Trucks, boxes, and things

I would love to write a snazzy blog about some curious southern characteristic, but truth be told, my head is far too occupied with our upcoming move to come up with anything besides things like where to go and get boxes. Fortunately, I´ve discovered that there are plenty of interesting moving-related phenomena that are specific to this part of the world.

One of these things would be, yes, the hunt for suitable moving boxes. Of course, we should have kept all out boxes from our last move, but we didn’t. I mean, who does, really? We have enough to move maybe all of my books. Now, although my books are an essential part of my life, so are things like towels and dishes, so this wasn’t going to suffice. So then the question arises, where do you get boxes? In Europe, I would generally go to any grocery store, and ask them to save their banana boxes for me. Yes, banana boxes. I first heard about the wonderful qualities of banana boxes when I was in college, and, for the first time, did not have a platoon of professional movers come in to help me move. Apparently, because bananas are so heavy, these boxes are as sturdy as the best professional moving boxes, and hold about as much junk too. But to be honest, I’ve never heard anyone in the US wax lyrical about banana boxes, so I didn’t feel comfortable walking into my commissary and asking them to save their banana boxes for me. Recently I’ve discovered that I’m really done with making a fool of myself here, so I’ve become more careful with what I do and say. However, that didn’t exactly help me locate boxes for our move. And that’s when a friend came to the rescue. She had just moved her own family too, and had borrowed boxes from a friend who was smart enough to keep all of her professional moving boxes. So after one phone call to the friend of my friend, I was the proud borrower of enough boxes to my our entire family twice.

So with one problem out of the way, the next issue arose: how to move ourselves. Again, in Europe I would know what to do. I would rent a trailer, hook it up to my car, and then start worrying about how to fit everything into the covered trailer so I would only have to make one trip. Here, however, it’s not exactly like that. First, neither mine nor my husband’s car has a ball-hitch, so renting a trailer is somewhat out of the question. Second, husband-dear owns a truck, which led me to believe that we perhaps did not need to rent anything at all. However, we quickly realized if we were try and lift some of our heavier furniture into the bed, we would probably both be hospitalized with herniated discs. But then, and this is what got me, instead of renting a truck with a lift, we discovered that one of our friends actually owns a fancy truck complete with electric lift gate. No, he’s not a mover, or a construction worker, or works in any field that would require the ownership of such a truck, he just likes to own something that closely resembles a sixteen-wheeler. Coming from Europe, where gas prices and annual taxes keep most people from owning anything larger than a sedan, I have to say I found this a little odd, but that I was very grateful for his offer to let us use the truck.

And that brings me to the third interesting finding. In Europe, I would never have any problems finding people who were willing to help me paint, but few people would volunteer to help on the actual moving day. And yes, I’m equally obsessive compulsive about both activities:) Here, however, we have more than enough people to help us move, but no one has volunteered to help paint. Not that I mind, but it’s still interesting that people apparently prefer to schlep boxes and heavy bookcases around in 100-degree weather, to painting inside an air-conditioned house. I’ve tried to think of a reason for this cultural difference, but I’m not sure what it is. Perhaps Dutch people are more likely to channel Van Gogh or Vermeer, while Americans prefer to identify with people like Hulk Hogan? OK, I just made that up, and it seems highly unlikely. Maybe Dutch people like getting dirty, while Americans like to get sweaty? That doesn’t sound quite right either. So, I really don’t know. What I do know is that it works out perfectly for us though, so, really, I’m not complaining.

In fact, I would say I’m very happy right now, after all, in about 24 hours, we’ll be real home-owners!