Why Laos?
This is one of the more common questions
that we get asked. I understand, it’s a fairly obscure place to choose to live.
The answer is, that really it chose us.
Many of you know that I have always wanted
to go and do some work overseas. Even before I went into medicine. Maybe this
is because of my upbringing moving around and living in Indonesia. Maybe not.
Regardless, it was definitely something high on my list of life priorities.
The difficulty was working out when the
right time was. Initially after graduation I had thought that my first overseas
experience would be with a large humanitarian organisation such as MSF, Medecins Sans Frontieres. However, it never really felt like the right time. At first I
didn’t seem experienced or confident enough. Then I was getting married and
doing my masters. Then I decided to sit my paediatric exams, and then I had a
baby. The list goes on.
Finally it dawned on me. There never really
is a perfect time. And if I didn’t do
it now, the time may pass and I would literally be kicking myself that I hadn’t
achieved one of my life priorities. It was around this time, as I scanned the web for inspiration (more on this another time) that this job popped up in
my inbox. I remember getting a little flutter of excitement and thinking- this
job is exactly what I am looking for.
I’d even been to Laos before, albeit briefly, and thought it would be a great
place to go and work.
And why was it exactly what I was looking
for? Well, it ticked all of our boxes. These will be different for you than
they are for me but this was our list: interesting work that could count
towards my paediatric training, safe country (ie. Not a war zone), and family
friendly. We didn't really even care what continent it was in. It was more about the job and it being safe to take little kids.
The rest, as they say, is history. Here we
are. I usually joke and tell people that all it took to win Joff over was to recount my 48
hours in Laos filled with Beer Lao, and chocolate croissants. However, on a more serious note we did have
a good hard think about whether to do it or not after I had been offered the
job Thankfully for me I have a very supportive husband who was willing to give
it a go.
I’m curious, if you were going to go
abroad, where would you go and live? What would be on your wish list?
This is Jay Hijacking Abby email. I would love to Engineer in the islands. For Abby it wouldn't even take chocolate croissants. Just any country with an average temperature over 22 degrees. I swear she is half lizard. Plus of course the no war zone thing. My only requirement would be near the ocean/surf accessible. I hear north Korea has some epic undiscovered surf spots. Loving the blog Min. I can see that Joffy is your roving camera man. But if that is the case, you need to trim those legs of yours in the Mekong :) Can you let us know waht (tHAI FOR WHAT....having a spellling/capslock/typing mare) your job description was? maybe post the ad. Also as far first aid kit, a mate of mine hunts with adrenaline just in case he has an allergic reaction by himself in the bush. What do you reckon Dr Min? I just realised if you called yourself this at work, some people (Falang) might think you are local until they meet you.
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