not trying to get rid of their talent so there's no transferring. I would so like to go to the product side. Of course not many blacks are there. I think I may have to leave this company and go somewhere else to be more full filled.

Don't get me wrong. I am so blessed to have a job in this economy and being in the field I'm in. I have plenty of friends who have lost their jobs and I see my department shrinking before my eyes. I've been thinking about this for awhile and now is the time. I came into this field in a very unconventional way and it's always a great topic in interviews. I don't know why I'm a little gun shy on this. I have no kids and no debt. I have a substantial savings, parents and siblings who support my unconventional moves even though they don't always agree but they understand. I am a risk taker and always have been. I've never lacked confidence. So now is the time I HAVE TO BELIEVE IN MYSELF AND IN MY NEXT MOVE! I believe it will be a big one.

I guess this coincides with me and the moves I made in my personal life. The Teacher and I have been in limbo for the past year. We had a serious heart to heart on Sunday. I told him I can't continue to have a half ass relationship. . I eventually want to get married and have a kid. I can't help that you have issues about your dad and your scared you'll turn out like him. If you're not like him now what's going to change? While I appreciate him not wanting to be like a man he has issues with. I'm not trying to sit around and wait forever. It was a very deep conversation some things were said that hurt on both sides but it was needed. I finally found out how he truly feels about me and how he envisions our future together. So for now we'll see how this progresses.