The Home Stretch

Hard to believe but the movers come one week from today (Deep breath, everyone). As you might expect, the beginning of June was a whirlwind of graduations, good-byes, shopping and coughing (great timing for a sinus infection, right?) Grrr. Some days I feel totally in the groove, cranking along on my to-do list and others, like today, I feel utterly paralyzed, not sure where to start. Turns out I’m a bit rusty at this whole pack-out thing. I guess 4 years will do that to you…

So… where to begin. I guess I’ll start by updating you on the car situation. I’m happy to report that we’re the proud owners of two right-hand-drive cars, neither of which we’ve seen in person. The first is a 2006 Nissan TIIDA (the overseas equivalent of a Nissan Versa) which will be our ‘around town car’. We purchased this car from another embassy person who was leaving post. I can’t tell you how amazing it will be to have a car sitting there waiting for us instead of having to wait 3 months for one to arrive. I mean, seriously, could you live without a car for 3 months? It’s not easy, especially with a little one. This will be our first time as a two car family, which feels quite luxurious. It’s necessary though, because Lilongwe is more spread out and there is less public transportation.

Our second car is a 2006 Mitsubishi Pajero with 70,000 miles on it. This will be our rugged ‘road-tripping’ car, which is necessary to have if we plan to do any driving outside of Malawi (did I mention that the roads can get kind of rough?). We bought this car through a Japanese car auction site and it will soon be put on a boat from Japan to Tanzania’s port, at which point it will be driven to us in Lilongwe. Very logistically challenging but one of those “only in Africa” kind of experiences and since Mr. Nick said he’d do all the legwork, I was happy to go along for the ride (pun intended!). Here’s a picture of the Pajero:

Enough about the cars. Let’s talk pack-out some more. The good news is that all the shopping is done. Those who know me and my love for spreadsheets will appreciate how beautiful my planning grid turned out. Thanks to Excel and it’s marvelous functionality I can tell you exactly how many units of every item I have, where I bought it and how much I paid for it. Impressive, no? Perhaps overkill, but it’s nice to know how much money we’re actually spending on Malawi stuff.

The majority of my time now is being spent separating out our belongings into the “hand carry”, “air freight” and “boat shipment” piles. Hand carry goes on the plane with us via suitcase, air freight is limited to 600 pounds and arrives 3 weeks after arrival and Household Effects (or the boat shipment) and Consumables arrive 3 months after arrival. The hand carry isn’t too hard, that’s like packing for a trip. Air freight is where it gets tricky, as it needs to get us through 9 weeks and when you’re adjusting to a new place, having those essential comfort items can make all the difference, especially for kids. In Lima our Air Freight was full of diapers, this time it’ll be full of My Little Ponies and Polly Pockets.  :)  My how times have changed.

My saving grace has definitely been all the generous help we’ve been receiving. In DC, we’ve had numerous people offer to take Nia for playdates so that we could finish up our packing and shopping without distractions. We’ve also had a good-bye BBQ/pool party and a dear friend is coming over to assist me on moving day since Nick has to be in training all day.

The help from Lilongwe has been equally amazing. Our incredible sponsors have answered countless questions (without complaint, mind you), paid the deposit for our preschool program and had our car maintenanced so that it’s ready to go on day one. In addition to our sponsors, I’ve also had 4 or 5 people reach out from post offering to answer questions via email or phone. I can’t tell you what a difference this makes. One of the things I appreciate most about our community is how they go above and beyond to help each other, especially during transition times.

That’s all I’ve got for now. Send me calming energy, okay?