18 posts tagged “move”

Our Canadian stuff finally arrived today - 4 months after we sent it from Vancouver.  I missed my books and all the little bits and pieces I'd collected up, so I'm very pleased to see them again.  However, I'm pretty pissed about the state they turned up in.

The moving company hadn't repacked anything - all my fragile treasures and the kitchen breakables were still in the boxes I'd put them in before we moved to Costa Rica.  And while my packing - I'd wrapped everything in paper and stowed it in boxes - was fine for a move across town, it wasn't at all adequate for a two-month container-ride across the world.  As a result, quite a bit of stuff was broken.  Even worse, some things don't appear to have made it into the boxes at all.  A couple of big vases with lots of sentimental value have vanished leaving not a shard in their wake. 

I'll be phoning Quinn LaPorte tomorrow to tell her just how unprofessional I think they've been and to find out how to make an insurance claim.

I imagined coming to New Zealand and gathering all my things around me after years of having my life scattered all over the world.  It hasn't worked out the way I'd hoped though.  Most of the things I left behind in New Zealand have fallen victim to the damp and mould in my mother's garage, and now I've lost more valuables.  Looks like I'll be starting over here instead of recapturing my past in the way I expected.  Maybe that's not a bad thing, to move forward instead of looking backwards.  But I'm not yet resigned to my losses.

My books have been stored in my mother's basement since I left New Zealand in 1999.  I went through them last time I was here and sold a heap, but five or six or seven or....boxes remained.  Travis and I (Travis really - I held Petra while he lugged boxes) hauled them to our house recently because I was eager to finally have everything in one place.  Alas, sometime between my last visit to the basement and my move home, the basement had gotten damper and we were assaulted by the smell of must and mould when we opened the boxes.  Some hundreds of books no longer readable.  I put the books I really really want to keep on the deck to dry out in the sun, then sprinkled baking soda through their pages before sliding them into ziplock bags.  I hope that the baking soda will eat enough of the smell that I can store them away in a cupboard somewhere without givng us all allergy attacks.  The rest will have to be thrown or given away.

I'm very sad about the loss, especially the loss of the books I loved as a child, many of which are no longer in print.  Replacing them will be a painstaking and expensive task.  Even if I can track down the books, shipping them to New Zealand will be ruinously pricy.

But I've had one good find already - a complete set of Trixie Belden books at Bookfever.com.  I don't know if anyone else enjoyed them as a kid, but I thought they were great and read and reread them, especially the first six.  I'm particularly pleased to have found the set because replacing all 34 of the books I owned one at a time would have been a difficult and expensive task, one I didn't like my chances of doing.  So I took the plunge and placed an order yesterday.  A huge pile of books will turn up on my doorstep at some point in the not-to-distant future.  Yay! 

We've been here for more almost four weeks now and I'm still not sure that I'm the right way up.  We had just recovered from the jet lag when we all acquired a nasty virus.  Petra had never been sick before and was very put out when her throat hurt her.  She was a trooper though and didn't complain much.  I was less stoic than her and spent a few days moaning about my imminent death. 

We're mostly better now though and have started all the running around that setting up a whole new life involves.  We want all the domestic trimmings so we're looking at houses and cars, visiting the bank, buying bed linen, searching through our newly-arrived Costa Rican boxes, and generally dealing with logistics. 

We're staying with my sister until we get the house we want.  3 adults, 2 children under 4, and 1 bouncy dog make for a very full household.  So far, it's working out well though.  Olivia has enjoyed having two extra people to take her out and possibly buy her treats.  Petra loves Auntie Carla (who also provides treats even when she doesn't intend to.  Carla had a cheese scone all nicely buttered for her morning tea yesterday; Petra stole it right off the plate.) and is having a fine time with all the new toys.

Petra will be one tomorrow.  I can't believe the year has gone by so fast.  The trip to the hospital, the process of labour and delivery, are still so vivid in my mind that they seem to have happened just the other day.  I'm a bit nostalgic for my lovely little baby, but Petra's charging onward, full steam ahead.  She's no longer a little baby; she's turning into a toddler.  She's eating solid food with gusto now.  She can ride Olivia's old trike like a pro.  And, most exciting of all, she's taken her first steps.  She's still a bit nervous and tends to collapse into a relieved heap on the floor after a few steps, but she's looking increasingly sure-footed.  Now it's just a matter of fully grasping the implications of her new skill.  Once she's done that, she'll be off, tearing all round the house with us in pursuit.

It's an odd experience to be back in Dunedin.  My past overlays everything.  I remember what I used to do, where I used to go, who I used to see.  But I don't have a present or a future here yet.

Travis, Petra and I went to buy a wireless router on our first full day here because it's something Travis can't live without.  The guy behind the counter quizzed us about what Dunedin is like for people who've come from the other side of the world.  "I'm from here," I said, "I can't tell."  He looked rather blankly at me and didn't answer.  I realised later that I didn't sound like a local to him; I sounded foreign.  My accent has flattened, my vowels have gone Canadian, and I have "r's" where no "r's" should be.  I'm no longer a native.

