I'm so excited that I'm through painting...at least for the time being. There are still some small touch-ups that I missed but I do have absolutely no strength to put one more drop of paint on a brush. It will have to wait until we are in and settled. Then I will go back and look around to see where there are spots that were missed. (Of course, I'm anal so I see every little spot - where no other person would!)
I finally found the key to clean the windows so that they are absolutely streakless, spotless and look as if there are no panes at all in the windows! I started working on them yesterday afternoon but did not complete all of them so now I am finishing up with all of the windows. The hardest ones to do are the ones in the kitchen because there is a stationery table that I have to lean over on the ladder to get to the windows. I like the table but it would be so helpful if it was mobile. So, I've told Ted we have to find legs that are exactly like the front two and remove the table from the wall, install the legs and we'll have another mobile table to use.
I'm SO thrilled that the windows are clean. I feel like the entire apartment is clean even though I still have to do the floors which are going to take some time given that there are paint spots everywhere.
The goal today is to wash the floors in the kitchen, living / dining room, hallway and master bedroom. If I can get all of those done, it would be a tremendous blessing.
While I'm cleaning the windows, the doorbell rings. I answer the door and the person on the other end says "packet" which I assume is "package" and then says something else in German (I have NO idea who it is or what they want). I open the door from inside my apartment and get my mop and bucket out of the way. No one shows up. I couldn't figure it out. So I start to go downstairs to see if they perhaps have the wrong apartment. Ted didn't say we were going to receive anything, but you never know. As I go down to the "basement" level, I see there are two packages in front of the door. Now I understand! The delivery person just wanted the front door open so he could leave it at the neighbors apartment. OK!
I go back upstairs and continue to wash the floors. I have a scrubby sponge that I'm using to scrub away the paint marks from the laminate floors in the hallway. They come off fairly easily. The ones that do not come off, I have a putty knife that I'm using to clean it up. Once the scrubby has been used, I have a genuine German mop and I LOVE IT! It is so easy to use and does a great job. I'm using my mother's old favorite Murphy's Oil Soap. But for some reason, the floor looks dull. I even have a rinse mop but it still looks dull. I add some white vinegar to the rinse water and that does the trick. It removes all of the leftover grime the Oil Soap and the rinse didn't pick up.
I was just finishing up the hallway when the doorbell rang again. I figured it would be another delivery person for someone else in the building. I casually went back to what I was doing when there was a knock on the door. It was in fact a delivery person. He said something in German and of course, I asked if he spoke English and he did not. He motioned to me that there was a package and he showed me it was for my neighbor. I figured out that he wanted me to sign for it. So I did. I also realized he was saying that I needed to take it downstairs to my neighbor. I REALLY need to go back to studying my German. Although people have been wonderfully kind to speak my language, I am in THEIR country and should know a little more than I do.
We are having dinner at Mamma Maria's because Herr Drascher, my real estate guy, is meeting us here to handle the VAT tax form and help us call the electric company.
We have dinner and just as we were finishing, Herr Drascher shows up. We took a table in the dining room so that we could see when he arrived.
We get the VAT tax form squared away and he kindly calls the electric company. It's no different in Germany. There are the "phone trees" just like in the states and like me, he hates them. They put him on hold for over 10 minutes. I guess phone issues are the same worldwide.
It's late and we need to get back to our tiny apartment and call Ailene, our daughter, because it's her birthday. Unfortunately, we missed her but I'm certain I will talk to her soon and wish her a belated Happy Birthday!
Wednesday 06/17/09
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Day 86: Last day of Painting.
Since I had company work to do yesterday, and there was still more painting to do, today was it.
I got to the apartment at around 8:30am, changed my clothes and opened all of the shields. I did not look forward to this final day of painting. I started with the ceiling in the second bedroom. I finished that and touched up areas in the main bath and kitchen. I’m sure I missed places and I’ll have to go back and see where I missed but it’s not going to be today. I’m so tired of painting! Those touch-ups will have to be done after we move in. We still have about 2 to 3 liters of paint left so there will be enough to handle them.
I then began painting with the color. I finished the trim and the walls in the second bedroom as well as touching up the color in all areas of the apartment; from the master bedroom to the living / dining room to the hallway and third bedroom.
I cleaned up the painting supplies and organized everything in preparation to clean the entire apartment.
First thing on the agenda, are the windows. It’s a big job as the windows are very dirty. They are vinyl on the inside and outside. So I took a bucket of water with dawn dishwashing liquid and a scrubby sponge and washed not only the windows but the vinyl surrounding each window. This meant getting up on the ladder to accomplish this task. I rinsed with a microfiber cloth and then used Windex and paper towels to finish it out. This process gave me streak-less windows. They were so clean, it looked like there was no glass there at all. I also cleaned the inside of the shields on the windows and the part of the shields I could reach on the glass sliding doors. I also cleaned the light fixtures on the balconies.
This process of cleaning the windows took all afternoon. By the time Ted picked me up, I was definitely ready to leave!
Ted wanted a burger for dinner but the Germans don’t do meat well so he thought that the NH Hotel would be a good place to get one. The last time we were there, he had asked about a burger and they told him the other restaurant (really their café) would have them. So we went. Of course, I didn’t trust them to do a good burger so I ordered Spaetzle, my favorite local German food. It’s the German equivalent of Mac and Cheese only SO much better. They put either crispy onions or sautéed onions on top. I also had a salad. Since they give you a large portion of Spaetzle, I shared it with Ted. The burger, by the way, was not as good as Ted had hoped. He’s just going to have to wait to get to the US to get a good burger OR get a barbecue and make them himself!
Again, tomorrow is another day!
Tuesday 06/16/09
I got to the apartment at around 8:30am, changed my clothes and opened all of the shields. I did not look forward to this final day of painting. I started with the ceiling in the second bedroom. I finished that and touched up areas in the main bath and kitchen. I’m sure I missed places and I’ll have to go back and see where I missed but it’s not going to be today. I’m so tired of painting! Those touch-ups will have to be done after we move in. We still have about 2 to 3 liters of paint left so there will be enough to handle them.
I then began painting with the color. I finished the trim and the walls in the second bedroom as well as touching up the color in all areas of the apartment; from the master bedroom to the living / dining room to the hallway and third bedroom.
I cleaned up the painting supplies and organized everything in preparation to clean the entire apartment.
First thing on the agenda, are the windows. It’s a big job as the windows are very dirty. They are vinyl on the inside and outside. So I took a bucket of water with dawn dishwashing liquid and a scrubby sponge and washed not only the windows but the vinyl surrounding each window. This meant getting up on the ladder to accomplish this task. I rinsed with a microfiber cloth and then used Windex and paper towels to finish it out. This process gave me streak-less windows. They were so clean, it looked like there was no glass there at all. I also cleaned the inside of the shields on the windows and the part of the shields I could reach on the glass sliding doors. I also cleaned the light fixtures on the balconies.
This process of cleaning the windows took all afternoon. By the time Ted picked me up, I was definitely ready to leave!
Ted wanted a burger for dinner but the Germans don’t do meat well so he thought that the NH Hotel would be a good place to get one. The last time we were there, he had asked about a burger and they told him the other restaurant (really their café) would have them. So we went. Of course, I didn’t trust them to do a good burger so I ordered Spaetzle, my favorite local German food. It’s the German equivalent of Mac and Cheese only SO much better. They put either crispy onions or sautéed onions on top. I also had a salad. Since they give you a large portion of Spaetzle, I shared it with Ted. The burger, by the way, was not as good as Ted had hoped. He’s just going to have to wait to get to the US to get a good burger OR get a barbecue and make them himself!
Again, tomorrow is another day!
Tuesday 06/16/09
Monday, June 15, 2009
Day 85: Quiet but productive.
I knew I would not be going to the apartment today because I had company work to do. It was cold and rained off and on. At nine am, my landlady knocked at the door and informed me that the chimney sweep (who by the way brings good luck to German homes) was coming to clean the chimney and he would need access to the attic from my apartment. She said he would be coming between 11am and 1pm. I had no objection.
I was thankful that I cleaned and put away laundry before she knocked at the door. Ted and I were curious about the German tax structure so I asked her if the 19% sales tax was the only tax they paid or if they paid federal and state taxes as well. It turns out they pay not only the 19% sales tax but they are taxed on their income from about 10k Euro and the percentages can range anywhere from 10% to 35% depending on how much the income is. I was astounded! They are taxed more than we are!
During the time I was waiting to do company work, Ted and I finally got the customs paperwork corrected and we just needed to get our shipment.
At 11:30, there was knock on the door and there was my landlady and the chimney sweep. He was dressed in tails and a top hat with smudges on his face. I took a photo but my camera’s batteries were dying so the photo did not come out at and I'm quite upset about it since he was quite interesting to say the least!
The rest of the day was spent on company work. When Ted got home, we had dinner and we looked online for a car. We needed to find one really quickly as our three months was coming up and it would cost us if we didn’t find a car.
We found a series 5 Beamer station wagon. It was so clean looking that Ted left a message for the agency selling it and was waiting for him to call him back. Bill at the agency called back and told Ted to put a deposit on the car to hold it. So we did. Now we have to go test drive it and see if it’s really what we want. It’s used, of course, but looks to be in great shape. The agency will even assist us in getting the registration.
I look forward to getting our lives in order and settled. It seems like it’s been forever since we were settled.
Monday 06/15/09
I was thankful that I cleaned and put away laundry before she knocked at the door. Ted and I were curious about the German tax structure so I asked her if the 19% sales tax was the only tax they paid or if they paid federal and state taxes as well. It turns out they pay not only the 19% sales tax but they are taxed on their income from about 10k Euro and the percentages can range anywhere from 10% to 35% depending on how much the income is. I was astounded! They are taxed more than we are!
During the time I was waiting to do company work, Ted and I finally got the customs paperwork corrected and we just needed to get our shipment.
At 11:30, there was knock on the door and there was my landlady and the chimney sweep. He was dressed in tails and a top hat with smudges on his face. I took a photo but my camera’s batteries were dying so the photo did not come out at and I'm quite upset about it since he was quite interesting to say the least!
The rest of the day was spent on company work. When Ted got home, we had dinner and we looked online for a car. We needed to find one really quickly as our three months was coming up and it would cost us if we didn’t find a car.
We found a series 5 Beamer station wagon. It was so clean looking that Ted left a message for the agency selling it and was waiting for him to call him back. Bill at the agency called back and told Ted to put a deposit on the car to hold it. So we did. Now we have to go test drive it and see if it’s really what we want. It’s used, of course, but looks to be in great shape. The agency will even assist us in getting the registration.
I look forward to getting our lives in order and settled. It seems like it’s been forever since we were settled.
Monday 06/15/09
Sunday, June 14, 2009
Day 84: Frustration.
Without a vehicle, there was no way we were going to get to church today. It was extraordinarily frustrating because there were very few taxi’s available on Sundays. And we didn’t think to get the taxi driver from Saturday night to take us back to the car. Ted needed to go to the car because the telephone number for the rental agency was in the car. I kept trying to find a taxi but either they didn’t speak English or the numbers were wrong. It was indeed very frustrating. Ted thought I wasn’t helping the matter but I didn’t know what else to do.
He became frustrated and said he was going for a walk. I figured he would just go somewhere and try to call one of his co-workers to take him to the car, but he didn’t.
