We are now in Prague!
It feels like we've been moving forever.
We still don't have internet at home (I'm publishing this blog post over my iPhone's data) and the girls can't wait to get connected to chat with their friends, play Minecraft and watch youtube videos about Minecraft.
So the move went pretty smoothly. It was scary by moment, but finally it all worked out. Let me back up a little and give you more details.
So during the last week of school, in June, we had the packing crew over and they made boxes for 3 days straight! I didn't think we had that much stuff. In fact, when the company came to make the survey (checking the things we have and calculating what size of container we would need) they told us that the container paid by my husband's company wouldn't be big enough to bring everything. We couldn't believe it. Everything electric was staying in the USA and we had many huge pieces of furniture (IKEA wardrobe that we had bought in Switzerland 15 years ago and which had already moved like 10 times!) that were not coming with us. So knowing that it was not fitting, we asked for a second smaller container. And we waited weeks for a decision to be made. We were starting to stress out and I started purging! The couch is going to the trash + the table and that table and the guest bedroom set and maybe I can get rid of more clothes and toys.... My parents came to help and me worked 4 days emptying the attic/storage spaces. We filled the garage of a neighbor with toys and stuff to donate, we filled my parents car with stuff they could bring to Canada and we filled my car with stuff we were bringing to the trash. I was hoping that all this would be fine to have everything fitting in the container now. Well, the day before the packing began, the company who did the survey called me to ask if I was ready (how can you get ready for packing while still living in the house?) and I told her that I was a little nervous that everything would fit in the container and she then told me: Ah my colleague didn't call you? Your company agreed on a 2nd container.
...
So the packing began. It was tough to be living in the house and seeing all the need I was still using on a daily basis being taken away. As I was seeing things I still needed I grabbed them and stored them in the guest room where were were staying because remember, we were not going to bring the guest bedroom with us. So that guest room became our sanctuary and was filled with things we would need during the next 2 months. Let me explain:
We had one container going by boat right now. And then we had one more container going by plane just a couple of days before we were flying to Prague. We kept some towels and kitchen things, clothes and some games and things to do for the girls. I don't remember the exact deadlines but the main container would leave on Friday (the day after the last day of school) and on Saturday we were leaving to Canada (my husband was going back to Prague. He was in the USA one week during the packing because he had to sell his car and take care of some paper work and he had to support me morally. I was pretty much a wreck at that time! It was a very, Very stressful week and leaving to Canada was such a blessing.) So anyway, we were leaving Saturday to Canada for a little bit less than 3 weeks. We were then coming back to Charlotte, NC for 3 days (Arielle had a dentist appointment for her braces and we had to take care of our green cards) and after these 3 days my husband was coming back to the USA and we were flying to Florida for a much needed family vacation. Some time together. We were living apart since April already! After these 10 days in Florida, we came back to Charlotte, but lived at the hotel at that point, for another 3 days. We had to go back to the dentist to take out Arielle's braces (yay!), we had to sell our 2nd car, we had to get rid of what was left in the house and to clean the house and we had to take care of our green card once more because it hadn't worked out the first time around. Going to the green card place is like going to the DMV, but worse. ;) We also had a small goodbye party with our closest friends and neighbors. The house was empty but we all hung out around the pool with drinks and pizza and it was just perfect! The kids had fun with their friends in the pool and we could say one last goodbye to those who helped us during our 2 years stay in NC.
We finally gave the keys to the people who will stay in our house while we are away and we left the USA July 14th. We arrived in Prague July 15th (it was our 16th anniversary).
We stayed at the hotel over the weekend. Didn't sleep one bit in the very noisy room. We showed Prague to the girls. Brought them to their new house. And we received our things Monday July 18. It took 5 weeks + some days for our containers to get here. That was a blessing since they had told us 6 to 8 weeks!! We are now in our house since one week (today!) and all is well. As I was telling you at the beginning of this post, we still don't have internet nor bars for the towels ;) but we are adjusting slowly and getting there. I am very thankful that I have 2 kids and that they can entertain each other with the help of Minecraft. My husband is working and going on business trips already and I am opening boxes. In fact, I still have a lot of boxes to open! For now we have one car, the company car, and hubby is using it to go to work. We went to buy me a car but it will take a good two months before I get one. We'll have to do with only one. Thankfully the bus is right around the corner and common transportation is really good in Prague.
Scrapbooking wise: I still have to unpack the 30 scrap supplies boxes and find out if my printer will work here before I can get back to scrapbooking. I am still on the Citrus Twist Kits Design Team (so thankful that Trina have let me take a break instead of dropping out!!!) and I'm finally staying on the Get it Scrapped team, part time. I love Debbie (Hodge) and Amy (Kingsford) and am thankful that they let me do this!!! As for Pretty Please, I can't wait to start playing with my collection and I'm SUPER EXCITED to see layouts and projects using my collection Here Comes The Sun popping up on my Instagram and Facebook feeds. Thank you for using my products and thank you for tagging me (@mpcapistran)! It's such an awesome feeling!
I'll have to get back to unpacking now. :) It's really fun to see things taking shape and to make this house our HOME.
Talk to you soon my friends!!
Marie-Pierre
PS: A HUGE thank you to my friend Tracie Claiborne who pushed me to do this blog post and get back to blogging even without having anything scrappy to share. :)
