One thing that Immigration New Zealand tries to make clear in their materials is that migrating isn’t all sunshine and lollypops. They even have a graph that shows a nice sine wave that goes up at first with the excitement of the move and discovering a new country, and then goes negative as you realize that your new home isn’t perfect and homesickness sets in. We know that we’re gong to be homesick at some point. That at some point Hopscotch is going to tell us she wants to go home now and wants to see her friends. But the problem with that graph is that it starts with getting to NZ and doesn’t cover all of the goodbyes before you leave. As Kelly noted, when you say goodbye to someone they only have to do it once, but we have to do it over and over. We’re close to the end of the goodbye’s phase though, and things are about to get exciting!
So with that said, we said our goodbyes at work as both Kelly and I wrapped up our last week in the office. Yesterday we had a going away party at the house. It was fun to see friends and have the kiddos run around. We are now in frantic packing mode. We had today and tomorrow to finish packing everything before the movers come on tuesday. It turns out that one of the most difficult parts of packing has been deciding what goes in our checked bags, what gets sent ahead, and what goes in the container. Because Kelly starts work a week after we get there she’ll need a whole bunch of dress clothes. We also would like to have some toys, books and odds and ends for Hopscotch so she can feel a little at home when we arrive. New Zealand Post has a service called Poste Restante where they will hold a package for you for up to a couple of months. The catch is that sending a box to New Zealand is soul suckingly expensive so we’ll have to be very thoughtful about what to send ahead. The best alternative is to pay for an additional checked bag but that means lugging it through the airport, through Fiji, through Auckland… For us, the best combination will be one additional check bag and a couple of smaller send-ahead boxes.
And as one final downer, I said goodbye to my #1 fan. It was so quiet I could even sleep with it on. I’ve had it for a while, but as an electric appliance it doesn’t make much sense to take it with us, so I’ve had to send it on to a better place (the thrift shop).
BTW – I fully realize these pictures are lame (not the fan obviously, but some of the other pictures) and are probably not what you were expecting when I promised more pictures. But be patient, I expect to have some good stuff soon.
Kiwi Bound 