It turns out he walked to the center of Bonlanden to the bus station and took the bus to Bernhausen where the car was located. He finally called me to let me know what he had done and that he was going to get a new rental. It was further exasperated by the fact that the rental agreement had JUST run out the day before. He needed special authorization to extend the contract for a few days until his company could deal with extending the contract until 7/13/09.
He finally returned after 3pm with a new car. But this time, the car was a silver VW Golf and used regular gasoline. We had dinner and then waited until it was time to go do laundry. By the time the laundry was done and we returned back to the apartment it was almost midnight and time for bed. Tomorrow is another day!
Sunday 06/14/09
He became frustrated and said he was going for a walk. I figured he would just go somewhere and try to call one of his co-workers to take him to the car, but he didn’t.
It turns out he walked to the center of Bonlanden to the bus station and took the bus to Bernhausen where the car was located. He finally called me to let me know what he had done and that he was going to get a new rental. It was further exasperated by the fact that the rental agreement had JUST run out the day before. He needed special authorization to extend the contract for a few days until his company could deal with extending the contract until 7/13/09.
He finally returned after 3pm with a new car. But this time, the car was a silver VW Golf and used regular gasoline. We had dinner and then waited until it was time to go do laundry. By the time the laundry was done and we returned back to the apartment it was almost midnight and time for bed. Tomorrow is another day!
Sunday 06/14/09
Saturday, June 13, 2009
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
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
Day 82: More Painting
It's Friday, the day usually earmarked for cleaning the apartment (temporary housing) but I'm going to the new apartment today to do more painting. To say that I'm not looking forward to it is an understatement. Going up and down that ladder is not something I want to do but it has to get done.
As the hours go by, I get as much done as I can and I fret over that I'm not getting enough done for tomorrow when the interns come to help paint. I will have to work ahead of them. So, what’s left to do in terms of trim? The color in the second bedroom and the white trim in the kitchen are what are left along with part of the color in the smallest of three bedrooms.
It’s been a long day of painting, up and down off the ladder, filling the paint trays but like other days, I start doing the white in the morning and graduate to the color in the afternoon. I’m hopeful that it will all be done tomorrow.
I clean up the paint trays, paint brushes and small rollers in anticipation of tomorrow’s work. I wish this part of the work was over since I’m chomping at the bit to get the cleaning done.
Ted is supposed to come to the apartment as soon as he's done with work because we are to go over to the base to get some supplies and to OBI to pick up another 5-10 liters of white paint. There are other things that I need to get as well but I can’t remember what they are off hand. I write them down in my little notebook so I don’t have to remember.
I sit on the “bar hocker” and wait. It’s boring so I take the bar hocker outside on the balcony and watch for him. The traffic goes by and at least there’s something to look at. I’m amazed that I’m watching people walk and ride their bicycles past our apartment and no one looks up. Not one person! Even the people parking their cars in the three spaces directly below our balcony don’t look up. I look all around wherever I go, I guess it’s just me.
Ted finally gets to the apartment but unfortunately it’s almost 6:30 and he’s hungry. Apparently, his boss called a last minute all hands meeting at 4:30 that lasted to nearly 6pm!. We decide to walk over to Mama Maria’s for dinner. By the time we ate, it was after 7 and now it was too late to go to PX/BX to get the supplies and it’s too late to hit OBI since they close at 8. We’re just going to have to go first thing in the morning. There’s no other way around it.
I ask Michelle (the proprietor of Mama Maria’s), what their hours are on Saturday. It appears they are closed on Saturday! A Pizza place closed on Saturday?? Unbelievable. OK. So now what? We have the beer for the guys, where are we going to get the Pizza? I tell Michele what we need and ask him if we can order the Pizza and we’ll just heat it up tomorrow. We get a large square pizza and a smaller square pizza. Although Michele was born in Germany, he is Italian through and through. His wife’s name is Anna and they hail from the Puglia Province in Italy.
We walk across the street to our apartment and go down into the garage and go back to the other apartment. When we get to the apartment, it occurred to me that I can’t fit that huge box of pizza along with the smaller box into the Fridge. OK. So, I’ll have to package it up and put it the Fridge. That done, it’s really time for bed. Tomorrow is going to be another REALLY long day!
Friday 6/12/09
As the hours go by, I get as much done as I can and I fret over that I'm not getting enough done for tomorrow when the interns come to help paint. I will have to work ahead of them. So, what’s left to do in terms of trim? The color in the second bedroom and the white trim in the kitchen are what are left along with part of the color in the smallest of three bedrooms.
It’s been a long day of painting, up and down off the ladder, filling the paint trays but like other days, I start doing the white in the morning and graduate to the color in the afternoon. I’m hopeful that it will all be done tomorrow.
I clean up the paint trays, paint brushes and small rollers in anticipation of tomorrow’s work. I wish this part of the work was over since I’m chomping at the bit to get the cleaning done.
Ted is supposed to come to the apartment as soon as he's done with work because we are to go over to the base to get some supplies and to OBI to pick up another 5-10 liters of white paint. There are other things that I need to get as well but I can’t remember what they are off hand. I write them down in my little notebook so I don’t have to remember.
I sit on the “bar hocker” and wait. It’s boring so I take the bar hocker outside on the balcony and watch for him. The traffic goes by and at least there’s something to look at. I’m amazed that I’m watching people walk and ride their bicycles past our apartment and no one looks up. Not one person! Even the people parking their cars in the three spaces directly below our balcony don’t look up. I look all around wherever I go, I guess it’s just me.
Ted finally gets to the apartment but unfortunately it’s almost 6:30 and he’s hungry. Apparently, his boss called a last minute all hands meeting at 4:30 that lasted to nearly 6pm!. We decide to walk over to Mama Maria’s for dinner. By the time we ate, it was after 7 and now it was too late to go to PX/BX to get the supplies and it’s too late to hit OBI since they close at 8. We’re just going to have to go first thing in the morning. There’s no other way around it.
I ask Michelle (the proprietor of Mama Maria’s), what their hours are on Saturday. It appears they are closed on Saturday! A Pizza place closed on Saturday?? Unbelievable. OK. So now what? We have the beer for the guys, where are we going to get the Pizza? I tell Michele what we need and ask him if we can order the Pizza and we’ll just heat it up tomorrow. We get a large square pizza and a smaller square pizza. Although Michele was born in Germany, he is Italian through and through. His wife’s name is Anna and they hail from the Puglia Province in Italy.
We walk across the street to our apartment and go down into the garage and go back to the other apartment. When we get to the apartment, it occurred to me that I can’t fit that huge box of pizza along with the smaller box into the Fridge. OK. So, I’ll have to package it up and put it the Fridge. That done, it’s really time for bed. Tomorrow is going to be another REALLY long day!
Friday 6/12/09
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Day 81: Taking care of business.
I decided that I couldn't paint day after day after day and needed a rest. I was hoping that it would be nice out so I can go for a walk but that isn't the case today. It's been beautiful on the days that I go to paint and terrible rainy weather when I stay at the apartment in Filderstadt. It reminds me of when I lived in Ohio and it would be beautiful all week long and then on the weekends, when I was off, it would rain! What a bummer!
I didn't do much of anything today other than follow up on the customs issue and the Internet service. It was a wonderful, slow and restful day!
Thursday 06/11/09
I didn't do much of anything today other than follow up on the customs issue and the Internet service. It was a wonderful, slow and restful day!
Thursday 06/11/09
Day 80: More Painting.
Today Ted does not need to stop at the office before dropping me off at the apartment which means that I start painting sooner than I did on Monday. Oh Joy!
After I change my clothes and open all of the "shields", I get started on the slow process of painting. Painting isn't the most exciting thing to do but it's got to be done. And while I would have liked to complete one section before going on to the other, I had to change it up a bit just to rest my feet and legs. When I'd get tired of climbing the ladder, I would sit on the floor and trim out the baseboards. When my bum and hips started hurting, I would get up and do the trim I could reaching standing up then go back on the ladder again. It was a long, long process and I realized that getting some helpers to help with painting the big areas was a must.
There's a construction project going on beside our apartment and while the noise doesn't bother me, I'm curious about how they do things in Germany. Having been raised in the construction business, I wanted to see just what they were doing so at lunch time, I took my sandwich to the smallest of the three bedrooms and watched them work. There was an excavator there and he was digging out around these pilasters. And there were guys with carpenter's overalls walking around down there. What I found interesting is that they used that excavator to lift a load of what looked like 4 x 4 railroad ties into the hole. They took two chains, put them around the load of ties, hooked the chains to the bucket and then lifted them into the hole. They used a chain saw to cut the ties and the ties would be fitted between the pilasters to hold the wall of dirt in place. They used the old-fashioned folding ruler to measure the ties and the teeth of the excavator was used to remove the bands on the load of ties! It was an interesting way to have lunch!
But it was back to work for me. By the end of the day, I didn't get as much accomplished as I would have liked but, I would be back on Friday to try to finish the trim, at least. I was more than halfway there but it took me two days to get there so, doing the math, it would appear that I will only be three-quarters of the way there by Friday night. UGH!
Ted came home from work just after I finished cleaning the painting gear and washed and changed. We had to wait for Klaus to call us and he was famished (again). So we decided to try Mama Maria's Pizzeria across the street. They have sidewalk tables and it would allow us to watch the apartment and see when Klaus arrives.
The waitress speaks Italian so I was able to communicate really well with her. The owner then came to talk to me. He is from Puglia which is south of Bari. He asked me how was it that I could speak such good Italian. After the explanation, he asked if he could sit down. When I told him where we were living and how long, he welcomed us to the neighborhood and said that Frank and Vanessa (the former tenants) had told him that we would be moving in and that we were a nice family. What a nice community!
We ordered pizzas and they were terrific. But this restaurant doesn't serve Iced Tea either. I wonder why none of them do. But they DO have Aqua Panna which is my favorite Italian bottled water.
While we were finishing our Pizza, Klaus called and said he was in front of our apartment. Ted got up and walked over to the apartment while I paid the bill. It turns out the restaurant has a gardent terrace in the back but we didn't use it because of the delivery. It was pretty noisy on that sidewalk cafe with all of the traffic but it was only for a short while so we could deal with it. As I got up from the table, I saw Klaus pull into one of the three guest spaces at the apartment. I didn't see Ted and Klaus was looking around, kind of lost, so I waved and called his name as soon as I crossed the street. He wanted to know what floor we lived on. I wanted to help him unload the car but he wouldn't hear of it! Ted wanted to help him and again, he wouldn't hear of it.
We were SO surprised that a salesman would go to ALL that trouble to deliver our mattresses, it was unbelievable! When we got upstairs, he put the mattresses in the bedroom and we went into the kitchen to pay him. It turns out that he paid for our mattresses out of his own pocket!! We were dumbfounded. What salesperson would do that. We told him that we didn't expect him to do that but he waved it off and said he trusted us. WOW! That doesn't happen that often!
He had our VAT form completed (the one that allows us to NOT pay the German sales tax which is 19%)and it turns out we saved over 100 Euro by not having to pay sales tax! We were excited about that. We gave Klaus extra Euros for doing this for us. It turns out he spent some time in Canada and said that there were people in Michigan, Wisconsin and North Dakota that helped him out when he was in the US and he was just returning the favor. Thank you, fellow Americans! He also told us that he and his wife just bought property in the Phillipines for about 5,000 Euro! He told us that there was a house on the property but it probably had to be bulldozed and rebuilt.
