Lonely in Kiel

This morning Katrin and Narne finally left Kiel, going by train to join Theda and Jonte. Now it is me who needs to finish the apartment in a way we are allowed leave it for the next tenant. What is still left in there? Not much, a couch I sleep on, 2 cupboards, a washer 4 chairs which stay in there for the next tenant, a young student couple. And many little things that have to be sorted, taken with us or chucked away. Anyone still needs an old C64? Computer wires of all kinds? Anyway the flat is quiet - too quiet. Once you are used to having a big family in the house a flat with noone except yourself in there is far too quiet. So switching back to old habbits: turning on the radio, humming, singing along, ordering pizza, going to take aways, only coffee for breakfast ... :o)
A couple of friends picked up the last things we gave away today. As well the wall bars from Theda and Jonte that did not fit into the container due to the height. Sad, but they will take good care of it and we will get it back, once we are back in Germany.

Already on Saturday the twins said goodbye to Kiel. Their grandparents took them with them as they picked up many many boxes and furniture in a hanger. Saying goodbye to the house singing a long. Since they are gone the house is several decibel quieter. As I said above too quiet for me and probably many others in the house as well. As far as we know everyone enjoyed the twins here- even though, or because they were very lively. Time for me to join them soon again.

Saturday night, as soon as the kids had left, we had our Kiel-farewell-fleamarket-party. We put all items we were not able to take with us in one room and every guest was allowed to take a long what they need. Mixer, toaster, computer games, cuttlery, jackets, furniture, candles including candle holders ... all sorts of things piled up there. Many many items found a new owner, but still a lot was left over. On the photo though - it does look rather empty. The party was really nice I went to bed too late and too drunk concerning the work to be done the next day - but this time I don't regret that!

On Sunday we put all our bulk waste and party-left-over-items in front of the house - the city of Kiel picked it up on Monday. Well there was not much to pick up in the end. At some stage there were more than 6 people screening through the stuff we put out as you can see. Seeing that the relative good items were taken we decided to put out even more good things that were too good to chuck away, but still none of our friends wanted to have (or we forgot to show them). By the time on Monday morning the truck for the bulk waste arrived only few leftovers were still there. I really prefer it that way - recycling! and a support for the ones that cannot afford to buy much. We really should do this more often we decided.

I surely will be very busy organizing and cleaning the next days. Then shortly joining the other four for the next party before continueing the last leftover works here in Kiel. My next task will be to fill all those holes in the wall from boards, nails and other things. I am still trying to avoid o clean the kitchen as long as possible, but probably there is no way around that! Luckly we don't have to renovate the place.

Tickets

Yes we got them! Finally the e-tickets for all of us 5 are issued, just in time I guess. Thus we will fly out of Amsterdam direct to Seattle on August 11th. Now the excitement rises. But the last couple of days were full of ups and downs, eventfully days!

In the moment I visited my dentist for the last time, the shipping company called - our pallets don't meet the requirements for U.S. imports! Oh dear, we thoroughly studied all available pallets and decided for THEM, because of certified for all exports. ... as we found out, all but U.S., N.Z. and a few others. The company will restack our boxes on certified pallets that may go to the U.S., which will probably result in a delay of our boxes of one week. This is a little annoying since at the new estimated time of arrival my parents will have left us in Seattle. It was originally planned that they can help us unpacking. But who cares, they are on their way and not my duty any more - only my duty to pay in the end ;-), as long as they arrive all is fine with me by now!

Today Theda and Jonte had their last day in kinder- garten. It really is fascinating; kids don't seem to feel sad in the moment of good bye. They explained to the whole group with a big smile on the face how the next days are planned, whom they are going to visit in which order until we fly. I suppose they still don't realize in full detail what relocating to Seattle means, or maybe they do and I completely underestimate my kids. They are very excited and really looking forward to Seattle. Personally I had doubts about relocating because of the kids, but they proof me wrong. Up to now they are very content with the whole situation - that does not mean they don't need extra time, more cuddling, more bluster than usual, they do!

