March 16th is evidently Christmas at the Morris household here in China! We’ve never been so thrilled to see our own things before!!! The air shipment arrived, intact. 5 guy crew to offload 31 boxes (seemed excessive, but then again one guy had to be “official”, one guy had a bag of tools that he never used, 2 guys did moving, and one guy “drove”). Also, our compound security force (red beret and all – looks like a Chinese Delta-Force ranger or something) was along too; JUST to be sure everything was ok (we like that part, by the way). Interestingly enough, the original register said only 30 boxes left our house by air, 31 showed up, but they WERE all our own boxes… They offered to unpack for us…tomorrow. Today was delivery only (it was 4pm when they dropped the boxes off). Then we had a little spat with the guy because he wanted us to sign the inventory list, next to a label that said (in English) “By signing the owner indicates they have counted, inspected, and indicated any damage to items in the space provided above.” We didn’t want to sign that without, you know, inspecting for damage. We told the guy he could come back tomorrow, and we’d sign it (with any damage noted)… So we got the relocation “agent” on the phone, who was quite adamant that we needed to sign the paper “indicating receipt.” We tried explaining that the form didn’t say “acknowledge receipt” but rather “accepting receipt and condition.” After 20 minutes of assurances that we could file damage claims later next week if necessary, we finally caved and signed the damn thing. We weren’t too crazy about it though!
We, of course, didn’t wait for them to come back to get started opening things. Everything was unpacked within an hour of arrival!! Mason was ecstatic that some of his toys made it (rubber balls and his prized stuffed sheep!). Vannah was even more euphoric as her alphabet train, toy kitchen, and Mr. Potato Head arrived (who doesn’t love Mr. Potato Head?!?!?). She was in her own bliss for a good couple of hours while we opened, unpacked, and trashed the packing paper… Tools, “new” clothes, and some basic kitchenware rounded out the wondrous event!
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| Mason found one of his toys!! |
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| Looking for more |
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| Play kitchen...she only had this for a week before we left Houston |
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| ABC train from Aunt Amanda and Uncle BJ that she loves!! |
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| Joe's tools |
Our personal inventory list of what was supposed to go air didn’t quite match the actual arrivals (as we were afraid)… The worst thing : power transformers… For the handful of 110V items we brought (or sent), we had a couple converters coming too… by air (so we thought)… No sign of them. We had sent the power drill along for the ride, to make baby-gate, baby proof, decorating a little easier… There is a little juice in the pair of batteries… but alas, once they’re out… we’re kaput… So we’re saving the “screwing” for the baby-gates only, then any other baby proof needs, THEN to hang… We might break down and buy a transformer here (the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry…) There was also supposed to be a box of diapers and some wipes in the air shipment…no such luck! We’ll be trying Chinese Pampers this week since we are down to about 20 diapers that we brought from home.
We put together Savannah’s bed – Toddler bed version (not crib)… She loved her new bed! At least during awake time. She went to sleep in it with some struggles, but did actually sleep. That is until just after 3 am when she wanted some mother-reinforcement. For night #1 (after 6 weeks of sharing a bed with us due to no-crib available), she didn’t do too bad… We have a long way to go still though…
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| Big girl bed!! |
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| His 2 favorite toys---his sheepie and a ball! |
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