We stood and talked with Klaus for over an hour. He got a call from his daughter during that time and she told him to stop on the way home and buy her Chicken McNuggets at McDonalds! UGH!
After he left, we shut the shields and went home. It was a very long day and I'm looking forward to hitting my comfortable German bed.
Guten Nacht! (Good night)
Painting
Mattress Delivery
Klaus
Pugliese pizza - sidewalk cafe across the street
Wednesday, 06/10/2009
After I change my clothes and open all of the "shields", I get started on the slow process of painting. Painting isn't the most exciting thing to do but it's got to be done. And while I would have liked to complete one section before going on to the other, I had to change it up a bit just to rest my feet and legs. When I'd get tired of climbing the ladder, I would sit on the floor and trim out the baseboards. When my bum and hips started hurting, I would get up and do the trim I could reaching standing up then go back on the ladder again. It was a long, long process and I realized that getting some helpers to help with painting the big areas was a must.
There's a construction project going on beside our apartment and while the noise doesn't bother me, I'm curious about how they do things in Germany. Having been raised in the construction business, I wanted to see just what they were doing so at lunch time, I took my sandwich to the smallest of the three bedrooms and watched them work. There was an excavator there and he was digging out around these pilasters. And there were guys with carpenter's overalls walking around down there. What I found interesting is that they used that excavator to lift a load of what looked like 4 x 4 railroad ties into the hole. They took two chains, put them around the load of ties, hooked the chains to the bucket and then lifted them into the hole. They used a chain saw to cut the ties and the ties would be fitted between the pilasters to hold the wall of dirt in place. They used the old-fashioned folding ruler to measure the ties and the teeth of the excavator was used to remove the bands on the load of ties! It was an interesting way to have lunch!
But it was back to work for me. By the end of the day, I didn't get as much accomplished as I would have liked but, I would be back on Friday to try to finish the trim, at least. I was more than halfway there but it took me two days to get there so, doing the math, it would appear that I will only be three-quarters of the way there by Friday night. UGH!
Ted came home from work just after I finished cleaning the painting gear and washed and changed. We had to wait for Klaus to call us and he was famished (again). So we decided to try Mama Maria's Pizzeria across the street. They have sidewalk tables and it would allow us to watch the apartment and see when Klaus arrives.
The waitress speaks Italian so I was able to communicate really well with her. The owner then came to talk to me. He is from Puglia which is south of Bari. He asked me how was it that I could speak such good Italian. After the explanation, he asked if he could sit down. When I told him where we were living and how long, he welcomed us to the neighborhood and said that Frank and Vanessa (the former tenants) had told him that we would be moving in and that we were a nice family. What a nice community!
We ordered pizzas and they were terrific. But this restaurant doesn't serve Iced Tea either. I wonder why none of them do. But they DO have Aqua Panna which is my favorite Italian bottled water.
While we were finishing our Pizza, Klaus called and said he was in front of our apartment. Ted got up and walked over to the apartment while I paid the bill. It turns out the restaurant has a gardent terrace in the back but we didn't use it because of the delivery. It was pretty noisy on that sidewalk cafe with all of the traffic but it was only for a short while so we could deal with it. As I got up from the table, I saw Klaus pull into one of the three guest spaces at the apartment. I didn't see Ted and Klaus was looking around, kind of lost, so I waved and called his name as soon as I crossed the street. He wanted to know what floor we lived on. I wanted to help him unload the car but he wouldn't hear of it! Ted wanted to help him and again, he wouldn't hear of it.
We were SO surprised that a salesman would go to ALL that trouble to deliver our mattresses, it was unbelievable! When we got upstairs, he put the mattresses in the bedroom and we went into the kitchen to pay him. It turns out that he paid for our mattresses out of his own pocket!! We were dumbfounded. What salesperson would do that. We told him that we didn't expect him to do that but he waved it off and said he trusted us. WOW! That doesn't happen that often!
He had our VAT form completed (the one that allows us to NOT pay the German sales tax which is 19%)and it turns out we saved over 100 Euro by not having to pay sales tax! We were excited about that. We gave Klaus extra Euros for doing this for us. It turns out he spent some time in Canada and said that there were people in Michigan, Wisconsin and North Dakota that helped him out when he was in the US and he was just returning the favor. Thank you, fellow Americans! He also told us that he and his wife just bought property in the Phillipines for about 5,000 Euro! He told us that there was a house on the property but it probably had to be bulldozed and rebuilt.
We stood and talked with Klaus for over an hour. He got a call from his daughter during that time and she told him to stop on the way home and buy her Chicken McNuggets at McDonalds! UGH!
After he left, we shut the shields and went home. It was a very long day and I'm looking forward to hitting my comfortable German bed.
Guten Nacht! (Good night)
Painting
Mattress Delivery
Klaus
Pugliese pizza - sidewalk cafe across the street
Wednesday, 06/10/2009
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Day 79: Buying Mattresses.
I am so thankful to be able to stay home today. I need to rest my feet and take care of some finances and emails.
During the day, Ted calls and wanted to discuss ordering our internet service. He is excited to get high-speed internet (faster than our US service in California) a land line (which will allow us to unlimited calling to the US for a flat rate) and TWO cell phone services for 58 Euro a month! That's less than half of what we were paying for those same services in the US!
Ted called Klaus, the furniture guy, on Saturday because we decided to buy the mattresses from him. Since Monday was his day off, we have an appointment this evening to meet with him. He was a nice guy and we really liked his mattresses best so we are going to get them. Hopefully Ted will get home in time because Wohnland Reutingen closes at 7pm!
Ted tried calling Klaus to confirm he would be there but just got voice mail. And of course, it was in German so he didn't understand it and didn't leave a message. Now we don't know whether he's there or not. We'll just have to walk in faith and hope that he's there and hope they take VISA because Ted did not have time to go to the bank to exchange dollars for Euros.
When he got home at around 6:00, we immediately left to go to Reutlingen to see Klaus. It's about 20 minutes away and we used "Julie" to help us find the way. We got to the store and it was about 6:30. We immediately took the glass elevator to the third floor and went in search of Klaus. There was a guy sitting at a desk as we got out of the elevator. We asked for "Klaus". He didn't understand us. Great. Finally, I said Klaus' last name and he got it. Apparently, they don't use first names but use last names because when he called him, he called him by his last name. That's weird!
When Klaus came over, he explained that the guy at the desk was Italian. I asked if he spoke Italian, and he said "a little". I was amazed that he didn't speak his ancestor's language...but then there are a LOT of Italo-Americans who do not speak Italian so I suppose it's not that weird.
We ask Klaus if the store takes VISA. They do not. We ask if there's an ATM nearby and the Italian guy said there's one up the street at the Real store. We how far away it is. He said a few minutes. By this time it's 6:45 and Klaus said that perhaps the machine doesn't take VISA and that we would not be able to get back into the store. He told us he'd write up the contract for the mattresses, personally deliver them to us to tomorrow and we could give him the money then. WOW! We were not used to this kind of service.
We agreed so he wrote up the contract and we signed it. He would deliver them tomorrow evening but he couldn't tell us what time and we said, no matter because I was going to be there all day and we would wait for him. He took Ted's cell phone number and gave us a card with his. He tested the number to ensure he got it right and it worked. We also gave him the VAT form to complete and he said he would give it to his boss who would know how to fill it out. He would bring it with him tomorrow when he delivered the mattresses.
We were the last people out of the store and Ted, of course, wanted to see if the ATM did, in fact, take VISA. So we trekked on over to Real and at first could not find the ATM. So we went inside Real and they had a bakery so I bought a loaf of bread and had it sliced. On the way out, we saw the ATM machine tucked in the corner. It did accept VISA. Ted remarked, "I could have gotten here in time and had the cash" and I reminded him that Klaus didn't know if the machine accepted VISA.
On our way out of REAL we, saw Real's version of "Mr. Chicken Man" which is a truck with Rotisserie with chicken. It smelled delicious and we decided to get a half a chicken for dinner. He said they were not done and would take 10 minutes. We said we'd wait. So we waited in the car and began discussing the internet service among other things. It was about 15 minutes later when he got out of the car to get the chicken. He came back and said they had all been sold! WHAT! I was looking forward to that chicken. Oh well! I guess I'm going to have to make something for dinner.
We got home, had dinner and watched a few episodes of NCIS. Time for bed and another day of painting tomorrow!
Tuesday 06/09/09
During the day, Ted calls and wanted to discuss ordering our internet service. He is excited to get high-speed internet (faster than our US service in California) a land line (which will allow us to unlimited calling to the US for a flat rate) and TWO cell phone services for 58 Euro a month! That's less than half of what we were paying for those same services in the US!
Ted called Klaus, the furniture guy, on Saturday because we decided to buy the mattresses from him. Since Monday was his day off, we have an appointment this evening to meet with him. He was a nice guy and we really liked his mattresses best so we are going to get them. Hopefully Ted will get home in time because Wohnland Reutingen closes at 7pm!
Ted tried calling Klaus to confirm he would be there but just got voice mail. And of course, it was in German so he didn't understand it and didn't leave a message. Now we don't know whether he's there or not. We'll just have to walk in faith and hope that he's there and hope they take VISA because Ted did not have time to go to the bank to exchange dollars for Euros.
When he got home at around 6:00, we immediately left to go to Reutlingen to see Klaus. It's about 20 minutes away and we used "Julie" to help us find the way. We got to the store and it was about 6:30. We immediately took the glass elevator to the third floor and went in search of Klaus. There was a guy sitting at a desk as we got out of the elevator. We asked for "Klaus". He didn't understand us. Great. Finally, I said Klaus' last name and he got it. Apparently, they don't use first names but use last names because when he called him, he called him by his last name. That's weird!
When Klaus came over, he explained that the guy at the desk was Italian. I asked if he spoke Italian, and he said "a little". I was amazed that he didn't speak his ancestor's language...but then there are a LOT of Italo-Americans who do not speak Italian so I suppose it's not that weird.
We ask Klaus if the store takes VISA. They do not. We ask if there's an ATM nearby and the Italian guy said there's one up the street at the Real store. We how far away it is. He said a few minutes. By this time it's 6:45 and Klaus said that perhaps the machine doesn't take VISA and that we would not be able to get back into the store. He told us he'd write up the contract for the mattresses, personally deliver them to us to tomorrow and we could give him the money then. WOW! We were not used to this kind of service.
We agreed so he wrote up the contract and we signed it. He would deliver them tomorrow evening but he couldn't tell us what time and we said, no matter because I was going to be there all day and we would wait for him. He took Ted's cell phone number and gave us a card with his. He tested the number to ensure he got it right and it worked. We also gave him the VAT form to complete and he said he would give it to his boss who would know how to fill it out. He would bring it with him tomorrow when he delivered the mattresses.
We were the last people out of the store and Ted, of course, wanted to see if the ATM did, in fact, take VISA. So we trekked on over to Real and at first could not find the ATM. So we went inside Real and they had a bakery so I bought a loaf of bread and had it sliced. On the way out, we saw the ATM machine tucked in the corner. It did accept VISA. Ted remarked, "I could have gotten here in time and had the cash" and I reminded him that Klaus didn't know if the machine accepted VISA.
