Ashley's Occasional Lessons from Life: Cosmopolitan

Manly Ferry goes to NYC!

Having grown up in Bangkok and Taipei as a child and then spent most of my adult life (so far) living in Auckland and Sydney, now a greenhorn New Yorker, I often struggle a bit when people ask me where 'home' is. Is it the childhood apartment where I grew up, where my parents would still spoil me like a little girl? Is it the two-storey white bungalow in Mt. Roskill, where I finally lived my childhood dream of having a family dog? Is it the tiny loft in Ultimo, where I got a taste of freedom and independence living away from home for the first time? Is it the garden unit that was Nelson and my first love nest together? Is it the Manly heritage listed building where we lived the Australian dream and the beach life? Or, is it the 'cute' one bedroom in Chelsea with a 2-feet-wide closet that I am sitting in right now? (sitting in the unit, not the closet, in case there is any confusion there)

I sometimes go visit friends' places and admire their worldly possessions from the past, not realizing I am probably doing something similar - because I have lived in so many different and lovely places, instead of having to define where home is, I bring a little bit of every single of them with me.

Last week we finally had our shipping from Australia delivered to our apartment, after having them floating somewhere in the pacific ocean for more than 4 months (in the style of Life of Pi). I was excited about being united with my 'stuff', but also really dreading having to find somewhere in our tiny place to put all 25 boxes of 'things'. Fortunately after some intense sorting and moving things around in the fashion of a busy worker-ant (the benefit and curse of having OCD), we now have a home that feels like home!

As I close the last chapter of this international house move, I can't help but reflect on what a big job it is to relocate across half the world (to my mom who did it 20 years ago - I salute you!). This post is a mini-trip down the memory lane of the weird and wonderful world of moving... with a deadline!

First thing to do when I realized
we were moving to New York in 6 weeks:
Set up a Scrum Wall.
(no judgement please)

After we set up preliminary tasks such as getting our visas sorted, quit our jobs, and to sell our beloved car and boat, we started going through every cupboard and shelf and categorize everything into: 1) Ship to New York 2) Go to storage (a.k.a Nelson's parents' basement) 3) Sell 4) Donate 5) Bin. A natural and important part of this otherwise tedious process was to discover random crap that demand you to have a play with. :-)

This mask made me the belle of the ball
at one of my work Christmas parties.

Old lecture notes - neat writing and drawing
does not usually translate to high marks unfortunately.

A souvenir from my BFF
in 1999 - a premonition that was
17 years in the making?

Selling our excess pre-loved goodies on eBay turned out to be an interesting experience. Especially with Nelson working in online retail - it is exhausting but quite addictive too for some reason! We went more and more elaborate with each item we were selling - with more photos and details and sometimes the full-on marketing pitch. Sometimes even using props to help with our sales. And no one could say I was not 100% dedicated when it comes to answering potential buyer's questions at any hour.

Minion shop assistant
comes to the rescue and help
sell an empty computer case.
(Honestly - is anyone still using
desktops these days?)

I do a post office run almost every day - like
a true eBay entrepreneur.

Tracking can get so tricky when you are selling multiple
things everyday.

One man's meat is another
man's poison indeed.

Bringing your unwanted stuff to donation bins and waste management centers can be painful (both physically and emotionally) but liberating at the same time. I donated quite a few pre-loved stuff toys - it is like saying goodbye to my childhood (I know I am a bit old for that). Note: make sure you don't watch Toy Story 3 prior to conducting these activities.

Having a convertible is awesome during occasions
such as when you have to load up the car
with bags and bags of stuff to throw away.

It was a once in a lifetime experience
going to a drive-in dumping ground,
where old house appliances such as TVs
and fridges go to die.

An OCD's true nightmare.

It is also super important to stock up on Vegemite
before we leave.

Days were getting closer and closer to our departure. With our 'Done' piles on the Scrum Wall getting bigger and 'In Progress' list getting shorter (and nothing under the Back Log - I sure am a Scrum Master with an iron fist muahahaha), packed boxes also start congregating everywhere in our apartment.

No post-it notes were harmed in the
making of this international move.

The removalists are here! It had finally hit me that we were really leaving our lovely home and friends and moving to somewhere a long way away not knowing anyone there. It was exciting but also made me feel quite nervous.

Saying goodbye to Sydney on a fine sunny day,
while having one last cup of fine Australian coffee :-)

Fast forward to 4 months later, New York. The moment of truth! Will they fit or won't they? I was so excited to see those familiar-looking boxes (but have no idea what were in them anymore)

Oh brother I have been waiting for you.

OMG 1 - stuff EVERYWHERE. printer on the sofa,
snorkelling gear, and what's in that box you ask?
Yes - that is Nelson's prized super soaker.
Why? Why? Why?!

OMG 2 - more stuff (and the brothers were still
unpacking more boxes). By now I was stuck in
our tiny kitchen - I couldn't even move my way
to the bathroom.

OMG 3 - I can't even. Oh dear.

After close to 10 hours' of going through everything and climbing up and down our mini step ladder non-stop, I am pleased to announce that we have managed to fit in every single item into the limited storage space we have. The flip side is that there isn't much space left so I need to be careful with any future shopping of clothes or shoes (and now wouldn't that be a massive challenge living in New York City).

What the closet lacks in width it makes up
in height.

Some things were tacky if you live in Australia
but pretty funny if you don't.

We used to have a laundry. Now
we have a cabinet. The point though is
that everything fits.

Who would have thought our teeny
weeny kitchen would have been
able to house so much cookware?

Ah my pots and pans how I have missed you guys.

Finally, our little pieces of Manly have made it to Manhattan and doesn't that feels good.

Before: Nick Hollo's oil pastel of the Fairy Bower Pool always reminds me of a nice summer day, walking to Shelly Beach in the morning light. Yoshi the gold fish and the sea urchin shells Nelson collected during his dives was a 'feature' in our Manly bathroom.

After: The painting still reminds me of a nice summer day in Manly, especially in the middle of New York winter! Good news is that Yoshi and the sea urchins have moved out of the bathroom and into the sitting room now.

A little piece of Manly in Manhattan.

Before: Another of Nick Hollo's oil pastel painting of the view from the 3rd Cemetery in North Head. I loved its colorful representation of your typical Australian flora. What used to reside on the kitchen wall was my proud acrylic painting of Luna Park in Kirribilli. At the time, in my haste of trying to avoid painting a portrait I totally forgot that it was a massive face I had to paint at the end.

After: Mona Luna hides behind our photos and the camel couple Sam and Ada.

Before: I bought these two prints in Moss Vale (in Southern Highlands, NSW) when Nelson did his first ever Gong ride with Eric (Sydney to Wollongong - when he caught the cycling bug).