Fourth round to the recycling plant. It feels good to get rid of things. I really try to throw away as much as possible since I have no idea what kind of storage space the house will have but some things I just can not throw away. The cot mobile that both kids used for example, I plan to keep it until I have grandchildren :P The garage is ready now and we started in the washroom. I hope it wont take too long cause then we have to start packing toys and kitchen stuff we dont use on a daily basis. We try to collect banana boxes from the supermarket as often as we can, banana boxes are the best for packing things in. The ones we bought when we moved last time had no "handles" and they were slightly too big, they became really heavy if filled properly. Only two months until R is moving and we are heading off to Sweden, Im reallly looking forward now!

Some more pictures will come any day now but right now I only have energy for an update.

We had a great time with my dad here however I think it was very strange for the kids that he was not staying with us, they missed having him around in the mornings and evenings etc. Lots of good dinners and I "celebrated" my birthday with dinner at Meet Argentinian Steakhouse. The food is just great and I enjoyed it alot!

When it comes to the Dubai updates we have decided to fill a container and we will take as much of our furniture as we think we can have use for. The price for sending the container is too much to justify it if we dont bring some furniture so we can save some money on what we have to buy once there. After all, most of the stuff was bought when we moved to our new place only 2 years ago, things can come with us. We feel like we really want to send a container so we dont limit ourselves in what we can bring when it comes to things that do not really have money value but we´d like to bring anyway. And kids stuff, toys and books, they would want them there.

Yesterday we got brilliant news, A got a place at the school we had picked as first preference. We havent seen it, we just went with the opinion of the maltese canadian couple (J and J) that visited us a couple of week ago, they seemed like 2my kind of people" so I trust that things will be good and if not we can always look for another school for next year. We were really happy though cause he had been put on waiting list, as number 10 we were told and we thought we´d have to look for another school, at least for the first year but as J had said, if you chase them a bit they will give you a place. And so we did, we tried to find a reason to contact them on a weekly basis and also slipping in the question about if there was a spot for A, and highlighting that they were our first choice etc etc. Seems it paid off :D

Yesterday I went with J for an outing, we went to the same farm I went to with grade 1 last week. She enjoyed it and pictures will follow when I have the energy to upload them. Right now im knackered, we started clearing out the garage and already took 3 carloads of rubbish to the recycling plant. We will try to push hard with the packing so we make sure we wont be too stressed the last week before its time to load the container.

We did find out the details about the insurance (we think) and now its settled 100% that we are moving to Dubai. It feels a bit stressful though cause there is lots to do. On top of everything my dad, aunt and granny came to visit us for a week today!

R has not confirmed the contract online yet because of unclear information. Im starting to get a bit stressed out with the situation but we cant just pick up and leave without knowing that the insurance will cover after 2 years, healthcare there is really expensive. Its not like you´d want to live in Dubai if you just about make ends meet. The problem is that all of a sudden it turned out that there was a list of pre existing conditions that are not covered after the two years waiting and when we asked what they were they said congential ones. Not to have to pay they COULD claim that I was born with it, only it didnt show until now so we had to dig deeper. The contact had to check with her boss and R call back the following day (yesterday) but he never go through to the contact so he called his co-ordinator that promised to check it out for him. She called back and said that ALL pre-existing conditions are covered. What to think? No answer on the phone today, just have to keep chasing so he can confirm the contract and we can go on planning and preparing, right now its a bit of a standstill.

I feel better and better about our decision to leave. R flew with a union rep yesterday and asked if it´s true what he had heard that they are only going to keep 92 pilots even if they keep 10 planes. The answer he got was that 92 was wishful thinking, right now it appears that they dont intend on keeping more pilots even if they keep more planes. Who will fly the planes then? I suspect that they never had any plans for more than 8 planes, they are just trying to delay the inevitable. Probably they have someone they want to sell to and they are just preparing for it. Im so happy to get out of this mess!

Last sunday Emirates called and offered R a job. We have since then tried our best to straighten things out, especially when it comes to schools and health insurance. Since I have a "pre-existing condition there is no insurance to cover it for the first two years and medicin, bloodtests and doctors visits are really expensive in Dubai so it was extra important to see if it would be worth it money wise. In Dubai they have weekend Friday/Saturday so we decided yesterday that we would sleep on it and make sure that by Sunday morning his recruiter would have our reply. After having calculated a bit we can see that we wont be saving lots of money for the first two years because of my disease but we will make ends meet so we cant refuse this offer. Today we also had a maltese pilot and his wife over for lunch that moved to Dubai a year and a half ago. The husband has been a really good support to R before and during his selection process and the wife has answered a million questions I have had since we got the call and after their visit everything feels much better. Eventhough the kids still dont have a spot in a school I still look forward to leaving. I think we will be happy there. The house looks great, I look forward furnishing it and to get away from Malta. Now we have 3 months to pack up and then we are off :D 