On our way out of REAL we, saw Real's version of "Mr. Chicken Man" which is a truck with Rotisserie with chicken. It smelled delicious and we decided to get a half a chicken for dinner. He said they were not done and would take 10 minutes. We said we'd wait. So we waited in the car and began discussing the internet service among other things. It was about 15 minutes later when he got out of the car to get the chicken. He came back and said they had all been sold! WHAT! I was looking forward to that chicken. Oh well! I guess I'm going to have to make something for dinner.
We got home, had dinner and watched a few episodes of NCIS. Time for bed and another day of painting tomorrow!
Tuesday 06/09/09
Monday, June 8, 2009
Day 78: Paint, Paint and MORE Paint!
So today Ted is dropping me off at the apartment so I can start painting. It's a daunting process but it has to be done. I'm also going to receive the first of two deliveries.
I made my lunch and filled a water bottle so that I didn't have to leave the apartment with paint-filled clothes.
I had a box of things in my arms and went down the thick oak steps down to the hallway. There are two turns (like a circular stairway) in the stairs going up to our apartment. One is at the top of the stairs and one is at the bottom of the stairs. As I gingerly walk down the stairs, I noticed an unusually shaped bag in front of my landlady's front door. I was wondering what it was and thought I was on the last step but I wasn't. I was on the second to the last step and when I went to put my foot down on the floor, it wasn't there...the edge of the last step was there and I lost my footing and went flying! Luckily I wasn't hurt but I'm sure I'm going to have bruises. Oh well...that will teach me to pay attention coming down those unusual stairs! I'll have to be more careful when carrying items and going down the stairs.
Ted has to stop off at work to pick up his laptop and then he will take me to the apartment. I wait in the car for what seemed like a half hour but in reality was only minutes.
I don't know what time it was when I changed my clothes and got all of the exterior blinds (which my husband likes to call "shields") open.
I decided to paint the ceiling first. I tried using the "paint stick" that we purchased only to find that the paint was too thick for me to use in the stick. So I used the paint in the stick to cover up the blue "streaks" in the half bath. Once the stick was empty I cleaned the stick and the roller. Since I didn't have a long pole to attach to the other roller, I decided to only do the edges and trim out the light fixture so that painting the ceiling later on would go quickly.
It ocurred to me that our name was not listed on the mailbox and the entrance door to the apartment is locked. How are the delivery guys going to know which doorbell to ring??? I don't have any tape to put a note on the doorbell outside and I can't get the little plastic thing that holds the name out. I don't have a knife and a key is too big. UGH! I'll have to keep watching for them!
I was able to trim out the ceiling in the living room, the master bedroom and the hallway. It took a long time because I had to move the drop cloth and go up and down the ladder over and over and over again and all the while checking for the delivery guys. By this time it was noon and time for lunch.
I sat on the bar stool at the work table in the kitchen and had my sandwich and water while watching the traffic and pedestrians below. After the short rest, I was ready for round two.
Ted dropped by to see if I was ok and to tell me the delivery guys were on their way. Just as he was saying it, the doorbell rang. It was the delivery guys. Ted left and the delivery guys came up. I verified the delivery, signed three papers and paid the guy. He seemed antsy and almost didn't want me to check the delivery. With me not speaking German, that was not going to happen!
Since I was out of paint, I decided to change colors and trim out the doors, windows and ceiling edges with the "caffe latte" colored-paint. I needed to change it up a bit.
Once again, I started in the living room and began to paint the ceiling edge, this time with color. It's more interesting with color, I think. I've turned into my grandfather! I "freehanded" the ceiling edge with an angled brush using the dabbing strokes of a painter after using a small roller to get as close to the edge as possible. Again, up and down the ladder, over and over and over again until the room was two-thirds complete. My feet were bothering me so I decided to trim out the baseboards so I could sit on the floor. Around the sliding glass door and the radiators and the corners. It was a very slow process.
Normally, I would be anal and not move on to another area but I needed to stand up and not go on the ladder so I trimmed waist high areas in the master bedroom, the hallway and the second bedroom. These included doors and windows and light switches. It looked funny with the tops and bottoms of the doors not trimmed but hey, this is a work in process!
It was almost 5 pm when I ran out of paint and decided to call it a day. I washed up the paint roller, brush and pan and scrubbed my hands clean. I changed my clothes and patiently waiting for Ted. I walked around the apartment and closed the "shields" and most of the windows.
Ted finally came home and just as we were leaving, Dr. Schumacher showed up. I'm glad he did because I wanted to tell him that there were two tiles in the half bath that were cracked and I didn't want to be responsible for them. He wanted to see them. I was nervous about him seeing the apartment "crazily painted" but he needed to see those cracks in the tiles. He came upstairs and asked if the walls were all going to be that color. It looks darker when it's wet than when it dries. It's a pretty color but it could have been a shade or two lighter given that it's an apartment and not our personal home. But it is what it is.
I tell him I want to do the trim myself and he looks at the job being done (around the entrance door) and says the painting is "accurate" meaning that I'm not getting paint all over the place.
He looks at the cracks and asks me to write an addendum to the "check in" document. I will take photos of the cracks and include those in the addendum. I also talk to him about how dirty the white vinyl around the windows are. I mention that it's due to the electrostatic electriicity and that I will clean them. I also call to his attention the stationery windows in the kitchen. There is no way I can wash the outside of them which is going to bug the heck out of me but they are staionery so it is what it is. He understands I cannot clean them.
As we leave the apartment, he was putting our printed name in the doorbell outside of our door, in our mailbox and the exterior doorbell. I didn't expect him to do that and thanked him for it. It appears Dr. Schumacher takes a personal interest in his renters. That's a good thing!
By this time it's after six pm and I'm famished. We decide to try out the Guiseppe's Italian restaurant down the street. Of course, my feet are killing me but since parking is an issue it's best we walk. We wanted to sit outside but everyone was smoking so we chose to sit inside. It's a cute little place with linen-covered tables and and murals on the walls.
I ask the lady if she speaks Italian and she does. That makes it easier on us! She gives us the menus and asks us what we want to drink. I wanted an Ice Tea but again, no one serves it. That seems very weird to me, but it is what it is.
Dinner was terrific and the owner comes and asks us how every thing was. It turns out he's from Avellino, not far from the town where my daughter's aunt lives. Small world. He even knew where Sperone was! We had a long conversation about the US, Italy and cooking. All the while, my dear husband, patiently sat and allowed me to converse in Italian. I didn't bother to translate because he didn't seem interested to know what we were talking about. He's a gem!
I'm ready to go home and take a long, hot shower. Ted walks back to the apartment to get the car while I pay the bill.
Once home and cleaned up, I'm ready for bed but I had been wondering if the shipper sent me the information I needed. I checked my email before going to bed and there was nothing. I sent another email to her hoping that she would respond tomorrow as I was staying home to recover from all the "hard labor".
I'm ready for some "zzzzz".
Monday 06/08/09
I made my lunch and filled a water bottle so that I didn't have to leave the apartment with paint-filled clothes.
I had a box of things in my arms and went down the thick oak steps down to the hallway. There are two turns (like a circular stairway) in the stairs going up to our apartment. One is at the top of the stairs and one is at the bottom of the stairs. As I gingerly walk down the stairs, I noticed an unusually shaped bag in front of my landlady's front door. I was wondering what it was and thought I was on the last step but I wasn't. I was on the second to the last step and when I went to put my foot down on the floor, it wasn't there...the edge of the last step was there and I lost my footing and went flying! Luckily I wasn't hurt but I'm sure I'm going to have bruises. Oh well...that will teach me to pay attention coming down those unusual stairs! I'll have to be more careful when carrying items and going down the stairs.
Ted has to stop off at work to pick up his laptop and then he will take me to the apartment. I wait in the car for what seemed like a half hour but in reality was only minutes.
I don't know what time it was when I changed my clothes and got all of the exterior blinds (which my husband likes to call "shields") open.
I decided to paint the ceiling first. I tried using the "paint stick" that we purchased only to find that the paint was too thick for me to use in the stick. So I used the paint in the stick to cover up the blue "streaks" in the half bath. Once the stick was empty I cleaned the stick and the roller. Since I didn't have a long pole to attach to the other roller, I decided to only do the edges and trim out the light fixture so that painting the ceiling later on would go quickly.
It ocurred to me that our name was not listed on the mailbox and the entrance door to the apartment is locked. How are the delivery guys going to know which doorbell to ring??? I don't have any tape to put a note on the doorbell outside and I can't get the little plastic thing that holds the name out. I don't have a knife and a key is too big. UGH! I'll have to keep watching for them!
I was able to trim out the ceiling in the living room, the master bedroom and the hallway. It took a long time because I had to move the drop cloth and go up and down the ladder over and over and over again and all the while checking for the delivery guys. By this time it was noon and time for lunch.
I sat on the bar stool at the work table in the kitchen and had my sandwich and water while watching the traffic and pedestrians below. After the short rest, I was ready for round two.
Ted dropped by to see if I was ok and to tell me the delivery guys were on their way. Just as he was saying it, the doorbell rang. It was the delivery guys. Ted left and the delivery guys came up. I verified the delivery, signed three papers and paid the guy. He seemed antsy and almost didn't want me to check the delivery. With me not speaking German, that was not going to happen!
Since I was out of paint, I decided to change colors and trim out the doors, windows and ceiling edges with the "caffe latte" colored-paint. I needed to change it up a bit.
Once again, I started in the living room and began to paint the ceiling edge, this time with color. It's more interesting with color, I think. I've turned into my grandfather! I "freehanded" the ceiling edge with an angled brush using the dabbing strokes of a painter after using a small roller to get as close to the edge as possible. Again, up and down the ladder, over and over and over again until the room was two-thirds complete. My feet were bothering me so I decided to trim out the baseboards so I could sit on the floor. Around the sliding glass door and the radiators and the corners. It was a very slow process.
Normally, I would be anal and not move on to another area but I needed to stand up and not go on the ladder so I trimmed waist high areas in the master bedroom, the hallway and the second bedroom. These included doors and windows and light switches. It looked funny with the tops and bottoms of the doors not trimmed but hey, this is a work in process!
It was almost 5 pm when I ran out of paint and decided to call it a day. I washed up the paint roller, brush and pan and scrubbed my hands clean. I changed my clothes and patiently waiting for Ted. I walked around the apartment and closed the "shields" and most of the windows.
Ted finally came home and just as we were leaving, Dr. Schumacher showed up. I'm glad he did because I wanted to tell him that there were two tiles in the half bath that were cracked and I didn't want to be responsible for them. He wanted to see them. I was nervous about him seeing the apartment "crazily painted" but he needed to see those cracks in the tiles. He came upstairs and asked if the walls were all going to be that color. It looks darker when it's wet than when it dries. It's a pretty color but it could have been a shade or two lighter given that it's an apartment and not our personal home. But it is what it is.
I tell him I want to do the trim myself and he looks at the job being done (around the entrance door) and says the painting is "accurate" meaning that I'm not getting paint all over the place.
He looks at the cracks and asks me to write an addendum to the "check in" document. I will take photos of the cracks and include those in the addendum. I also talk to him about how dirty the white vinyl around the windows are. I mention that it's due to the electrostatic electriicity and that I will clean them. I also call to his attention the stationery windows in the kitchen. There is no way I can wash the outside of them which is going to bug the heck out of me but they are staionery so it is what it is. He understands I cannot clean them.
As we leave the apartment, he was putting our printed name in the doorbell outside of our door, in our mailbox and the exterior doorbell. I didn't expect him to do that and thanked him for it. It appears Dr. Schumacher takes a personal interest in his renters. That's a good thing!
