the picture that sums up the past week

Apologies for the lack of updates, but we were busy, packing. And lest you think we have it easy and just sit back and let the movers do the work, there’s A LOT of prep work that goes into our moves.

First there’s the issue of different types of shipments (storage, UAB, HHE). Items sent to storage are those you don’t want or need in the foreseeable next several years. UAB is the air shipment, items you hope to see ASAP, upon arriving at your next post, or at least sometime within the first month. Unfortunately, the air shipment has a strict weight limit, so you have to choose very carefully what you put in it. And finally, HHE, which is everything else. Of course there’s a weight limit to that too, but it’s much higher than the air shipment, so most items end up being sent by sea freight/ HHE. You hope to see those items within four months of arriving at post.

So yes, that’s what I’ve been busy with, packing, organizing and washing, all with my little helper, Kate, underfoot. Fortunately I started the process months ago, or it would have been so.much.worse. Even better, the embassy had a charity drive recently, so I was able to donate several SUV loads of stuff.

Final count:

UAB: we’re allowed 600 pounds, 50 of that is the weight of packing materials and the crate. 549 pounds! AWESOME!!

HHE: 4,750 pounds. YES!

The coming week is all about packing luggage, last minute appointments, saying goodbye to friends, dropping the cats off (they’re summering here for the next five weeks, lucky cats), and dropping the car off.