21. One Week

We have officially finished moving into the new house.

I never meant to actually move in, but it was getting harder and harder to stay behind in the old casa antiga.  With every box that we lifted and transported, daily living became a little more difficult.  Our available surface area was quickly diminuir-ing, and I found myself saying more and more often, "Darn it.  We already took that to the other house!!"

Before:  Starting packing on October 18

After:  The last load on October 31

Finally, Dan convinced me that it was time to go.  I cried when we swept the old house clean, our voices echoing in the now-empty spaces in which we used to live.  The orange-yellow walls looked giant and bare, and even oranger than I remembered.  Seni cried when he saw me crying.  

I watched a final movie with the kids, putting the straw mat and the mattress on the floor in the living room.  We all climbed on together and watched the last 45 minutes of Rio, followed by their favorite songs from the Brazilian kids' program Galinha Pintadinha-- O Sapo (The Smelly-Foot Frog), ABC (The Portuguese Alphabet), Mariana (Counts to Ten).  Then, with big hugs and kisses, we carried our last load of boxes into our nova casa.

We only have one week left in Zobue, so it's strange to be sleeping in a completely different home.  We feel more like house sitters than actual, live-in residents.  Luckily, a steady stream of visiting neighbors (both from the new house and the old) has kept us feeling grounded.  

Reporting live from the beautiful new house!

So here's to one more week in Zobue.