Moving from INDIA to US : How to plan packing moving?? What to buy, what to do furniture ?

What wife or husband or whoever has time should do ??

1) PAY bills : First of all, you got to clear bills. Now your apartment dues will be settled in end, keep like third last day for it. In most of the apartments, you go downstairs, they tell you the current water bill, electricity bill blah blah and you pay through portal or cheque. Last day for this. 
     If you have a broadband connection, call them 15 days ahead and enquire about the bill payment procedure for when you want to move out. If its the middle of month, normally they want you to call one week ahead, broadband guy comes and takes landline away after a week. So you are never in no wifi zone. 
     For gas reading or submitting cylinder, go when you can to agency and return it. It takes like 15 minutes to return. Just call them in advance, take cylinder and book with you.
     

2) Fix house : If you are renting the apartment, there must be something you have to fix like a light bulb or balcony which is dirty because of the plants. Anything you think that will take up time needs to be finished 2 weeks early. So you have peaceful 2 weeks to just arrange the stuff you want to pack or shop for. 

3) Maid issues : I had the best maid ever and still there were problems in the end. Get her something like a saree or money in the end. Make sure she expects nothing more. My maid wanted a refrigerator so yeah keep them grounded and in service till you leave. 

4) Sort your stuff : Well all those tshirts skirts you have grown out of, leave them for charity. Carry only the stuff thats new or can be worn in house. Why? Because US style is different, clothes are amazing. If you are not wearing those clothes in india, they are just gonna be taking up more space here. Sort it out, one pile goes to be packed with you in flight, another one to be shipped to you after a few months, and the last one is charity. Freely give away. Trust me, you won't miss anything. Do this at least 2 weeks in advance. 

5) Meet friends : Take out time for friends and meet them as much as possible. You are gonna miss this sunshine first few months in any other city. Keep your last days free so you can say bye properly. Get them gifts if you want to. Go for lunches. Enjoy your life there.

6) Bedding pillows : We all have those bedsheets that are never used. They are just there for when washing machine overflows we can use them. Only bring the ones that are new or look new. Don't bring the whole new old bedsheets in shipping. US has better quality linen. So be a charitable person, give it away. If you have used pillows enough, throw them too. But then, if you are going to have in laws coming in, keep them for that room. Again, at least 15 days before so you only use throw away bedsheets and all the new ones can be packed cleanly. 

7)  Selling stuff : Decide what you want to sell when you move, if you have a bike or car you want to sell, start the process like a month before and hand over the stuff when you are comfortable to. Don't leave things for last moment. If you want to send them to your hometown, be in touch with person who's gonna use it. Take the insurance and xeroxes of sale copy, rc copy and you are done. Send it off when packers movers come. If you decide early, it will be convenient to tell packers when they come for inspection. 
8) Tell everyone you got it : Worst case scenario is some one coming over to help you. So unless you trust the person completely, you and your husband make sure you don't get stressed and even if you do get stressed, don't tell it your parents. They will come over, try to help, get to witness fights . Trust me, not cool. Its just a phase, you can do it yourself easily. 

9)Plants : Well, plants are like kids. I know its hard to part, but you have to. So in advance ask friends if they want plants. Or you can give them to gardener or just replant them else where in a park or cemetry. This way, they don't die and you feel happy . Do this at least a month in advance. 

10) Trash out a week before : If you sorted all your clothes, give them away like a week before so you have more space to pack the final clothes. All trash, all selling stuff that you are not probably needing should be out like a week before. 

11) Utensils out or in : In US where we moved, most of the gas is induction based, all i needed was induction range of utensils. I have 75% of the cooking utensils, I have to take back india in installments. So make sure you have the right things to cook. Also cutlery plates are a lot nicer and dishwasher safe here, so if you can, try and buy in US. Don't bring extra utensils like those old steel ones or plates you never used. Send them back home or give it to a homeless. 

12) Buying Furniture:If you want to buy furniture like tv stand, dining table start browsing furniture stores weeks ahead to see what kind of shop fits your needs. Lifestyle has most of the new designs and affordable prices. Order and get it shipped last week. So when you throw all the trash clothes utensils etc , you will have extra storage to keep everything intact in boxes. My friend insisted on opening and checking so they made them assemble furniture and then packed it again. Whatever works for you. We didn't buy any in India, the prices are a little bit higher here but you do get warranty quality where you buy from. Personally, I would have preferred selling all furniture and buying new in US. All the furniture that you get here is easy to pack while heavy furniture is difficult to manage. Most of the people here do their own packing moving so for sure I should have avoided all junk clothes furniture utensils we brought. And top of it, apartments are small so avoid avoid.

