Home, Sweet Home....sorta
You'll all be happy to know that, after weeks of packing and moving and flying and hotel-ing, all four of the Asia Vus are once again together at home. ( 'Home,' in this case, means 'the place where your toothbrushes, underwear, and some of your dishes are.')
That's right, we've left the nurturing cocoon of the efficiency apartment, its solicitous staff, and its excellent cable TV stations and struck out on our own, into the Big City, where (surprise!) not everyone is patient with your inability to speak even the most rudimentary Korean and (more shockingly) all the directions are not helpfully provided for you in English. We have had the training wheels removed, more or less.
We've already received what is known in expat circles (don't I sound sophisticated? Yeah. Read on.) as 'the air freight,' which is a small 500-lb shipment sent by air (duh) which gets there shortly after you do. If you are intelligent and experienced (ahem) your air freight has been thoughtfully packed to contain what you'll need to get by until everything else arrives via the slower - and cheaper - sea shipment, known as 'household goods.'
Having been in a somewhat frantic state as we were packing to leave - and also having been heavily influenced by my two teenage sons - I can only tell you that my packing was not thoughtful at all. In fact, I have no idea what the hell I was thinking when I packed most of it. All I can tell you is that, until the household goods arrive around the 20th July, we have a TV, an Xbox, 17 video games, a bundt pan, almost all my Calphalon, and 16 towels. We do not, however, have any silverware. Or pillows. Or a trash can. And when I wake up tomorrow, I'll probably find that I failed to pack about a hundred other things we need.
But all of us are here, together, under the same roof, with (some of) our familiar things around us. We may be sleeping on air mattresses, eating with plastic cutlery, watching Korean TV and sitting on the floor, but yeah. It's already starting to feel like home.
That's right, we've left the nurturing cocoon of the efficiency apartment, its solicitous staff, and its excellent cable TV stations and struck out on our own, into the Big City, where (surprise!) not everyone is patient with your inability to speak even the most rudimentary Korean and (more shockingly) all the directions are not helpfully provided for you in English. We have had the training wheels removed, more or less.
We've already received what is known in expat circles (don't I sound sophisticated? Yeah. Read on.) as 'the air freight,' which is a small 500-lb shipment sent by air (duh) which gets there shortly after you do. If you are intelligent and experienced (ahem) your air freight has been thoughtfully packed to contain what you'll need to get by until everything else arrives via the slower - and cheaper - sea shipment, known as 'household goods.'
Having been in a somewhat frantic state as we were packing to leave - and also having been heavily influenced by my two teenage sons - I can only tell you that my packing was not thoughtful at all. In fact, I have no idea what the hell I was thinking when I packed most of it. All I can tell you is that, until the household goods arrive around the 20th July, we have a TV, an Xbox, 17 video games, a bundt pan, almost all my Calphalon, and 16 towels. We do not, however, have any silverware. Or pillows. Or a trash can. And when I wake up tomorrow, I'll probably find that I failed to pack about a hundred other things we need.
But all of us are here, together, under the same roof, with (some of) our familiar things around us. We may be sleeping on air mattresses, eating with plastic cutlery, watching Korean TV and sitting on the floor, but yeah. It's already starting to feel like home.
Comments
We don't even bother to pack the television. Heresy, I know, but if we have internet, we can watch what I really need to online. And we HAVE to HAVE internet immediately, if not sooner, or my grumpy expat brain goes into overdrive. :)