Narne in the meantime is developing great. He turns from his back to front in both direction and is laughing with a hoarse sound continuously - spreading a lot of joy. Now and then we realize that he is getting unsatisfied with so little attention and have to adjust our eagerness of packing boxes. Still no reason to complain, concerning the chaos we have, the stress and planning all kids do much better than we ever expected previously.

We will leave Europe in only 17 days. Already tomorrow the twins will leave Kiel with their grandparents. It is their final good bye until goodness knows. As soon as they are gone we will have our final party: garage sale, flea market and BBQ party. We hope we get them all drunk that they take all our junk ;-)!

Boxes on the way

Today the three europallets got picked up. They are on their way to Seattle - and we? We have just 1 day and 3 weeks left until we fly out of Europe. We arrive (probably) on the 11th, the boxes will arrive around August, 18th, with harbor handling, customs and so on, we will be probably get them on August 21st. Exciting! We hope to have a place to rent by then, but we are very confident.
Time is flying by, so little time left and still so much going to happen, to organize and do - freightening, but also very productive.

Two days ago on the weekend, the kids gave their farewell party. Even the weather turned to good for that afternoon. We had some fun games and a small BBQ - I personally really enjoyed the red wine at late afternoon, relaxing with friends, while the group of kids took over the garden - impossible to stop and great to watch. In the beginning everything was a little bit more organized. Katrin did prepare a match-box-cord-turning game, egg-on-spoon-run and the personal decoration of the crowns with the kids. They loved it. The group got along perfectly and they enjoyed all the gear they found in the garden.
Everyone brought a little to eat and thus we had a great BBQ at the end, though most of us were still full from all the cake, cherries and strawberries. That was the reason a couple of us mainly stuck to the red wine.
A sudden, but predicted, strong shower ended the event just at the right time to send the kids to bed. Otherwise we would have probably stayed even longer outside than we already did.

The only thing we are still waiting for are our flight tickets - since I insisted on direct flights, due to traveling with 3 minor children and the prices went up since the original travel authorization got approved - the travel authorization has to be checked again ... and it takes ages - at least it feels like ages if your luggage is on the way, a holiday home booked, money invested and you still got no ticket for that day!!!
We keep our fingers crossed, we might get the positive mail to night ... we hope!

Finished Packing

Finally done! Yes, unbelievable, but it is true. Three europallets are packed, each 1.60 m high, between 160 kg and 300 kg heavy. Sealed with foil and heavy duty strap - thus nothing can go in or out anymore. Everything that did not make it inside stays here, is stored, sold, given away or chucked away. All boxes are filled up to the top, no cubic centimeter of space left. But I suppose that we will find a lot in them in Seattle, wondering why we took that along. Necessities and memories ... all included. The way it is packed we are pretty confident that everything arrives safe and in one piece - time will tell if we are right.

Ok, there are a few things that accompany us in the plane, but mainly clothing and kids stuff, documents and the laptops. The majority is in these boxes. They should be picked up soon!

Now the kids need a bit more attention again, they missed out a bit the last days. On Saturday we want to make a farewell party with a few of their friends. Weather forecast is not the best, but we hope to be able to make a BBQ anyway. Either balcony and indoor party or outside the whole time.

Major Packing

Less than 1 month to go, until we fly out of Germany.

The last two days have been very busy - most items, household goods and other stuff that goes via container had to be packed. The 2 large cartboard containers did arrive in time last thursday and we packed 4 cubic meter (140 cubic feet) onto 2 europallets and got much more into the boxes than we expected. Since we plan to send 6 cubic meter (3 europallets - 210 cubic feet) this gives us the opportunity to send more than planned. We will see how fast these last approximate 10 boxes fill. So far we did fill 2 huge and 6 small boxes (equivalent to 22 small boxes). Most awkward to pack were the bikes: 2 bikes, 1 racing bike, 1 bike trailer, 2 children bikes, 3 helmets and bike tools in a box 120 cm x 80 cm x 90 cm .... we managed, though it took us several attempts to get them all in. We needed to remove all wheels, saddles, carriers and handle bars to get them in - these went into the same box, but all detached from the bikes. I only hope I padded my racing bike sufficiently ;-).

