Umzug
Why all the blog-activity at once?
Good question.
Cuz we're moving back to Rochester.
No, we're not crazy, just pragmatic. The muckitymucks have said enough is enough with the long distance telecommuting. The job market here is not that hot, and even if one of us (me) could get a job here, it would be for much much less money. And our parents are aging, and we have a (somewhat selfishly motivated, somewhat guilt induced) responsibility to them to be nearby and have access to the grandkids, etc. in the waning years.
Our official move date is June 30th 2007. Since we pay for all (most) of it using our personal dollars, we are doing the packing ourselves. It's also a good way to get rid of things. We look crosseyed at our stuff, and the really really cruddy stuff can go into the bin. The half-cruddy stuff we take with us, along with the really nice stuff, in the hope that it will be useful at least during the getting-used-to time directly after arrival, before we are really settled. [this usually takes us 2-3 years, but as we know the area and lots of people, should be somewhat shortened].
It is really amazing how difficult it is to extracate oneself from this place. Perhaps its like this everywhere where free market competition has not yet completely sunk its teeth in, but one signs onto lengthy multi-year contracts for services like telephone, electricity, rent, cellphone, tv tax (yes, there is a tax on every radio and TV one owns), sport club, etc. Its starting to get better with companies the likes of 'Alice' who offer telephone and internet services month to month, but on the whole, its still 25 years behind. To get out of a contract, you have to pay the base charge (grundgebuer) til the end of the current contract duration, and have to show three forms of proof. We had to show my 'employment contract' that shows I have to move to keep my job (which we had sort of anyway), the confirmation that we have actually de-registered from our residence (die Abmeldebestaetigung), and the confirmation that we have registered with the authorities in our new residence. Since we have no new residence, and the USA doesn't require or support a 'service' with which one registers when newly entering a community, well, we just faked one. Don't tell our sport club, who wouldn't let us out of the contract til we had shown them all 3 forms (we're actually not out yet, but we're in negotiations). Also we had to cancel our health insurance, which we had purchased extra because Xerox' health insurance for ex-pats, especially those not on the delux-package, is about as bad as, well, no insurance at all. OK, it does cover life threatening emergencies after the N-thousand dollar deductable, which is what insurance is really about anyway, i guess. Its just not that useful for the day to day trials one encounters with multiple small kids.
We sold the car. That was a nice surprise. Initially, we thought we'd just sell it back to Eduard Winter, the car dealer from whom we'd bought it. But they came back to us with such an incredibly low offer, that we were obliged to search other avenues. After just a day of posting on auto-scout24, a guy called us up and wanted to come over and look at it. These 2 Turkish guys came by (very nice, but I had still little concerns in the back of my mind), looked at the car, drove it around (a bit too roughly for my liking), then proceeded to tell me all that was wrong with it. After about 4 hours of dealing, we decided that he'd call me back and we'd talk more. He had threatened that he was going to have to drive to Holland the next day to get the same model, but 2 years newer with less miles. Then he called back, and offered me the same as he'd offered earlier. I said we would stick to our price, which was 500 Euro higher. He said "can't we come t0gether on this? Otherwise I'll have to drive all the way to Holland and get the nicer newer car". I said unfortunately not, and we hung up. He called back the next day, and came over to see the car again. After another 4 hour deal session, in which neither of us brought up the Holland thing, we had signed the sales contract. We met in the middle. What an adventure. Anyway, its gone, and we're done with that chapter.
We've been packing since Fritz' dad came in mid may. He was here a week and we made a concerted effort to get as much as possible into boxes, and/or torn down to flat pieces. On the last day, we even broke down the guest bed he stayed in. It was a very good start. The guest bedroom became the box and crud storage place. We have subsequently filled it to the breaking point. We have 129 square meters here, which equates to 1388.5 square feet, which is a little smaller than the house we left on Landing road when we left Rochester for California. Its not huge, but it is surprisingly full of stuff. Just by emptying the overhead storage places (which we can afford to have since the ceilings are 12 feet up, it filled all the hall space and overflowed into the living room and kitchen.
The movers come on the 22nd of June, which is this friday. Its now tuesday, and we really do have 2 more days of packing to do to be *ready*. So far, we have 71 boxes filled and labeled. Probably 10 more to go, but this doesn't count the furnature, of which most comes with (4 beds, sofa, armchairs, tables, etc.). We don't know if it will be used by us or not when we get there because we don't know where we will live. We've been driving real estate agents and friends and family crazy with requests to look at this property or that piece of land (we really want to build a passive solar house, but the dream is starting to fade in the face of all the other logistical headaches). Our latest offer on a house on East Brook Road in Pittsford very near to Jim's house and lots of other stuff was rejected by the Parkers who are holding out for the asking price. But its really not worth it. All the appliances are older than I am, and its a little small. The plot is huge though and gorgeous. And all grass, which he must spend hours a week tending to (which is not my thing, not to mention the emmisions from lawn mowers which are horrible, as with all things with 2-stroke engines).