R passed! Out of the 15 they are now down to 4. Very surprising that they are so few, they were expected to be 6. What happiness when they called. We cant really understand yet. They were told that if they pass today and get the go ahead from the medical all it takes is 2 out of 3 positive references and they are in. Only thing that can stop them is if they Vice president of Emirates say stop and that would only happen if there is a "gentlemen agreement" between the companies not to employ their staff. Now we just have to wait for confirmed results and hopefully an offer but what a relief. Many thoughts are running through my head but I have to get back to that, have to get to bed...Am hoping to get a couple of hours good sleep in my bed tonight.

Tomorrow its time for another elimination and I really dont know what I want from it. If he doesnt get a job offer we wouldnt have to take a decision at all, one that we might regret in a couple of years but on the other hand I got quite excited at the prospect of getting out of here too....Guess all I can do is wait and see, Im sure we will be fine in the end. :)

...how are you supposed to know what is the best? What choice will be the best for us as a family?

A collegue of R sent him a line and said "dont make up your mind yet, we talk more when you are back". This can only mean that he heard something new. I have said Im not going to listen to all the things ppl say, that I will listen to my gut feeling and I still dont feel that there is a future for the company but its not an easy decision to pick up and leave your home. We dont know yet if R will be offered a job in Dubai but the question is if its enough with a teny tiny chance for a future here to take the risk and stay? After all we are happy here....

Almost 10 minutes "late" they finally called. I had R on camera and got thumbs up. Wow what a relief. Im so proud of him and hope the rest will go even better!

Right now my tummy is aching with worry. In about 40 minutes R will get to know if he passed to the second day. He feels he did well in the simulator  but they had a "compass test" that included questions about everything and anything and there he felt like he had to chance a little bit too much so he says he is sure they will have a negative answer for him. He feels a bit dissapointed with the advice that he got from someone from before, they said that there was no need to worry about the ATPL stuff (basics to get a licence to fly a plane)  but R felt he could have prepared some more on that stuff.

The things is that his job here seems safe for now, at least for another year or two so its not the end of the world if he doesnt get a job either. US as a family will get by anyway but it will be a big blow for his self esteem if he gets passed over again. And how do you deal with work then? It appears everyone knows that he was going for the interview....

30 min to go.....

After a quick turnaround in Malta (just about 24 hrs) R left for Dubai yesterday. Today he has prepared himself, filled in papers and also met another maltese guy who works with Emirates. Tomorrow is the first of (hopefully) 4 in the selection process. Im really nervous on his behalf as even though I have tried to keep a low profile on this he knows this is where we want to go. On the other hand it appears that his job here is safe (for now) we dont feel safe staying and Dubai seems to be the best place for us. I will keep all fingers crossed for tomorrow.

Today R got an email from the company that he went for the interview for last week. It was negative and they didnt offer him a job and R took a sigh of relief. Switzerland was not our first choice at all, we werent even sure if we wanted to move there due to the language problem and the high cost of living. Regardless Im sure it will affect his confidence that he didnt get an offer since he didnt feel he did a bad job during the sim. We had a feeling all along that they would not be interested in him since they would have to pay him as "senior first officer"  which would pay  30 000 CHF (more than 23 000 EUR/20 000 GBP/ 33 000 USD) more as basic and double the hourly pay compared to the other 3 that were called for the simulator. Obviously this is nothing they will ever tell you but I hope and think that that is why he was not offered a job. After all we always felt he was only called for the interview since his chief pilot knows their cheif pilot. That you need contacts for any jobs I can partially understand but how can you have pilot contacts globally? Anyway, this turned into a very messy and confused post, but that is how we feel right now so I guess it fits the mood. R still feels that he learnt a lot from the process, it was good practice for Dubai and there you NEED experience to even apply. Unfortunately it seems that in Europe they dont "pay" for experience and hours, he less hours you have the better. Sad but true.

R is back home from the first selection/interview. He passed from the first day to the second and got to show them his skills in the sim in London. He felt he did ok but said the other guy had a great advantage since he knew what would come as he got the same "problems" as R. No feedback from the employer but they said they would get back to him within a week. Time will tell. Regardless it would be great if he could get an offer, it would settle at least MY nerves and Im sure it would help his confidence for the Dubai interview.

