Movin' Out

Moving just plain isn't fun. Even though we didn't have to pack ourselves (the moving company came and did it all), my last week in Germany still consisted of a lot of work. Taking everything off the walls, cleaning out the pantry, selling the rest of our 220 volt appliances, organizing what would get packed in the shipping container and would we would need for the next six to eight weeks took most of our time.

Then, once the movers started their work, the house was in total chaos. Thank goodness there were only two days of that. The worst part about the German movers was the dueling cell phones playing really bad head-banger music -- in German! Even though my husband works in the cell phone biz, I really can't support the use of mobile phones as stereo systems. (Though, in his industry's defense, I have heard some very good speaker systems that hook up to mobile phones.) By the end of their first day of packing I was tired, weary, and ready for this project to be over.

The second day went much better. After everything was wrapped up safe and sound -- and I mean everything, even the sofa was boxed -- the movers started loading the container. Here is where German efficiency really came through. Instead of carrying all of our boxes down three flights of stairs and into the truck, the movers used a portable contraption that looked like a cross between an elevator and a crane. This cran-o-vator was raised to our balcony. The movers loaded it with boxes at the top and lowered them down to the shipping container on the street.*

With everything loaded on to the container safely, it was time to say goodbye to our Bonn apartment. It was a good apartment and served us well. I certainly will miss it. But, also, I was ready to go home.

* I have a video to post of this machine, but have to first figure out how to get it off my cell phone. (The charger for my camera was mistakenly packed.)