Moving

Man oh man. Moving is an adventure – no matter what country you live in – but add in a couple foreign languages and it always makes for an exciting time. It feels like moving day was some time ago, but with boxes still lingering it’s no secret that we are still pretty fresh in Bremen. So, here is a rundown of all the adventurous highlights of our switching countries.

Of course, everything began with apartment hunting. Then it was on to packing boxes, canceling contracts, researching health care and on and on. Moving day was actually broken up into two days.

Day one: Jason took the train to Germany to pick up the moving van while Laura and the kids finished organizing everything to be loaded into the van. Jason made it home in time for the van to be loaded up. We were very blessed to have so many able hands show up to help us load the van. We had a whole crew to load the van and even had one of the Young Women to help take care of Milayla (Atticus was already in bed). Loading the van took all of 45 minutes, which meant that we had plenty of time to start the final clean after they all left.

Day two: With how smooth Day One went, we had high hopes for day two. Some ladies from church came over to help out with the final cleaning items which was incredibly helpful as it went quickly and they were great company. Then the boys headed off in the moving van while the girls headed to the train station at the airport with Angie so they could catch their train. The timing was planned out so that we would all make it to the apartment at about the same time; which was just in time for us to do the walk through with the agent, sign the papers, get the keys and eat dinner before we unloaded the van. It was a great idea, unfortunately it did not play out that way at all.

Laura and Milayla came via the train and had one switch to make in order to arrive in Bremen. They made it to the stop they were supposed to change over at without any problems. When Laura looked at the train board to find the platform of her connecting train it was no where to be found. So she showed a ticket man her ticket and asked him which train was hers. He directed her to a train that was waiting at another platform assuring her twice that it was the correct train. So the girls got on and settled in set to arrive at Bremen Hauptbahnhof 45 minutes later. Well, an hour later they were still on the train and no where near Bremen. Wrong train. Thanks Mr. Ticket Man.

After some sorting out and some assistance from Jason’s coworkers to figure out where the girls were and how to get them to Bremen, they arrived two and a half hours later than planned only to discover that due to some protocol, which we were not aware of, we were not allowed to move in. Great. We had people from church waiting eagerly to help us move in our boxes and we had no where to move them to. Not to mention, none of us had eaten dinner and it was now well past the kids’ bedtimes. Grumpiness was in abundance where patience would have been nice. Milayla even had a solid two hour crying fit; for a girl that rarely cries this is incredibly unusual. Again though, it was Jason's coworkers to the rescue! Everything was sorted out (after several hours), the boxes were moved in, and everyone enjoyed some chili that a lady from our new church congregation had brought. We were so very grateful for all the help and to eventually make it to bed.

Of course it's not all done yet. For starters, having moved from a furnished apartment to an unfurnished apartment we have the looming task ahead of us to start getting some furniture in this place (absolutely everything, right down to the light fixtures). We have made a good start and have a few of the basics, but there's still plenty more to do. The knowledge that it will all come together eventually is definitely helping us to be patient with the process. Then there were all the repairs, flooring and painting that needed to be done - thankfully most of that is done now. Other than that, most of the logistical things are done or well underway (residency permits, finding doctors etc.)

It has been a busy time, but we are really happy with how quickly it has felt like home. As things begin to come together we will be sure to start posting pictures of our apartment.