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.

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.