By this time it's after six pm and I'm famished. We decide to try out the Guiseppe's Italian restaurant down the street. Of course, my feet are killing me but since parking is an issue it's best we walk. We wanted to sit outside but everyone was smoking so we chose to sit inside. It's a cute little place with linen-covered tables and and murals on the walls.
I ask the lady if she speaks Italian and she does. That makes it easier on us! She gives us the menus and asks us what we want to drink. I wanted an Ice Tea but again, no one serves it. That seems very weird to me, but it is what it is.
Dinner was terrific and the owner comes and asks us how every thing was. It turns out he's from Avellino, not far from the town where my daughter's aunt lives. Small world. He even knew where Sperone was! We had a long conversation about the US, Italy and cooking. All the while, my dear husband, patiently sat and allowed me to converse in Italian. I didn't bother to translate because he didn't seem interested to know what we were talking about. He's a gem!
I'm ready to go home and take a long, hot shower. Ted walks back to the apartment to get the car while I pay the bill.
Once home and cleaned up, I'm ready for bed but I had been wondering if the shipper sent me the information I needed. I checked my email before going to bed and there was nothing. I sent another email to her hoping that she would respond tomorrow as I was staying home to recover from all the "hard labor".
I'm ready for some "zzzzz".
Monday 06/08/09
Sunday, June 7, 2009
Day 77: Day of rest!
Today is Sunday and we are attending church at the base on Kelley. Ted's boss is there with his new baby. The pastor gave a wonderful message on Psalm 46:10, "Be still and know that I am God." It was a great message. The gist of the message was to figure out what you can control and what you can't but in the end, God is in control and one needs to "let go and let God". I loved the message because it was timely and appropriate for a lot of things going on in our lives right now and the lives of loved ones.
After church we came home and had lunch. We were supposed to go to the apartment to do some painting but we both were terribly exhausted from yesterday's errands and the stress of trying to get simple things done in a foreign country where you don't know the language.
So we decided to rest reasoning that we probably wouldn't get a lot done anyways and we would be even more tired to face the coming week which we imagined would be packed with things to do.
So I got my blogging caught up and we napped for most of the afternoon. It appeared we definitely needed to rest and it was the best thing for us.
Around six o'clock in the evening, it started to rain. It rained very hard for about a half hour. Then the sun came out but it was still raining. I knew there would be a rainbow somewhere and wanted to see one. Suddenly, in the skylight above the table where I use my computer, there appeared the most glorious rainbow! And then we saw two rainbows. The second one was above the first one and was a pastel mirror of the lower rainbow. We could see the complete arc of the first rainbow and the colors were amazing! The reds, oranges an yellows were so clear it looked like a child had streaked his crayons across the sky. The darker colors were less clear but could be seen nonetheless.
Even though it was lightly raining, I wanted to see the entire rainbow so I went out onto the balcony and looked at it. It was gorgeous, to say the least.
We watched DVD's until it was time to go do the laundry. It was just getting dark when I took the basket downstairs and waited for Ted. I thought he was right behind me but he wasn't. I don't know what he was doing up in the apartment and I wasn't going to go back upstairs to look for him, so I waited down in the hallway downstairs.
Our landlady has a piece of furniture which is a small bench attached to table. It sort of reminds me of the telephone table my Grandmother Philomena had in her hallway years ago. Anyways, I decided to sit down and wait for him. I didn't turn the light on and just sat there. The front door opened and it was Rene, our landlady's son who lives next door to us upstairs. He jumped when he saw me. Apparently I scared the heck out of him. Perhaps he wasn't expecting me to be there. I apologized, of course. He saw the basket with the clothes and asked if we were moving out. I told him no, we were just going to do laundry.
So off we go to do the weekly chore of laundry. It took a long time to do laundry tonight and we didn't get back to the apartment until after midnight!
I'm STILL tired and it's time for bed. Guten Nacht!
Sunday 06/07/09
After church we came home and had lunch. We were supposed to go to the apartment to do some painting but we both were terribly exhausted from yesterday's errands and the stress of trying to get simple things done in a foreign country where you don't know the language.
So we decided to rest reasoning that we probably wouldn't get a lot done anyways and we would be even more tired to face the coming week which we imagined would be packed with things to do.
So I got my blogging caught up and we napped for most of the afternoon. It appeared we definitely needed to rest and it was the best thing for us.
Around six o'clock in the evening, it started to rain. It rained very hard for about a half hour. Then the sun came out but it was still raining. I knew there would be a rainbow somewhere and wanted to see one. Suddenly, in the skylight above the table where I use my computer, there appeared the most glorious rainbow! And then we saw two rainbows. The second one was above the first one and was a pastel mirror of the lower rainbow. We could see the complete arc of the first rainbow and the colors were amazing! The reds, oranges an yellows were so clear it looked like a child had streaked his crayons across the sky. The darker colors were less clear but could be seen nonetheless.
Even though it was lightly raining, I wanted to see the entire rainbow so I went out onto the balcony and looked at it. It was gorgeous, to say the least.
We watched DVD's until it was time to go do the laundry. It was just getting dark when I took the basket downstairs and waited for Ted. I thought he was right behind me but he wasn't. I don't know what he was doing up in the apartment and I wasn't going to go back upstairs to look for him, so I waited down in the hallway downstairs.
Our landlady has a piece of furniture which is a small bench attached to table. It sort of reminds me of the telephone table my Grandmother Philomena had in her hallway years ago. Anyways, I decided to sit down and wait for him. I didn't turn the light on and just sat there. The front door opened and it was Rene, our landlady's son who lives next door to us upstairs. He jumped when he saw me. Apparently I scared the heck out of him. Perhaps he wasn't expecting me to be there. I apologized, of course. He saw the basket with the clothes and asked if we were moving out. I told him no, we were just going to do laundry.
So off we go to do the weekly chore of laundry. It took a long time to do laundry tonight and we didn't get back to the apartment until after midnight!
I'm STILL tired and it's time for bed. Guten Nacht!
Sunday 06/07/09
Day 76: More shopping!
I let Ted sleep in until 9 as he's been working so hard lately and I want to make sure he's well rested. We have a breakfast of my favorite, honey nut cheerios and German milk (from a glass bottle). It has a little bit more fat than we're used to (3.8% instead of 2.0%) but it's good nonetheless.
While I'm cleaning up the kitchen and doing the dishes, Ted showers and then it's my turn. I clean the bathroom after we both are through using it and run the swiffer mop on it. I DO like these shiny tiles in the bathroom. They are SO easy to clean!
I take one last look around the apartment to ensure everything is in order and we are on our way. It's raining today so out come the umbrellas and it's cold so I put on my California spring/fall/winter jacket.
First stop: The bank on Panzer. We have to pay that speeding ticket. When we got into the car, Ted realized he stowed the paperwork in the glove compartment. HOORAY! That means we don't have to stop at his work to get the paperwork. We get to the bank and the teller takes about 15 minutes to prepare the draft. The Germans are nothing but efficient. We'll pay them directly from our bank account and be done with it. We only had a week to get it paid anyways.
Second stop: The PX/BX which is also on Panzer. I want to get all of the paint supplies (with the exception of the paint) from the BX. It will be cheaper in the long run. We also need to get some "painting clothes" as Ted cannot afford to use his work pants to paint in. When we go inside, there are some displays for flat screen TV's. Ted, of course, needs to check those out. While he's doing that, I look around for some clothes but I'm not spending $30 for a top and pants just to paint in them. I'll use my sweats. I can always get another pair of sweats later on. I know he's going to be awhile talking to the guy with the TVs so I go over to the paint department and pick up rollers, drape cloths, painters tape and everything I think we're going to need to do the painting. When I'm done, I go looking for Ted. This is where our cell phones used to come in VERY handy. Now it's hit or miss. I find him, where else, in the TV department. He said he figured that's where I would look for him and he was right.
We go looking for "paint clothes" for him. Ted finds a pair of nylon pants (workout pants) for less than $10 and we get those and decide that he can wear one of his old t-shirts to paint in. Some of them are threadbare!
He wants to get a stein at some point and he found them and wanted to show them to me but he doesn't want to spend $42 for one. I agree. He spots a cowboy hat that's waterproof. It's black with a German and US flag embroidered on the side. He looks good in it. It will keep his head warm in the winter (it's 100% wool) and dry. We don't know the price but we'll see when we check out. I have to show ID every time I check out either in the PX or in the Commissary. They don't want just anyone buying American goods there! We load everything into the car and by this time, Ted is hungry.
Third Stop: The Commissary and cleaners on Patch. To save time, I had Ted drop me off at the Commissary while I did some shopping. I didn't have a whole lot to buy so I should be done by the time he gets his pants from the cleaners.
Fourth Stop: Lunch at KFC. Yes, they have a few "fast food" places here in Germany. Although I would have preferred a German sandwich, Ted is happy to go there.
Fifth Stop: The German Red Cross Furniture Store. I want to check out what they have. We were told they have really good furnishings at 1/3 the cost of new. We travel to an industrial section of town and park the car. I wasn't sure what I was getting myself into but I was incredibly and pleasantly surprised when we walked in. There is a display area with glasses and other items for sale. All of them sparkle! This was not your ordinary discount or Goodwill store. This was actually nice and clean! I look at a few of the glasses and picked them up. These were clearly from an estate sale. They are beautiful. I'm not in the market to buy anything today but for future reference. I whispered to Ted that these elegant glasses could be bought and sold on eBay! A set of six lovely etched glasses (wine or aperitif) were 12 EURO!! That's an incredible price! But I'm not here to look at the glassware, I'm here to look at the wood furniture.
We go into the warehouse and I look at row after row of German-styled entertainment units. I will have to measure the living room wall but some of them are beautiful and barely used! They are well-kept and clean. We look at the beds and the slats. Ted was complaining that he thought he made a mistake and should have come here first. I don't mind the entertainment center being used but I draw the line at the bedroom. There are end tables and kitchen tables (some of them were hand made in oak). Ted was whining that he loved those old tables. I remind him that we do not have room for them and that we already have a table. Thank you.
He sees a Knotty Pine entertainment unit and he's in love. Suddenly, I'm back in the 50's at my Grandma's house where they had Knotty Pine in the basement! I nixed the Knotty Pine.
They also have kitchens. Here comes the whining again. And while I know we could have saved a lot of money by buying the kitchen used, I reminded Ted that someone had to install it and who knows how much THAT would cost and there would be a time issue...something we didn't have enough of to get all of that organized. No. We made the best possible choice in getting the kitchen from the previous tenant. As it is, we have to paint and put together furniture so dealing with installing a kitchen and/or light fixtures was out of the question!
We go up on the second floor and that's where they have the units that the Germans (and Italians) use in their front hallway. There was one but it was reserved. We'll have to come back to find something for that hallway. There are desks and office chairs for very little money (between 20 and 50 EURO). In three years, we can just give it back to the Red Cross, it will have served its purpose.
In the car, I tell Ted that I like the European wall units so much that I wouldn't mind shipping one back to the US.
Yes, we are DEFINITELY coming back here to pick up the missing pieces of our household goods.
Fifth stop: MoMax. It's the furniture store that the previous tenant recommended. While we've already decided that the Red Cross is the best bet for anything in the way of furniture that we need, MoMax appears to have a really good selection of sheers. They don't do a whole lot of drapes. But their colors or SO incredibly wild I'm going to have to wait to see where we are before we get the sheers. Thankfully all the windows have exterior blinds so if we don't want to use sheers we don't have to but I'm sure we will at some point.
