It's Complicated

I finally had the big call with Taiwan HR last night to review the whole compensation package and hopefully come to a GO/NO-GO decision point. The HR rep set up a Netmeeting in parallel with phone call so she could show me things on screen that she was describing. All of my clandesting meetings with Taiwan occur between 8-11PM my time which corresponds to 9A-12P the next day in Taiwan.
I was hoping to receive some sort of document in advance so I could be prepared for what was coming rather than seeing a puff of smoke and a rabbit emerging from a hat. No such luck. She called and we started a Netmeeting and she showed me this very complicated spreadsheet. To sum it up, they evaluated my gross and my take home in the States, and converted it to something very complicated in Taiwan Dollars. All in all, I was prepared to be hit with some lower #'s because of the cost of living difference between Taiwan and U.S. but when you factored everything in, I was pleasantly surprised. Shirley's earning potential goes down in Taiwan (teacher) but our costs of living there will be much lower so that was expected planned for.
She was whizzing around the spreadsheet and I was taking notes feverishly and tried to follow along as well as I could. While the amount may seem trivial in the scheme of an entire compensation package, she was very proud to note that we would receive some sort of vouchers to celebrate the Dragon Boat and mid-Autumn festivals. There is commuting compensation and well-being compensation for doing outoors travel and excursions with the family. My MIL had alerted us that her brother has a job where the salary seems low but the bonus incentive is relatively high. That must be customary in Taiwan as there is a bonus plan in my situation.
At the end of the call I said I'd talk it over with my wife. She noted that I must let my existing boss know ASAP to get the ball rolling. I have kept everyone in the States in the dark during this process. The HR rep said she'd email me the spreadsheet and soon after hanging up the phone, it vanished from my screen when she closed Netmeeting. Poof!
So I had to wait a little while for her to send the spreadsheet and it came back as a PDF so I can't even see the method behind the madness of all the calculations. After reviewing it with Shirley and comparing it to our budget we both agreed that it was more promising then what we had expected. So we are both going to notify our respective bosses today.
Happy Friday, boss!