After a whirlwind eight weeks, we left for Singapore on August 23rd and arrived here Monday morning the 25th. It's hard to believe all that happened in July and August to get us here. Maybe I'll write "How to Move to Singapore in Eight Weeks" someday...
To give you some idea, we:
+ sorted all of our belongings into Singapore, Kansas, sell, and donate categories
+ sold two carloads of stuff at a community garage sale
+ sold more than half of our furniture on craigslist, gave some away, shipped a few pieces to Singapore, and left a few for the new owner of our condo
+ shipped a load of belongings to Singapore which will arrive by sea sometime in the next week
+ shipped many boxes to KC to be graciously and generously stored by my sister and brother-in-law in their garage
+ made many trips to Goodwill
+ wrapped up our jobs in DC by the end of July
+ had the kitchen and bath of our condo totally remodeled and everything else updated with new paint, light fixtures, etc.
+ got the condo on the market thanks to our rock star realtors and did our best to stay out of the way
+ had fun partying and visiting with friends from DC and beyond to say farewell
+ visited family in Florida
+ did our best to manage visas, financial and legal needs for moving and living abroad
+ departed DC on August 15th
+ visited family and friends in Kansas City and Omaha
+ departed KC for Singapore on August 23rd
And now, here we are - four days in to our great adventure living in Singapore!
We spent our last week in the States in Kansas City and Omaha visiting my family and some friends. It was a real gift to have that time with people who mean so much to us. My parents took us to the airport on the 23rd and we began what was about 28 hours of travel. We flew from KC to Denver to LA to Singapore. While in LA we also got good news of an offer on our condo that we accepted - and actually printed, signed, and faxed back from LAX. The LA to Singapore flight was over 16 hours long...and while those long ones are always taxing, everything went smoothly (thank goodness for great service from Singapore Airlines!).
So far this week, we've been enjoying time with Tony's parents who've welcomed us into their home where we're staying temporarily until we find an apartment. Jetlag is nearly behind us as we forced ourselves onto the local schedule upon arrival. We're making contacts to help find an apartment. I'm looking forward to attending an event tomorrow night with Democrats Abroad to watch Obama's speech - and to meeting people there. Tony starts work on Monday, so our week of vacation will soon be over.
The picture above was taken about 5:30am Singapore time on Monday shortly after we arrived. We're with Tony's mom...and roughly 300 pounds of luggage. :)
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