Monthly Archives: January 2012

Our next step was to rent our house. When it came to deciding whether to sell or rent, we didn’t think twice. Ed had just built our house, and we had only lived in it for six months. It’s difficult being an overseas landlord, and Ed went home once, sometimes twice, a year to inspect it, even though we had property management assistance. Continue Reading →

Diane

I accepted the offer and within three months was working and living in Geneva. Prior to our move, I spent a few weeks there working with colleagues getting into the Swiss groove. Continue Reading →

I quickly learned that the three most important aspects of setting up an office are location, technology, and local know-how. First, location matters, especially if you want to make a good impression with partners, clients, and potential employees—as well as access to Western amenities in a city like Beijing. Second, technology can be so different in various parts of the world, sometimes frustratingly inadequate or slow, so I believed it critical to build out our technology capabilities. Continue Reading →

Anna

I was six months pregnant when I agreed to move to China, and so it wasn’t practical to do a site visit. Most physicians and insurance companies don’t let pregnant women travel by air after seven and a half months. International travel is even more difficult, and long stretches of time on a plane can be extremely uncomfortable. When we landed as a family for our two-year stint, my son was three months old. We lived in a hotel for six months because it took that long to set up Amoco’s representative office, which was a prerequisite to signing rental papers and importing personal goods. Continue Reading →