Today is moving day, though it feels like a bit of an anticlimax after the craziness that preceded it. I am not even present. I am entertaining children on the other side of the city while my husband does all the hard work of supervising fast working Japanese removalists. (Sorry to the Americans who read this, you don't have this term. I think you use 'movers'.)
Here is a photo taken during one of the last visits I made to our 'old' house.
Once it gets to this stage, I am just plain sick of the whole deal and more than ready to move on.
We did suffer a little bit of culture shock as we 'moved on'. The place we stayed last Thursday and Friday nights is only about 20 or 30 minutes from our 'old' house. But it looks like this:
Clearly not built along Japanese housing lines, but American ones. I felt like I needed to take a packed lunch to go from my bedroom to the kitchen.
Then on Saturday we moved into our mission's guest home. A two bedroom apartment. The boys' room is small enough that my husband and I can touch feet across the length of the room while leaning on the walls. Talk about contrast. We actually quite like the smaller place, but I'm missing the extra toilet that the large house afforded. We are used to only one toilet, however this apartment has the toilet in the bathroom. Massive BPU (bathroom pile up) yesterday evening, when, in the midst of the post-dinner bath routine, our middle son hijacked the toilet pedestal for a lengthy period of time. Actually it is the usual time for his bowels to move, but in this location brings the whole going-to-bed routine to a complete halt!
Only three more nights, however. I can hang on (sorry, bad pun) for now. Actually we're probably going to be squished for a while yet. First an aeroplane overnight (not the roomiest accomodation), a couple of motels and relatives' houses for a couple of weeks. We probably won't be able to spread out until we finally get to Brisbane on the 9th of July. However, we are probably more comfortable squished than spread out, if last week's experience is anything to go by. My husband and I huddled together in our bedroom after the boys were in bed, not really sure what to do with ourselves in all that open space.
At least we're not in a house that even has its telephone packed. The quiet in the lounge room right now also attests to the benefit of videos for the sanity of parents at a time like this.
Once it gets to this stage, I am just plain sick of the whole deal and more than ready to move on.
We did suffer a little bit of culture shock as we 'moved on'. The place we stayed last Thursday and Friday nights is only about 20 or 30 minutes from our 'old' house. But it looks like this:
Clearly not built along Japanese housing lines, but American ones. I felt like I needed to take a packed lunch to go from my bedroom to the kitchen.
Then on Saturday we moved into our mission's guest home. A two bedroom apartment. The boys' room is small enough that my husband and I can touch feet across the length of the room while leaning on the walls. Talk about contrast. We actually quite like the smaller place, but I'm missing the extra toilet that the large house afforded. We are used to only one toilet, however this apartment has the toilet in the bathroom. Massive BPU (bathroom pile up) yesterday evening, when, in the midst of the post-dinner bath routine, our middle son hijacked the toilet pedestal for a lengthy period of time. Actually it is the usual time for his bowels to move, but in this location brings the whole going-to-bed routine to a complete halt!
Only three more nights, however. I can hang on (sorry, bad pun) for now. Actually we're probably going to be squished for a while yet. First an aeroplane overnight (not the roomiest accomodation), a couple of motels and relatives' houses for a couple of weeks. We probably won't be able to spread out until we finally get to Brisbane on the 9th of July. However, we are probably more comfortable squished than spread out, if last week's experience is anything to go by. My husband and I huddled together in our bedroom after the boys were in bed, not really sure what to do with ourselves in all that open space.
At least we're not in a house that even has its telephone packed. The quiet in the lounge room right now also attests to the benefit of videos for the sanity of parents at a time like this.
3 comments:
I feel your pain. The whole time between starting to pack up here and finally settling there is very unsettling. Thanks for the psalm the other day. Keep dwelling! Keep dwelling! That's our hope.
It must be very nerve-racking to always have to move around, but I hope you will soon get settled in your new home!
All the best with the next few days and the squished-ness.
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