Reloc - Moving Along

Moving to a new living space is already a daunting task by itself.  But relocating takes moving to a whole new level!!  Thank goodness we have a third-party relocation company and an internal dedicated HR relocation team to help us move along the process.

First up, FORMS.  Lots of it.  Let's face it, when most people move, they move within a City, or within a State, or within a Country. Sure, you have to change your address, re-set your utilities, and that's pretty much it. As I learned, moving to a new country requires a lot of changes that one would never think about.

• A working visa. I had to fill out the application and provide passports, photos, resume, University degree certification, marriage license, and birth certificate. All of this to prove that I am who I am, my family's relationship to me, and I am the best qualified candidate for this overseas position.
• Banking. I have to set up 2 new accounts - one here in the US (so my paycheck can be deposited in US Dollars and one there in HK (so I can pay my expenses in HK Dollars)  Both accounts can talk to each other and I can transfer funds freely at any given time. I also need to re-route my direct deposits to the new US account
• American Express card.  I have to get a new HK AmEx for any Company-related expenses in HK Dollars. The one I have now pays out in US Dollars.
• FSA. Flexible Spending Account.  I don't have one set up so I think I'm good here. But for others, if they have been contributing to FSA, then they need to fill out paperwork to change how the funds can be reimbursed.
• Health Care. This needs to be totally changed. Because we are moving abroad, we can only enroll in health insurance through Aetna Global. This allows us to use doctors/medical facilities in both the US and HK. 
• Physical Moving. I scheduled a survey date of May 18 to get an assessment of all the stuff we have.  From now until then, we need to decide whether we want the items to get (a) trashed, (b) donated, (c) sold, (d) packed in a storage facility, (e) brought with us on the airplane, (f) shipped via air, and (g) shipped via sea. Decisions, decisions, decisions!! 

A Letter to Sarah

Dearest Sarah,
At 22 months:

• You can speak short sentences now - 2-3 word combos.  In fact, you can say more than 3 syllables at the same time and can mimic a lot of words and sentences
• You like to do things yourself, like putting on your shoes and opening doors. You can't always do it but you insist and then eventually ask for help.
• You don't like to brush your teeth, but still loves bedtime stories and books.  
• You can walk up and down the stairs by yourself, holding onto a handrail and sometimes not
• You are sleeping later and later at night.  We will get you in bed at 9 but you will not fall asleep until 9:30 or even at 10 sometimes. But you still wake up around 7 in the morning, even though you sometimes get cranky
• Your appetite is stunning.  You are little eating machine, although you don't appear to be chubby. All your food goes directly into your tummy, no where else. You don't have cheeks nor your arms/legs show any "folds."
• You weigh about 28 lbs right now (home scale)
• You can sing along most songs and love to listen to music in the car on our way to and from daycare
• You can now identify and say all your alphabets, numbers (to ten), colors, and most animals. We think you learn pretty quickly
• You love to grin with only your bottom teeth showing! 
• You got your first passport!! 

Pinterest - it works

I took this idea from Pinterest and it works! Tired of buying the entire bundle of green onions even though you actually only need 1 stalk? Tired of throwing away half of your bundle because you can't finish them before they turned yellow & limp?  Well, this is your solution!  Simply take 1-2 stalks and put them in water.  Change the water every 3-4 days to keep it fresh.  In a week, the roots will begin to grow and you will have new green onion shoots.  When you need green onions, just snip off what you need and more will grow for your next time use!!  It's great!! In fact, I used some today (that's why the tops are cut).  Genius!! I love it!!  

This Old House

Picture used on the Open House flyer

10 years ago this week, SQ and I went to the Old Republic Title Company in West Portal and signed what seemed to be an endless stack of escrow papers to officially buy our first house together. 2 days later, we got our keys and officially saw our house for the SECOND time. Here's our story of how fate has us owning this house:

