Jay & Nicole Move from Israel
Sept 2011

(click any picture for an enlargement) 

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Our move was scheduled to occur in early September.  From previous experiences, we knew to get as much accomplished beforehand as possible.
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I had stored packing material and 50+ boxes from our previous move, so we could begin packing some things at any time.  Even though it caused quite a mess, I began to pack some un-used things about six weeks before the move ... in hindsight though, I should've started even sooner!  


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Another lesson learned from previous moves was to get as much cleaning done beforehand.  In the past we waited until all our stuff was moved out before we cleaned the floors and repaired the holes in the walls ... but then we didn't always have the proper cleaning materials or tools.
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This time I began early and systematically moved the furniture from parts of each room to clean the floors & walls.  It was shocking to see how much dirt had accumulated over the past 4 years in the untouched spots.  It was also tough to get rid of the lines that appeared when I moved the furniture and rugs.  By completing this work, after moving day all we had to do was a quick mop job.


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Overall the biggest effort was to identify the items that we:
  - couldn't take with us (plants, food, etc.)
  - didn't want to take with us (old or worn-out items )
  - will not able to use in Colombia (wrong voltage, etc.)
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Once the items were identified, I then tried to sell or give away as many of the items as possible.  I made a web page to display the items and luckily most things were dispensed of within a short period of time.
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I had put a lot of effort into our many plants, so it was important for me to find a new home for them.  Many of the plants were big and hard to move, so I decided to leave the auto-watering system ... that way any remaining plants would survive until a new tenant moved in.
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Below is our favorite "African cactus".  It was very small when we got it and each year it had spectacular growth spurts.  It came close to dying a few times and we had to nurse it back to health; it was thus worth the effort to wrap it up and cart it to Nicolas' place, where it seems to be doing well :)


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Nicolas took most of our plants ...
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... just an hour or so before we left ...
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... so he had to come right from work!
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We hope the plants like their adopted father; hopefully he will periodically send some "family  pictures" :)  

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Another task was to clean the hanging glass artwork in the entry-way.
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After cleaning the bottom part, we agreed that it was too dangerous to clean the other sections.  The last thing we needed before the move was a major injury!
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We also had to remind ourselves that we received the apartment in an "as is / dirty" condition.  This meant that we didn't need to clean much in order to leave it in a similar, or better, condition.


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Packing Day #1
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Background: We tried to get prepared for this day, but alas ... a few too many "goodbye get-togethers" and "last time to visit ... the beach, our favorite bar, etc." caused us to fall behind.  We still didn't have a solid idea of what needed to get packed and what didn't.  By now we should've clearly separated out the items which would stay in Israel (owners things, old stuff, plants, etc) and also the items which would go on the plane with us (things needed to live in Bogota until our container arrives) ... but unfortunately we didn't.
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We were told that four people would show up to pack our stuff; they'd take a day and a half to pack and a half-day to load the container.  We figured that they could start on the kitchen & living room, which had a lot of glass & decorations.  That would give us plenty of time to finish getting our personal stuff packed and to organize the bedroom & study areas ... it sounds like a good plan, right?
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On packing day, though, we were shocked when a whole mob showed up ... the boss ended up coming with five big guys and an old man.  He told the old guy to begin packing the glassware and then sent two guys to the study, two guys to the bedroom and he stayed in the living room with the other guy.
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Nicole and I looked at each other in shock as we dove into action.  Usually the packing people are used to working on their own, without any involvement by the owners.  Unfortunately, since we were not ready, we had to specifically point out the things that were ready to go. It was a mad frenzy and a mountain of boxes quickly began to rise!


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The process of us having to constantly tell them what to pack was frustrating for everyone, but it worked.  I have no idea why they always wanted to pack the little stuff that I was working on, when there were plenty of big items which could have kept them busy for hours.
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Anyway, around 11am, Nicole and I began to look forward to having some free time when they took a lunch break, since we didn't even have time for breakfast or even a coffee.  Our hearts, and stomachs, sank like bricks when they told us that they don't take breaks ... they like to work straight from 8:30 until 3:30 so that they can leave before traffic got bad ... arrgghh!


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At the end of their day, our place looks like a messy warehouse ... with boxes, paper, wrapping material, and scraps all over the place.  We looked forward to taking a nice long break on the terrace, but that was also full of stuff.
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We had planned to go to the beach for a sundowner, but we skipped it since we had a lot to do ... and we knew we would probably crash early.  Nicole organized her stuff and began cleaning.  I took apart a large Ikea wardrobe that I didn't trust them to do; the darn thing was harder to take apart than put together!  I also took apart some other cabinets that would cause them problems.  


