Wednesday, July 27, 2011

More Paperwork

So we got some good news that after 12 weeks the work permit was finally approved!  So I figured we were all set now.  But no.  Our sea shipment arrived in  Belgium this week.  So that was good nothing sank!  Then the moving company let us know of more paperwork that they needed.  So we get them what we could and we had 2 things left. One inventory list translated into French.  So thank goodness Jason's secretary would do this.  I wished her good luck since it is an itemized list that is 24 pages long.  The other document we needed we were told in order to get it Jason would have to take his work permit and go stand in line at the city hall and apply for this document which would then take 3 weeks.  And of course he is not in Luxembourg to start this.  So seeing how long the work permit took I am starting to get a little nervous now b/c they won't deliver our shipments until they have all these documents completed.  The next day I find out that the moving company will  buy a bond from the city which will allow our shipments to be delivered to us but as soon as we get there he needs to apply for this document and then once we get it we need to give it to the moving company so they can get their money back.  Such a process.  So hopefully this will work out ok.
Then the 2 people who assist us with things, one works for Jason's company and another one helps expiates with things they need outside of the company, they both let me know that they are going to be on vacation when we get over there and our shipment comes.  So again I am hoping we don't run into any problems.
The final countdown is on.  We are leaving next week, but I am not looking at the calendar to actually see in how many days that is- yikes!

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Getting Ready

So here we are again packing up for another international move!  Six years ago we moved home from Brazil after living there for 3 years.  I never really thought we would do this again, but here we go!
After months of organizing what was going, packing, sorting and making lists the movers finally came.  So the sea shipment was picked up in June and then the air shipment was picked up in July.  I am hoping the stuff gets there- no pirates attack my stuff.  But if the pirates do get it they can have the dining room set just leave the rest (:  The movers also have my name as Kelly and my last name spelled wrong so we will see if it ever gets there.  Then there is a small problem that the work permit hasn't been processed.  It normally takes 6-8 weeks, we are going on 12 weeks and still don't have it.  So customs could just send our stuff back home too.  So we are going in with a positive attitude that this will just work out all right and hope for the best.

Jason moved over to Luxembourg in May and has just been traveling home every 2-3 weeks.  So it has been a hard summer for the kids not seeing him much.   Amber told me the other day that Daddy is going to need to take a shower when he gets home because he has been gone awhile and will be stinky! Ha!
We are now in the final stretch here and are living out of what we can fit in our suitcases to take over and I am probably being optimistic about really fitting everything in.  I just pray we don't need  to open our suitcases at the airport b/c everything will come falling out.
So there are things that we are not allowed to ship over there - food (items they don't sell in the stores over there), vitamins, etc.  So I decided we should start sending Jason with these items when he is traveling.  So totally forgetting about the no liquid rules for carry on items, I send poor Jason with syrup and a liquid vitamin supplement among other things, and he decides not to check his bag and carry it on.  He gets to the security point and you can imagine to his delight what they find in his suitcase.  He said he was pretty sure the security guards were chuckling about the syrup- who travels with their own syrup, right (obviously they haven't lived any where where you can't buy syrup!)   So they threw that away, but seeing as those vitamin supplements are pricey they agreed to open it and test it for explosive properties.  So of course it passed and he went on his way.
Just a bit of what we have to go through to get moved over there!