21 Feb 2010
by Ubiquityin Reality bites, Relocation Tags: photos, relocating, Switzerland, updates
Wanna take a peek into our new home?
No?
Who cares.
I’m gonna show it to you anyway…
As you can see, the house is a disaster right now. Boxes everywhere, things lying around but it feels like home to me. We just got our container in yesterday morning. It was supposed to arrive on Thursday morning, the same morning we arrived in Zürich, but it got delayed in Antwerp because of the snow. We slept at a friend’s place that night and came back the next day for the container.
Did I mention that I hate unpacking?
I really really hate unpacking. Especially the kitchen! Imagine having 15 boxes, each boxes containing kitchen appliances, utensils (plates, glasses, silverware) and such individually wrapped and you had to unpack them carefully because they are fragile. On top of it all, you also had to organise where each item goes. Oh la la… The headache! Thankfully, I had it all sorted within half a day.
We’re still missing wardrobes. So our clothes had to remain in the boxes. Fred told me that buying a wardrobe here is not like buying a wardrobe in Singapore where we could it have it delivered and fixed the next day. Here, it seems that the furniture store takes forever for delivery. Romaine had hers delivered 2 months after purchase!
Nacou is settling in just fine. She was reduced to a timid cat after the long flight but after a day in the apartment, she’s back to being the same Nacou that we knew. She even slept with us last night!
Something new I learned today:
- In Switzerland, the post will NEVER be received if the name of the recipient (as registered on the mailbox) is not indicated. Unlike Singapore where you can still receive posts when addressed as “The Resident”. The postman here sends letters to PEOPLE, not unit numbers.
- Gruzzi means ‘hi’ in Swiss-German language
21 Feb 2010
by Ubiquityin Reality bites, Relocation Tags: goodbyes, relocating, Singapore, Switzerland, updates, Zürich
“Goodbyes are tough. They are incredibly hard to do. Especially when you have to leave the people that you love the most.”
I’ve been dreading that moment ever since I made the decision to leave. I’ve imagined the pain and felt my heart breaking. When the day finally came for me to say goodbye, it became worse. The floodgates opened. I became an emotional wreck. Seeing the sadness in the eyes of my loved ones sized me down. I was at lost for words to assure them that I’ll be fine because I don’t even know if I will be fine. I forced a smile but more tears came instead. So we hugged. Hoping that it’ll ease the pain away. But it only made things worse. I don’t wanna let them go. I just wanna be in their arms forever.
17 Feb 2010
by Ubiquityin Reality bites, Relocation Tags: relocating, Singapore, Switzerland, updates, Zürich
The day has finally arrived… I’ll be leaving Singapore in less than 7 hours from now. I must apologize for the lack of blog entries as I’ve been incredibly busy since we came back from Indonesia. We had a bridal photo shoot, ran around to different government bodies to settle our admin matter, met friends for last drinks/dinners, spent time with my family… We barely had time for ourselves.
So I had my long-awaited driving test this morning and guess what? I failed again. This time, I must admit, I screwed up. I had a good tester but I simply screwed it all up. I hit the pole, I strike the curb numerous times and eventually, I gave up. I had too much on my mind. I still do.
Also, earlier today we finalized the transfer of ownership of Fred’s scooter, finished packing of our luggage and checked out of the Wilby Residences. I am absolutely exhausted.
Anyway, I will have to go now. Wouldn’t be nice for me to stay on the computer when I could catch up with my family. So bye bye now and I promise I’ll write again when I can as soon as I arrive in Zürich. For now though, I’ll leave you guys with some of the photos that I took for the past week…
Dining-in in our fabulous hotel room for our last night in Jakarta
The bridal photo shoot in Traditional Javanese wedding costume (Click to enlarge)
Family dinner @ Chongpang BBQ Steamboat
St. Valentine's dinner @ Dolce Vita
Dinner @ Luna & JC's
Coffee with Liyana @ Gusttimo
Ice-creamfest with Fred, my mom & little brother @ Swensen's
17 Jan 2010
by Ubiquityin Reality bites, Relocation Tags: home, relocating, updates
Packing sucks. Be it packing of gifts, suitcases and even boxes, it never fail to give me a splitting headache.
The packing began last Monday (at least for me because I had to collect my stuff from my mom’s). I spent the whole afternoon going through my personal belongings. I never knew I had so much knick-knacks! Shoes, clothes, books, paintings, speakers and even the boxes of my camera and laptop, I had to haul it all back to The Tessarina where the movers will pack them properly for the shipment to Zürich. By the end of the day I was kaputt, Too tired to pack (again) my suitcase for the move to the temporary apartment in Wilby Residence.
The things I had to lug home from my mom's
On Tuesday, we started on our luggage, packing a month supply of clothes, toiletries, our laptops, a few books and some other essential items. This was a huge headache because I had to plan a whole wardrobe without over packing. And that means packing things for; gym, party, formal, travel, lounge and casual wear. That’s not inclusive of shoes! Miraculously, I managed to squeeze everything in 1 luggage. Impressive eh?
Luggage done, we rounded up the things we had in the kitchen to move to the temporary place. Fortunately for us, the temporary place is a stone throw away from The Tessarina. We made 3 trips to and fro from the 2 apartments and moved everything we needed for a month. We went to collect my dress in the evening and finally called it a day.
The temporary home @ Wilby Residences
Wednesday and Thursday was a breeze, Crown Relocations sent a team of 4 men and everything was done by them. Each man was assigned a room in the house to pack and they were super fast and efficient. By 4pm, everything we had were in boxes. Each furniture / item was wrapped with bubble wrapper / paper and then packed according to their size and labelled neatly with stickers. I was surprised to see the dining chair packed in a box shaped like a chair!
Professionals at work
By Thursday noon, all the boxes were safely loaded in the container and ready to go
10 Jan 2010
by Ubiquityin Reality bites Tags: home, relocating, Singapore, updates, wedding
How did the new year kick off for you? Mine didn’t exactly started with a bang but it has definitely kicked off in full gear.
Ever since we got home, I’ve been nothing but busy. Been out almost everyday! Earlier during the week, I had the fitting of my dress. I won’t be able to post the photo because Fred reads my blog and he’s not supposed to know how it looks like. So it’ll be a surprise. And then I fell sick. Nothing serious though, just a spell of bad runny nose and terrible sore throat that wiped out my voice leaving me sounding like a man.
Anyway, I managed to get little jars at Ikea during the week. I’m gonna fill them with dried leaves and have it shipped together in the cargo. And speaking of the cargo, the movers will be here to pack on Wednesday. Which ONLY leaves me with tomorrow to pack my things at my mom’s. Oh bother…
As for our wedding, the favors are settled. Bought the batiks for table placemat and finally worked on the wedding invitations. Marriage documents have also been submitted to the embassy and the date is set for the civil wedding. Now we’re just waiting for the date confirmation and menu for the wedding reception from the venue.
That, I hope, explains my lack of blog entries. You see, as I’m blogging away right now, Fred is running all around the house packing his electronic items. I did ask him many times if he needed help but he simply shooed me away. So here I am…
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