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Friday, August 1, 1997
Moving: day one
When I came back from bringing away Annabel, and replying some
emails at the office, at about quarter to 10 in the morning,
my parents already had arrived. After stuffing some additional
things in the cars, we left for our new house. When we arrived
there the front door was wide open. Only after about 10 minutes
the previous owners arrived, and we checked the house, and
left for the notarial office. There we signed the contracts
and did some shopping. When we came back at our car, we found
a parking ticket on the car. We totally had forgotten that
we might have to pay. It was not very obvious that you had to pay.
This is one of these streets where there are machines standing
where you have to buy a ticket that you are supposed to put
behind the window screen.
At the house my mother was busy
cleaning the kitchen, and my father started
to take off the wallpaper in our bedroom.
I helped my father until we went home. It is a strange
feeling to be working a strange house with the idea in your
mind that you are going to live there the next years.
(Yes, how many years?)
At home Li-Xia had prepared a
typical Dutch dish: Cauliflower
with boiled potatoes and some beef. After dinner all of us,
except my father, went back to the new house. It was the
first time for Annabel to go to the new house. I continued
with removing the wallpaper and finished the longest wall,
and my mother completed cleaning the living room.
Saturday, August 2, 1997
Moving: day two
Today, we almost spend the whole day at the new house.
We removed the last wall paper, and then we still had
to remove all the small left over bits, which turned out
to be still a lot of work. But finally we finished everything.
My mother continued cleaning everything.
Li-Xia and I went shopping, and while
walking around in the
local supermarket, I felt like being on a holiday, like the
first day you are in a new place, investigating the shops
and figuring out where to buy what. I hope that moving to
the new house will start as a holiday.
When we came home we were all exhausted, and we all, except
Li-Xia, felt asleep right after dinner. About one and half
hour we continued. Together with my mother I cleaned some
of the rubbish on our store room in the attic of the building,
which is on the fifth floor. Some of my former roommates have
more or less accidently left some belongings behind it seems.
Sunday, August 3, 1997
Moving: day three
Early in the morning, my mother left for the new house
to continue cleaning. I went to church and took Annabel
along. My father and Li-Xia stayed at home.
Then in the afternoon, I drove to the new house with my father
and Annabel in the car.
There Diane, a lady from our church, had already arrived.
She was going to help us with putting on the wall paper.
But when I saw the wall paper, I noticed that it was
different from the sample we had seen. The print was
the same but the relief was different. Must be some
mistake from the factory, as the rolls had the right
number. After I had got Li-Xia, who had stayed behind
to wash the curtains, we decided that we would go back
to the shop tomorrow, and try to get the right paper.
So we did not any wall papering, and instead did some
small things. I install our computer, which I had brought
to the new house this day. Both computers worked fine,
after I had reinstalled them. And then I wrote this
entry. This really proves I am a real nerd: The
first thing I bring to the new house is the computers.
Monday, August 4, 1997
Moving: day four
Today was all about wall paper. Earlier in the morning,
Li-Xia and
I drove all around town to visit the three branches of the shop
where we had bought our wall paper to see
if any had the correct wall paper, but to no avail. We only found
the wall paper, just like our, which had the wrong kind of relief
with the correct print. We did find the wall paper with the same
kind of relief and the corresponding print. We decided to stick
with our original wall paper, and accept the fact that it has
the wrong relief.
Diane arrived at the appointed time, and the rest of the day she
spend putting on the wall paper. In the morning I gave her hand
with cutting into the right kind of pieces, taking care that
the patterns matched. Then around noon, after Li-Xia and I had
done some shopping, we went home, and spend the whole afternoon
with more packing, and cleaning up our store room downstairs.
Li-Xia prepared for use a typical Chinese dinner with a bean
dish, a aubergine dish, a fish dish, and a fish-stick dish (my
favourite). There was plenty left for tomorrow. After the dinner
my father and I went back to the new house to help Diane again,
who had taken a break to go home and have dinner with her family.
