Exodus from the coldest place on earth

I write this post from the safety of my parents' house, which is orderly and quiet. Quite a change from the house in CNY -- the house [pictured right] that we barely-by-the-skin-of-our-teeth packed up in time to move (rental truck deadline). Indeed, if my lovely brother hadn't of used 3 days of his vacation to help us pack, we'd still be up there, sifting through our crap, lamenting the fact that we aren't just a little poorer so we'd have less crap to begin with.

Of course, we now have considerably less crap, as most of it was given away or (ugh) 'donated' to the city landfill. 99% our worldly belongings are now packaged in 12 x 20 boxes, safely tucked away in a storage unit. It looks so neat, I'll be loathe to unpack it when we move back.

The final stages of packing are the hardest: figuring out what to take in the two suitcases allowed by the airlines and trying to decide which diss materials to ship to China ahead of our arrival. And, of course, getting the cat's papers in order (if we are successful with procuring the cat's paperwork, I will post about this. Otherwise, it is too painful to speak of).

We're headed to a place where the climate described as "subtropical." Quite a change from CNY! I hope that my whitey-white skin can withstand the onslaught of sunshine that we'll get in China. I've gotten too used to the dreary upstate New York climate -- Bad for the spirit; good for the skin.