13) Shopping for groceries and travelling stuff : Go to a big store like big bazaar or saravana stores and buy packs of spices, almonds, nuts, atta whatever you are going to need on a daily basis. One of my friends was stopped for carrying rice and lentils. Avoid carrying these or anything that could sprout, that could be considered a seed. Buy one wooden rolling pin, wooden base for less weight.Get this all one week ahead. Also buy travel packs of lotions shampoo conditioner hairserum etc. Get a mixer grinder if you dont have. 

14) Jewelry : Carry your favorite things with you, if its expensive preferably in hand baggage. For all the gaudy gold you never touch, leave it with your mother's when you visit them. As much as I have seen, normally delicate jewelry is what people wear here. There have been indian specific robberies here where they specifically went in indian houses looking for gold. Keep them safe.

15) Your EAD : Keep all documents you are going to need to apply for jobs. All your certification that you might need. If you want, take experience certificate from employers. Take 2 by 2 photos and check on this site. Then print and bring with you. You can also get it done here but in india, everything is cheaper and familiar. 

http://travel.state.gov/content/passports/en/passports/photos/photos.html


16) Airplane shopping : Its going to be a long flight. If you have been travelling , you must have all the accessories otherwise buy these. Plane pillow, woollen shrug, comfortable trouser preferably cotton, loose fitting shirt,socks, flat sandals or shoes and noise cancelling headphones. Ohh those monster kids and people pushing seats to maximum limits. Airports are pretty cold, carry like a light jacket with you.

17) Electronics : Well, find out which one has dual voltage option. The ones that don't have, feel free to send them home or sell them. Yeah that includes toaster sandwich maker hair dryer too. 

18) Relax relax : Dont do everything in one day. Distribute work evenly and finish off calmly. There is no need to hurry, just start off early and you won't be running around in the end. Those last 2 days in hotel, utilize them to return to sanity. 









    

Moving From Amazon To US Seattle: What to How to plan packing?

This has been the most stressful transformation ever. I  mean literally I could have gotten a divorce. So my friends yeah it is going to one hell of a exhaustive demanding month when you  move. Then as soon as you are here, emotionally it could be a little wrecking too. So embrace yourself, keep repeating I will get through it , just jump take that leap and hopefully within a few weeks you will be over it.

My husband worked for amazon office in chennai, like every other amazonian we also decided to try out US after 5 years of hot chennai. I loved Chennai, I had friends I could count on, went out for lunches birthdays pubs. In short, it was kinda amazing. Something called a perfect social mental physical tranquility. We lived in one of the posh ceebros societies with gym pool. Trust me, it was pretty awesome what we had there. Relatively, it hurt more when we moved because of all the friends walks gym trainer swimming classes yoga I was leaving behind.

Lets begin the process of shifting. Well, amazon handles it all. You get your visa interview date, go get your visa , then inform them like 1 week ahead as soon as you receive stamped visa. Pretty procedural and works out smoothly.

So what bummed me out so much. I am going to write all of my experience here. Also what you should and should not carry in your suitcases. How to handle reservations, flight tickets, family visits, packing stuff etc etc is gonna be covered.

What your husband should do on his side

1) Sort up office stuff : Well, my husband seriously messed it up. He kept working and there is so many forms to fill, so many formalities to go through with. He just wasn't paying attention. When he did, it was late and I had to work with packers movers all on my own which isn't so bad. Still, its good if you can finish all of those things at least 3 days before packers movers come. They can always resume work when they start in US office. The whole give up laptop thing can be done end day.

2) Sort his stuff : When we move, there are so many clothes husbands never touch. Shirts, trousers, ties, sweaters just sort it all. Here I must tell you though, US has awesome stores and the prices are almost same. There is no need to buy jackets shirts jeans from india. You can always get some for the first few months. But not like for an year. Ask your husband to sort his clothes, make 4 racks, charity stuff, US stuff ( new nice), Dryclean stuff ( jackets sweaters ), Tshirt pyjamas ( wearable ). Feel free to give away more clothes for charity. The shirts you never wear there will probably be just taking up more closet space here. If you are aiming for 1bhk, there is just 2 closets in most of the apartments. Choose wisely. Besides here you will see more plain shirts, black grey tones of clothes. Leave the color check shirts with your mom in law if she insists on saving money. Finish this 2 weeks early before packing.

