We’ve been in New York now for a couple of nights… after Tai-Chi camp ended on Friday we did just a little bit of work that night, but then we managed in three days, one day each, to:
- Pack Our Entire Apartment
- Move Our Belongings to Storage
- Clean up the Apartment
The experience was exhausting; on Saturday we packed until 3:00AM, slept two and half hours, then woke up again at 5:30AM to continue packing. We left around 8:00AM to get coffee, then I went on to rent a truck and pick up a friend while Lisa went back to continue packing. My friend and I got the apartment, picked up our digital piano, went to his place and reassembled it for him to take care of, then back to the apartment. There, two other friends met up and we all moved everything for the next two hours. Lisa and I then drove to Santa Rosa to put everything in storage, came back, and then did a little cleaning before heading to our friend’s place to stay the night. We weren’t able to sleep too much as we had to return the truck very early in the morning, so after that we got some breakfast and then proceeded to clean the apartment for the rest of the day until we had to stop to get dinner with some friends.
The following Tuesday we took care of last minute things in SF, including a last brief period of cleaning and throwing away stuff, then finished off the experience with a nice trip to Kabuki Spa to finally use a gift certificate Lisa had given me a couple years ago as a present. (The trip to the spa was absolutely fantastic and incredibly welcome in relieving the exhaustion of the previous nights).
A very nice dinner that night with our friends who were letting us stay with them, a final trip to Bob’s Doughnuts, and then a movie to finish out the night.
The following morning, a small bit of last minute checking up on things, then a minute fiasco with getting picked up for the airport, but then we were on our way. We had been so busy the past six weeks that I don’t think it even sunk in for me until that morning that yes, we were going to be in New York, that five days later we’d be in Warsaw, then after that would be living there for almost a year.
So now, just taking in the city, walking around amongst a landscape of memories of a previous life here, finding myself detached but curious, life still a bit of a dream but very happy to enjoy the time with my brother, cousin, and dear friends from New York.