Today its "my" day. R is working and the kids are with their grandparents. Today will be my day to be sad and worried. Have felt for days how the stress is getting to me and I feel like a lousy mum. I have no energy to come up with things or to play and the moodswings are unbelievable. I have accepted that we have to leave Malta but its very stressful not to know where to go. Even though R has two interviews coming up within the next month it does not mean he will be offered a job with either of the companies. The processes are long, in Switzerland 2 days and in Dubai 4! I cant do more than hope that someone will see him for the brilliant, kind and great person he is and I try not to stress him out more than he already is but the question still remains, what do we do if he doesnt get an offer from either of these companies? He sent applications to other places too and he hasnt even been called for interviews!

Last few days have been extra tough. After my last post we got some "good" new again, the proposal to the EU was going to be changed. I have all the time felt like its bluffing and lies from the politicians part, pretending that they are trying to keep the pilots. Therefore I have settled myself mentally on us moving on, I cant stand this emotional rollercoster. R on the other hand all of a sudden felt he had started applying too early and almost regretted having interviews to go to. Last thursday though he got an extra flight and they had the minister of finance onboard and after a short talk (the captain is a school friend of the minister) now he feels like me. What a relief! Even though I admit it feels really scary with such an unknown future (even with 2 interviews coming up there we cant be sure he will be offered any jobs) at least it feels great to be on the same page.

...for real. The proposal that the gov will give to the EU is on x planes and x pilots (that means maaaany have to go) so we really have to leave Malta.

Almost everything in our lives are circling around the whole job situation. Where would it be best for us to live?

R has been invited for an interview in Switzerland. One day in Geneva with 3 different parts, one technical test, a group exercise and an interview. IF they then like what they see he has to be off for a simulator test in London the following day. Everything should be paid and booked by himself so its not a cheap way of finding a job. Personally I think they should arrange for the London part if they are interested enough in you to want to see you in the sim, they could get you on their own flight to Gatwick and use the hotels they use for their normal sims, Im sure they have good deals. Feeling rather annoyed by the fact that we will have to spend this fair amount of money when we had to cancel our own Londontrip for financial reasons. Interview will also be the same time we had planned to go to London but instead decided to spend max time with the kids, doing only things they like and make sure they are really appreciated. In Switzerland both us and the kids would have to learn new languages, french (if he would be based in Geneva) or german (if he would be based in Basel) and that really scares me. They dont pay really well and Im not even sure we would be able to save any money. On the other hand its still Europe and not so far away from "home".

Then we have the question of Dubai that even with all its drawbacks feels rather tempting since they pay well. There would would surely be able to save money and possibly even travel to places we wouldnt afford if we were to stay here. I have always said I never wanted to live there but maybe I need to re-think? We dont feel like counting every penny to make ends meet.

Apart from all of this there is a chance that we can stay. The union says it looks good, that they will fight until the end, trying to negotiate leases etc for everyone to keep their jobs. Question is for what? Im not even sure the government has the ambition to get the company in shape? In the whole Libya mess they did flights to Tripoli to bring ppl out even though they did them at a loss and who foots the bill? Not the government for sure! What I mean is that we dont want to end up in this position again in 2-3 years, its bloody hell. We dont know what kind of leasing it would be either, maybe he would have to spend lots of time away and that would truly suck.

No one said live would be easy (and he hasnt been offered a job anywhere so far) but I prefer to speculate a bit and think about the different options there might be so that I have an idea what I feel about a place should an opportunity arise.

Right now everything feels like sh't to be honest. We dont know what will happen to us, will be able to stay in Malta? In our beloved home? Will we find something in Europe? No one has any answers and there are too many speculations and rumors going around. Applying for pilot jobs in time consuming, you dont just send in your CV. All airlines have their own application forms  and they take forever to fill up. The kids have been frustrated to have their daddy at home without having time for them, they just want to play. At the same time, some airlines have this strange policy where they only allow you to apply with the once. Emirates in Dubai is one of them, they offer the best package but R is not sure if he wants to "waste" his chance to apply there. I on the other hand think its now or never. Eventhouh right now Im very happy here and would prefer to stay I can sometimes feel its a dead end. If we stay R will remain First Officer for the rest of his life, no doubt about that, since he will end up at the bottom of the seniority list again. Plus if AirMalta remains in the governements hands Im not sure it has a future. Even if they make it through this chrisis I have my doubt that they can run it properly to make it last. Of course the ideal thing would have been if we could have stayed here while looking for other jobs in Europe but that would have been too good to be true I guess.

The idea was that I would be back blogging and my plan was to make some updates last night but instead we got an email with the update on the unions meeting with the chairman. The plan is to have only 8 aircraft after summer and it depends a bit on "crew per aircraft ratio" but it appears my husband will be out of a job after summer.

It feels shitty, we had finally found a home, started preparing it and making it "ours", kids enjoy school and life could be more or less perfect. Now we spent last night looking for possible job openings even though we dont really want to leave Malta :(