Moving Day

Our sea shipment of goods and furniture arrived on June 6^th. Pretty impressive since it left Houston on May 7^th. Erin and Micheal’s sea shipment took over 3 months to arrive here but we chalk that up to them working for SchlumbergerJ It was great to have the stuff delivered but I did make an enemy along the way. The shipper in Oslo told me that the delivery crew would unpack all the furniture and remove that trash. All the other boxes I would unpack myself and they would come back the next week to pick up the trash. So the 2 guys arrive (only 2!) and start to load in the boxes. They took a very inefficient method but who am I to judge since I am standing around checking off box numbers on my papers. It is a warm day but I am not prepared for them to show up in Capri pants and sandals. About an hour in one guy took his shirt off – interesting safety and professionalism standards here. Moving on- I ask the guy if he will be unpacking the furniture – he says NO. So I ask a few more times and he is adamant that he is not doing to do it. At the very end they unload the giant wooden crate that some of our large paintings are packed in (the crate is large enough to house King Tut’s treasure). I wait for him to open the crate and remove the items- nope he doesn’t have any tools so they move this huge crate into the house. Now it is about 3:30pm and they finish up and leave. I send a nice email to our move coordinator and the guy in Oslo – needless to say I got a phone call from Oslo about 10 minutes later telling me the guys would return and finish the job. Then Thelma our move coordinator called- I can tell she is one detail orientated and tough woman so I know she will ensure the job is finished. So about an hour later one guy returns to assist me with unpacking the furniture and taking the trash away. He also breaks open the large crate and removes it. You should note the Norwegian work day ends at 4pm sharp and usually earlier on a Friday (which it is) so they guy is not pleased that he is working until 5:30pm!

The best part about unpacking was opening all the boxes of American goods we bought before we left – we literally have a “store room” full of food, cleaning supplies and toiletry items! Nothing broke in the move and everything is accounted for – which is great considering the horror stories you hear about sea shipments falling into the ocean etc!