So, it's been a whole week since the movers came and unloaded our container. I actually took pictures that day to post. Ha! I thought I'd be blogging about the move right away....
I got a call Friday of the week prior that our ship was due to dock Sunday the 22nd and our shipment would be delivered on Wednesday the 24th at 9am. I waited till I got confirmation Monday that the ship did in fact arrive to schedule our leased furniture to be picked up and to cancel the two lectures I was scheduled to attend on Wednesday. Of course that's how it works - I wanted our stuff here now - but I really wanted to attend the lecture on Thai Textiles. The first textile thing I'd found in Singapore and I missed it! Such is life...
8:45 am Wednesday I am strolling down on our street with Jack, returning from our walk and I hear a noise behind me. Yes, it is a truck with our container sitting on top!! Jack and I rush home to get ready and to get Eric up to help. Odd, the truck didn't come and didn't come. I walk out and look up the street and there it still is. Now I need to explain that our street is a dead end (kinda like a long, curved at the top cul de sac) but it is narrow. Imagine 2 narrow lanes with cars parked on both sides and we live almost at the end. The biggest downside to our location is the narrowness of the street. So, the truck could not make it past the curve at the top of the street! An hour and half later the movers pull up in a small truck, they had parked the large truck with the container on it on another street and brought in a small truck and off loaded bit by bit on to the smaller truck. Whatever works is okay by me at this point, just give me my stuff.
The moving crew was entirely Malay, it was fun listening to them speak in Bahasa Melayu. Being Malay they were also Muslim and they don't mix with dogs. This meant Jack had to be locked up all day, which he of course did not like! The movers were hard working and did not eat the whole time they were here. They took smoke and water breaks. Once the entire truck was unloaded they went room by room setting up beds, and unpacking every box. I really did not want every box unpacked. I was able to convince them to leave a few that I knew would be disastrous to open. But basically I had piles of stuff laying around to find a place for.
Now: 6 packing days later. I am tired but it feels much more like home here. The house is big enough if you look strictly at the size of the rooms. It is sorely undersized when it comes to storage. You Americans imagine having 1 closet in your whole house! All of the bedrooms have a wardrobe - 6' per room of storage. The master bedroom has 2 - 6' wardrobes, each with a 3' hanging rod. I calculated that Peter and I each had about 12' of hanging in our closet in Katy. I have worked my way from the bottom floor up - the kitchen/dining room had to be done first and that took a full day. Our kitchen is basically the size of an efficiency kitchen, again very little storage. We have a 5th bedroom off the kitchen (called a mother-in-law bedroom), this has become a combination of storage, sewing and Jack's room. Eric is the family nester. His room is fully done - he's even got his posters hung. I am currently working on the 3rd floor, which consists of Eric's room, an open room with one loom (baby wolf) and a bedroom with all my weaving stuff and the Megado. Today I hope to work on the weaving stuff. So, progress is being made!
Once we have figured out where we want pictures on the wall the moving company will send someone over to hang things for us. Sounds odd? Well, the walls are concrete so you can't just hammer a nail in.
Imagine your house with no pantry, few kitchen cabinets, one under the stair closet (Christmas stuff, luggage fits), no medicine cabinets, no plugs in the bathroom, no built in shelves, no linen closet, one bath with a cabinet. Now take all that stuff out of those spots in your house (in your mind) and visualize the piles of "stuff" in your house. That's what I'm working with here :) And that doesn't even touch on the weaving stuff!
Two pictures - the Megado (computerized loom) and many of it's parts - a daunting task to put together. The second picture is my brand new baby wolf. It came in late October and was never unpacked. Jack would not move so there he is with the loom. I am so excited to get it put together and begin weaving .... soon I hope!
Back to unpacking and setting up!
Tracy
