Moving Days

On July 18th, three months after I was evacuated, we finally moved out of our house.  We had hoped to do it at the beginning of June, but orders didn't arrive in time, so we pushed it back a few weeks, only to find out the movers couldn't come because it was Ramadan.  So, here we were, in the middle of July, finally moving out of our house.

The only good thing about being stuck in your house and not being allowed to leave is that you have plenty of time to move.  Since we were planning on driving, we had set aside everything we wanted to bring with us in one room and just told the movers to not worry about that room.  When we moved to Izmir, we were flying (obviously), so we sent an express shipment of stuff, like pots and pans, an air mattress and some other essentials that arrived when we did to help survive until we got our furniture.  This time, since we were planning to drive, we basically put everything in our car that we would have sent in the express shipment.

The movers came around 8:30 on Monday and were quick.  We don't pack anything up beforehand as a liability rule.  If it breaks, we want them to have packed it.  That being said, there was a lot of stuff to pack, but they worked quickly and were out by 2:30.  They took a break for lunch around 1:00 and I was extremely jealous that they were allowed outside.  Oh the joys of house arrest....

Question of the day: Can all of that stuff (minus the lamp, bed and dryer) fit into a VW Golf?

Goodbye bedroom...

Monday and Tuesday night were spent sleeping on an air mattress under the air conditioning unit.  It was less than comfortable....

Tuesday morning came early.  The movers were back at 8:00am ready to get all of our stuff out and into the shipping crates.  When we moved in, they sent everything up in the tiny elevator or carried it up eight flights of spiral staircases.  This time, they were smart and brought the lift.

How it works: There is a truck down on the ground that has a remote control.  It controls the lift that goes up to our balcony.  The movers then put boxes on the lift and the guy down at the bottom lowers it back down.  Meanwhile, I say a prayer that nothing falls off because there aren't sides to this contraption and I'm envisioning our china or our bed frame falling eight floors.  NBD.  Welcome to Turkey.

That sofa just didn't want to fit through the door.  They had to unwrap it, take it apart, and then reassemble it down at the bottom.

Goodbye stuff. Please don't fall. 

And by 11:00am, it was all out.  I didn't think I would be sad to leave.  I never LOVED Izmir (although Turkey is something special) and it's been a tumultuous few months to say the least, but as I was standing in our empty living room, I did get a little nostalgic.  It's been an adventure.

Tuesday night, we spent sleeping on our air mattress and sitting in our beach chairs, just like we did when we first moved in.  To say I was less than pleased would be an understatement.  The air force guys were coming the next day to get our refrigerator, washer/dryer and some other furniture and the land lord would come and check us out before we planned to head out on the ferry the next night and make our way up north to Berlin.

My thoughts on moving at this point....