Going native is an almost invisible process.  I don't know how it happened in Vancouver; I didn't notice any change.  At some point retail staff and restaurant servers just stopped asking me how long I'd been there and whether I was enjoying my holiday.  When we visited last month, I still belonged there.  I slotted back into my usual life in the West End.  My days had the same shape that they used to have when I lived on Comox Street.  And the West End community is still there.  The barrista in Starbucks, the library staff, the people walking the streets, the post office ladies were all familiar to me and I was familiar to them.

This is no longer true of Dunedin even though I was born here.  I have to start at the beginning and build up a new lifestyle, a new day-to-day reality to replace my 10 year old memories of my old life here.  Living somewhere that is at once thoroughly familiar and disconcertingly new will be even more challenging than emigrating to a country that's unambiguously unknown.  You expect to be slightly askew in a new country; you expect to know what's going on in your home country.

Here's a poem about alienation and belonging that my friend Karen sent to me.

In my country (Jackie Kay, 1993, Other Lovers)

Walking down by the waters
down where an honest river
shakes hands with the sea,
a woman passed round me
in a slow watchful circle
as if I were a superstition;
or the worst dregs of her imagination,
so when she finally spoke
her words spliced into bars
of an old wheel. A segment of air.

Where do you come from?

"Here," I said. "Here. These parts."

We fly tomorrow night.  Wow! 

It's come up really fast and we haven't done all the things we wanted to.  But the important stuff is done - our storage locker is empty and everything's on its way to New Zealand, we've visited with friends, and hung out in the West End.

I'm still torn about leaving.  Saying goodbye sucks and I've got things I'm going to miss very much.  I'm also nervous about being in NZ after such a long time away.  At the same time I'm tired of being in transit and am looking forward to being organised and settled.  I'm scheming Dunedin schemes as well.  I plan to hang out with friends and family, eat a lot, and generally reacquaint myself with the city.

I can't quite believe that it's really happening but we fly to Dunedin in four days.  I'm torn - excited to go and looking forward to seeing everyone, but sad about leaving my friends in Vancouver and aware of how easy it would be to slide back into my life here. 

NZ is the right decision for us now.  We really need a community for Petra and for us and I want a home base, but I also value many things about Vancouver.

We had dinner with friends last night and our hosts made toasts in honour of their guests, all of whom are leaving Vancouver, one couple to Paris (Paris!!) and the other (us) to New Zealand.  They looked up lots of literary criticism terms online and smooshed them into a toast for me.  It was lovely - funny and touching.  They're good friends to me and Travis, and I'll miss them.

I'll also miss Dinie and our wonderful leisurely dates, writing with Sandra, the public library and the seawall, and all my massage people.

It turns out that it's good to fly five days after a hurricane that was serious enough to close the airport for a couple of days and scare off other travellers, but not so serious that the infrastructure of the airport was badly damaged.  All our flights were on time and Houston airport was wonderfully empty.  As the immigration officer in Houston said, "Only crazy people are flying right now.  I guess that includes you."

Petra flew well.  She slept pretty much all the way from Houston to Vancouver, only waking up in the taxi on the way to our hotel.  Even though it was around 1am by the time we checked in, she was inclined to think that since she was up, it must be time to play and it took us some time to persuade her otherwise.

Our hotel is great.  We have a little one-bedroom apartment with in-suite laundry (a must when travelling with a baby).  It's only a few blocks from where we used to live and is right next to Stanley Park.  We walked around yesterday checking out our old haunts - it's easy to slide back into our Vancouver lifestyle. 

I'm still getting my head around the fact that we're not on holiday, we're emigrating/returning home to New Zealand.  We had so much running around to do before we left Costa Rica that I didn't get a chance to catch up with myself. Now we're here though and I'm glad.

Continental resumed flying out of Houston today, and if their website is to be believed, things went well.

• Continental resumed a comprehensive flight schedule at its Houston hub at Intercontinental Airport (IAH). All terminals at the airport are functioning. On Sept. 15 Continental (including mainline, Continental Express and Continental Connection) has more than 500 departures (and an equal number of arrivals) scheduled at Houston. Normal operations are also continuing at the carrier's other hubs.

Cross fingers that all goes according to plan.

One of Travis's colleagues came this morning for the last of the things that we've sold/given away.  We were left with half-filled suitcases and a litter of unconsidered trifles on our floor.  I took Petra off to our hotel to keep her entertained and out of the way while Travis stuffed everything into our suitcases.  Somewhat to my surprise, it all fitted.  Now we just need to rearrange a little so that we can squeeze in the last few bits and pieces.  And then we're done. 

