Day 83: Helpers!

Because we didn't get to the BX last night, we will have to go there this morning because we don't have enough supplies to have the interns paint today. Ted tries calling the interns to let them know he would be late and that where to he is to pick them up. But there was no answer, just voice mail. He leaves a message for them to call.

As we were walking out the door, Ted reminds me that we need to pay the doctor bills and that since we were going to Patch anyways, we should stop at the bank and make arrangements to pay them. One more stop that we could do without but on the other hand it has to get done!

We arrive at the BX a little before they open at 10. Since we are early we decide to have some breakfast at the food court. As soon as the store opens, I get my list of things to buy and head on over to the paint department and get them. It takes all of 20 minutes. While we were in line to check out, the cashier was saying that there was a limit on VISA purchases since their connection was down and they were doing everything they could to repair it. I was worried that I would have to split up our order in order to meet their maximum purchase requirements. Luckily, I didn’t have to worry. We were well under the limit. Purchases in hand, we trek out to the car. In the meantime, Ted is calling the boys to let them know we are late due to having to go to the base to purchase supplies. But there is no answer.

We head on over to the bank. It’s really weird here. We take our doctor bills (which by the way, are on a standard piece of paper) over to the bank. They look at them and we have to fill out these forms so that they can automatically transfer the funds from our account to the doctor’s or clinic’s account. Interestingly, mostly every company in Germany puts their banking and routing numbers on their invoices so that automatic transfers can be done. Apparently, they don’t do checks! To complete these three forms takes some time as we have three doctor’s bills and the bank recommends separate transactions. While waiting for the teller to process the bills, Ted talks to the loan officer about cars. And while he is doing that, I ask the teller about paying these bills online since it would make life so much easier on us. Hooray! It turns out we can pay European bills (for EUROS) online!!! I just have to make sure I know where to find the account numbers and the routing numbers. Not an easy task when one doesn’t speak the language. But I’m learning!

Another phone call to the boys comes up empty. Now we have to run over to OBI to get the paint. Another 30 minutes or so later, we find ourselves outside of OBI and I’m a bit upset that the boys didn’t return our calls. Did they forget? Did they have too much of a good time last night at the beer blast at work? Oh well. I cannot worry about it. Ted looks at his phone as we were getting into the car. Hooray! It’s the boys. I don’t know why Ted’s phone didn’t ring. That blackberry is funky. It does some crazy things!

He calls back the boys and explains that we have to drop off this stuff at the apartment and he can come pick them up. They told him that they would call when they were ready. They had just gotten up and needed to dress and get some breakfast. OK. We can do that!

Off we go to the apartment and unload the car and carry everything up the two, no three flights of stairs. I will not be doing a lot of BIG shopping but more smaller shopping. Taking stuff up the stairs is such a pain.

As I open all the “shields” and change into my “paint” clothes, Ted gets the call. I start to do the trim. The ceilings are all done with the exception of a small area in the main bath.

By the time they get back (which was after noon), I have the small bedroom trimmed. I decide to paint the half bath since it’s so small and a large roller probably would not work. We send a crew (2 boys) into the master bedroom to paint the ceiling and the walls. And we send another crew (2 boys) into the Living Room to do the same. I thought I wasn’t going to be able to keep up with them but I was wrong. I can paint circles around these four boys!!

The boys in the bedroom did not follow directions. One was supposed to paint the walls and one was supposed to paint the ceiling but they both, on their own, decided to paint the walls. Now the walls are done but ceiling isn’t! UGH!

Ted wanted to paint too and there were no more rollers so he went back to OBI to get them…and while he was gone, the boys took a break. But not the boy doing the work in the Living Room. He continues to paint.

The kid painting the ceiling in the Living Room is done and we send him into the hallway to do that. The other kid in the Living Room finished but he can’t work in the hallway because the other kid is painting the ceiling. We send the ceiling kid into the master bedroom to do the ceiling so that the walls in the hallway can get done.

We send the two boys from the master bedroom into the smallest bedroom because the trim in the second bedroom is incomplete. I start to work on that. They were done in no time so one kid paints the ceiling in the baths and the other kids starts the ceilings in the kitchen. Drew who kept working the entire time and was the most conscientious, was done with his work so I put him to work trimming out the kitchen under the table which is attached to the wall.

Ted is back and he starts painting the wall in the second bedroom along with the other boy. I’m working ahead of them to get the color trim done. But by this time, it’s around 5:30 and I’m really dragging. We decide to do as much as we can and will quit at 6 because everyone is tired and hungry. The job is not going to be completed. And there are splotches of paint from the ceilings on the walls that I will have to touch up.

At 6, we quit and there’s still more painting to do: the ceiling in the second bedroom and two and a half walls in the same bedroom along with the walls in the kitchen. This means I will have to finish the painting on Monday!

I put the pizza in the oven to warm up and wash up the rollers, brushes and trays. The rooms are a mess and there is paint on every floor even though drop clothes were used. I don’t look forward to cleaning those floors!

We sit on the floor in the kitchen and munch on the pizza. While we were eating, we found out that the boys are from the DC area. We talk about movies and television programs and college.

It’s time for the boys to be taken back to their apartments and Ted leaves to take them. I am staying behind to straighten up but I’m extraordinarily tired.

He’s taking an awful long time to come back! Perhaps he decided to wait on them to get dressed and take them where ever they wanted to go this evening. Or perhaps something happened. Since I don’t have phone service I can’t call him. You really don’t know how much you depend on a phone when you don’t have one!

Finally, he’s at the door and rushing me to get going…the taxi’s waiting. Taxi? Why is there a taxi? He says that he’ll tell me in the car. That he made a huge mistake. OK. So did he have an accident? Did you give the car to the boys to use? What’s going on?

We get into the car and it turns out the driver is Sicilian and I am able to converse with him in Italian. Ted finally tells me that he inadvertently put gasoline into a diesel only engine. Because he was worried about me being alone in the apartment and with no form of communication, he was hoping that he could get to the apartment and then call the rental company but the car stopped, literally stopped halfway to the apartment. He had to find a store that was open and try to find someone to help him find a taxi. I wondered if the rental agency was going to charge us for this mishap. Ted knows not to do that but this time, the hoses were not lined up with the correct nozzles and he mistakenly pulled the wrong hose. Hopefully, we will not be charged.

By the time we reached our temporary housing, it was about 9pm in the evening and I was literally exhausted! We would just have to deal with the car in the morning.

Saturday 06/13/09