After 14 long months, I am finally free! Without question, this last year has been the busiest time of my life, as I completed 16 classes (15 plus a CLEP exam, actually) all while teaching full time. It’s been three days now since I finished my final class, and I still can’t quite understand this feeling of not having any books to read or papers to write – what will I do with all this free time?
Unfortunately, not all is well. When I last posted I had just learned that I would need a gum graft. Well, it is now 12 days after my first (and hopefully last!) gum graft, and things are still rather frightening. The procedure itself was not so nightmarish, aside from having to keep my mouth wide open for about three hours. It’s the recovery that has been horrible; for the first week, I lived off of juice, soup and over-cooked pasta. I had a follow-up visit after 7 days, and at that point everything looked fine. But, we won’t actually know until three weeks if the graft has taken, and since that visit the pain has been almost unbearable. Two teeth were grafted; one is fine, but for the other, it kind of feels like someone is digging a hook around under my gums and tugging at the root of my tooth. It is a horrible sensation, and I can’t stop thinking that the graft has failed – why would I still be feeling so much pain after nearly two weeks? I will know for certain next Friday.
Now that I have finished my studies, however, I am looking at the next step of finding a new job. I had settled on a job with King Saud University in Saudi Arabia. It would be a rough place to live, but the contract is only 10 months and the benefits would be excellent – free housing, tax-free salary, free airfare. Matters are slightly complicated because I’ve just been offered another job in Kuwait. The salary is lower, but the contract length is negotiable (3 months and up), and Kuwait is undoubtedly a more comfortable place to live. So, should I go for cash or comfort? Any suggestions will be appreciated!
And now I leave you with pictures of a deserted beach that Nok and I rode to several weeks ago – it’s about 30 miles south of Songkhla.
The view from a rocky outcrop. The beach stretched for miles and was lined with nothing but trees.
An old pagoda sat at the top of the hill, overlooking a little island.
A shot towards Songkhla. The furthest hills in the distance are in Songkhla city -- you can see just how far we rode that day!
Scroggins makes a bed in the sand.
We grabbed a tasty lunch of oysters and papaya salad before heading home.
August 13, 2009 at 8:10 am |
So does that mean you’ve completed your degree? Congratulations! And I hope your next dental visit goes better than you think it will.
As for the cash v. comfort q: I think it depends on what you mean by comfort. If you mean afraid-for-your-life versus relatively safe, I say go for comfort! If you’re planning on getting married or having kids in the intermediate future, or if you had to take out loans for school, you might want to rake it in for 10 months and get yourself in a more “secure” position. Otherwise, just do what you love where you love to do it. If you get paid through the nose for it, great – if not, at least you get to enjoy your life. Jeremy had that job where he made good money but hated everything about it; misery isn’t worth any amount of money.
August 13, 2009 at 10:45 am |
Thanks, Angela. Yes, I have completed my degree – it’s a huge relief! As for my dental woes, I just couldn’t wait until next week and actually went back yesterday. Everything is fine and the graft has taken, but it turns out I can expect a much longer recovery than I’d originally anticipated. Before the procedure, she tried to make it seem like a minor operation with a quick recovery; now it comes out that I won’t even be able to brush the area for a full month! Anyway, at least the pain has subsided.
Regarding Saudi and Kuwait; both countries are fairly safe. When I say comfort I mean that Kuwait is a more Westernized country with a more interesting range of activities for leisure time; Saudi is kind of a desert wasteland where praying to Allah is the pasttime of choice for most. Given the vast amount of loans I have and the fact that I’d like to do some traveling as soon as I can, I’m leaning heavily towards Saudi.
You’re right that misery isn’t worth any amount of money, but for 10 months I think I can manage – hopefully.
August 14, 2009 at 7:06 pm |
Well, since Saudi pays more AND it sounds like there are fewer opportunities for spending money, that sounds like a good choice! One of the best things you can do when you need to save or pay down debt is move to a place where spending money is very hard to do (like Claremont – no restaurants, and the closest mall is over an hour away). Worked really well for us.
Good luck!