Bidding

Less than a year into our life in Caracas, and we are knee-deep in the bidding process for our next post. 

Dave's assignment in Caracas is for two years, so since we arrived in December 2012 we are supposed to leave in December 2014.  But what we learned in January and February this year was that mid-year moves are really hard on the school-aged kids.  Because of the particular job Dave is in right now, and because he works for an amazingly bureaucratic machine, we are not allowed to extend our time here to the next summer.  That being the case, we are trying to curtail the position and to move this coming summer.

We first saw the bid list for the summer cycle back in April and we've been playing with it ever since.  Dave's made a number of emails and phone interviews.  And I'll be honest, the whole process has been rather exciting so far.  We are excited to live in loads of the cities listed, and every time Dave finishes an interview he emails me how excited he is about the job.  We feel like we have nothing but positive options available.

But then Jeannine went and made us nervous.  Chatting with her last week, she said, So, now that its the middle of September, you must have a pretty good idea where you're going, right?  Is Dave anyone's number one choice?

Um, as far as we know, he is not anyone's number one choice.  So, now we're both a little nervous.  Here's how it works.  Everyone bidding on next summer's jobs is looking at the same list, and has been looking at the same list since April or so.  They've all been calling the folks in positions of power and lobbying for the jobs.  Some people cinched their jobs early on, because they knew the right people and had things pre-arranged.  Other positions have been moving along a more standard hiring process of multiple interviews and references.  But the list remains the same until a day early in November, where each hirer will submit who they are hiring into a computerized system.  That's the day you know where you are going.  Before that, you only get to learn that you are someone's top choice.

Our top choice was Taiwan, but they weren't interested in Dave.  We chatted with Guangzhou for a while, and although Dave is still interested in the job, the family is less interested in the number of moves it takes to get there.  And so, at this point in time, our list is: 

#1:  Beijing, China
#2:  The Operations Center, Washington, DC
#3:  Dhaka, Bangladesh

People at each of these posts have expressed interest in Dave rather recently, so he seems to be in the running for all three.  Where things will go from here, God only knows.  Which is one of the things we like about the lifestyle.  We put in all of our hard work to make good things happen, but at some point the only thing we can do is trust that God has a good plan for our lives.