Hola from Peru!!
We have actually remained in Peru for 4 days now and we've already fallen in love with this nation and individuals. Your prayers are felt and God has already provided in amazing methods. We will remain 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 participate in language school. At language school I, Devyn, will be continuing to learn Spanish, while Julian will learn Quechua, the native language.
Anyways, as we were preparing to relocate to Peru and talking with individuals about moving to another country, we found that practically everyone wondered to understand exactly HOW we were going to pack for our move. So before we dove into how things are going here in Peru, we thought we 'd show y' all 10 hacks that we discovered in packing to move overseas ... Enjoy!
1. Start Packaging EARLY & Do it in Phases.
Packing is frustrating (I will be stating that a lot in this blog 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 perhaps take too much. Julian and I started about 3 months in advance by eliminating clothing and things we didn't require occasionally (numerous trips to Goodwill). And we also started buying trunks early since they can get pretty costly so spreading out that out helps. I also started publishing advertisements early on Facebook to sell our furnishings and from that we had good friends purchase a lot of our things in advance to select it up when we were prepared to move. Likewise making a list of whatever that remains in each trunk is something Julian and I forgot to do however can be found in helpful when dealing with custom-mades.
2. Take Pictures of Your Home
This is really for the memories. The home we left was our first home together and it meant a lot to us. So the photos are simply for us to bear in mind and perhaps show our future family one day, to know where it all began.
3. Loading Cubes!!
I have actually been an advocate for packing cubes given that my trip to El Salvador a year back. On that journey, I might just take a carry on with me and had the ability to fit 2 weeks worth of clothes and toiletries!!! Needless to state we bought as a number of them as we might and were able to get most of my clothes into one luggage. I won't lie, though loading cubes are great, packing all my clothes and trying to make them all fit and not go over the 50-lb limitation was VERY DIFFICULT and caused me lots of breakdowns haha (simply being truthful).
4. Discover Someone Who Lives/Has Lived Where You Are Going & Ask Them ANY & ALL Questions.
This is something a great deal of other individuals where telling us to do and truthfully we didn't think it was that crucial ... at first. However a couple of months before leaving and ending up being overwhelmed by not understanding what to load we reached out to another physician called Ari, who is actually presently living in the house we will be moving into. She has genuinely been a God-send. I emailed Ari a minimum of 3 times a week till we moved here. I asked her anything to whatever: from the size of the cooking area shelves to whether we needed to bring rain boots.
5. Toss a Packaging Party!
Welcome someone over who is a master at Tetris, who has no issue informing you "you do not need that", and who can manage you being stressed out. Our friend Sandra was another God-send for us !! She came by (ON HER DAY OFF) and spent the whole day, going through our stuff, making the calls we couldn't make on what we should bring, contribute, or store. She helped us pack everything in our trunks and helped 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 whatever with you and will need to release a lot ... A LOT of your things. For me it was shoes, for Julian ... he had this crazy thing about keeping EVERY pen he owned considering that college. Hahha. Why idk, however with Sandra's aid Julian is now free from his pen addiction. Hahah!
7. Bless Others with Your Stuff!
This was most likely my preferred part about moving. Like I said previously, we took lots of trips to Goodwill, however we also permitted our friends to go through all of our stuff and let them take whatever they wanted. It was truly neat to know that our things were entering into the homes of individuals we like!!
8. Bring Things that You Will Miss!
In talking with Ari and other people that have done what we are simulating Julian's parents, everyone stated the very same thing, BRING The Important Things THAT YOU WILL MISS. For us, great bedding was very crucial, likewise excellent knives, a few framed pictures of our loved ones, and PEANUT BUTTER (obviously peanut butter is not a thing in other countries)! So that's what we made sure to load!
9. Chill Out and Take A Second ... Numerous Seconds ... to Make Fun Of Your Circumstance!!
As I have discussed, packaging is frustrating. At any caliber it can honestly make or break you. Do not let it break you. Take a 2nd to shout, acknowledge the turmoil around you, and then simply laugh since it is nuts. What you are attempting to do is crazy: your house has never ever looked even worse, you are sleeping on a floor, and showering without a shower curtain while attempting not to get excessive water on the flooring, eating out of the very same bowl for each meal, and just have one nice shirt because all the rest of your clothing are packed. You're not living your typical life and its overwhelming, however if you take a look at a distance, its likewise funny, so LAUGH! hahhaha! Likewise leave your home, go check out the city you are leaving, meet good friends, and enjoy yourself, that actually assisted us when packing was dragging us down!
10. Document the experience!
Its truly enjoyable to recall now on how much Julian and I performed in such little time. Here are some pictures of our last few months in Houston!