Early 2002, before we got married, SQ and I looked into buying a starter home. We both made pennies back then, but we aggressively saved for about 1.5 years and had about $40k.  My sisters combined would lend us $45k.  Our budget was $300-350k.  Although we would love to live in the City, we never really seriously looked here because our budget would only allow us to live in the Bayview/Hunters Point area.  So we looked at houses in Oakland, El Cerrito, San Leandro, and in Berkeley instead.  We submitted offers to 3-4 houses but were outbidded each time.  However, on a Tuesday in March (election day), my agent called and asked us to go to see this house in the Sunset, which is offering a Broker's Open House that day until 7pm. This was 1 bedroom house selling for $379k.  I had my doubts that we would ever get it.  In the Sunset?  Nevertheless, I used the excuse of having to go vote to leave work early.  SQ and I made it to the house a little past 7pm.  When we walked into the house, the seller's agent was already packing her stuff to leave but decided to make a last minute phone call to the owner to brief her on the open house.  We looked around and it was a blur.  I just remembered a lot of furniture and the downstairs basement was undone, but it was sectioned off with couches & tons of books.  It was used as a reading book/library. We peeked outside the window to the yard so we couldn't see a thing because it was so dark. We didn't know what the condition of the yard was.  Because we were the last ones there, we got a chance to talk to the seller's agent. We shared with her that we're about to get married, trying now to find our 1st home, and that my parents lived only blocks away.  We learned that a few people came by as well, many of them contractors who knew although this house was listed as 1 bed 1 bath, there was a high ceiling unfinished basement (with lots of expansion potential).   We also found out that the last day to submit offers was the next day!!

We called up our agent & she came to my mom's house at 9pm to draft up an offer. We put in an offer above the asking price. **It was during the crazy time of the house-bidding war.  Our agent wanted us to bid at or above $400k so we would have a better chance, but we didn't budge.  This was already way past our budget so we stuck the maximum amount we would pay.

The next day, I was at work when my agent called.  Our offer was in consideration & asked if we can give a little more.  We ended up agreeing to pay $1k more...which in hindsight, it felt almost like a joke, since $1k is NOTHING when compared to the hundreds of thousands the house is selling for. After a couple of hours, my agent called me back and we got the house!!  We did not give in the highest offer, but because the owner was "touched" by our story (a young couple starting a new life together and my hope to live near my parents), she decided to sell us the house. It turns out that the owner was a Professor in the East Coast - used to live in this house with her mother, until she got an offer to teach in the a university in the East Coast, so she relocated.  Her mother didn't want to move so stayed in the house, until she was too old to take care of herself - so she eventually moved to a nursing home. It was evident that the money was not on the top of the owner's mind. She did not want any open houses even though it could have maximized her number of potential buyers.  The agent held only 2 broker tours on Tues between 3-7p and that was it. No For Sale outside nor was the key in a lockbox for any unscheduled visits.  She chose us because she was close to her mother and loved the fact that we also wanted to be close to my parents.  She trusted us to take care of the house and make it a home...which we did. We closed escrow on April 16, 2002 and recorded the deed on the 18th.

It has been 10 years living in this house. We finished the basement, redid the front and back yard, remodeled the kitchen, added in new appliances, fixed the roof, and insulated the entire house.  We've done a lot within these past 10 years!! We take pride in our house and try to maintain it in good shape.  Couldn't believe that we'll be moving out of this house this year...It's been great living here!!

A child's laugh

I asked Sarah to bring me some books so we can read them together before bedtime.  She took a long time. When she returned, she had three big books in her hands. I was surprised that she could even hold that many....then she started to laugh uncontrollably and couldn't stop! Absolutely precious that we caught this on camera!

Easter Weekend- Sunday

The weather was sunny and mild today, even in the Sunset so I thought it was a perfect day to go visit the San Francisco Zoo. Although we live literally blocks away from the Zoo, we don't come here often.  I guess it's probably because it's usually so cold and gloomy here in the area.  But not today!  A very last minute plan, but a great decision nonetheless! We really enjoyed our day - best yet was the Sarah was able to name a lot of animals!  The last time we were here, Sarah was only 5 months old.

Today, we saw giraffes, zebras, flamingos, peacocks, brown bear, polar bear, penguins,chimpanzees, hippos, rhinos, lions, and gorillas.  The best exhibit was probably the gorilla's.  They were very playful and active.  Too bad that we're moving, otherwise, we might consider an annual membership here.

Easter Weekend- Saturday

We enjoyed a fun-filled Easter weekend!! On Saturday, we went to my sister's house for an Easter egg hunt with her cousins. This is the first year that Sarah was able to walk to find eggs.  Last year, she was only 10 months old and didn't even know how to walk yet! What a difference a year makes. The weather couldn't be more beautiful in the City. 

Cousins carefully dying the eggs

Sarah got so excited over the bubble machine

Eating ready to start for the egg hunt!

Sarah found 4 eggs! Yay!

After the Easter Egg hunt, we went to King Wah Restaurant in Daly City for dinner to celebrate my dad's birthday.  It has been a while since my sisters are all present for an event. A total of 26 people, 3 tables - we had a tasty meal! 

Sarah is 22 months old today!