Sunday, June 22, 2008

"There's Always the Mariana Islands."

Earlier this year I was looking through some of the job openings for PAs at potential government -reimbursed clinics. There was an abbreviation that I didn't know, and looking it up (yay Google!) found out that it was the Northern Mariana Islands. "Where are the Northern Mariana Islands?" you ask. I was thinking the same thing so I wikied it (Wikipedia) to learn more. It's in the Pacific just north of Guam, and eyeballing it on a globe, looks like it's halfway between Hawaii and China. There are about 84,000 people there and the languages spoken include Chamorro, Carolinian, and English. Only about 2% of the Islanders are Caucasian, so I would probably stand out. It does have the highest female:male ratio in the world of 100 females to every 77 males, so that would be a disadvantage for the Island dating scene for me. My mother and I were discussing future job locations and I told her, "There's always the Mariana Islands." She replied with, "You're making Alaska look better and better."

I haven't 100% settled on a location. I do have a job offer in southern California but I'm not sure if I'll take it yet. There's still more job searching, particularly out-of-state job searching, that I haven't done yet. Earlier this year I was pretty open to going wherever there was a job, but then I figured it would be nice to stay in SoCal if possible... But who knows... There's a lot of things to consider: commuting, cost of living, weather (this 105 degree weather is making Alaska look better and better), population - rural vs. city, family med vs. pediatrics, salary, etc... I'm going to start a poll and if any of you want to leave a comment with a recommendation of where I should work, it would be welcomed and pondered upon. By the way, the Northern Mariana Islands job is no longer listd.

I still want a kayak...

3 comments:

Nilla said...

Well, if you're trying to escape that kind of heat, don't move to Alabama. I'm sure Becky can reaffirm this. Although she might not want to, if it meant you'd live closer to her ;). Seriously, though... it's like a sauna. So, I would also avoid Texas and Nevada, as well as New Mexico and Arizona, since I hear they get really hot too. Hahaha... I base my decisions on the heat ;).

Heather said...

Man, such a hard decision. My first thought was to find the most exciting place--which for me is some distant place I'd never have to go otherwise...but then I realized that this isn't just another little adventure for you--it's your life! (Which should definately be an adventure, but should also be more long term.) And that is SO exciting! I obviously dont want you to leave CA, but I will support your decision, whatever it is!

Andrea said...

Why wasn't AZ included in the poll?:) I know it's a little hot, but it does have it's advantages (I know of a great YSA ward). Anyway out of all the options I'm going to root for CA, only because it's the closest to AZ.