Our Stuff is Here

When we arrived our three suitcases that were shipped over were already in the house.  So once we'd pulled up, gotten the tour and signed for everything (after travelling for over two days) I started to unpack.  It was 11 pm Singapore time, but I started to get stuff in cupboards.

 Mark and I were still on that 'sleep deprivation high' so whilst he was downstairs looking at everything again I tipped out 5 suitcases onto the bed and started making order again.

I was pretty frightened incase Mark came up the stairs at that point and saw the mess I had made.  Especially as only one bed was made up for us and had bedding on it.

I started to find all of the t-shirts, then fold them and put them away, then I took all of the long sleeved shirts and put them in one wardrobe and the short sleeved ones in another.  I knew the t-shirts wouldn't need ironed, but I hung up all of the shirts even though they needed to have an iron put over them again before Mark headed into work. 

 I'm quite proud of the order I started to make, however half way through I got really sleepy.

 So tea was made and I just kept going, and going, and going.....

When I thought I could start to see the bed under everything I called Mark away from whatever he was doing so that he could marvel at my progress.

 Luckily It took him a little while to come upstairs..

 as every time I turned around there was more and more stuff...

 It was on the floors, the drawers, under the bed....how did things get kicked under the bed already?

 But slowly....

 very slowly....order came about.  I am such a pinterest addict that I found a 'new' way to fold t-shirts.  It works better if instead of piling them on top of each other to lay them out more like shops and lay them up instead of flat.  This made sense at 1.30 am so lets just see how long I keep on top of it.

 Finally all of the empty suitcases were put in the hall ready to be packed into one of the cupboards.

Autumn in Aberdeenshire

I am taking full advantage of this being my last autumn in Aberdeenshire for quite a while.  Our plan has always been to use up our holidays whilst in Singapore on seeing places we'd never seen before, so although I love this corner of the world, I wont be visiting for a little while.  

Although I've moaned about moving about so much in such a short space of time, most of the places we've lived in have been wonderful.  It's quite odd that this place is the cheapest of them all and its the 4 Star hotel.  We're in quite a predicament living in Aberdeen where hotels, even the worst of the worst, are expensive and you have to normally go over thirty miles out of town to get a place that will accept pets.  

When we thought we'd have to move down to Exeter for a little while we found loads and loads of lovely, inexpensive places that would accept Daisy dog.  However, we are here and I am making the most of it!

I love my walks with Daisy around the grounds.  We've been walking around the perimeter of the gardens, and then down to the walled garden.  There are still lots of apples on the trees and I'm finding lots of good conkers.

It's not all rest and relaxation though.  Today we managed to get some sweets to our old neighbours and visit my friends parents.  The weather turned horrible in the afternoon so we had to fly about the countryside in torrential rain.  My friend Catherine lives on the other side of the country, so seeing as we can't get there to drop of presents, and seeing as I thought I would be visiting and therefore bought heavy things it worked out quite well we could go visiting.  We bought some cakes from the baker and headed out to their cosy home.  Daisy came along too of course and played with their dogs and then we took them all out together.

I stayed chatting for longer than I should have as we had to rush back to the hotel as I was meeting Natalie and Holly there for afternoon tea.  I was glad they were able to see the hotel, but it was such a pity the weather had turned so awful.  The afternoon tea was actually not at all like it was the first time and such a disappointment.  It was so different, plain and made up of leftovers from breakfast.

Although it was upsetting that I had invited people to a place I thought would be nice and it was not, the afternoon was so lovely.  Holly gave me a wooden westie ornament and a really nice card.  Mark got a whiskey glass and some traditional Scottish cookery books (although I do think they'll be handed to be with bookmarks in them).

When I get back to Aberdeen I am looking forward to getting all my muddy clothes cleaned and looking good.  The one bad thing about hotels is that I can't just get my laundry done and all this walking has left me looking like a tatty scarecrow!

Rolling Stone

Mark and I both woke up with stinking colds this morning, me at 3.15am and Mark shortly after.  We’ve been having dinner this week with my family as we have now moved into our second hotel during this move.  It’s been nice seeing everyone, but everyone is so very ill that we seem just to be passing the same bug around each other.  My Mums been looking after Daisy Dog and taking her for little walks in our absence - although I don’t think Mum is as tolerant of Daisy’s naughty streak!

Goodbye pretty beach apartment

The hotel is a little old and dated, but it’s the closest one to my family that accepts pets and is near to town and it’s for these things that I’m trying to be grateful.

The countdown is on for my last days at work which makes me sad about leaving everyone and such a great team, but also excited for what’s to come.  The girls in the office are having a leaving party for me and then we should hopefully be having another ‘Leaving Do’ which everyone will be invited to pop into.  I say hopefully because we may be leaving Aberdeen the day after I leave work, which just proves that things are getting really difficult to organise.

Let’s hope things start coming together soon!

