Moving

We are in the midst of preparing to move to a new neighbourhood. The preparations are more mental than physical because we have the luxury of professional movers.

Physical preparation for moving
1. We have put up a huge to do list on the wall. My husband and I make notes and take pleasure crossing things off.
2. He has started throwing things out. The rest of us 'rescue' some things.
3. We talk about our new place.
That's about it. Yes, we are not a very physical family.

Mentally, we prepare to close Part I of our lives in Taiwan.
Neihu has been our neighbour for the past three years. My husband and I knew immediately that we  wanted to live here the moment we saw the place. We saw the little park, the path that winds up the hill and the 'woods'. We fell in love. We didn't see beyond that to be honest. The actual apartment was nice enough but the green right at our doorstop made it irresistible. We will miss that.

Beyond the green is a school where we get treated to a full view of sports day, concert rehearsals, political rallies, fire safety training and the Taiwan national anthem sung every Tuesday. Every morning, from as early as 4AM, locals enter the school grounds - legitimately and do their rounds around the field. The rain does not deter them. They walk / run with their umbrellas. Sometimes the rain is so fine, we cannot tell if it is raining. We look towards the school field - walkers with umbrellas ? Children playing ? We will miss all these.

Once, when the school children were rehearsing for a drum performance, we had to put with with the boom boom boom every afternoon for weeks. It woke my babies up and annoyed me. The voice of the teacher who directs the sports day is rough and loud. She barks all instructions to 1000 ? students with a haler. Argh ! But she had my sympathy when she nearly lost her voice after all those practises. These I will not miss but I will remember fondly.

And far beyond the school, on the left, stands the famous landmark of Taipei city - Taipei 101. Each new year's eve we got full view of the fireworks display from the iconic building. We never had to brave the traffic jam or crowds to see the spectacular show. One year, we even saw the fireworks in Danshui from our place. We reluctantly give up our free tickets to the show.