P A C K O U T ! ! !

There's an event in the Foreign Service that happens every one to three years more or less - the Packout.  It's when a crew of movers descend upon your living space and pack everything you own in a fairly short time period.  It's incredibly odd and a little stressful.  We just completed our first overseas packout (previously we have packed out of our home in Berkeley and our temporary apartment in Virginia).






Being the J that I am, I of course had lists upon lists and my controlling nature made my family's life a tad difficult these last few days (weeks!).  I had the stuff for storage in one area of O.'s room. And the stuff to come the slow way to Manila in another room.  The day before we packed all of our suitcases (eight!) with items that will take us through the last few days in Brazil, to Washington, D.C., to California (all over), and then to Manila for a few weeks until a small part of our things arrive.  Difficult to pare down, and to also organize!

Then the movers arrived.  WOW!!!  These guys are amazing.

They are efficient, incredibly detailed, and very (more than I am) careful with my belongings.

In just two and a half long days, they packed all that we owned and crated it for shipping.

We ended up with 200 boxes heading to Manila, and 26 heading to storage in Maryland.  Yikes!