We also look at fitted sheets for the beds. Mostly everything we see is stretch jersey. What's up with that? Don't they use cotton?? Ted and I have a theory. We think it's because it gets so cold here in the winter time that they use the jersey to keep warm. I had purchased a new comforter and sheets before we left the US thinking we would be getting an American bed and not knowing that we would like the German beds so much! So we will have to buy the fitted sheet for the mattresses and use the top sheet and the comforter. We have pillows although I'm liking the European pillows more and more. Perhaps I'll get them later on. I just don't know yet.
Ted told me we have an appointment with Klaus the furniture guy from Reutlingen. He told Ted that our car would not be big enough to get the mattresses to our apartment and that he would personally deliver them to our home for a beer! What a guy! I told Ted we will have to at least give him gas money. Gas is very expensive here.
We did see fitted sheets at Klaus' store so I will probably get them there. I didn't see any sheers there but it's interesting. Department stores as well as OBI and the furniture stores sell fabrics! I can't even imagine them doing that in the US. I guess a lot of people sew their own drapes / sheers. I know our landlady did. Because all of the drapes in the hallway and in all of the rooms here are the same fabric! LOL! And of course, because I asked her.
I'm ready to leave. I've seen enough.
As we leave, we see it is actually an outdoor mall (sort of). And of course, Ted spots the typical six foot ice cream cone and wants ice cream. The stores are on the exterior sides of the mall and have a cement walkway between them with parts of that walkway covered with what I believe is Plexiglas and parts of it are open. I would imagine it's important to have part of it covered especially because it rains so often here.
We sit down outside and order our "gelato". There are women behind us smoking. I'd forgotten how much I enjoy being in a place that does not allow smoking. And we are downwind so I get a whiff of it every now and then. We finish our ice cream and are waiting for the bill when an older couple sits down behind us. They too are puffing away and they are closer to us than the other women. I'm ready to start coughing. I look at Ted and I said I couldn't stand it any longer and that I was going to find the waiter and pay the bill. I get up and paid the bill giving him a small tip and we leave. Ted wants to go investigate the rest of the mall but it's getting cold and I didn't bring my sweater. It was warm when we came here but the weather changed so quickly!
We walk out and down the steps to the entrance to the parking deck. Uh oh! The door to the overpass is locked. I guess we are not going that way. Another reason why we should learn German. I bet it was on the door when we came over. Oh well. We'll just have to navigate across the street when there's no traffic.
Ted took my hand and said, "Follow that couple...they are going to the parking deck". We follow them and there's a break in the traffic and we cross without incident.
Now how do we get up to the third floor where the overpass (and our car) is located. By the way...for those of you from Youngstown, that overpass TOTALLY reminds me of the one that was at the downtown Strouss' store way back when. The length of it and the style of it. It brought back fond memories even if we were in Stuttgart!
Ted tells me there's an elevator in the center of the deck and we go to it. There's a dispute as to which floor it's on...the third or the fourth. I say fourth because there's something written in German above it. Ted says the third. We go to the third because I have to follow my fearless leader. I tell him, check and I'll hold the door. It's the fourth floor. When I point out why I thought it was the fourth floor, he says, "why didn't you say so?" UGH!
We get in the car and realize that we didn't use the parking attendant (the electronic cashier). He parks the car in the no parking zone and I quickly go to validate the parking ticket. It was 2.50 EURO!! To park the car for an hour?? That's highway robbery. We won't be doing THAT again. No wonder there weren't that many cars parked there! (Ted thought it would be full where the overpass was - now we know why)
Sixth Stop: M.C. Dean offices. It's on the way to OBI and Ted wants to get the shorter bar stool and take it to the apartment so we'll have something to sit on.
Seventh Stop: OBI. We get to OBI and get inside and go to the paint desk. We have NO idea how much paint to buy and the paint person speaks NO English. Thankfully there was an Iranian guy standing next to us who spoke English and did some translating for us. We ordered our paint and they do the same thing in Germany as they do in the US. They punch in a code and the paint colors are mixed and then they shake it up. We also buy stock white paint for the ceiling. Ted reminds me that the paint stick we bought was for a round can. These cans are oval. Uh Oh. So we buy the European version of the Paint Stick and decide to return the other one to the base. It's OK because we go to the base regularly so it's not a big deal and I'm anal about saving the receipts so it's really not a big deal.
We find out we don't have enough cash on hand and ask if they accept VISA. Thank goodness they do, because she already mixed the paint. We also need a ladder. Ted goes in search of a ladder and finds them. They don't measure the ladders in terms of the size of the ladder but in terms of how far you can reach. Doesn't that depend on how tall a person is? Now THAT is a-typical for Germans! We can't remember if the ceilings are eight or nine feet. We're just going to try though because we have to get something.
We go to the checkout and I wonder if they will do a VAT form. Ted stops by the service counter and the service person couldn't understand VAT form. But Ted said Tax Free and the guy's face lit up. He understood! We'll have to come back and have the form signed by them. We're supposed to do that on the spot but I forgot about it. Hopefully, it doesn't ding us too much.
Seventh Stop: Home. We want to drop off a few things and we're closer to home than the apartment and I want to change my shoes to carry this stuff up to the apartment.
We decide to bite the bullet and get the laundry done after we drop off this stuff at the apartment. I figured it would be a little late so I packed us a sandwich, some chips and some water to eat while we were doing laundry. It's going to be another late night.
Eighth Stop: The apartment. It was raining hard by the time we got there and we decided to park the car in the underground garage and carry the paint and other stuff up the one LONG flight of stairs and then the four sets of 8 - 10 steps to our apartment. Ted of course, wanted to play with the hydraulic lift to park the car on the bottom section even though NO ONE was parked on the top section and the person who shares the lift with us, is a dentist so she wasn't there. He insisted. Of course he did! LOL!
We unload everything from the car and put the seats back and put the clothes back in the car. We move the paint, chair, ladder and bags in stages. First to the door going into the apartment. Next up that big flight of stairs. Next up the first set of steps and so on. Ted carries ALL of the paint, poor guy. I'm SO glad I convinced him to put on his knee brace. By the time we got everything into the apartment, we both were sweating profusely! I pulled out a bottle of water and we both drank from it. He thanked me for thinking about bringing water!
Ninth Stop: Laundromat on Kelley. It took us all of five minutes to get from our new apartment to Kelley. Since it will be a bit of time before we find a suitable washer and dryer, we'll be doing laundry on Kelley. It's nice to know it only takes five minutes to get there as opposed to the 20-30 minutes from where we are staying right now. We get there and I don't have any US cash to put in the coin machine. There's a lot of cars and Ted says if there are too many people inside, we'll bag doing the laundry until tomorrow but it's my decision. I go inside and all of the commercial washers are empty so we will be doing laundry after all.
Ted goes in search of the ATM machine to get some cash. I wasn't thinking when we were at the PX. I could have bought a roll of quarters then. I should have written it down. There were SO many things to think about I couldn't remember it all. Thankfully, Ted doesn't complain too much about it. I remind him that he could have reminded me so that I could write it down!
He comes back and gets me the change I need and I load the washers. He brought in our sandwiches but I told him it smelled in the laundromat and I wasn't eating in there. He wanted to eat on the bench outside but it was too cold so we ate in the car. After eating a sandwich and some chips Ted went to check the mail. When he came out, he said that he had checked it yesterday. Today was Saturday. Didn't they deliver the mail to the slots today? He told me the Europeans only deliver mail three times a week. OK. I wouldn't have a problem with that. I'm sure the US postal system will come to that one of these days.
When we get back into the laundromat, the clothes are still washing but are on their final spin and should only take a few minutes. Finally, they are done and I quickly shove the wet clothes into the dryers opposite the commercial front loading machines and put in the coins. When we first started doing laundry at the laundromat, I told Ted about my parents owning laundromats when I was a kid and how my mother dragged me three times a week to all of the laundromats and how the washers and dryers had keys that you had to turn and turn and turn and turn to get them open. I also told him that part of my job was to fill the candy machine. Now THAT was fun! :)
I spend the time waiting for the dryer, looking at my little notebook and making note of the money we spent for the ice cream and the parking as well as anything else we spent cash for. It's amazing how much money goes through your hands if you are not conscious of it. I reconcile our EURO and DOLLAR cash monies every weekend and inevitably it's always off because something got missed (Ted doesn't always give me the receipts - but he's getting better at it.)
I fold the last of the clothes and we head for the car. It's raining again and I ask Ted to take me to the front door so the clothes won't get wet from the parking area to the door of our apartment. It's midnight and we have to be very quiet when we enter the building. We don't want to disturb our landlords.
Finally the clothes are sitting on the kitchen table and I'm beat. Ted wants to check his email but me...I'm heading for bed. I'm exhausted!
Saturday 06/06/09
While I'm cleaning up the kitchen and doing the dishes, Ted showers and then it's my turn. I clean the bathroom after we both are through using it and run the swiffer mop on it. I DO like these shiny tiles in the bathroom. They are SO easy to clean!
I take one last look around the apartment to ensure everything is in order and we are on our way. It's raining today so out come the umbrellas and it's cold so I put on my California spring/fall/winter jacket.
First stop: The bank on Panzer. We have to pay that speeding ticket. When we got into the car, Ted realized he stowed the paperwork in the glove compartment. HOORAY! That means we don't have to stop at his work to get the paperwork. We get to the bank and the teller takes about 15 minutes to prepare the draft. The Germans are nothing but efficient. We'll pay them directly from our bank account and be done with it. We only had a week to get it paid anyways.
Second stop: The PX/BX which is also on Panzer. I want to get all of the paint supplies (with the exception of the paint) from the BX. It will be cheaper in the long run. We also need to get some "painting clothes" as Ted cannot afford to use his work pants to paint in. When we go inside, there are some displays for flat screen TV's. Ted, of course, needs to check those out. While he's doing that, I look around for some clothes but I'm not spending $30 for a top and pants just to paint in them. I'll use my sweats. I can always get another pair of sweats later on. I know he's going to be awhile talking to the guy with the TVs so I go over to the paint department and pick up rollers, drape cloths, painters tape and everything I think we're going to need to do the painting. When I'm done, I go looking for Ted. This is where our cell phones used to come in VERY handy. Now it's hit or miss. I find him, where else, in the TV department. He said he figured that's where I would look for him and he was right.
We go looking for "paint clothes" for him. Ted finds a pair of nylon pants (workout pants) for less than $10 and we get those and decide that he can wear one of his old t-shirts to paint in. Some of them are threadbare!
He wants to get a stein at some point and he found them and wanted to show them to me but he doesn't want to spend $42 for one. I agree. He spots a cowboy hat that's waterproof. It's black with a German and US flag embroidered on the side. He looks good in it. It will keep his head warm in the winter (it's 100% wool) and dry. We don't know the price but we'll see when we check out. I have to show ID every time I check out either in the PX or in the Commissary. They don't want just anyone buying American goods there! We load everything into the car and by this time, Ted is hungry.
Third Stop: The Commissary and cleaners on Patch. To save time, I had Ted drop me off at the Commissary while I did some shopping. I didn't have a whole lot to buy so I should be done by the time he gets his pants from the cleaners.
Fourth Stop: Lunch at KFC. Yes, they have a few "fast food" places here in Germany. Although I would have preferred a German sandwich, Ted is happy to go there.
