Moving is the Next Step
Yesterday was my company’s holiday party, which kept me out until 3 AM. Because late nights are fairly typical of work dinners, I told Chris that I wouldn’t be online to talk to him last night. (Yes, we meet online every evening unless we let the other know.) So he called me at the end of the work day just to let me know he was thinking of me and because he wouldn’t get to talk to me that night.
I thought it was the sweetest thing ever, which probably shows how little it takes to impress me, but we’re talking about an international call at a time when he really didn’t have to. I was touched.
Anyway, it put me in a good mood. Actually, I was already in a good mood. Two of my company’s directors were here yesterday, and I thought my meeting with them went well (it was rather uneventful but I’m okay with that). Plus we were opening up beer at the end of the day and getting ready to leave an hour or so early to get ready for dinner. Yes, I was in a damn good mood, so I sent Chris an email and floated this idea that I had been having.
The bulk of the email was a description of how nice it is to work for this company: how it’s a laid back and fun office and a great company to work for. And then I mentioned how our IT guy has gone part time and I think we might need someone else to come in and take over some of the work load. (We’re not actually hiring or even looking for someone but there was very informal talk at one time that it would be a good idea to bring in a backup.) And, obviously, wouldn’t it be great if that were Chris?
He wrote back, “How much do they pay and how safe would that job be? I'm serious.”
I know that he can’t make as much in Prague as in Vienna, so I told him that the pay wouldn’t be good, but the job would be very secure. He wrote back with his specific salary requirement (reduced from what it would be in Vienna because the cost of living is lower here), and said that if that were met, he’s in. “Provided we’d live together.” And he asked me how much I pay for rent.
So I sent that back to him and told him Kosta’s salary. Yes, Kosta, because Kosta was in IT and he actually told me his salary. Plus, like Chris, Kosta didn’t have a computer science degree, so I thought it was comparable.
Chris called me at this point to say that he’d actually been thinking about moving to Prague, because it’s so much cheaper (and, I’m assuming, because he doesn't want to wait until 2010 to live together, since I feel committed to my job until then and therefore won't be moving to Vienna). So he asked me if I could put some feelers out for a job for him, and if that goes well, he’d be willing to move here and live with me.
His moving to a different country to live with me sounds crazy, I’m sure, but this would take months to implement. Plus he and I have already dated longer than I dated Fouad before we lived together. Not that that turned out well, but Chris would not be dependent on me like Fouad was. Really, there are only two things that I don’t like about this idea:
1. Chris just changed jobs a month ago, so it would look terrible for him to switch again. I think he should stay with his current company for at least a year, possibly longer.
2. It might throw a wrench into my plans to leave Prague. I do not want to put down roots in this place. You should see my apartment, and you’d understand just how determined I am to leave-I own almost nothing. Everyone who enters my apartment is like, “My God, you have no stuff. If I lived here, I’d try to make it feel like home and put some more furniture in here.” But that’s the point! I don’t want to get too comfortable.
Anyway, he and I will talk about this some more tonight and certainly more in the coming weeks and months. I’ll be in Vienna this weekend and I’ll be there for almost two weeks around Christmas and New Year’s. These times together give insight into what life together would be like. So far so good.
I thought it was the sweetest thing ever, which probably shows how little it takes to impress me, but we’re talking about an international call at a time when he really didn’t have to. I was touched.
Anyway, it put me in a good mood. Actually, I was already in a good mood. Two of my company’s directors were here yesterday, and I thought my meeting with them went well (it was rather uneventful but I’m okay with that). Plus we were opening up beer at the end of the day and getting ready to leave an hour or so early to get ready for dinner. Yes, I was in a damn good mood, so I sent Chris an email and floated this idea that I had been having.
The bulk of the email was a description of how nice it is to work for this company: how it’s a laid back and fun office and a great company to work for. And then I mentioned how our IT guy has gone part time and I think we might need someone else to come in and take over some of the work load. (We’re not actually hiring or even looking for someone but there was very informal talk at one time that it would be a good idea to bring in a backup.) And, obviously, wouldn’t it be great if that were Chris?
He wrote back, “How much do they pay and how safe would that job be? I'm serious.”
I know that he can’t make as much in Prague as in Vienna, so I told him that the pay wouldn’t be good, but the job would be very secure. He wrote back with his specific salary requirement (reduced from what it would be in Vienna because the cost of living is lower here), and said that if that were met, he’s in. “Provided we’d live together.” And he asked me how much I pay for rent.
So I sent that back to him and told him Kosta’s salary. Yes, Kosta, because Kosta was in IT and he actually told me his salary. Plus, like Chris, Kosta didn’t have a computer science degree, so I thought it was comparable.
Chris called me at this point to say that he’d actually been thinking about moving to Prague, because it’s so much cheaper (and, I’m assuming, because he doesn't want to wait until 2010 to live together, since I feel committed to my job until then and therefore won't be moving to Vienna). So he asked me if I could put some feelers out for a job for him, and if that goes well, he’d be willing to move here and live with me.
His moving to a different country to live with me sounds crazy, I’m sure, but this would take months to implement. Plus he and I have already dated longer than I dated Fouad before we lived together. Not that that turned out well, but Chris would not be dependent on me like Fouad was. Really, there are only two things that I don’t like about this idea:
1. Chris just changed jobs a month ago, so it would look terrible for him to switch again. I think he should stay with his current company for at least a year, possibly longer.
2. It might throw a wrench into my plans to leave Prague. I do not want to put down roots in this place. You should see my apartment, and you’d understand just how determined I am to leave-I own almost nothing. Everyone who enters my apartment is like, “My God, you have no stuff. If I lived here, I’d try to make it feel like home and put some more furniture in here.” But that’s the point! I don’t want to get too comfortable.
Anyway, he and I will talk about this some more tonight and certainly more in the coming weeks and months. I’ll be in Vienna this weekend and I’ll be there for almost two weeks around Christmas and New Year’s. These times together give insight into what life together would be like. So far so good.