The Countdown

You might be reading this blog and wondering when do we get to the part about South Africa?  Good question! Logistics related to our move have been slow going but in the last week or so a great deal of progress has been made.

Last Friday we went down to New York City and submitted the paperwork to apply for our visas. That means the countdown is on and we should have our visa paperwork in four weeks. Gathering the paperwork for the visa applications took over a month.  My husband handled a bulk of this project and he carried all of the needed paperwork around in a folder. The folder was full of certified copies of documents, letters, chest x-rays to prove we didn't have TB, bank statements, FBI background checks and more. It was quite a project to collect everything that was required.

Today, we spent the day making piles. You might remember from reading my last post that I am a huge fan of organizing things. Today was focused on piling items into three categories 1) the slow boat - meaning the items will be shipped on a boat (obviously) and will take about seven weeks to arrive. The slow boat will take our furniture, housewares and some clothes. 2) the air shipment - we can air ship up to 400 pounds of stuff which will arrive in South Africa a week or so after we do. This is mostly clothes, shoes, sundries, etc. 3) the suitcases - needs to contain everything that we will want between the time that the movers come (next week) and when we get to South Africa and receive the air shipment.  This includes a few weeks while we will still be in NY. Kind of tricky since it's the middle of winter here and summer in South Africa. Below are some pictures of the piles. I tried to strategically hide my underwear. Hopefully I was successful.

Suitcase

half slow boat and half air shipment

slow boat - see you in March!