Day 112: First Day in the New Apartment!

The day started out with a Chocolate Complete shake (we hadn’t had this in a long, long time) so we were excited to be able to have it again! I helped Ted put on his knee brace and when he left, I promptly went back to bed!

I was exhausted from the weekend of packing and moving so I gave myself permission to sleep a little before tackling the rest of the unpacking.

I unpacked most of Ted’s clothes and arranged them in the 2nd bedroom on the rods that the previous tenant left for us to use. I welcomed them because it means we can wait a bit before we buy the armoires we need for hanging clothes in both bedrooms and the hallway.

I broke down a lot of the boxes. I will save them in our storage area for when we ship our stuff back to the states.

I put away all of the electronic stuff in the drawer organizer so that it would be all in one place. I knew Ted would want to go through everything and organize it the way he wanted it. And I put together the footstools for the IKEA chairs. Ted has to finish the other chair.

I looked for a doctor in phone book but could not find one in the Plieningen zip code. This is proving to be harder than I imagined. It’s frustrating not knowing the language or the geography to do the most mundane chores…like finding a doctor. What I did find out was that there is a Botanical Garden not three blocks from our home. I look forward to visiting it after I get our home organized where I feel comfortable in leaving for a long walk.

I need to find a doctor because my daily medications are almost all gone and I need to have the doctor prescribe me something similar here in Germany. I thought I would go next door and see if there was a doctor located in the same building as the library. I thought there might be one there. That would be terrific if there was. On my way out, I decided to throw away some of the packing paper that we had accumulated. I took a big black plastic bag full of paper down to the trash bin. Unfortunately, it was almost full. I managed to get my paper in small enough wads to put it into the bin. I folded the plastic bag and brought it with me on my quest to find a doctor. After reading the directory, it appeared the only doctors in the building were dentists. I was terribly disappointed. Now what?

Ted finally got his cell phone to work here in Germany. Until we have our VoIP hooked up (we need internet for this), and I can call AT&T to get the unlock code for my phone – the code they gave me does not work – I will be using his phone to stay in communication with him. It’s been very difficult when I’ve been at the apartment and he’s been at work. There was absolutely no way for us to communicate. You don’t realize how very important a phone is until you don’t have it!

It was our first meal here in the new apartment. Ted and I ate Lasagna from Bertoli and a mozzarella and tomato salad.

He spoke on the phone with the owner of the car we are buying. There is some information we need in order to get a short term loan from the service credit union. Unfortunately, Ted’s company neglected to tell us that they do not give the monthly housing stipend all at one time, but dole it out one week at a time. That being the case, it’s imperative that we keep some funds available to pay the rent when it’s due in two weeks…otherwise, we could pay cash for the car. We plan on paying that short-term, very small loan off in a matter of months.

I told Ted about finding a doctor and he suggested that I check with the Apotheke down the street and with Mama Maria’s if they knew of a doctor.

We decided after dinner to go to the Kelley club on base to use the internet. Ted needed to communicate with the staff sergeant and I needed to send my boss an email. When we got there, it was Karaoke night. We went to the back part of the club where there is light and internet connection. Ted and I marveled at how badly these people sang. He told me that it wouldn’t sound so bad if the sound mixer and mikes were adjusted. Since he worked in communications when he was in the Air Force and set up sound systems years ago for church services, I figured, if anyone knew, he would.

Ted asked me if I had my pink and yellow ear plugs with me! LOL! Now WHY would I have those with me? I only use them to drown out Ted’s snoring! LOL!

We got home once again at 11pm. Ted needed to adjust his slats so his hips wouldn’t hurt. And while I had the most restful sleep I’ve had in a long, long time on Sunday night, he did not. His hips hurt. But tonight after adjusting the slats, we’re hopeful he’ll have a better night’s rest.

We LOVE our German mattresses and bed!

Monday 07/13/09