home is where your ♥ is at

Today, I officially turned my apartment over to my landlord. Goodbye Frankfurt. I will miss you. Frankfurt is a very diverse city, rich in culture and history, yet modern and international. However, I never really felt home there. Must be, because at times I was feeling extremely lonely. No husband, no children, just me and my job (and sometimes my good friend Saskia, who made sure I was not going crazy despite my situation).

Until my departure to the United States, I will be staying at my mom's in my hometown Oppenheim. I still need to take care of some paperwork and sell a few more things on eBay, which I will do from there. As much as I hate that I still need to wait fo my visa, it is nice to be back in the town I grew up in. This way, I am close to my mom until I leave. This also makes it easier to see my sister and little niece more often, as well as meeting some of my childhood friends again. When we were driving along the B9 towards Oppenheim today, I realized how much I missed my hometown. The scenery is just so beautiful - I love that area between Nackenheim and Nierstein - those vinyards always make me feel home.

They say, "home is where your heart is at," so I guess I will always have two homes in this world. On the one hand home is that beautiful little town of Oppenheim and the region around it, because this is where I grew up and also where my mom lives. On the other hand, home is wherever I can be with my family - my dear husband and lovely children - and that will be wherever the Army sends us...

sorting, wrapping, packing

I am so glad that this is the first and LAST overseas move I am doing on my own... You know, a regular move is already a handful. Since I will be mailing all my things through the post office, I have to pack extra carefully, so that everything will survive the long journey across the ocean. Then, I must not exceed a certain size and weight limit if I do not want to pay an arm and a leg for shipping. Plus all the customs forms - yuck! Oh well, enough complaining for now. I chose this method myself, as I will end up paying a lot less than I would have had to if I had chosen to hire a moving company.

I am very thankful that a family friend volunteered to help me moving all the furniture, that my mom and my sister are getting from me, on Wednesday. Thank you so much, Rolf!

Thursday, all the extra sturdy boxes and the packing materials arrived. A huge roll of bubble wrap, lots of wrapping paper, and many rolls of tape. Since then I have been a busy little bee, zooming through my apartment: Sorting things, wrapping them when necessary, and putting them in the right size boxes. I was even able to fit my beloved nightstand (which I cannot disassemble) in an extra large box I had ordered - yay! My PC is still giving me a little headache though. I saved the original box that it came with, and it it would be perfect to just put in and mail it. However, I do not want the content to be that obvious. You know, things do get "lost" in the mail sometimes. Right now I think I will wrap the original box in brown paper, but I am not sure if that is the best solution. Still thinking... Oh, and I am also making an inventory of each box. I need that both for customs, and for the insurance.
As of tomorrow, I will no longer have a kitchen. Goodbye to cooking and to fresh food. I will live off cereal, PB & jelly sandwiches, and take-out/delivery for the next few days. Any ideas for maintaining a healthy diet without a kitchen are very welcome! ;-)