Preparing to Move

Anytime we move from house to house there are many things to think about. For me, this isn't a move from house to house. It is a move from Country to Country. In this entry I'll detail how I have prepared to take upon this new adventure!

1) History

With accepting my new job in China, I decided the first thing I should do is a quick study of the history of China. It's no secret to understand the present, we must first understand the past. The Chinese culture has been around a long time and has made multiple contributions that make today's societies the way they are. Learning about the history of a culture before you visit, make you more knowledgable about what you are to encounter. I remember my trip to Japan in 2009. We were studying the Edo period of Japanese history right before I left. On my trip, we visited many places that were created during this period. Having studied this period in class, I had a better understand of what I was seeing and it's cultural significance.

2) Culture

With the big culture shock I was expected to experience, I began to study the different cultural traits of the Chinese. I want to point back to history here... A lot of our cultural practices as a society come from our history! I was able to find a culture guid books and multiple youtube vides on Chinese culture that really connected the how and why. It's import when we travel to different culture we know a little about them before we arrive. This shows we take pride in what we learn, and can help us make friends and not enemies.

3) Packing

One of the hardest things for me to do has been downsizing and trying to take only what I need and dispose of/ store the rest. Fortunately, the climate is not very much different than what I am currently used to. The weather patterns follow the same structure. It's always import to know what the weather is in a place before you visit or move there. When doing world travel, we sometimes run across places where the weather is opposite from what we are used to. Another big thing with packing is knowing what you should wear each day to work. Fortunately my work clothing will be the same as I am used to. Through the process of packing, I have been down sizing and down sizing. I have had to constantly tell myself I should not take every piece of clothes I own, instead take enough outfits for two weeks and then buy new pieces of clothes as you need them. Since I am not moving to China in winter, I am not taking all of my winter clothes. I selected a few pieces that I liked and packed those. Once each season gets closer I can easily shop for a new jacket or whatever I need.

As with anything, we will never know all there is to know. We strive to learn 80% of the knowledge we will need before moving, but we'll probably end up with only 20% of what we learn that will be useful in the transition.

Packing and moving is different for each person. We learn new things that help us every time we pack a suitcase.

As travel guide and researcher Rick Steves says, "Don't pack for the worst-case scenario. Pack for the best-case scenario and simply buy yourself out of any jams."

Happy Travels and Bon Voyage!

John Peter Ford