Hola from Peru!!
We have actually remained in Peru for 4 days now and we've currently fallen for this country and the people. Your prayers are felt and God has actually already supplied in fantastic ways. We will be in Lima for the next couple of days, then we head to Cusco where we will be living with a Peruvian household for a month while we attend language school. At language school I, Devyn, will be continuing to learn Spanish, while Julian will learn Quechua, the indigenous language.
Anyways, as we were preparing to relocate to Peru and talking with people about relocating to another nation, we discovered that almost everyone wondered to understand precisely HOW we were going to load for our relocation. So before we dove into how things are going here in Peru, we believed we 'd share with y' all 10 hacks that we discovered in packing to move overseas ... Delight in!
1. Start Packaging EARLY & Do it in Phases.
Packaging is frustrating (I will be stating that a lot in this blog site haha) and if you resemble the majority of us, you have a great deal of things, so leaving it all for the eleventh hour will stress you out more. You might forget things or possibly take too much. Julian and I began about 3 months in advance by getting rid of clothing and things we didn't require here and there (many journeys to Goodwill). And we likewise started purchasing trunks early because they can get pretty costly so spreading out that out helps. I also started publishing ads early on Facebook to sell our furnishings and from that we had good friends purchase a great deal of our stuff in advance to choose it up when we were ready to move. Also making a list of whatever that is in each trunk is something Julian and I forgot to do however can be found in helpful when handling custom-mades.
2. Take Pictures of Your Home
This is really for the memories. The apartment or condo we vacated was our first home together and it meant a lot to us. So the pictures are just for us to remember and perhaps show our future household one day, to know where everything started.
3. Packing Cubes!!
I have been a supporter for loading cubes considering that my trip to El Salvador a year ago. On that journey, I might only take a carry on with me and had the ability to fit 2 weeks worth of clothing and toiletries!!! Needless to state we purchased as many of them as we might and were able to get the majority of my clothes into one suitcase. I will not lie, though packing cubes are fantastic, packing all my clothing and attempting to make them all fit and not review the 50-lb limit was EXTREMELY DIFFICULT and triggered me numerous breakdowns haha (simply being truthful).
4. Find Someone Who Lives/Has Lived Where You Are Going & Ask ANY & ALL Concerns.
This is something a lot of other individuals where telling us to do and truthfully we didn't believe it was that important ... initially. However a few months prior to leaving and ending up being overwhelmed by not knowing what to load we connected to another physician named Ari, who is in fact currently residing in the house we will be moving into. She has actually truly been a God-send. I emailed Ari a minimum of 3 times a week up until we moved here. I asked her anything to whatever: from the size of the cooking area racks to whether we required to bring rain boots.
5. Toss a Packaging Celebration!
Welcome somebody over who is a master at Tetris, who has no issue informing you "you don't require that", and who can handle you being stressed out. Our friend Sandra was another God-send for us !! She came by (ON HER DAY OFF) and spent the entire day, going through our stuff, making the calls we could not make on what we must bring, contribute, or store. She assisted us pack whatever in our trunks and assisted make it all fit without being over 50 lbs. THANK YOU SANDRA!!!
6. Learn to Let Go ...
At the end of the day you are moving overseas and can not take everything with you and will need to let go of a lot ... A LOT of your things. For me it was shoes, for Julian ... he had this insane aspect of keeping EVERY pen he owned because college. Hahha. Why idk, but with Sandra's assistance Julian is now devoid of his pen dependency. Hahah!
7. Bless Others with Your Stuff!
This was probably my favorite part about moving. Like I said previously, we took many journeys to Goodwill, but we also allowed our friends to go through all of our stuff and let them take whatever they wanted. It was actually cool to know that our things were going into the houses of people we enjoy!!
8. Bring Things that You Will Miss!
In talking with Ari and other individuals that have done what we are simulating Julian's parents, everybody said the exact same thing, BRING THE THINGS THAT YOU WILL MISS. For us, excellent bed linen was really important, likewise excellent knives, a couple of framed pictures of our friends and family, and PEANUT BUTTER (apparently peanut butter is not a thing in other countries)! So that's what we ensured to load!
9. Chill Out and Take A 2nd ... Many Seconds ... to Laugh at Your Situation!!
As I have discussed, packing is overwhelming. At any caliber it can truthfully make or break you. Do not let it break you. Take a second to scream, acknowledge the mayhem around you, and after that simply laugh since it is nuts. What you are attempting to do is crazy: your home has never looked even worse, you are sleeping on a flooring, and taking a shower without a shower drape while attempting not to get too much water on the flooring, eating out of the very same bowl for every single meal, and only have one nice shirt considering that all the rest of your clothes are loaded. You're not living your regular life and its frustrating, but if you take a look at a distance, its likewise funny, so LAUGH! hahhaha! Likewise leave your home, go explore the city you are leaving, meet up with pals, and enjoy yourself, that truly assisted us when packing was dragging us down!
10. Document the experience!
Its actually fun to look back now on just how much Julian and I carried out in such little time. Here are some pictures of our last couple of months in Houston!