In case anyone reading here is also planning to pack up 4 kids, a pregnant belly, and well, Aaron packed himself, and move your entire household overseas for a year or two at least, here are a few of the things I now know we should have brought along. (Feel free to pay the international shipping fees to send me some of these things.) This is in no way a comprehensive list.
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| We borrowed Settlers of Catan this weekend |
1. Good Board Games. I’m not sure what I was thinking my kids would do all the time when we were here, play outside in the dirt all day? Well, they do a lot of that, but there are times when they come inside, to escape the heat, or to rest, or it’s night and there are mosquitoes outside, and they get bored and need things to do. Why oh why did I leave all the good board games behind? I even gave some of them away! Now, I don’t mind no longer having to endure endless rounds of Candyland, but games like Settlers of Catan, and Uno are fun and good for their brains and stuff too. We’ve been really blessed to be living in community with people who understand the value of good games to play together, and have many that they brought with them from home that they let us borrow. But we will be leaving here soon, and then we have our lonely game of Dutch Blitz, which I did think to pack, and that’s it. I think I will need to buy some regular decks of cards and start teaching the kids old school card games like gin, solitaire, poker, etc.
2. Lego – I gave all of it away. Big mistake. The Boy may be 11, almost 12, but he still spends hours on the Lego construction types of things when he has them around. Cue boy boredom and all it entails in 3, 2, 1… Next time I pack the Lego is all I’m saying.
3. Towels – Did I think we wouldn’t want plush towels to dry off with here? Maybe I did. The truth is, everything is line drying just fine, even in rainy season and I miss having a lot of towels to do all the jobs that towels do. I’m having to buy towels here, and they cost about the same as the US and they all have that waxy coating on them that cheap towels often have that makes them more or less, completely non absorbent. I would have tucked more towels in if I had the chance.
4. My bathrobe – I thought it would be too hot for a big fluffy terry cloth robe. I was wrong. Even with it so hot there’s no desire whatever for warm water, it’s nice to actually feel dry, even if it’s only for a minute or two. If you loved your bathrobe at home, you will miss it anywhere.
5. Even more underwear, with room to grow – Especially for the kids, especially since they are partial to the kind that have the elastic is covered in cloth, especially in this heat. The Girl is already grown out of all the underwear we brought for her.
6. Cotton bottoms – Actually, I mostly brought this. But I should have packed myself more pants and skirts. It’s not like back in CA where you can usually wear your pants and skirts a few times before needing to wash them. Here I sweat so much that I need to wash everything after just one wear. Well, I don’t NEED to, I just prefer not stinking or wearing salt encrusted clothes. Finding comfortable clothes that fit an are of natural fibers isn’t as easy as running to Target here. I haven’t found any pants or skirts yet in the places I’ve looked.
7. Baby Blankets – I thought it would be too hot to need more than two lightweight blankets. I forgot two critical things. 1. How often you need to wash things when babies use them. 2. You need things to lay the baby on top of too, ya know. Especially absorbent things that protect the bed underneath the thing that the baby is lying on.
7. Kindle Case – A friend bought us a kindle fire as a gift on our way out and gave it to Aaron to bing over. It came without a case, and they don’t have kindles in Thailand, so there is no where to buy a case. Cue the ominous music and I’m super sad that for lack of advance knowledge and a simple $30 purchase in the US we now have a still functional, but sadly disfigured kindle, now it’s been dropped.
That’s what I didn’t think of bringing. Here’s what I’m so glad I did bring.
Bras – They sell them, but not in my size. And there’s the sweating thing again. You’ll be glad to have a lot.
My Sewing Machine – So I can make the things I can’t find, and alter what isn’t quite right.
Good Knives – We made room for Aaron’s excellent knives. Wish we could have brought the cast iron too, but it was a bit heavy/bulky/impractical to pack.
Kindles – It’s hard to find books in English here, but so easy to download them from amazon.
Mostly cotton clothes – nuff said. All the other stuff feels like you’re wearing a layer of saran wrap while jogging.