3) Don't call parents : Well, it gets kind of emotional for parents specially guy's parents. They want to come and help them out with moving. Its the worst idea ever, number one reason you can't really exercise free will at throwing stuff. Secondly, u will fight more while packing and then it won't be cool if there is an audience to witness the sheer fights. Thirdly, no one can really help anyone with their packing. Its your stuff, you know what you want. That goes for guests too, no guests who want to stay in house for a month. It messes up the schedule if someone wants to stay in your house, book a hotel for them. It would be the best money you ever invested in peace.

4) Follow all indian govt rules : It sounds absurd, but yeah do follow all rules. Wear helmet, seat belt and don't break any rules your last days. We got caught without helmet like half km away from home and what followed was frustrating. They took away the driving license, said we will set up court date. In short , stay away from trouble n police.

5) EAD for your job :  For EAD, you are going to need 2 by 2 passport photos with white background. In India, its way easier to get them done. In US, it will take a little time to get used to getting all these services. So just get these photos from there. As soon as you land, fill up the form and you can start interviews. Even if you don't want to work, its always good to have the option. 

6) Documents sorting : There is a list of documents that you need to keep with you all times when you travel. Buy 3 folders, keep most important documents like passports, tickets, forms, amazon joining letter, marriage certificate in English, birth certificate in English, hotel or company provided accommodation booking on top. In second folder, you can keep all the educational qualification documents of you, in third folder keep everything that is your wife's. All done and sorted. Whatever is not required, keep in international shipment in a suitcase or folder. 

7) Accommodation booking : As soon as you get visa, you can ask company to book tickets, your temporary housing and fix packer mover date. While booking tickets, its always better to choose flight that takes 10 hr 10 hr break. Emirates has uncomfortable leg space seats and too long flight. For temporary housing, if you need AC or gym, tell the associate you need it need it. We got aboda rivet which is okk for location but we wanted gym and air conditioning as when we came, it was really hot here in September.  They have dimension, alto, post, ava apartments and loads of more. Insist on your needs. Also if you have a family of kids, tell them you are going to need more space. Don't take 513 apartment or any on this side, there is homeless people shouting swearing in middle of night. Also, their internet speed sucks. The only positive thing about rivet is its full of indians you can be friends with.
Dimension, post,ava, alto are pretty awesome with water view and gym.
  
When packer mover comes before for estimate, make a list of all the house items you want to send home and others you want to send abroad in ship. Tick off as you tell them everything. We told them we wanted to send air conditioner to hometown and they kept complaining we never told their agent. Thanks to the list we made, we weren't confused. Always ask for extra boxes. 

8) Hotel booking : Well, the worst mistake we did was trying to run off as soon as we packed. You are gonna be exhausted when you are done with everything. Take your time in hotel, relax in pool, order room service. Then catch your flight after 2 days of peace and tranquility. Again, no guests no dinner no friend house stays just hotel and alone time. 


In my next post I will add

What wife should do?

What to pack for US?

What to do when you land in seattle?

Where to look for apartments?

Donts for Guests

Its such an obvious post to start with and pretty much every married woman has zillion inputs to give. But here's my version of what counts as a boundary cross. As an indian, we are expected to entertain guests no matter how distant how uncomfortable it makes you. So lets start with our list:

First of all, my kitchen is not yours

Until you really ask me what I would want to eat cook or even order, you really have no mom card here. I hate it when people come and they own the kitchen, cook potatoes which i hate, veggies i never eat, oil i couldn't have finished in an year gets finished in a week. Its not about the money, its just you feel no power in your own customized kitchen. I mean everyone has a diet regime they are used to. Frankly its rude just plain rude.

Second, no judging.

Ohh judging part is the worst. Do you even cook, why dress like this, how much did you buy it for, comb your hair seriously i mean how about mind your f***ing business.  I forgot the most used one, she's still sleeping. So if you sleep till 7 you are sleeping till 9, never understood that math. In your own comfort zone, you feel watched over like judged constantly for waking up having tea not making tea eating dinner cleaning plates or not. Almost every single chore is like written in daily diary and given ranking like a reality series. Some people are too nice to say but everyone is constantly doing it.