We used up already 30 m of duct-tape and more to come. Just by chance we got the opportunity to borrow heavy duty strap to fix the cartboard boxes on the europalettes, saves me from solely trusting into this hand strech foil.

After all we are less exausted and further in time than we expected to be tonight. Giving us atleast a little bit of time to relax. The twins did stay overnight at a friends place and Narne was not a big handicap during packing - as long as you make funny faces at him from time to time he is giggeling a lot. Luckily no box fell onto him.


After we picked Theda and Jonte back up again, they needed a lot of exra attention, since they were really tired and found the nearly empty flat and haven't seen us for some time ... . After we managed that they really had fun seeing the huge boxes and all the other stuff that lies around during relocations as you can see :-)!

Now I will have some wine, and prepare for another day of packing, tomorrow all my scientific books and office folders in university will be packed - I wonder how many boxes I will come up with in the end. As well my department has getaway day, hiking and then a nice BBQ on the beach, due to all this packing I will skip the hiking and join them later. Looking foreward to that retreat!

Preparations

Finally the cartboard boxes we ordered did arrive. Not only the cartboard boxes, but also 60 rolls of hand strech foil and 1000 transparent hulls, we never ordered, but our urgently needed large cartboard containers are missing. We hope the the responsible company sorts out that problem reasonably fast, atleast they were really friendly and helpfull on the phone. They even offered me to keep the hand strech foil ... but what to do with that? Christmas presents? We decided rather to get them picked up again and send them back.
Here is a picture about the packing materials we will keep and use.
Packing lists are growing and our flat looks like a nightmare. Piles, boxes and especially kids stuff everywhere. Since we are busy organizing, Theda and Jonte use this time their own way ... .
But even without them, we are great making a mess before packing it all into the boxes that it is supposed to go in. Katrin way ahead of me concerning packing everything. I somehow still try to concentrate partly on my work. Atleast as good as possible. The next days will be our main "packing days". Some time early next week we want to have packed 3 palettes (0.8mx1.2mx2m, 6 cubic meter or about 210 cubic foot) and send them on the way to Seattle. We will see how we do survive the coming up weekend.

Katrin already sorts out all toddler clothes we have from Theda and Jonte, that will fit Narne within the next year. All other clothing will have to join us later, but not with this lot. Here you can see Katrin and our living room the way they look right now. Better, the way it looked 1 hour ago. By now we squeezed it all into the first final box. Yeah! It only needs to be labeled and we are 1/22 done. (2 large cartboard containers and 20 boxes it will be in the end).

Now back to work for some more minutes. More to come in the next days ...

Hello Blog ;-)

We decided it is probalby easiest to keep you all informed about our big move and settling in Seattle with a blog. Easy enough to put photos in and not as much work as our totally outdated website. Thinking of taking down the website anyway, atleast temporarly.

So where are we now?
About 40 days to go. We booked a holiday home near Seattle and the excitement is rising. How will it be. Most adminitrative stuff is done, we got our Visas, I quited my job, the flat, the newspapers and informed us about all the does and don'ts concerning shipping of house hold goods.
And slowly I am getting nervous. There is still a lot of work in the house deciding what to keep and store at our parents places and what to give away or throw away. Simultaniously studying the housing markets in Seattle to make contacts and see if something appropriate within distance to NOAA (where I will work) is available.

Will try to put some photos about how we look NOW, before the move on in the next days. Let's see how gray we turn within the next few weeks/months.