We had until February 28 to move out of our apartment on Isabella St. Thanks to a little ‘loophole’ in the RTA we were able to provide our landlords with just one month’s notice and save on rent.
I really regret not packing sooner than we did. We didn’t realize how much stuff we had until we had to put everything into boxes!
It was a complicated process because we had to separate our belongings into three categories:
- What we would bring with us to Bangladesh (we were allowed to ship 52 cubic feet)
- What we would put in storage (thank u Salvation Army!)
- What we would need during our last few weeks in Toronto and our month in Colorado.
To make things even more complex: we were working all month while we packed, so we basically just had evenings and weekends to get everything done. On top of this, Jahred got called for jury duty, and sure enough he was selected as Juror #10.
Huge shoutout to our friends and family who helped us with last minute packing — wrapping, labelling and taping boxes, transporting some of our things to my parents’ house, and keeping us company during a really stressful (and emotional) time. Special shoutout to Jahred’s parents who drove down from Kingston on short notice to help finish packing up our apartment on our last night, and for being there with me during moving day since Jahred was sequestered for the trial’s deliberations.
We are grateful to The Salvation Army and Canada Movers for making the moving process and moving day easy. We were provided with boxes and packing paper, instructions and best practices for packing, a storage unit that would be paid for while we live abroad, and amazing workers who quickly emptied our apartment and safely transported our belongings to the storage facility.
I wish we had more time to say our goodbyes to our beloved Casa Bella, especially for Jahred since he had lived there for nearly a decade! While we try to remind ourselves that a house is not a home, it is difficult to let go of all the memories and growth we experienced while living in this apartment, and in downtown Toronto in general. It will always hold a special place in our hearts.
After a busy month of wrapping up work, packing up our apartment, and Jahred’s jury duty experience, we were thankful for two weeks “off.” During that time we stayed at my parents’ place in North York and enjoyed all the doggy time with Mitch (and Klaus for a week, while Ate and Teeb were in Japan).
Mitch (left) and Klaus (right)
These two weeks included the following:
- Catching up on sleep
- Board games with Kuya
- Obtaining our entry visas for Bangladesh
- Finishing up our preliminary Bangla language lessons
- A late birthday celebration at Go Place spa with the Petric’s
- Visits with friends and family
- Selling my car (bye Tita Mazita)
- One last Demetre’s run
- More packing (one suitcase for Colorado, 3 suitcases for Bangladesh, and containers that we would keep in my parents’ basement)
As the days passed by, we were realizing how little time we had left to say our goodbyes to the things we loved in the city. There were so many more items on our ‘Things to do in Toronto before moving to Bangladesh’ bucket list that we had to let go of… and ultimately resolved to do them the next time we would we back.
Our two-week break concluded with an early morning (5am) drive to the airport, catching flights to Colorado for a 4-week pre-field training!
Letters From Jahr & Jess in the Desh 
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