There are so many things to do and so many people to catch up with over here.
Agraduate of IOWA State University, Chin Bern, and her husband are now happily back in Penang from the USA to live out their plans for their respective careers and to expand their family with the pitter patter of little feet.
During her three and half years in California, US, she met her husband who at that time was working after having studied and graduated there. He coincidentally was also from Penang. It amuses their friends that both she and her husband found their way to meet thousands of miles from home. Soon after their marriage in the US, her husband was well informed of The Returning Expert Programme (REP) which is to attract with incentives and facilitate the return of Malaysian professionals from overseas. The program’s main objective is to overcome the shortage of professionals and technical expertise in the country, and also to create a world-class workforce in Malaysia. The incentives offered by the program was attractive enough for both Bern and her husband to seriously consider their plans to return to their hometown and start a new life together in the place they know so well and miss so much.
One of the many reasons to return to Penang was to ensure that their children will grow up in a culture which both of them are so familiar and comfortable with. They feel that it would be perfect for their kids to be brought up among their close-knit family unit, which will provide the valuable love and support as well. They acknowledge that the ringgit carries more spending value, providing better liveable conditions here. This means that they have no intention to look at opportunities elsewhere but Penang, not even Kuala Lumpur or Singapore for that matter. Their parents are also deep-rooted here, so there is no question of moving.
With things working out just fine for Bern, she finds time to keep in touch with her friends in the US, persuading them to return. In fact, her husband managed to find a friend to come back together with them, capitalizing on the experts return program. With so much, happening around them, Bern and her husband are comfortable with the fact that now, they will be surrounded by familiar faces, sights, and sounds, paving the way to their successful careers and a new family of their own, at Home… in Penang.