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Packing Day #2
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We were expecting a big group again today, but only two guys showed up.  This made for an easy day for us ... but had we known, we would've went to the beach last night instead of working out butts off!  It is so frustrating to deal with so much miss-communication, but we have learned to live with it.
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With only two guys packing, it became obvious they would not finish by noon, which was when the container was supposed to show up to be loaded.  The boss stopped by to explain that he needed to get a larger container, since we had more stuff than they had estimated.  It would thus be easier for his crew to just finish packing today and then load the container tomorrow.  This upset our plans, as we had an appointment with the vet the next morning to get the cat's travel papers.  After a little argument, we gave in and would have to trust them to do their job in our absence ... which is totally acceptable.
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While the guys worked downstairs, I took the bed apart in the upstairs bedroom.  Afterwards, they came up to the bedroom and finished wrapping everything on this level.  There were a lot of big items and I was worried that they would hurt something, or themselves, taking them down the stairs ... luckily they had a brilliant plan ... which you soon shall see.


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Since the workers could only write in Hebrew, I had to begin the process of making the packing list.  At least the guy I worked with was OK;  he accepted my offer of a beer while we marked and recorded the contents of each box.
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I then took a guy down to the garage and he wrapped up the bikes, two cabinets and some loose wood that I wanted to take along.  I am hoping this stuff will be useful in Bogota ... which probably will be like Caracas, where cabinets and pieces of wood were expensive.  I had already pre-packed our sports stuff & tools ... things were beginning to look pretty good ... time for another beer!


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At the end of the 2nd day of packing, they had finished all three levels, the terrace and the garage.  We then had the evening to review stuff and clean/repair.  They left a few empty boxes for us, where we could put the vacuum and other tools that we wanted to use until the last moment.  Tomorrow they would seal up the last boxes and proceed with loading the container.
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Overall, we were tired & felt like we lived in a pack-rat hole ... whatever that is!


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Loading Day
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We got up early and had a decent breakfast, as we knew today would probably be a difficult one.  We got concerned when the moving guys arrived up in a white truck already at 7am.  It turned out they arrived early to block the street; whenever a car would leave, they would put a barrier up to make room for their equipment and the container.  By 8am they had blocked the street ... then a strange-looking truck showed up.


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The truck turned out to have a lift machine attached to it.  Their plan was to extend the lift, over the road, and attach it to one of our balconies.  They would then load everything from that floor; no carrying things down stairs ... brilliant!
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The truck with the big container then showed up and parked by the lift truck.  They extended the lift to the top-most of our balconies and attached it.  The big guys appeared at our door, went upstairs and began to load the platform.


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The people from the neighborhood stopped and watched in amazement as the platform was repeatedly lowered, over the passing traffic, to the guys waiting at the bottom ... who would then load the stuff directly into the container.
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It almost looked like this was an amusement park ride!


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We had to leave and take our cat to a government vet ... in some town that we had never been to before.  We had a little difficulty finding the place, but quickly got the forms needed to take the cat out of the country.  Surprisingly, some things really do work smoothly in this country!
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We returned home to find that they had already finished the top and middle floors, and were working on the bottom floor.  This process seemed to work pretty good, and supposedly they hadn't dropped anything onto the street!  The container was filling up quite rapidly ... but there was still a lot of space.


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Nicole surveyed the top and middle floors and gathered up the last-minute items, as well as some that had been forgotten.  A worker quickly boxed them up and took them to the lower floor for loading.  The place was beginning to look rather empty.  Oh yeah, they had to get the stuff from the garage too!


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After noon, the last item was being taken down the lift.  We could feel a large weight being taken off our shoulders, as the most stressful part of the move was almost over ... whew!


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The container was sealed and driven away; it was time for happy hour!

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The next day we delivered the last of items we sold, had a goodbye lunch near the embassy, and then rushed back to hand off the car to a towing company.  The car will be placed into a separate container, but will hopefully follow the container ... all scheduled to arrive in Cartagena in two months.  At that time we will see how the retrieval process works to get everything to Bogota.


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We cleaned and repaired things for the next entire day.  We then packed up our things, put the cat in the box, said goodbye to Jaffa and were picked up for the trip to the airport.  The check-in process took forever and we just barely made the flight, even though it was delayed.
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We connected in Frankfurt and then had a nice flight to Bogota.  The airport there was quite hectic, but we got through passport control, retrieved our bags, picked up the cat (who was set down next to the bags) and cleared customs with only few hassles.  An embassy person met us and took us to our nice hotel ... which will be a different story ... coming soon.
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Goodbye Israel .... Hello Colombia!