Posts made in February, 2009

I am done for the day

Posted by vienna on Feb 27, 2009 in Home and Family | 7 comments

So I am now taking a break… that means I have this short time to publish a short entry.

*piles of boxes in our guestroom, dining room, and living room

The picture shows how far I am with the packing and I am pleased because I think I was able to catch up with my packing schedule today. That means, I can have a relaxing weekend.

I was also able to book and have our flights confirmed (finally!).

I will be leaving on the 6th of March and that means no blogging until I am back. After our trip, we’ll go back to Shanghai and fly from here to Austria.

Packing

Posted by vienna on Feb 26, 2009 in Home and Family | 0 comments

I thought ironing is the thing I hate doing the most but I was wrong.

I realized that I hate packing more.

Why?

Because it is a lot of work and it is messy.

First, I have to gather all the things I need to pack (and in our case, it’s A LOT of things), clean them, wrap them carefully with air bubble plastic, and put them orderly in a box. That may sound simple, but consider lifting some heavy stuff and moving them around the house. Tough, right? Of course I also have to make a list of what I put in a box because I would need a very detailed packing list of all of our moving boxes. And while packing, I won’t be able to avoid creating a mess and sometimes it could be a real eye sore.

Most of all, I hate packing because while doing it I am constantly reminded that I will be leaving some things behind.

Five boxes down, twenty-five more to go

Posted by vienna on Feb 26, 2009 in Home and Family | 1 comment

I planned to pack at least three boxes a day so today I should have nine boxes done already because I started two days ago but obviously I am four boxes behind.

Aside from packing, there are other things I have to do like book our flights (for our last tropical holiday for this year) and hotels, buy some more cheap stuff here so we don’t have to buy the same stuff in Europe for 10 times the (China) price. I also have to worry about the receipts and invoices showing that we spend all the “8K Euro moving money”. I don’t exactly know how they call that but that’s what I call it. This money is given to expats for their house/moving expenses but at the end of the year/contract, expats should be able to show evidence that they spend this money on their house expenses otherwise they will have to pay taxes for this money.

So anyway…. I am swamped!

That upcoming tropical holiday better be good.

Moving On

Posted by vienna on Feb 24, 2009 in Home and Family | 1 comment

The moving boxes along with some packing materials that my husband ordered arrived yesterday and so I started packing today.

I don’t know if I clearly mentioned in any of my blogs that we will definitely leave China sometime in April but I remember briefly mentioning about moving here, here, and here. My husband is not so happy with his job here anymore so it’s time for us to move on. We plan to just go and settle in Austria but there are some talks of Mexico so at this point, we are still not 100% sure of our destination.

I hate moving. Not just because I have to pack everything and that I have to prepare all the needed papers for the shipping but also because I sort of have a life here. I like this city even though there are just some things I haven‘t quite gotten used to. I like living here.

I know from the start that this is not where we will stay for the rest of our lives but “this move” is just too soon. And I would simply go crazy if we move to Mexico because that means there will be a time that we have to move out of that country and at this point, it’s just painful to think that this won’t be the last time we have to pack our things and go.

I get attach to things, places, and people so it is always difficult for me to leave.

Flying with Cebu Pacific Equals Horror

Posted by vienna on Feb 22, 2009 in People and Places | 1 comment

When I learned that Cebu pacific is offering cheap flights from Shanghai to Manila, I booked our flights with them and I also booked Jaya’s flight with them. Jaya is a friend and colleague of mine whom I met while I was working as an ESL teacher in Changchun. She had visited me in Shanghai a few days before she finally went back home to the Philippines.

Her flight to the Philippines was two days earlier than our flight so my husband and I took her to the airport. That’s how we learned how Cebu Pacific operates in Shanghai.

With Cebu Pacific, the maximum allowed luggage weight is 15 kilos which is already 5 kilos less than the average check-in luggage weight of 20 kilos. That’s completely fine because we learned that when we booked the tickets but Cebu Pacific doesn’t have mercy at all, you can’t go another 500 grams or so… you have to pay for that weight over 15 kilos no matter how insignificant it is. So imagine all those OFWs going home thinking that they were able to save by taking that cheap plane tickets to Manila. They have to pay incredible overweight charges! And there’s more, hand luggage were weighed too! There are these people with bathroom weighing scales standing right before you enter the immigration area. They single out people going to Manila with Cebu Pacific tickets and weigh their hand luggage one by one and if the luggage is over 7kilos, they demand it to be returned to the check in area for payment of excess weight no matter how negligible the excess weight is. Does Cebu Pacific know how their Chinese airport agents are treating their passengers? If the money goes to Cebu Pacific….I’d say it’s a filthy manner by which they do business. Better sell your tickets with higher prices! If the money goes to the Chinese Government (airport)…I’d say why why why is Cebu Pacific letting this happen. They are squeezing these poor OFWs off their hard earned money by making them choose whether to leave their luggage at the airport or pay incredible amounts!

With their cheap flights you can expect to get their even cheaper service!