Big Day - Shipping

The Big Day will be fifteen degree today, and our twenty years of stuff will be packed and loaded into this orange colour 20 foot container in front of our front yard! How exciting it is! Now I am waiting for the packing crew to arrive any minute now.

Ready to Ship

Finally, after four weeks of selecting, shorting and recycling, our household is ready to be shipped in two days! To decide to ship or to give away for each single item is not an easy task, I tell you. Sometimes I found myself lost by going through hills of documents of twenty years. We have too much of materials in North America. Our household will take about 70% of the volume of a 20 foot container that will be on the Canadian Pacific Railways to Vancouver and on a steam ship. So next time when you see a CP train passing downtown Calgary or Bowness Park, one of the contains might be ours. An average Canadian household needs two 20’ containers. We’ve decided to give away six couches, two chests, one amour, two coffee tables, two twin beds, four computer desks, one dining set, four bikes, four bookshelves and many many dust collectors that could’ve taken another container. Now I understand the Arabs’ saying: “Less is more.” It is hard to move to the other side of the planet with so much stuff, let alone to heaven.

Valentines Card and Old Letters

ExploreMan's Valentine's card has been on the road for thirty days before I found it today in our Calgary mail box! He sent it from Kuwait! Even though it was so late, I am very excited to see it. Nowadays with the high speed internet, no one would bother to send letters with stamps anymore, I guess, at least I have not done that for years and years. The feeling of waiting for a hand-written wrinkled letter from far just can not be replaced by the virtue eCard from the figure tip. Not at all. Even the stamp with the post seal is so special to a receiver.

While I am totally worn out from the shipping preparation, I truly enjoy reading the letters and poems I wrote and copied to ExploreMan everyday (everyday - I can not believe I did that!) when we started dating back in 80's. (Yes, we are really old dinosaurs.) I still remember that my school dorm roommate was my loyal messenger delivering the letters to ExploreMan every single morning, as the school did not encourage the students to date. When ExploreMan and I parted later in different countries for three years, it was those letters only that connected us. Hopes, fears, joy and stress were all sealed in the blue and red edged envelopes, flying over the Pacific Ocean. A letter would have spent fifteen days on the road. Now, we talk twice a day on the internet, we see each other twice a week on the internet, and we send numerous emails each day with photo attachment. Things are totally different now!

My mother wrote to me many letters after I moved to Canada and before she parted from this planet. I have kept all the letters and envelopes (with beautiful stamps) my father wrote for her. It is not easy to read them again without crying.

My elder son was quite nosy with my old letters and tried to read them. After I forbidding him, he said his Chinese was not good enough to read them. What a difference between text messaging and writing letters! Will he write letters to his future girlfriend?

Comfort Zone

ExploreMan sent me this picture naming "I do not know this". Since I've done some intensive research and analysis on Kuwait via Internet and books, surely I know what it is. Do you know?

Unlike my elder son Doudou, my younger son Niuniu did not want to move to Mideast, as he likes his school and friends, and I guess he may have fear of leaving his comfort zone, even though both of them said they could not wait to learn Arabic. One of the promises we made to promote his willingness of moving is to get a cat or a bunny for him. ExploreMan send this picture to Niuniu to show him that Kuwait has nutella too! People do have fear in changes, uncertainties and risks , and one of the comforts is to see or taste something familiar with in the new environment. Sticky rice balls are my comfort food for me when I miss China.