Sunday, August 7, 2011

The Wanderers Settle In (For Now)

Seeing as how we have been bouncing all over Creation (and by "Creation" I mean Pennsylvania and New Jersey) for the past three years, I have decided to start a blog to keep family and friends up-to-date on our whereabouts and whatsdoings.  The blog is titled 'Squirrel Hill' because that's the name of our new neighborhood.  More on that later...

The Big Move (Ok, not that big; there's only two of us plus a rabbit)

A week ago today, we moved to Philadelphia because I'm about to begin medical school here.  This was our fourth move in as many years:  at the end of 2008 we moved from Italy (bellisima!) to the wife's parents' basement (not recommended); six months later we moved to State College (nice town, minus the hordes of drunken students); in late 2010 we moved to New Jersey (also not recommended) for work; and now we are in west Philly (verdict still out).  We'll be here for at least four years.

Our New Pad (first floor)

Now you would  probably think that by this point we would have this moving thing down to a science, with all sorts of spreadsheets and truck packing diagrams and room layouts.

But you would be wrong.

This one has been just as chaotic as those previous.  The moving process is generally unpleasant, but I have noticed the re-occurrence of two particularly stressful moments with every move we've done.  The first takes place during the packing of the rental truck.  Things are proceeding smoothly (or as smoothly as they can when a 2-ton 1960s sofa bed must be moved down a flight of stairs).  The truck is filling up steadily, and we are feeling so smart for our ability to fit furniture together like a giant game of Tetris.  But then, as a seemingly endless chain of boxes and other items flows through the apartment's front door and onto the lawn surrounding the truck, we become gripped by perhaps the worst fear of the mover:  there is NO WAY all of this stuff will fit on the truck!  Thus ends the game of Tetris, and thus begins the part where we frantically pile stuff as high as we can toward the front of the truck until, miraculously, we squeeze that last item in.  Sweet success!

The second inevitably painful moment takes place at the other end of the move, as we are emptying the truck's contents into the new apartment.  The concept is the same, only now it's the apartment, and not the truck, that seems way too small to accommodate our earthly possessions.  Plans to put my desk and bookshelf in the spare bedroom proved futile; by the time we removed these items from the truck, the spare bedroom had already been completely filled with cardboard boxes of stuff.  So we shift boxes, arrange furniture, re-arrange furniture, and begin to unpack.  That's where we are now, going through our stuff, box by box ("Where the heck are we going to put this?")  Yet, somehow, it will all work itself out...I hope.

This is what happens when you move from a large apartment in Italy (paid for by Uncle Sam) to a small apartment in Philly (paid for with loans).

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