Meanwhile, Li-Xia continued to do some more packing at home. I
am not afraid that we will not be able to finish in time, but
I am becoming aware of the fact that unpacking will take a lot
of time...
Tuesday, August 5, 1997
Moving: fifth day
This morning, My father and I went early to the new house to be ready
in case somebody would come early. But, of course, it turned out
to be completely useless. We are already waiting for almost an hour.
The people who were going to lay the carpet were said to come at
half past nine. They have not arrived yet. Also the new furniture,
a table and a cupboard, have not been delivered yet.
16:23
The carpet people came around 11, and finished their job quite fast.
We are still waiting for the delivery of the new furniture. I just
phoned the delivery company. They say it could even be around seven
before they come. Waiting is very frustrating.
Li-Xia and my mother
are almost ready at home (the old home) with packing everything.
Flowers
I just received some flowers from the faculty to congratulate me
with the new house. How nice. It is now half past five, and
the furniture has not arrived yet.
18:15
They finally came. Now we are going home for dinner, and return
afterwards to put the cupboard together.
The cupboard
Li-Xia and I spend the whole night with putting the cupboard
together. It was after eleven before we returned home.
Wednesday, August 6, 1997
Moving: day six
The big cupboard for our bed room arrived quite early.
With the help of my father, it was not very difficult to
put it together. We finished around one in the afternoon.
My sister Gerda, and her husband and two sons arrived
around noon. They brought a lawn mower, and some other
utilities for the garden, which I need now I have a garden.
They also brought a bed, the old bed of Rik their son, which
will be the new bed for Annabel, after we have bought a
new matrass. At dinner time, we bought some Chinese take-away
food. In the evening we went back to the old house, and
put some more things in boxes and such. Our last night
in the old house.
Thursday, August 7, 1997
Moving: day seven. The big move
We woke up around seven in the morning, and immediately started
with doing more packing, and removing of curtains and such.
About 15 minutes after eight, the people of the moving company
arrived with a big van. It took us less than three hours to
get everything into the van. Then we left for the new house.
Around half past three everything was inside the new house.
The moving people very quickly understood that almost half of
the things should go to the attic. I am afraid we will spend
at least a week before all the boxes are unpacked, and the
contents stored at the proper place. And of course, many things
are still lost. We simply have forgotten in which box we had
put them.
Tonight we will sleep in the new house for the first time.
When earlier this evening, I was putting my things in my
bedside, I got this feeling you sometimes have when getting
ready for going to bed in your hotel room.
The weather has been nice today, maybe a little too nice.
Sometimes it was a little too hot. I enjoyed sitting
outside in the garden in the evening very much. The idea
of being able to do this often makes me happy. It really is
a big mess in the house.
Friday, August 8, 1997
Moving: day eight
Li-Xia stayed at home today unpacking the boxes. We, my parents
and I, went to the old house in order to clean it. We had
to remove all the old carpets, and cleaned the attic. In the
afternoon I went to my office some time, and worked a little
on the DBPL paper.
Saturday, August 9, 1997
Moving: day nine
We searched for a specific cupboard that would fit between
the refrigerator and the wall, and which could carry our
microwave. We visited several shops, and to our surprise
we did find a cupboard with six little drawers.
In the evening we went to the bistro restaurant `La cuisine'
here in Enschede, because we had got a discount coupon from
the company that took care for our mortgage. Only when the
bill came, the informed us that discount coupons are not
accepted on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays. This was
rather a disappointment to me. Now we have to go there
another time.
Wednesday, August 13, 1997
Being in love
Li-Xia, my wife, asked me to
throw away some old clothes
in some clothes recycle/reuse container in the shopping
centre. She had put the clothes in two bags in the car.
When I got out the bags, I noticed that one contained
a black/red pull-over that she used to wear often after
we had just met. I felt this choking feeling in my
throat, and did not throuw away the bag. She should
keep those clothes, no matter how old they get
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