Just waiting now

Daisy loves having a corner apartment to look out of

Mark and I are playing the waiting game now that we are in temporary accommodation and have no possessions or house to our name.  The hardest thing was definitely finding a place to live that would accept our little Daisy dog, so now that we have we shouldn’t complain too much that we have to move every week to another flat or hotel.  We’ve been a week in our current place and the novelty of town hasn’t worn off yet.  I’ve not been sleeping very well as the bed in so small and uncomfortable, but I love that I can wake up later and get into work at the same time.  We move on Sunday to our second hotel and then a little after that back into another apartment on the other side of town.  We still don’t have any flights booked  and we don’t know if we’ll even be in Aberdeen at the end of the month.  This is making planning my Leaving Do really quite difficult (I know this might sound spoilt, but these are my best friends and colleagues…). 

I feel really sorry for Daisy right now who is being such a trooper and not getting worked up or upset by all of this.  I think Daisy and I are just coming along for the ride with this trip as we are the last to know about anything that’s happening.  Mark is getting more and more work to do ahead of the move, and so whilst he is really busy with that Daisy and I have been going on plenty of nice walks and exploring each new area we live in.

I’m also playing the waiting game at work where I’m not being given any new work and so I have reverted back to plodding through older stuff and sorting files-you know the stuff you normally do at the end of the year?  It was never really super, super exciting, but this is just too samey.  I work as a project assistant right now and one of the projects that the team I work in was working on was accommodation for those who need more help getting back into society.  It’s such a pity I’m not going to be here to see it finished.

I leave work on Halloween and really hope that we’ll move right after that, I don’t want to be unemployed as well, I will have nothing to do seeing as I can’t even plan ahead for Christmas.  Who knows, we might not even have left the UK by then!

What does Daisy think of Moving?

Daisy has been taking all of her moves very well.  Before all of this Singapore talk she moved three times (5 if you include from her Westie Mummys and then her first family to her forever home with us).

 So I think Daisy is taking it better than me to be honest.  We love that our new place has a bit corner window.  Daisy and I can sit on the floor and watch the dark storm weather roll in over the sea whilst being cosy and safe!

 "Daisy, turn around, let us see you!"

"You know Mum, I like planning our next walk from up here, I can see exactly how far along the beach I want to walk!"

Temporary Home and a Very Good Treat

When we arrived at the hotel after moving out of our old house we were both exhausted and to be honest a little bit hyper.  It really hit home that we were moving away, that I wouldn’t see my possessions for a couple of months and that I was going to be unemployed in twenty days.  Mark had taken a half day with work needed to make some calls and suggested we ordered a sandwich from room service.  One perk was that we were staying in a really beautiful hotel which worked out much cheaper than travelling into Aberdeen straight away.  

However, after so much stress in the last two days I came over a little high maintenance and with a little persuasion from me, Mark agreed that we’d have afternoon tea in the drawing room.  All I meant to say was that I didn’t like the look of any of the sandwiches.  I don’t normally eat anything at lunch time, but after a hectic morning and long walk I really wanted something.  I therefore (and this is my story so I’m sticking to it) needed something tastier than a boring old sandwich.  In my defence, Mark didn’t need too much convincing!  

We settled down in the drawing room-which we were allowed to take Daisy into and I read a paper whilst Mark got some work done.  As we had only just missed the official ‘afternoon tea time’ they had to go power up the ovens to make us a fresh batch of everything.  I happily waited and had a look around our grand old country house for the evening before our tea came.  After Daisy and I had eaten way more than we should have I took her for another long walk in the beautiful gardens and then had a nap before Dinner.  I certainly think we’ve deserved it!

Moving Day

the path near the house

 Well, that was it!  Mark and I are officially homeless, we no longer call anywhere in Aberdeen or Aberdeenshire our home and are vagabonds!  Yesterday the movers came and started packing up all of our belongings.  They took about 6 hours on the first day and got the majority of work done.  Mark had been really stressed out by the move before yesterday, but on Monday it was my turn to freak out good and proper. 

our old view

some of our old neighbours

Mark had worried that there wasn’t enough done or cleared away in time for them packing up.  We had a car boot sale a couple of weeks ago and had gotten rid of quite a lot of junk that I had kept about the house.  I’d also put a car full of clothes away to a charity shop so I certainly think we’d tried our best to shed the excess junk we inevitably carry around on each move.

looking back towards our house

However part of this good work was undoubtedly undone when on the previous night I insisted on going to Tesco to stock pile toothpaste, shampoo and conditioner.  Mark got carried away too and we bought 12 shaving sticks for him as well as some razors.  I’m more than sure Singapore has these things, but I’ve heard they can be on the expensive side.

Look Mum, sheep!

I remember thinking that this would be the easiest move so far, but oh my gosh was I wrong.  Mark found me at one point hiding in the garage (it is just TOO weird to have people you don’t know pack up everything you own in the world and take it away from you whilst you make them cups of tea and stand awkwardly in your own ‘home’).  

My Uncle came over to pick something up once the movers had left for the day so we had to entertain in an empty and extremely un-cosy/welcoming house!  There were a couple of odd glasses left in a drawer the movers hadn’t gotten too, and as we’d been running down stores in anticipation of the move we broke into a box of chocolates that we were going to give to our neighbours.  (Don’t worry, we will replace them!)

