Hola from Peru!!
We have actually remained in Peru for 4 days now and we've already fallen for this nation and individuals. Your prayers are felt and God has currently provided in remarkable methods. We will remain in Lima for the next number of days, then we head to Cusco where we will be coping with a Peruvian household for a month while we participate in language school. At language school I, Devyn, will be continuing to find out Spanish, while Julian will discover Quechua, the native language.
Anyways, as we were preparing to transfer to Peru and talking with people about moving to another nation, we discovered that nearly everybody was curious to know exactly HOW we were going to pack for our relocation. So prior to we dove into how things are going here in Peru, we thought we 'd share with y' all 10 hacks that we discovered in packaging to move overseas ... Take pleasure in!
1. Start Packaging EARLY & Do it in Phases.
Packaging is frustrating (I will be saying that a lot in this blog site haha) and if you resemble most of us, you have a lot of stuff, so leaving it all for the eleventh hour will stress you out more. You might forget things or possibly take excessive. Julian and I started about 3 months beforehand by getting rid of clothes and things we didn't need here and there (so many journeys to Goodwill). And we also began purchasing trunks early because they can get pretty expensive so spreading that out helps. I also began publishing advertisements early on Facebook to offer our furniture and from that we had friends purchase a great deal of our stuff in advance to select it up when we were ready to move. Likewise making a list of whatever that remains in each trunk is something Julian and I forgot to do but can be found in convenient when dealing with custom-mades.
2. Take Pictures of Your Home
This is really for the memories. The house we left was our first home together and it suggested a lot to us. So the images are simply for us to bear in mind and possibly show our future household one day, to understand where it all began.
3. Packing Cubes!!
I have been an advocate for loading cubes because my trip to El Salvador a year earlier. On that trip, I might just take a carry on with me and had the ability to fit 2 weeks worth of clothes and toiletries!!! Needless to say we bought as a number of them as we might and had the ability to get most of my clothing into one suitcase. I won't lie, though loading cubes are great, loading all my clothing and trying to make them all fit and not review the 50-lb limit was VERY DEMANDING and caused me lots of breakdowns haha (just being honest).
4. Find Someone Who Lives/Has Lived Where You Are Going & Ask Them ANY & ALL Questions.
This is something a great deal of other individuals where informing us to do and honestly we didn't think it was that important ... in the beginning. However a couple of months prior to leaving and ending up being overwhelmed by not understanding what to pack we connected to another physician named Ari, who is in fact presently residing in the house we will be moving into. She has truly been a God-send. I emailed Ari at least 3 times a week till we moved here. I asked her anything to everything: from the size of the kitchen area shelves to whether we required to bring rain boots.
5. Toss a Packing Celebration!
Welcome somebody over who is a master at Tetris, who has no issue telling you "you don't require that", and who can handle you being stressed. Our pal Sandra was another God-send for us !! She came over (ON HER Day Of Rest) and spent the whole day, going through our things, making the calls we could not make on what we must bring, contribute, or shop. She helped us pack whatever in our trunks and assisted make it all fit without being over 50 lbs. THANK YOU SANDRA!!!
6. Discover to Let Go ...
At the end of the day you are moving overseas and can not take whatever with you and will need to release a lot ... A LOT of your stuff. For me it was shoes, for Julian ... he had this insane thing about keeping EVERY pen he owned given that college. Hahha. Why idk, however with Sandra's aid Julian is now devoid of his pen dependency. Hahah!
7. Bless Others with Your Things!
This was most likely my preferred part about moving. Like I said previously, we took many trips to Goodwill, but we also allowed our pals to go through all of our things and let them take whatever they desired. It was actually cool to understand that our things were entering into the homes of people we love!!
8. Bring Things that You Will Miss!
In talking with Ari and other individuals that have actually done what we are simulating Julian's parents, everyone stated the same thing, BRING THE THINGS THAT YOU WILL MISS. For us, excellent bedding was really essential, also great knives, a couple of framed photos of our loved ones, and PEANUT BUTTER (apparently peanut butter is not a thing in other countries)! So that's what we made certain to pack!
9. Chill Out and Take A Second ... Lots Of Seconds ... to Make Fun Of Your Situation!!
As I have discussed, packing is frustrating. At any quality it can honestly make or break you. Don't let it break you. Take a 2nd to shout, acknowledge the mayhem around you, and after that simply laugh because it is nuts. What you are trying to do is insane: your home has actually never looked worse, you are sleeping on a flooring, and showering without a shower curtain while trying not to get excessive water on the flooring, eating out of the same bowl for each meal, and only have one nice t-shirt given that all the rest of your clothing are loaded. You're not living your regular life and its frustrating, however if you look at a distance, its likewise humorous, so LAUGH! hahhaha! Likewise get out of your home, go explore the city you are leaving, meet up with pals, and enjoy yourself, that really helped us when packaging was dragging us down!
10. Document the experience!
Its really fun to look back now on just how much Julian and I carried out in such little time. Here are some images of our last couple of months in Houston!