We welcomed in 2008 on a flight back to Seattle, unaware that it would be our last year in the USA. We both worked very hard during out post-docs in medical science, and we both made novel discoveries and uncovered some of the mysteries of the development and function of white blood cells. Adrian had his work published in some excellent journals, and I learned that the paper from my post-doc “may be suitable for publication, pending revisions” in a great journal. Adrian has been offered a professorship, and I am investigating some interesting jobs in clinical trials. We experienced the freezing winters of the North that will never make me consider Canberra to be a cold city ever again.

I attended MacWorld and witnessed Steve Jobs give his last keynote and unveil the Macbook Air to the world. We explored more of the USA in dribs and drabs – Arizona, Nevada, California, and Hawaii – as well as exploring the Ukraine and Moldova.

The biggest issue that we faced in 2008 was the decision about where we would live in 2009. At first, it was between Maynooth (Ireland), London (UK), Montreal (Canada), and Brussels (Belgium). We visited all four places, and it came down to a battle between the two bilingual cities, Montreal and Brussels, and then Brussels won due to employment and travel opportunities. We celebrated our one-year wedding anniversary in the country that was to become our new home, and Adrian will starting his own lab at the University of Leuven from February 2009.

We finished up our post-docs in Seattle in November, made huge progress towards completing our Masters of Public Health degrees, and finished up the year visiting extended family in Australia that ranged from Brisbane to Adelaide. After nearly two years outside of Australia, we are able to see our birth country with new eyes, and appreciate its charms as well as its challenges. It is a country of relative compassion and opportunity, but is also isolated and monolingual. The weather is nearly always warm with blue skies and extraordinary wild-life, but the water crisis is hitting hard and many of the main rivers no longer reach the sea.

In a few weeks we fly off to Brussels, to begin our new home in Belgium. My goals for 2009 are:
- To find a short-term furnished apartment
- To get a residency permit
- To find a job
- To start learning Flemish
- To get a work permit
- To start my job
- To start learning French
- To buy a house

I think that’s enough to keep me busy for twelve months or so. It is a bit overwhelming to be faced with so many changes, but I realise how lucky that we are to have this opportunity, so the main emotion I feel is excitement. We had a great time in North America over the past two years, and while I think we are better suited to Europe, I am very thankful for all the happy memories that we have of the United States of America.

After a long, complex, and quantitative assessment, Adrian and I have decided to move to Belgium.

We will wake up to scenes like this:

And I will shop for my new iMac in stores like this:

We will be neighbours with The Netherlands, France, Luxembourg, England, and Germany.  Living in the capital of the European Commission in a country with a rich history and fascinating customs. Every weekend will be an extraordinary adventure, and every weekday will be a fascinating experience.

Adrian will be a professor of immunology associated with the Flanders Institute of Biotechnology, and I will have excellent opportunities to find a interesting and challenging job in global health.

I am terrified and excited.

On one of our last days in Belgium, we visited Leuven. On that day we discovered that many Europe-wide clinical trials are co-ordinated from here. If we had known earlier, I could have set up some interviews. Instead, I wandered through the the town and explored its parks and inhabitants.

It is the home of Stella Artois, as well at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, the largest university in Benelux, and the oldest active Catholic university (though its Catholicness is in debate, as it chooses progressive measures over dogma, housing a hospital that conducts abortions and euthanasia as well as a research centre that uses stem cells). It is a university town, though during summer it is only those students who must resit their exams that were present, adding a sombre air to the city.

In various nooks and crannies, there are sculptures that reflect its position as a place of learning. Knowledge, communication, and contemplation are all epitomised in bronze throughout the town. The last sculpture is called “Renee”, but it reminded me of Sarah, lost in her thoughts as she waits for the bus.

It’s coming down to the line, and we still haven’t decided on our new home. One major mark against Belgium is its weather. If we look month by month, and compare the average temperature highs, lows, as well as the days with less than 0.1 mm rain, and the blue sky index (sunny=100, overcast =0), Montreal wins on most counts, apart from the appalling lows during winter:

It is amusing to think that for most of my life I have lived in Canberra, which according to Australian consensus, has terrible weather, and the “harsh climate” is often given as a reason for moving up north. Yet compared to Montreal, it is a paradise of sun and warmth (Canberra data shifted 6 months for comparison):

As a scientist, I make most of my judgements with numbers. I do experiments, collate the data, and conduct statistical analyses – t-tests, ANOVA, regressions – I can do them all. If it can be quantified, I will try to summarise it, graph it, compare it. If only the Euclidian distance of Brussels and Montreal could be calculated, and a definite number could be calculated. 

Instead, we are left with pros and cons. Is it better to have sunny freezing days or warmer gloomy days? Lower wages in the center of Europe or higher wages on the other side of the Atlantic? English as an official language that seems unwanted or as an unofficial language that seems embraced? A costly plain apartment that is one hour from Paris, or a beautiful Victorian stone townhouse that we could pay off in five years? Living next to Brussels Central Station but working a long train ride away, or living in the tranquility of Plateau and working a short bicycle ride away? Superb education and cheap childcare in a bilingual city, or very good education and costly childcare in the capital of the European Commission? Biodome or Atomium?

How are we supposed to answer these questions?