The next day was a little better, one- because Mark was here for the whole day and the movers spent less time with us and two- because since the TV was one of the first things to be packed up we headed off to bed super early.  Mark let me abandon ship and I got to take Daisy dog out for a nice long walk.  It was a gorgeous sunny day and a real treat to be at home on such a day.  When I worked part time I used to always grab my camera and go on great long walks along beaches and hillsides at our old house, so being able to take an autumnal stroll and find new paths to follow calmed me down no end.

Once the movers had pulled out of the drive (for the second time-they originally left something behind and we had to call them back!) the postman came with my Halloween swap parcel from my other blog.  I opened up all of my little packages and was really touched by how thoughtful and beautiful the handmade items were. 

We then ran about picking up any rubbish, vacuuming and dusting so that we wouldn’t have much to do when we came back to clean it up officially for the handover back to the landlord.  After a busy couple of days we were more than happy to quickly pack up our few remaining belongings and headed off to the hotel we’d be spending the night in.  Let me just say I was very ready for someone else to do the cooking and take care of us!

Moving continued (Temporary Accomodation)

Daisy trying not to stress

As part of our proposed moved we knew we would have to move out of our house as there would be nothing it in!

My employer agreed to 30 days temp Accomodation. The movers and packers are coming on Monday and Tuesday. This means that we have a hotel n Tuesday night as our serviced apartment was not available until Wednesday. We are moving into the city which Sheila is delighted with. Means that we will have every facility on our door step!

We have a busy weekend ahead getting everything ready for the movers but it should then be plain sailing from mid next week!

Lists

Whilst Mark has been really busy organising things for the move, i.e. the actual move and how it will be choreographed, I’ve been really busy organising a list of things I want to do in Singapore when we finally get there.  (I’ve got priorities too you know…)  Having went to library school I am an avid reader and a supporter of libraries in general and public ones specifically.  I have ordered up every book in the system on Malaysia, Asia and Singapore.  I want to know about the cultures and religions in Asia, places to visit, the history and pretty much anything else I can find.  I have a list of places I want to visit from local parks and architecture to trips we can seemingly easily make to further away destinations.

I’ve also been reading up on the area we’ll be living in, and trying to find out more about that.  It’s in an area that has lots of educational establishments and which I think might keep me a bit connected with home seeing as from the ages of 4 to 24 I was in education and then worked in public libraries attached to schools afterwards.  I always make resolutions for the New Year in September and not January as I’m so used to new beginnings in autumn.  So being the true geek that I am I have been trying to find out about our new neighbourhood so we can ‘hit the ground running’ and not feel out of place for too long. 

I found out that someone holds a tour in it which is quite exciting and makes me really hope it’s nice, although I don’t think it’s a real ‘black and white’ like they say in the tour.  I kind of get the impression someone has just taken some black paint to a nice house!  However, it is still a really nice house and I love that our new home is connected to nature and I get to have a garden.  I also found a blog that mentioned walking routes in the area and so will try to have a walk when I am more used to the heat.  We don’t have a pool like Marks colleague does, but Mark has been looking up how easy it will be to build one when we’re out there.  For something we will use every single day I don’t think it will be that expensive.

I’m quite glad that we aren’t having to pick a place to live ourselves as we had originally thought.  It seemed to get quite stressful and was a lot of pressure to choose a home for the next two years from the other side of the world.  All decisions are being taken out of our hands and we can focus on getting ourselves (and belongings) over in one piece.            

Time will tell

Hello, Hello, Sheila here I thought I would actually do a post instead of lurking around just reading lots of Singapore blogs and letting Mark do all the writing.  I have been extremely touched by some kind emails I have received whenever I have commented on peoples blogs.  I have been given lots of advice, or more links to help us and offers of trips and tours so that I can start to find my way even though I’m far from family.

I thought I would list out some things I am excited about and worried about in the hope that all of the exciting things don’t disappoint and all of the things that cause concern turn out to be irrational…here goes:

Things I am worried about:

1.    I really hope that I can start to meet people and form friendships, as I have a really good circle of friends here in Scotland.

2.    I’m freaking out in case I ‘get’ culture shock and end up quite irrational.  This post from The Expat Bostonians explains and I don’t want to  look back at this amazing opportunity and remember being cross and unhappy.

3.    Our little dog Daisy who I really hope doesn’t get too upset on the move.

Our little cottage

Things I am excited about:

1.    The opportunity to travel to amazing destinations we would never have visited from Scotland.  I can’t wait to take full advantage of the airport and ferry links.

2.    Living in the biggest house I’ve ever stayed in.

3.    Being in  a big city.

4.    Being able to save more money for wherever we eventually buy a home of our own.

Movers, Moving, Moved........

We have moved house a couple of times in the past and this move was gong to be a lot less stressful as it was being looked after by other people.

However, in reality its not really stressful (yet) but there is so much paperwork to be completed and emailed or faxed etc.

We are going to relocate some of our possessions with the remaining going in to storage. My car is being moved and the most important item to be relocated is little Dasiy the Westie.

Her process kicks off this Friday where she will get her first of a series of injections and her passport will be applied for.

Thing really are moving forward fast now and with less than 10 weeks to go its going to fly past!