Scott and Tiffany in Israel

The movers came!

On Wednesday afternoon, the moving company called to say they would send a work crew to our apartment on Thursday. We were thrilled because this was the last big thing we had to get done before leaving Israel.

Scott drove up to Haifa and arrived about 8 am. Tiffany stayed with the kids in Herzliya. Scott started cleaning out the fridge and kitchen. Due to new customs regulations in the US, we aren't allowed to ship any food. Scott packed 5 big boxes of food to distribute to friends. Scott made about 10 trips to the dumpster throughout the day.

The work crew was supposed to show up between 8:30 and 9:00 am. Scott tried calling the shipping company at 9:15, but couldn't get through to anyone. The movers called about 9:30, said they were 20 minutes away and asked for the exact street name. By 10 am, Scott asked our building maintenance man to call the mover's cell phone. They told him that they were in front of the building. Within a minute they were arguing with each other whether they were in fact in front of the building. Then Scott found out that they were on the right street but in Tirat Ha-Carmel, about 30 minutes away from Haifa! By 11 am, the workers were at the apartment and started to work.

The packing started out OK, but then one of the movers decided to leave. He didn't come back until 5 pm. That left two movers to do all the work. The movers also kept telling Scott that we had too much stuff and they wouldn't be able to pack it all. Scott had to call the main office of the shipping company to get it all arranged. Of course, the movers didn't bring the scale they were supposed to bring, so this was all based on their guesswork. They claimed we had double what we were alloted.

Fortunately it was a very calm day in Haifa. There was only one siren and it was a false alarm. Scott thought it was funny that the movers, who were very hesitant to come to Haifa, ran to the windows to look outside when the siren sounded.

Scott noticed that the movers weren't keeping track of what was being packed for the packing list. Scott wasn't able to communicate that to the movers and so he called the shipping company offices. They told him not to worry. However, at the end of the day, the movers asked Scott to fill out the packing list after the boxes were packed and on the truck! The movers also didn't give Scott all the paperwork that we were supposed to receive.

After the movers left, Scott finished organizing the house. Scott left Haifa at about 5:30 pm and returned to Herzliya. Scott took a quick shower and we got the kids ready for bed and left them with the Earls. Then we went to a movie theater in Herzliya and watched Pirates of the Caribbean with our friends Rivi and Efrat. It was nice to have a break from the stress of the week.

Posted by sjbowden at July 21, 2006 10:50 PM