Third, don't wait up for lunch dinner breakfast snacks etc

You are not doing a favor by waiting for us to eat. Every  meal is not supposed to be taken together. I handle like a million things at home from buying groceries to paying bills. We will eat when it fits our schedule or just on the go. It just wastes more time and you feel guilty for making a hungry person wait which by the way is a sin. Is that what you are putting us for, sinning for carrying out our regular schedules. So please, eat up grownup children.

Next one is take me everywhere

This might not happen to everyone but every single time anyone visits, they want to accompany me like to gym, market, walks, apartments visits. The point of an outdoor activity is to get out of the routine , not to bring routine with you. I hate hate hate it when a slow walker wants to walk n talk. Its super frustrating and no that is not quality time. You kind of ruined my peace. There goes that hour of serenity. Don't you dare ask where I am going and why.

Give people space

Everyone needs space, its just natural to some of us for others its beyond comprehension. Super irritating when someone stands with shoulder rubbing against you or just talking in your ear and guess what most of the oldies relatives do it. Don't do it, its just like a throbbing pain in the brain. Damn annoying. Sense the space part. If you can't get in your own home, where will you get it. Also, ask people if they have room for you before arriving alone or with friends family. Tell them in advance how long you intend to stay. 

Never ever pick remote

You are in someone else's convenient comfortable adobe, like you they have favorite shows  to watch for. Be a good guest, do not touch the remote. I have seen crappy old movies or news or stupid soap operas, I have witnessed home invasion like anything. I just mumble to a corner, it is somewhat like a homeless feeling. Like aliens take over the whole space you ever knew. Yes, it is that traumatizing.

Clean up the mess

Well, everyone is messy for some clean freak. I might not be one of those proud sparkling kitchen owners, but yeah my home my way. Make some efforts. What I have seen is some people cook like they wasted half of the flour on kitchen platform, all the yellow spots veggie scraps are just not pretty to clean up. Ask and follow. Also, no one likes to clean your bathroom. Don't leave those filthy hair balls and toilets after you give us the pleasure of you gathering your belongings and leaving home. Clean up the bedsheets you used, scrub the toilet so we don't unfriend you from every possible social media.

Dress Up

Its not a beautiful sight to wake up to. Most of the older guys are used to like wandering around in their lungis and white vest. In your home, its pretty comfy but in my home, its just plain vulgar. Yeah I used the term. I am not a fan of dressing up too, hell I am dressing up for everyone when I could have just gone around in t shirt shorts. Just see it as like respecting someone's morning. Also women, don't want to see your jiggly bums out of that high school nightwear. Cover up while you are in my space or just leave.

Hotel Booking

If you call the person whose house you intend to stay , by any ounce of courage if they drop the word "hotel", Book it. I know the motto "atithi devo bhav" but that was when people couldn't afford staying in hotels. Now hotels are cheaper, houses are smaller, hearts are way too small and trust me those 10000 bucks you just saved will be like 100 bucks in future. 

Don't make people wait

Yeah If someone offers to drop you on their way to office or help with apartment hunt or even make you tea, never ever make them wait. Just hop in or tell them you will figure out something on your own. I am telling you, just like you have an office or college timing everyone else has too. If you mess with someone's morning office time, you fucked up the day for them. No one likes the family that thinks they are way too chilled to stick to timings.  Mornings are chaotic , its extremely rude to put your own comfort over others in their life space.

I am sure there is a thousand other ways these intruders can damage your peace and ruin your days. I am not angry, just wondering why always hosts are given the eye and guests just walk on rosy bed. So to be a gracious guest, call ahead make your hotel bookings meet for dinner or  just be as nice as possible if it comes to sharing space. People make conscious efforts like cleaning up house, cooking in advance , sending cab details, washing towels sheets as soon as you announce you are going. Be thankful and appreciative by acting in a civilized manner. Those old old times when 3 families could lay mattresses and sleep or just hang out peacefully are gone. Everyone loves their space life and routine, respect and be courteous. Its a favor, acknowledge it.

P.S. Don't buy gifts for people unless they are expensive dates or fragrances