Fifth Stop: The German Red Cross Furniture Store. I want to check out what they have. We were told they have really good furnishings at 1/3 the cost of new. We travel to an industrial section of town and park the car. I wasn't sure what I was getting myself into but I was incredibly and pleasantly surprised when we walked in. There is a display area with glasses and other items for sale. All of them sparkle! This was not your ordinary discount or Goodwill store. This was actually nice and clean! I look at a few of the glasses and picked them up. These were clearly from an estate sale. They are beautiful. I'm not in the market to buy anything today but for future reference. I whispered to Ted that these elegant glasses could be bought and sold on eBay! A set of six lovely etched glasses (wine or aperitif) were 12 EURO!! That's an incredible price! But I'm not here to look at the glassware, I'm here to look at the wood furniture.
We go into the warehouse and I look at row after row of German-styled entertainment units. I will have to measure the living room wall but some of them are beautiful and barely used! They are well-kept and clean. We look at the beds and the slats. Ted was complaining that he thought he made a mistake and should have come here first. I don't mind the entertainment center being used but I draw the line at the bedroom. There are end tables and kitchen tables (some of them were hand made in oak). Ted was whining that he loved those old tables. I remind him that we do not have room for them and that we already have a table. Thank you.
He sees a Knotty Pine entertainment unit and he's in love. Suddenly, I'm back in the 50's at my Grandma's house where they had Knotty Pine in the basement! I nixed the Knotty Pine.
They also have kitchens. Here comes the whining again. And while I know we could have saved a lot of money by buying the kitchen used, I reminded Ted that someone had to install it and who knows how much THAT would cost and there would be a time issue...something we didn't have enough of to get all of that organized. No. We made the best possible choice in getting the kitchen from the previous tenant. As it is, we have to paint and put together furniture so dealing with installing a kitchen and/or light fixtures was out of the question!
We go up on the second floor and that's where they have the units that the Germans (and Italians) use in their front hallway. There was one but it was reserved. We'll have to come back to find something for that hallway. There are desks and office chairs for very little money (between 20 and 50 EURO). In three years, we can just give it back to the Red Cross, it will have served its purpose.
In the car, I tell Ted that I like the European wall units so much that I wouldn't mind shipping one back to the US.
Yes, we are DEFINITELY coming back here to pick up the missing pieces of our household goods.
Fifth stop: MoMax. It's the furniture store that the previous tenant recommended. While we've already decided that the Red Cross is the best bet for anything in the way of furniture that we need, MoMax appears to have a really good selection of sheers. They don't do a whole lot of drapes. But their colors or SO incredibly wild I'm going to have to wait to see where we are before we get the sheers. Thankfully all the windows have exterior blinds so if we don't want to use sheers we don't have to but I'm sure we will at some point.
We also look at fitted sheets for the beds. Mostly everything we see is stretch jersey. What's up with that? Don't they use cotton?? Ted and I have a theory. We think it's because it gets so cold here in the winter time that they use the jersey to keep warm. I had purchased a new comforter and sheets before we left the US thinking we would be getting an American bed and not knowing that we would like the German beds so much! So we will have to buy the fitted sheet for the mattresses and use the top sheet and the comforter. We have pillows although I'm liking the European pillows more and more. Perhaps I'll get them later on. I just don't know yet.
Ted told me we have an appointment with Klaus the furniture guy from Reutlingen. He told Ted that our car would not be big enough to get the mattresses to our apartment and that he would personally deliver them to our home for a beer! What a guy! I told Ted we will have to at least give him gas money. Gas is very expensive here.
We did see fitted sheets at Klaus' store so I will probably get them there. I didn't see any sheers there but it's interesting. Department stores as well as OBI and the furniture stores sell fabrics! I can't even imagine them doing that in the US. I guess a lot of people sew their own drapes / sheers. I know our landlady did. Because all of the drapes in the hallway and in all of the rooms here are the same fabric! LOL! And of course, because I asked her.
I'm ready to leave. I've seen enough.
As we leave, we see it is actually an outdoor mall (sort of). And of course, Ted spots the typical six foot ice cream cone and wants ice cream. The stores are on the exterior sides of the mall and have a cement walkway between them with parts of that walkway covered with what I believe is Plexiglas and parts of it are open. I would imagine it's important to have part of it covered especially because it rains so often here.
We sit down outside and order our "gelato". There are women behind us smoking. I'd forgotten how much I enjoy being in a place that does not allow smoking. And we are downwind so I get a whiff of it every now and then. We finish our ice cream and are waiting for the bill when an older couple sits down behind us. They too are puffing away and they are closer to us than the other women. I'm ready to start coughing. I look at Ted and I said I couldn't stand it any longer and that I was going to find the waiter and pay the bill. I get up and paid the bill giving him a small tip and we leave. Ted wants to go investigate the rest of the mall but it's getting cold and I didn't bring my sweater. It was warm when we came here but the weather changed so quickly!
We walk out and down the steps to the entrance to the parking deck. Uh oh! The door to the overpass is locked. I guess we are not going that way. Another reason why we should learn German. I bet it was on the door when we came over. Oh well. We'll just have to navigate across the street when there's no traffic.
Ted took my hand and said, "Follow that couple...they are going to the parking deck". We follow them and there's a break in the traffic and we cross without incident.
Now how do we get up to the third floor where the overpass (and our car) is located. By the way...for those of you from Youngstown, that overpass TOTALLY reminds me of the one that was at the downtown Strouss' store way back when. The length of it and the style of it. It brought back fond memories even if we were in Stuttgart!
Ted tells me there's an elevator in the center of the deck and we go to it. There's a dispute as to which floor it's on...the third or the fourth. I say fourth because there's something written in German above it. Ted says the third. We go to the third because I have to follow my fearless leader. I tell him, check and I'll hold the door. It's the fourth floor. When I point out why I thought it was the fourth floor, he says, "why didn't you say so?" UGH!
We get in the car and realize that we didn't use the parking attendant (the electronic cashier). He parks the car in the no parking zone and I quickly go to validate the parking ticket. It was 2.50 EURO!! To park the car for an hour?? That's highway robbery. We won't be doing THAT again. No wonder there weren't that many cars parked there! (Ted thought it would be full where the overpass was - now we know why)
Sixth Stop: M.C. Dean offices. It's on the way to OBI and Ted wants to get the shorter bar stool and take it to the apartment so we'll have something to sit on.
Seventh Stop: OBI. We get to OBI and get inside and go to the paint desk. We have NO idea how much paint to buy and the paint person speaks NO English. Thankfully there was an Iranian guy standing next to us who spoke English and did some translating for us. We ordered our paint and they do the same thing in Germany as they do in the US. They punch in a code and the paint colors are mixed and then they shake it up. We also buy stock white paint for the ceiling. Ted reminds me that the paint stick we bought was for a round can. These cans are oval. Uh Oh. So we buy the European version of the Paint Stick and decide to return the other one to the base. It's OK because we go to the base regularly so it's not a big deal and I'm anal about saving the receipts so it's really not a big deal.
We find out we don't have enough cash on hand and ask if they accept VISA. Thank goodness they do, because she already mixed the paint. We also need a ladder. Ted goes in search of a ladder and finds them. They don't measure the ladders in terms of the size of the ladder but in terms of how far you can reach. Doesn't that depend on how tall a person is? Now THAT is a-typical for Germans! We can't remember if the ceilings are eight or nine feet. We're just going to try though because we have to get something.
We go to the checkout and I wonder if they will do a VAT form. Ted stops by the service counter and the service person couldn't understand VAT form. But Ted said Tax Free and the guy's face lit up. He understood! We'll have to come back and have the form signed by them. We're supposed to do that on the spot but I forgot about it. Hopefully, it doesn't ding us too much.
Seventh Stop: Home. We want to drop off a few things and we're closer to home than the apartment and I want to change my shoes to carry this stuff up to the apartment.
We decide to bite the bullet and get the laundry done after we drop off this stuff at the apartment. I figured it would be a little late so I packed us a sandwich, some chips and some water to eat while we were doing laundry. It's going to be another late night.
Eighth Stop: The apartment. It was raining hard by the time we got there and we decided to park the car in the underground garage and carry the paint and other stuff up the one LONG flight of stairs and then the four sets of 8 - 10 steps to our apartment. Ted of course, wanted to play with the hydraulic lift to park the car on the bottom section even though NO ONE was parked on the top section and the person who shares the lift with us, is a dentist so she wasn't there. He insisted. Of course he did! LOL!
We unload everything from the car and put the seats back and put the clothes back in the car. We move the paint, chair, ladder and bags in stages. First to the door going into the apartment. Next up that big flight of stairs. Next up the first set of steps and so on. Ted carries ALL of the paint, poor guy. I'm SO glad I convinced him to put on his knee brace. By the time we got everything into the apartment, we both were sweating profusely! I pulled out a bottle of water and we both drank from it. He thanked me for thinking about bringing water!
Ninth Stop: Laundromat on Kelley. It took us all of five minutes to get from our new apartment to Kelley. Since it will be a bit of time before we find a suitable washer and dryer, we'll be doing laundry on Kelley. It's nice to know it only takes five minutes to get there as opposed to the 20-30 minutes from where we are staying right now. We get there and I don't have any US cash to put in the coin machine. There's a lot of cars and Ted says if there are too many people inside, we'll bag doing the laundry until tomorrow but it's my decision. I go inside and all of the commercial washers are empty so we will be doing laundry after all.
Ted goes in search of the ATM machine to get some cash. I wasn't thinking when we were at the PX. I could have bought a roll of quarters then. I should have written it down. There were SO many things to think about I couldn't remember it all. Thankfully, Ted doesn't complain too much about it. I remind him that he could have reminded me so that I could write it down!
He comes back and gets me the change I need and I load the washers. He brought in our sandwiches but I told him it smelled in the laundromat and I wasn't eating in there. He wanted to eat on the bench outside but it was too cold so we ate in the car. After eating a sandwich and some chips Ted went to check the mail. When he came out, he said that he had checked it yesterday. Today was Saturday. Didn't they deliver the mail to the slots today? He told me the Europeans only deliver mail three times a week. OK. I wouldn't have a problem with that. I'm sure the US postal system will come to that one of these days.
When we get back into the laundromat, the clothes are still washing but are on their final spin and should only take a few minutes. Finally, they are done and I quickly shove the wet clothes into the dryers opposite the commercial front loading machines and put in the coins. When we first started doing laundry at the laundromat, I told Ted about my parents owning laundromats when I was a kid and how my mother dragged me three times a week to all of the laundromats and how the washers and dryers had keys that you had to turn and turn and turn and turn to get them open. I also told him that part of my job was to fill the candy machine. Now THAT was fun! :)
I spend the time waiting for the dryer, looking at my little notebook and making note of the money we spent for the ice cream and the parking as well as anything else we spent cash for. It's amazing how much money goes through your hands if you are not conscious of it. I reconcile our EURO and DOLLAR cash monies every weekend and inevitably it's always off because something got missed (Ted doesn't always give me the receipts - but he's getting better at it.)
I fold the last of the clothes and we head for the car. It's raining again and I ask Ted to take me to the front door so the clothes won't get wet from the parking area to the door of our apartment. It's midnight and we have to be very quiet when we enter the building. We don't want to disturb our landlords.
