Our HHE arrived!!! Happy Day!

The wonderful news finally came that our HHE had arrived!  We shipped 6,000 lbs. from Virginia back at the end of September, so its taken about 3 1/2 months to get here.  The "slow boat to China" has taken on new meaning for us. :)  I didn't know how it was all going to fit in this particular apartment, but since we converted Rhea's room to a storage room, we have extra space to store luggage, holiday decorations, camping gear that we plan on using on the beach many times here, etc.  

For a little while, the packers helped me unpack some of the consumables boxes.  I found on of them frequently looking at the products to try and figure out what they were.  I'm sure he was thinking, "We have shampoo here.  Why did she have to ship it all the way to Angola?" :) The  honest answer is that the quality of products here is not as good.  I used locally made shampoo and it felt like my hair had a new layer of something on it after I washed it out.  It felt dirtier.  I had to find imported stuff, and of course the cost increases substantially.

I found it funny that when these workers were waiting for more boxes to come up the elevator, they were always standing in front of our Christmas card wall staring and talking together about the pictures.  One of them finally asked me what these pictures were for.  I explained that they were pictures and cards from family and friends to wish us a Merry Christmas; an end of the year tradition that we do.  They still had a look of confusion on their faces.  I asked them if they send Christmas cards at the end of the year to their families and friends, to which they replied, "No."  Thus, the look of confusion.  It had not occurred to me until this conversation, that the annual Christmas card/family newsletter is not a worldwide tradition.  :) Tonight Briant brought home 15 more Christmas cards that arrived today, so we're enjoying seeing the faces of our friends and family every day and to feel that the distance between us has decreased!

Unpacking the kitchen boxes.  Finally we had our cookie sheets, garlic press, crockpot, electric can opener, nice cooking pans, spatulas, tupperware, more than 5 forks, spoons, plates, cups, etc.!!  We would have bought some things here except that the prices are outrageous and I couldn't justify spending the money.  I found a "cookie sheet" that was basically a 9x13 pan that was $35, but it was not $35 quality, nor would it have fulfilled my needs.  Unfortunately the box with measuring spoons and measuring cups, oven mitts, pot holders, and drink pitchers did not show up.  Guess it was left in Virginia in the warehouse.  We're grateful for the internet and amazon! We just have to wait 3 weeks for the mail to arrive.  Which is totally fine because talking to the missionaries here, they actually have to pay the post office in order to get their things and it could be a lot of money for a small package.  We're very grateful for the government pouch.  :)

Setting up some of our consumables that we were allowed to have shipped here with the laptop playing some tunes to help push us through the end of a long day of unpacking.  The consumables will help quite a bit with the cost of groceries and will give us tastes from home.  It wouldn't be a big deal to go without Mrs. Butterworth's syrup or Jiffy peanut butter if we were only going to be out of the country for a few years.  But with spending a career living abroad, we like to have some "familiar" from home in countries that are "foreign." 

12 hours after the first boxes showed up, my back was sorer than sore and my legs were exhausted from being on my feet all day moving things around and unpacking.  But I was so grateful to have our things finally here that I couldn’t help but smile.

Have we survived without our stuff?  Yes.  Could we continue to survive without our stuff?  Yes.  But we sure enjoy having some of our friends here with us (namely books and our favorite knick knacks, pictures, and artwork), to make it feel more like our OWN home.  

I was grateful for the movers that came back the next day to pick up all of the cardboard!