I'll be glad to make it safely on our plane on Wednesday.  Moving is a pain, even when it goes well (and so far it has gone very very well), and watching a huge storm cross your flight path doesn't help.

When I go to the Houston Airport site:

Address Not Found
Firefox can't find the server at www.fly2houston.com.
The browser could not find the host server for the provided address.

    * Did you make a mistake when typing the domain? (e.g. "ww.mozilla.org" instead of "www.mozilla.org")
    * Are you certain this domain address exists?  Its registration may have expired.
    * Are you unable to browse other sites?  Check your network connection and DNS server settings.
    * Is your computer or network protected by a firewall or proxy?  Incorrect settings can interfere with Web browsing.

When I go to the Continental Airlines site:

Re-accommodations

Continental is providing the option to re-schedule or re-route your travel once, without penalty, if you are ticketed to/from one of the cities listed below.* If your flight has been cancelled, a refund to the original form of payment can be requested. If you are traveling using a OnePass Reward, redeposit fees will be waived. Travel must be completed by the original validity dates specified on the ticket and changes must be confirmed in the same class of service as the original ticket. The value of the ticket may also be used towards purchasing another Continental Airlines ticket.

Please enter your confirmation number and last name in Manage Reservations or call Continental Airlines reservations at 800.525.0280 in the U.S. 50 states and Puerto Rico or one of Continental's other reservations numbers for assistance before your original departure date and time.

*You may only reschedule or reroute your travel once without penalty unless the specific incident below states otherwise.

Event	Travel to/from/through	Dates	Additional Information
Hurricane Ike	Continental hub: Houston, TX (IAH - Intercontinental) Other airports: Austin, TX (AUS); Dallas/Fort Worth, TX (DFW); San Antonio, TX (SAT)	Original Travel Dates: Sept. 11, 2008 — Sept. 21, 2008 Final Travel must be completed by: End of Validity of ticket (one year from date of issue)	Change fees and/or additional fare collection will be waived if the rescheduled flights are booked in the original class of service to the same city pairs as originally ticketed and rescheduled travel commences on or before Sept. 28, 2008. If the new travel commences after Sept. 28, 2008, change fees will be waived, however, additional fare collection will apply.

The airport site is down and Continental is offering flight changes for dates including our travel date.  I'm not sure what to make of this - I've never tried to travel after a storm before.  Tomorrow I'll have to brave the Continental reservations line, which I'm sure is insanely busy, to try to find out if our flights are likely to go ahead as scheduled.  My hope is that they'll be on schedule because they're international flights.  But who knows.

The movers came in today to pack our stuff and put it in a container for shipping to New Zealand.

We began at the crack of dawn, or 7:30ish anyway, and were done by late morning.  Costa Ricans are systematically, chronically late for everything, all of them, it's a national characteristic.  Except when they tell you they'll be round early in the morning.  If they say 9am, they'll arrive at 8, if they arrange to meet you at 8, they'll appear just after 7.  And so it was this morning.  "We'll be there at 8," the agent told me and four men in a truck arrived at 7:20am and began dismantling our house with startling speed and efficiency.  We had to move quickly to keep up with them.  I nearly lost my favourite carry-on bag to a box and I did lose the books I planned to take for the travel day.  They were whisked off the shelf and into a box before I remembered that I hadn't put them aside.  Oh well, Atonement will have to wait for another day. 

The movers were so efficient that by just after 9 everything was boxed, labelled and piled downstairs by the door.  They even dismantled the dining room table and wrapped each piece individually.  Unpacking will be like a giant game of pass the parcel.

The truck carrying the container was late because its arrival time was outside the magic early hour.  It was supposed to arrive at 11 but rolled in around 11:30.  Our cul de sac was too small for the truck to turn and back into our driveway, so it had to stay on the street.  The poor moving men had to carry everything out to the truck.  Just as well that we aren't shipping anything particularly heavy.

And, as well as being too big for the street, the truck was too tall for the power lines festooning our street.  It dragged one loose as it drove by.  Oops.  If the people across the street lost power, they won't be loving T A Mudanza right about now.  The power supply is chancy enough here without trucks knocking down the lines.

We have a whole container to ourselves because there aren't exactly queues of people moving stuff from Costa Rica to Dunedin, New Zealand.  Our stuff barely took up a third of the container - it looked a little pathetic in all the space.  The movers packed it all in and fixed it in place by building a brace using a huge sheet of cardboard and some lengths of wood.

Once they had the container loaded we had to go outside to sign papers and watch them lock the doors and attach an orange seal.  If all goes well, we'll break that seal in Dunedin in about 6 weeks time.

It was all most impressive.  I've never given my possessions to movers before - I carry them myself or leave them in storage - and when it came to it this morning, I wasn't happy about sending everything off into the wilds without me.  I fear that I'll never see Petra's baby clothes and my books again.  But the movers' professionalism and efficiency went some way to easing my worries.