This week is like an airlock

This week might seem rather unusual to people. "What are you doing - just hanging around?" Yes, I guess we are, but it is a somewhat peaceful time in between bouts of chaos. If you go back and have a look at this post about the stages of transition, I can tell you we are at the very end of stage 2, just before we crash into Japan and the chaos of stage 3. I likened it earlier today, when talking with a friend, to being in an airlock. We have done most of our farewells, have few responsibilities and fewer commitments to fulfil. It is a time of regathering ourselves, of resting before the next big outlay of energy. We've learned (during four previous international moves) it is important to build in pockets of time like this. Important for our sanity and ability to make it through to the end of the transition.

 It is also a time where we mop up bits of last-minute things that need doing. For example, finalising the boys' medicals for entry into CAJ in August. We'll also be seriously re-packing our suitcases and putting together a couple of extra boxes of stuff that won't fit into our 100kg and need to be posted. And, as I speak, waiting to hear the verdict on our borrowed van. We have a bad track record on borrowed vans. The last one, five years ago, needed towing away to the final resting place for cars in Japan! Hope this one is not as bad as that, it has served us well all year, right up until a week before we depart.