We made it--hope our stuff does too

We are now in Cairo. We're staying in a hotel for a couple of days until our things get here. We're hoping it'll get here tomorrow sometime.

So an update on our moving nightmare. The last day the movers were there they came from noon and finally finished up at 3 am. Then the driver that was hired took off to Aqaba where he caught the ferry to Egypt. Last we heard our stuff is going through the customs process in Neweiba.

Here's our problem--after it was all said and done we think we figured out the whole thing. The owner of this moving company subcontracts everything and gets the cheapest labor he can find. There was some confusion of how long our stuff would take to get from Jordan to Egypt and then that time frame kept changing and then there was a rush to get it to Aqaba or we would miss our opportunity and have to wait another couple of days before we had another chance and then we suddenly needed all this bank proof . . . Looking back, we think it was all part of the plan to get us to agree to let this driver put it in his name.

What we've found out is it is cheaper for this guy to get it through customs than it would be if it were in our name. We think they purposely used second-hand boxes because then the driver can say he's just moving his own stuff to Egypt. There was a set price agreed on for the move. So if they can get the stuff through customs cheaper, then guess who gets the extra money. Yes, the moving company gets it. The owner is a swindler. So what does that make us? Are we accomplices? Can we claim ignorance? Really, we should have known what was happening.

We've decided that once our stuff is safely in our house Todd will write all sorts of letters and make all sorts of phone calls warning people about this moving company. This company came recommended from the company Todd has been subcontracting with here in Jordan--it's a huge company with lots of people moving in and out. Todd has already explained to them the problems we've had and they've agreed that they won't be recommending this moving company again.

On a better note--we got to go see the house again today and got the keys for it. It needs some cleaning but otherwise everything seems to be in working order. When we saw it the first time it needed a few repairs, light fixtures put in, just some minor things. It all seems to be taken care of. We took the kids out to see it and they are all happy with it. Perhaps tomorrow we'll have time to take them to a health club that is nearby and I think they'll like that. We're going to join it as part of their homeschool requirements for physical education.

That's what we'll be doing tomorrow is working on cleaning the place and then crossing our fingers that our stuff will come and we can begin the move-in process.