Good question.
Cuz we're moving back to Rochester.
No, we're not crazy, just pragmatic. The muckitymucks have said enough is enough with the long distance telecommuting. The job market here is not that hot, and even if one of us (me) could get a job here, it would be for much much less money. And our parents are aging, and we have a (somewhat selfishly motivated, somewhat guilt induced) responsibility to them to be nearby and have access to the grandkids, etc. in the waning years.
Our official move date is June 30th 2007. Since we pay for all (most) of it using our personal dollars, we are doing the packing ourselves. It's also a good way to get rid of things. We look crosseyed at our stuff, and the really really cruddy stuff can go into the bin. The half-cruddy stuff we take with us, along with the really nice stuff, in the hope that it will be useful at least during the getting-used-to time directly after arrival, before we are really settled. [this usually takes us 2-3 years, but as we know the area and lots of people, should be somewhat shortened].
It is really amazing how difficult it is to extracate oneself from this place. Perhaps its like this everywhere where free market competition has not yet completely sunk its teeth in, but one signs onto lengthy multi-year contracts for services like telephone, electricity, rent, cellphone, tv tax (yes, there is a tax on every radio and TV one owns), sport club, etc. Its starting to get better with companies the likes of 'Alice' who offer telephone and internet services month to month, but on the whole, its still 25 years behind. To get out of a contract, you have to pay the base charge (grundgebuer) til the end of the current contract duration, and have to show three forms of proof. We had to show my 'employment contract' that shows I have to move to keep my job (which we had sort of anyway), the confirmation that we have actually de-registered from our residence (die Abmeldebestaetigung), and the confirmation that we have registered with the authorities in our new residence. Since we have no new residence, and the USA doesn't require or support a 'service' with which one registers when newly entering a community, well, we just faked one. Don't tell our sport club, who wouldn't let us out of the contract til we had shown them all 3 forms (we're actually not out yet, but we're in negotiations). Also we had to cancel our health insurance, which we had purchased extra because Xerox' health insurance for ex-pats, especially those not on the delux-package, is about as bad as, well, no insurance at all. OK, it does cover life threatening emergencies after the N-thousand dollar deductable, which is what insurance is really about anyway, i guess. Its just not that useful for the day to day trials one encounters with multiple small kids.
We sold the car. That was a nice surprise. Initially, we thought we'd just sell it back to Eduard Winter, the car dealer from whom we'd bought it. But they came back to us with such an incredibly low offer, that we were obliged to search other avenues. After just a day of posting on auto-scout24, a guy called us up and wanted to come over and look at it. These 2 Turkish guys came by (very nice, but I had still little concerns in the back of my mind), looked at the car, drove it around (a bit too roughly for my liking), then proceeded to tell me all that was wrong with it. After about 4 hours of dealing, we decided that he'd call me back and we'd talk more. He had threatened that he was going to have to drive to Holland the next day to get the same model, but 2 years newer with less miles. Then he called back, and offered me the same as he'd offered earlier. I said we would stick to our price, which was 500 Euro higher. He said "can't we come t0gether on this? Otherwise I'll have to drive all the way to Holland and get the nicer newer car". I said unfortunately not, and we hung up. He called back the next day, and came over to see the car again. After another 4 hour deal session, in which neither of us brought up the Holland thing, we had signed the sales contract. We met in the middle. What an adventure. Anyway, its gone, and we're done with that chapter.
We've been packing since Fritz' dad came in mid may. He was here a week and we made a concerted effort to get as much as possible into boxes, and/or torn down to flat pieces. On the last day, we even broke down the guest bed he stayed in. It was a very good start. The guest bedroom became the box and crud storage place. We have subsequently filled it to the breaking point. We have 129 square meters here, which equates to 1388.5 square feet, which is a little smaller than the house we left on Landing road when we left Rochester for California. Its not huge, but it is surprisingly full of stuff. Just by emptying the overhead storage places (which we can afford to have since the ceilings are 12 feet up, it filled all the hall space and overflowed into the living room and kitchen.
The movers come on the 22nd of June, which is this friday. Its now tuesday, and we really do have 2 more days of packing to do to be *ready*. So far, we have 71 boxes filled and labeled. Probably 10 more to go, but this doesn't count the furnature, of which most comes with (4 beds, sofa, armchairs, tables, etc.). We don't know if it will be used by us or not when we get there because we don't know where we will live. We've been driving real estate agents and friends and family crazy with requests to look at this property or that piece of land (we really want to build a passive solar house, but the dream is starting to fade in the face of all the other logistical headaches). Our latest offer on a house on East Brook Road in Pittsford very near to Jim's house and lots of other stuff was rejected by the Parkers who are holding out for the asking price. But its really not worth it. All the appliances are older than I am, and its a little small. The plot is huge though and gorgeous. And all grass, which he must spend hours a week tending to (which is not my thing, not to mention the emmisions from lawn mowers which are horrible, as with all things with 2-stroke engines).
posted by jackie and fritz at 5:19 AM
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