Globetrotting is an exercise in organization
People are already asking me if I'm excited by my impending move to Korea. Truth is, I've been far too busy to have time for a little excitement.
The sheer amount of stuff one accumulates, even in a short stay, is mind boggling. I've moved twice in the past year, and though I've pared down to what I consider the bare essentials each time, somehow a pile of ephemera grows in each new location.
For example, the torrent of bills we all receive every month in our mail is bad enough when all we have to do is pay them. But when you move, suddenly they show up in every nook and cranny of the household. You can't turn around without discovering yet another bill, and in my case the offending paper is just as likely to be from Edmonton or the Crow's Nest Pass. Or even better, you'll find some flyer or other advertisement that you've inexplicably been saving, and dragging along with you.
Then there's the whole issue of moving to another country. Getting your furniture shipped from one city to the next can be expensive, but at the end of the day you've got some furniture to sit and sleep on. If you're going overseas, you don't have that option. So out it all goes, whether through sales or by giving my stuff away.
The closer the moving-out date gets, the less of a grip sentiment and a pack-rat mentality have on you. Old toys? Gone. Comic books that might be worth something one day? Gone. Books I've been meaning to read for three years, but somehow never got around to? Off to the library they go.
Such was my frenzy to pare down and only take the essentials, I actually packed the watch I was currently wearing into a box. Don't ask me how I did it; it's all a bit of a blur.
Then there's the endless administrative noodling involved in moving. I have to cancel bills, change other bills so they get sent somewhere new, and try to squeeze in a few moments to research the strange new land I'm headed to. And you know, with an absolute certainty, that you've forgotten to rearrange something important. What that may be, you'll only find out once your feet have touched foreign soil.
And then there's dealing with governmental and other bureaucracies. Usually dealing with things like car insurance, taxes and the like are spaced out in long intervals. But when you move out of the country, you have to figure out a lot of things at the same time. What's my tax situation? What do I have to do with my car? Am I getting a refund on my insurance? Help!rnBut all these complications do have advantages. For one thing, once I've finally squared away the loose threads of my life in Canada, all I have to do is wait until I leave for Korea. Then I've got a whole new set of complications to deal with. But at least by then I'll have had time to get excited.
