And just like that they were gone
Our car, our belongings, all gone. I left our apartment at 10am on the shuttle for FSI and came back after my last con-gen exam to a place that looked like it had been robbed. Thankfully we are just free of almost all of our possessions for a couple weeks before they meet back up with us in Shenyang. Today was our pack out!
Because R finished his training yesterday but mine goes until tomorrow evening I left the pack out in his hands. We had our consumables set in one corner, our UAB (unaccompanied air baggage that takes about 2.5 weeks to get to Shenyang) in another, and our HHE (house hold effects- read everything else that takes the slow-3 month- boat to China) piled up in the bedroom.
About 30 minutes after the packers/movers arrived, R texted me to say we were 100 lbs UNDER our weight limit for the UAB- woohoo! So we could throw in a few more things that we wanted from the HHE piles. From what I can tell, nothing got packed that shouldn't have. I have read horror stories of people's passports & visas ending up in an ocean container, and you never know what could happen.
After the packers left, R headed to Carmax to sell his car. Pretty soon I got this text from him:
This is one way in which R and I process these transitions differently. R likes the feeling of freedom that a car can give you, maybe it's his Midwest roots and all that land. He likes being able to go anywhere, anytime on his own.
I, on the other hand, only feel tied down by a car. You have to maintain it. Pay for its insurance and gas. You have to figure out where to park it. Then there are the traffic laws. This distaste for personal vehicles may also be related to the fact that in my first 10 years of driving, I had 10 (maybe more, can't remember each one) blow outs or flat tires. Jaded indeed. I would much rather take public transportation. I have dreamed of not owning a car since my summer in NYC in 2002 and now it's finally true!
But I am grieving this transition in my own way. I've had a few freak outs. I'm having to limit the number of times I check the Shenyang weather forecast to once a day now instead of once every time I don't have something else to do. OCD, I know, but I don't think I've EVER experienced -17 Fahrenheit weather. Yes, that is a negative seventeen degrees. It seems like cold is not the right word for -17. Even "freezing" is a full 49 degrees warmer than negative.seven.teen. I've never been so thankful for global warming.
I'm hoping to forget about this for the next week while we're still stateside and just be present. Besides my class tomorrow we have little responsibility before we board the plane on Saturday afternoon for Florida. Kind of surreal but a great feeling that we are on our way!
Because R finished his training yesterday but mine goes until tomorrow evening I left the pack out in his hands. We had our consumables set in one corner, our UAB (unaccompanied air baggage that takes about 2.5 weeks to get to Shenyang) in another, and our HHE (house hold effects- read everything else that takes the slow-3 month- boat to China) piled up in the bedroom.
About 30 minutes after the packers/movers arrived, R texted me to say we were 100 lbs UNDER our weight limit for the UAB- woohoo! So we could throw in a few more things that we wanted from the HHE piles. From what I can tell, nothing got packed that shouldn't have. I have read horror stories of people's passports & visas ending up in an ocean container, and you never know what could happen.
After the packers left, R headed to Carmax to sell his car. Pretty soon I got this text from him:
This is one way in which R and I process these transitions differently. R likes the feeling of freedom that a car can give you, maybe it's his Midwest roots and all that land. He likes being able to go anywhere, anytime on his own.
I, on the other hand, only feel tied down by a car. You have to maintain it. Pay for its insurance and gas. You have to figure out where to park it. Then there are the traffic laws. This distaste for personal vehicles may also be related to the fact that in my first 10 years of driving, I had 10 (maybe more, can't remember each one) blow outs or flat tires. Jaded indeed. I would much rather take public transportation. I have dreamed of not owning a car since my summer in NYC in 2002 and now it's finally true!
But I am grieving this transition in my own way. I've had a few freak outs. I'm having to limit the number of times I check the Shenyang weather forecast to once a day now instead of once every time I don't have something else to do. OCD, I know, but I don't think I've EVER experienced -17 Fahrenheit weather. Yes, that is a negative seventeen degrees. It seems like cold is not the right word for -17. Even "freezing" is a full 49 degrees warmer than negative.seven.teen. I've never been so thankful for global warming.
I'm hoping to forget about this for the next week while we're still stateside and just be present. Besides my class tomorrow we have little responsibility before we board the plane on Saturday afternoon for Florida. Kind of surreal but a great feeling that we are on our way!
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