Day 57: Another Drive By!

Today was a day marked with getting the Blog caught up as much as possible and taking care of finances. It took almost the entire day. I also had to clean up the apartment from Sunday night and put away all of the laundry.

I received a message back from a Herr (Mr.) Drascher. I had found a place that was well within our budget, looked really good from the photos and is close to Ted's work. It's in the town of Plieningen.

He sent me a more in-depth listing information sheet that actually had the floor plan on it. I was in heaven! It has 1 1/2 baths - the full bath has both a shower and a tub! And of course I'm thrilled to have what they call a guest bath. It looks pretty small from the photo but I don't really care, it's an extra bathroom. It has two nice-sized bedrooms and a living room/dining room combination. The kitchen is small (as is all of the German kitchens) but it is fully equipped with Refrigerator/Freezer, stove and dishwasher. There are two balconies: one off of the living room and one off of one of the bedrooms. It appears to be light and airy and is relatively new: 2003! That's new for Germany. Some of the places we looked at were built in the 60's and 70's!

This apartment is in a six-unit apartment building and from the looks of it, this is one of the bigger units. The other unit looks like it's one big room (living/kitchen/bedroom) with a bath.

The realtor and I emailed back and forth (he speaks English, thankfully) regarding the unit along with some specifications that the housing office recommended and I want. We have to get a copy of the lease the housing office uses. I'm hopeful that Ted will be able to obtain it so we can send it along to him. While I was emailing the realtor, I was also emailing Ted to ascertain his availability to go see it. We determined that we wanted to go see it tomorrow night.

I'm chomping at the bit and wished we could go see it tonight but...it is what it is.

Ted calls around 6pm and wants to go out. But I cooked! So he came home and we had dinner. He wanted to go out because we probably have to give up the EOS tomorrow and get another car. One more month on the company and we have to bite the bullet and buy a car! That's another one of those things that's on my to-do list but is more up Ted's alley than mine. I just find him and he says yes or no to my selections. We have yet to call anyone, we're just trying to narrow the possible options.

I suggested we do a drive by of the apartment and he agrees but wants to have the top down because it will probably be the last time we can. I go along with it but I bring my hat and sweater, just in case I get cold. While the sun is out, it's warm but when the sun begins to go down, it starts to get cold. It's still Springtime here, not summer!

They were supposed to pick up the car today but they didn't so we got a reprieve and Ted wants to take advantage of it. He had taken all of our "stuff" out of the car and put it in a box in the trunk. This included my collection of CD's and the GPS. He pulls out the GPS and we program it for this apartment. We get there in no time and it looks pretty good. I think the reason it's so inexpensive (compared to what the base is offering and what we've seen so far) is that there's construction going on behind the property. I don't care about that. I know that they won't be working in the middle of the night and I can deal with the noise factor during the day. The price is too good to pass up for what you get!

There's a underground parking which is great. And it is on the first floor! Woo Hoo! I don't mind the steps...but three floors? With groceries? With luggage? No!

The only thing that I don't like but I'll deal with it is that it has a community laundry room for washers and dryers. But it also has a room for bicycles which is cool because I will be riding my yellow trek bike all over town! They will KNOW I'm an American with that bike! LOL!

It appears it's in a more populated area and there are stores close by. I cannot see myself walking two miles on very cold winter mornings...but I can see myself walking 2 - 3 blocks to get what I need under those conditions.

Ted said it's not as quaint as Filderstadt but it can't be helped. I reminded him that we really haven't driven around Plieningen to see what's there. It may be JUST as quaint once we check it out. He did notice there were lots of restaurants. Leave it to Ted. He's always thinking about his stomach, even when it's full!

Ted wants to see what the route is to the Kelley base but of course, Kelley is not in the new GPS (and her voice is driving me nuts). So, in typical male fashion he tries to find his way. It's not easy with twisty turny roads that lead everywhere and sometimes nowhere! We end up near this tower that we wondered what it was but Kelley base is no where to be found. It cannot be this hard. We tried to put in Ted's work address but neither of us could remember how to spell it! DRAT!

So I put in our home address but Ted isn't listening to the GPS lady so I shut it off. The ride is wonderful. He's getting a bit cold (I had my seat heater on and my sweater so I was warm and toasty) so we stop to put the top back up. Time to turn down that seat heater!

I was irritated with Ted and didn't even think to take pictures!

We finally see a sign that says "to Kelley Barracks". We take this beautiful country road. That's another thing...here you will find small villages interspersed with lots of farmland or you will see train tracks with farmland adjacent to it. There's LOTS of green here!

We end up BACK in Plieningen near where the apartment is. We follow the Kelley base signs (it turns out, Ted took a wrong turn - of course!) and we quickly find the base. It cannot be more than 5 kilometers from the apartment, a shorter distance than what he's traveling now and no jam-packed freeways! We don't know what the morning commute will be like or what the roads will be like in the winter time but he can enjoy the summer and the drive to the base...because it is a beautiful drive.

We get to the base and ask the security guard (who are all German) what is the address of the base. She could only tell us it was on Plieningenstrasse but not the number. If you didn't figure it out yet, "strasse" means street. It could be spelled like this or with that crazy italicized capital B: straBe.

Ted decided to program the GPS for the location and see what the actual kilometers are to and from this apartment. It's actually 4.8 kilometers! Less than half what it is from our temporary housing! This is cool because Kelley is where we get our mail and where we do our laundry (hopefully not for long)!

He wants to see how far it is from his office so we drive on over there and program his office in. There was a W in the name of the street Eichwies...something. I can NEVER remember how it's spelled. Luckily I have it written down so I won't have to.

It turns out the apartment is 5.4 kilometers from his actual work location. It's now time to go home but I requested a gelato from our favorite Italian gelateria. I know it's cold but I still wanted one! We stop and have our ice cream and then go home.

I get the listing document that was sent to me and now I want to translate the whole thing and see how the realtor's fee figures into the scheme of things. I find out they have satellite TV, a caretaker (whatever that means), and some other type of caretaker that didn't translate, and DSL! It's gas heated which is also good.

It turns out over the course of time we will make money even AFTER we pay the realtor, which is a GREAT thing. God really DOES take care of us!! Always! Better than we could ever do on our own!

After having moved so many times in the past four months, you'd think I'd be dreading it...but I'm not. I'm ready for it. I need to be a place of my own with my own things and my own bed!

I don't know how I'm going to sleep tonight! I can't wait to see it tomorrow night! I'll keep you posted and take photos then!