I was checking e-mail when the moving men arrived just after 9. Someone was supposed to call me first, but no one did. Still, I was happy to see them. I showed them the space in the living room that we had cleared and the space in the garage. One haded me a clipboard with 5 sheets of numbers on it. Then they backed the truck into our driveway. Its back door opened and they set a ramp. One man pried off the door from the crate. They brought the boxes and furniture out. As they called out the numbers, I checked them off the sheet. Then I had to tell them which boxes went into the living room and which went in the garage. At first all the kitchen (marked K-ware) and clothes and fabric (marked Yarns) went to the livingroom, but it filled up pretty quickly and then everything had to go in the garage.
Mostly the checking off went well. A few numbers got two checks and some got none. Some boxes were not labeled, and one was not on the manifest at all (but it was our stuff). They unwrapped a few things like furniture and chairs and the ironing board. They took a break and I brought them glasses of water. The taller man was a font of information. He knew which charities that the thrift shop on post supported. The shorter man had me sign a bunch of sheets. He gave me copies. He said to give them a couple days notice and they would pick up all the empty boxes and paper after we unpacked.
It was quarter after noon when they left. I checked on e-mail. I made and ate breakfast. I ordered a new meter for checking electrical and magnetic fields. I called Housing and reported that the fridge was leaking onto my salad greens and freezing them.
Then I started unpacking. I moved the shorter shelves in the sewing room so I could put the taller black one where it wouldn't interfere with the overhead light. Then I started unpacking boxes labeled 'yarns'. I guess that is Korean for fabric. The livingroom was full of boxes and it seemed the 'yarns' were in the ones hard to get at. I kept at it, filling the shelves with blues, and greens and yellows and purples and browns and pinks... When I thought there couldn't be any more, there was. Finally Chris came home. I needed his help to move heavy boxes out of the way. But he wanted to change and eat first. I couldn't exactly argue with that. So I tore down some empties and filled them with paper. I went into the garage to open boxes there. When he was done eating, he helped carry boxes to the kitchen. We unpacked dishware and I washed it. We also found spices and jars of mustard and Nutella and peanut butter. Not to mention, more rolls of plastic wrap and tinfoil and parchment paper and baggies, etc. (We must have thought these things were going out of style).
I made and ate a salad. I texted with a friend in Chinhae. Chris suggested we quit and watch TV. But then he started filling out a job application online. So I had time to check e-mail and made a hot mug of bone broth.
I sipped while we watched one episode of “Agatha Christie: Marple”. I put Chris to bed.
I heard dripping in the kitchen and located the sound in the fridge. It was the little square thing in the back just under the freezer. I thought the man had fixed that.
Then I typed up my blog and went to bed.
* I was just starting to get comfortable in this place... *
No comments:
Post a Comment