How Did The Move Begin

I am going back in time and will write a series of posts about THE MOVE - how it all begins, the challenges, the surprises (both good and bad), the learning curve and the adjustments. I am sure I will be pleased to read them in the future. Note: I've created Labels 'The Move' to simplify retrieving all posts related to this topic. Enjoy reading!

In 2015 onwards there were a lot of political dramas in Malaysia. If you live in Malaysia, you know what am I talking about. The future prospect for the next generation does not look so good. I experienced the changes myself. When I started my job in the early 90s, there were still a number of MNCs and some were regional hubs or headquarters/competence centres for South East Asia. These MNCs had confidence to setup important decision making offices in KL. By 2010s, we were down with mostly back-end offices like shared service centre, data centres, call centres. KL lost its attractiveness. By mid to late 2010s, KL was losing its competitiveness to India, Philippines. Some of the MNCs back-end offices moved too. It was a disheartening thought. 

We sent Lucas and Chloe to private school. Not because we were rich or snobbish,  but because we had our reservations. We felt the public schools were not as good as when we studied there. In my time, only the super-rich and super-smart kids went to private schools. Majority was happy to be in public schools.

The curriculum does not placed importance on sports, music or outdoor activities. Any children who want to learn to swim , do taekwondo or play any musical instrument must go for private lessons. 

Safe public transport did not exist then. The place where we lived, there is no option for public transport at all. The children had to be ferried door-to-door for all outings. It did take a lot of the parents' time. 

We felt the children were living in a bubble. They will not learn to be independent. One fine day, Dominic and I decided we have to do something to change this. So we said let's move to Germany. 

In Dec 2016, we brought the children to The Hague, London and Berlin for 3 weeks. It was our scouting trip, to get a good feel on which city will be a good fit. Then Dominic had a job offer in Berlin. So, that's it then. It was decided - Berlin.

On 31st August 2017, on Merdeka Day, we landed in Berlin. We moved!