Finally the clothes are sitting on the kitchen table and I'm beat. Ted wants to check his email but me...I'm heading for bed. I'm exhausted!
Saturday 06/06/09
Thursday, June 4, 2009
Day 75: More on shipment!
We get an email from someone in Germany regarding our shipment of goods. It appears the shipment WILL arrive Sunday, June 7 2009 in a port in Bremen. We think it's on the north coast of Germany (it's the only place where there is water).
We have to forward that email to the MP Customs office where we can get the form and arrange for customs.
We find out that the shipment will have to travel over 600 kilometers from Bremen to Stuttgart where it will go through customs. Ted's friend from work said to expect that the Germans will go through every box. UGH! Oh well. That's an entire day spent doing that. But his boss is cool and understands that will be the case.
After that, we guess it will be another day before the delivery can be made. I will certainly be glad when this is all over. Not being able to speak the language is a royal pain!
I decide to take a walk (the first one since I got sick) into town to buy a loaf of bread and my favorite Mango and Vanilla yogurt. A part of the walk (from our apartment to where the health food store is, is downhill. OK. No problem. The walk to the bread store is ALL uphill (granted it's not steep uphill, but it's uphill nonetheless.) But I take it slowly so it's OK.
I always go to the bread store first so I don't have to carry the purchases from the health food store to the bread store and back. And then I stop at the health food store. The lady I always talk to (the owner) passes me on the road riding her bicycle. Most Germans have those baskets in the front of their bikes (for carrying stuff...and I'm getting one too for my bike when it comes) or they have them on the sides of the back wheels. Every time I see someone wearing black and biking with a bike with those baskets. I always think of the "Wizard of Oz" and the music when the old maid is riding the bike (you know...the one who turns into the witch in Dorothy's dream). Ted and I laugh about it and he's taken up the practice of singing "Da-Ta,Da-Ta,Da-Da" whenever he sees someone riding like that. And we laugh about it.
Anyways, I buy my wonderful yogurt and head home. I pass school children (probably kindergarten or first graders) along with their teachers and mothers. I stop at the bench near the recycling bins and sit down. I know I'm going to start coughing but this is a good thing because I'm getting the last of the gunk out of my lungs!
I finally get home and have some yogurt and decide to get busy and clean the apartment. We have a laundry list of places to go to tomorrow and I need to have the apartment in tip top order for the weekly "inspection".
I thought we would be going to OBI tonight to get the paint but Ted called and said he has an appointment with his massage therapist. He is doing more physical work these days and it's difficult for him to get into the groove of it. His appointment is at 8:30.
So I decide that I'm going to watch a movie tonight. The first movie I've seen since we've been here. I brought along about six movies to watch until our shipment arrives. I'll be viewing National Treasure - Book of Secrets.
He never wants to eat before he goes to get a massage because it gives him heartburn to lay on his stomach after he's eaten. He finds out from our massage therapist what brand of mineral water she uses and it turns out it's a brand from one of the chain stores. Cool. We can get some. I actually like it which I not big on mineral water but this one is good especially with a slice of lemon!
He gets back around 10:30 and I give him a sandwich for dinner. I know it's not much but it IS late and it will bother his stomach if he overeats.
The movie is almost over and Ted watches with me while he checks his email. When it's over, we go to bed. Tomorrow is another day!
Friday 06/05/09
We have to forward that email to the MP Customs office where we can get the form and arrange for customs.
We find out that the shipment will have to travel over 600 kilometers from Bremen to Stuttgart where it will go through customs. Ted's friend from work said to expect that the Germans will go through every box. UGH! Oh well. That's an entire day spent doing that. But his boss is cool and understands that will be the case.
After that, we guess it will be another day before the delivery can be made. I will certainly be glad when this is all over. Not being able to speak the language is a royal pain!
I decide to take a walk (the first one since I got sick) into town to buy a loaf of bread and my favorite Mango and Vanilla yogurt. A part of the walk (from our apartment to where the health food store is, is downhill. OK. No problem. The walk to the bread store is ALL uphill (granted it's not steep uphill, but it's uphill nonetheless.) But I take it slowly so it's OK.
I always go to the bread store first so I don't have to carry the purchases from the health food store to the bread store and back. And then I stop at the health food store. The lady I always talk to (the owner) passes me on the road riding her bicycle. Most Germans have those baskets in the front of their bikes (for carrying stuff...and I'm getting one too for my bike when it comes) or they have them on the sides of the back wheels. Every time I see someone wearing black and biking with a bike with those baskets. I always think of the "Wizard of Oz" and the music when the old maid is riding the bike (you know...the one who turns into the witch in Dorothy's dream). Ted and I laugh about it and he's taken up the practice of singing "Da-Ta,Da-Ta,Da-Da" whenever he sees someone riding like that. And we laugh about it.
Anyways, I buy my wonderful yogurt and head home. I pass school children (probably kindergarten or first graders) along with their teachers and mothers. I stop at the bench near the recycling bins and sit down. I know I'm going to start coughing but this is a good thing because I'm getting the last of the gunk out of my lungs!
I finally get home and have some yogurt and decide to get busy and clean the apartment. We have a laundry list of places to go to tomorrow and I need to have the apartment in tip top order for the weekly "inspection".
I thought we would be going to OBI tonight to get the paint but Ted called and said he has an appointment with his massage therapist. He is doing more physical work these days and it's difficult for him to get into the groove of it. His appointment is at 8:30.
So I decide that I'm going to watch a movie tonight. The first movie I've seen since we've been here. I brought along about six movies to watch until our shipment arrives. I'll be viewing National Treasure - Book of Secrets.
He never wants to eat before he goes to get a massage because it gives him heartburn to lay on his stomach after he's eaten. He finds out from our massage therapist what brand of mineral water she uses and it turns out it's a brand from one of the chain stores. Cool. We can get some. I actually like it which I not big on mineral water but this one is good especially with a slice of lemon!
He gets back around 10:30 and I give him a sandwich for dinner. I know it's not much but it IS late and it will bother his stomach if he overeats.
The movie is almost over and Ted watches with me while he checks his email. When it's over, we go to bed. Tomorrow is another day!
Friday 06/05/09
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Day 74: Shopping for furniture.
Today was a day earmarked for blogging and getting the paperwork ready for tonight's second trip to IKEA. Because it was after closing time, we didn't get our VAT forms completed by IKEA to safe the 19% German taxes. We'll do that tonight when we go to IKEA again.
Ted finally sent me our insurance claim forms for our German clinic visits and pharmacy receipts. I'm able to get those all organized electronically and sent to the insurance company in...where else...California! It's ever so much faster when you can do the forms online, print them and make an electronic copy (.pdf) and send them via email. My contact person in California is very gracious and is waiting for those forms. She will have them this afternoon!
Ted left for work very early (before 7am) so he will most likely be home early and we can have a quick dinner and leave.
At IKEA, we already had the paperwork from last night to get the rest of our order, we just had to go to the warehouse and pull the boxes. We find the table (it's in two boxes) and very heavy but we manage to get it on the cart. We find the chairs and they are light and we manage to get those on the cart as well.
Ted informs me that he thinks the barstool he bought is a little short and he wants the higher one for work. So since he knows where those are located, he picks the taller one up and puts it on the cart. OK. We can use the other one for the work table in the kitchen. It will be perfect for snacks. We'll need to get another one but not tonight. I'm sure we will be back at IKEA getting other things in the future so I'm not going to sweat it.
We get in line and pay for the items. We go to the transport desk to arrange the delivery. It appears I was mistaken there IS a delivery charge for the orders. I just wish we had done everything in one fell swoop but Ted was afraid that the items we wanted would be out of stock. When I checked the delivery sheet from last night, it did indeed have a charge on it. Too bad the guy from last night bamboozled us about the delivery charge. Although, I don't' think he understood enough English to know what we were saying. Being in a foreign country where you don't understand the language is awful!
After the delivery has been scheduled, this one for Wednesday of next week, we look around to see where we go for the VAT form. We get in line and the lady says something in RAPID German and points to an area where there are sofas and chairs. I noticed that there are a few people sitting there, in particular, a pregnant woman. She must have seen the dazed, confused look on my face and pointed to a pole and held up her ticket. OH! You have to have a ticket and get in line that way! That's what those numbers were above the clerks' heads. We walk over to the opposite side of the pole and there are three buttons with German words next to them. I look at Ted, he looks at me and shrugs his shoulders and pushes one of t hem. Out pops our number. It is 294 and they are on 292. OK. We can sit for a few minutes and wait, so we do.
Now it's our turn. Of course the first words out of my mouth are "Sprechen sie Englisch?" (Do you speak English?). Sigh again. She doesn't. I show her the VAT form and she totally understood what we needed. I held up my hand and showed her TWO forms (one for tonight and one for last night). She quickly...and I mean QUICKLY, completed those complicated 4-5 page documents, made copies of the receipts, has us sign the two forms and takes us over to the cashier. This is efficiency!
Since I'd never done this before, I was expecting that we would receive a check in the mail. Not so, IKEA gives us our money back, right then and there! I'm a happy camper.
She cuts us in line (ahead of all these people) and the cashier begins to process the VAT form. The first one we get back 65.02 EURO. OK! Almost enough for the delivery! That will work!
The second one there's a problem. The cash register says 8504 EURO! If only it were true. The cashier realizes there's a mistake somewhere (it should have been 85.04 EURO) and calls our lady back over. She literally RUNS over to the register and Ted whispered in my ear..."and she's no spring chicken, either". She RUNS the paperwork back to her desk, checks it and RUNS back to the cashier. In the meantime, the Cashier explains to the waiting customers what's going on. I guess she told them to get into another line because some folks moved over to other lines while others did not.
It appears her register is frozen on that transaction and she needs a head cashier to release the transaction. While all this was going on, we started a conversation with the guy behind us. He works on base and he's from Alabama. He said the VAT forms are a pain but why pay 19% tax on big ticket items when you don't have to?
Finally, the transaction is released and we get our money and leave. Again almost enough for the second delivery so that a good thing!
I'm ready to go home. Too much excitement for me these past few days! ;)
Thursday 06/04/09
Ted finally sent me our insurance claim forms for our German clinic visits and pharmacy receipts. I'm able to get those all organized electronically and sent to the insurance company in...where else...California! It's ever so much faster when you can do the forms online, print them and make an electronic copy (.pdf) and send them via email. My contact person in California is very gracious and is waiting for those forms. She will have them this afternoon!
Ted left for work very early (before 7am) so he will most likely be home early and we can have a quick dinner and leave.
At IKEA, we already had the paperwork from last night to get the rest of our order, we just had to go to the warehouse and pull the boxes. We find the table (it's in two boxes) and very heavy but we manage to get it on the cart. We find the chairs and they are light and we manage to get those on the cart as well.
Ted informs me that he thinks the barstool he bought is a little short and he wants the higher one for work. So since he knows where those are located, he picks the taller one up and puts it on the cart. OK. We can use the other one for the work table in the kitchen. It will be perfect for snacks. We'll need to get another one but not tonight. I'm sure we will be back at IKEA getting other things in the future so I'm not going to sweat it.
We get in line and pay for the items. We go to the transport desk to arrange the delivery. It appears I was mistaken
After the delivery has been scheduled, this one for Wednesday of next week, we look around to see where we go for the VAT form. We get in line and the lady says something in RAPID German and points to an area where there are sofas and chairs. I noticed that there are a few people sitting there, in particular, a pregnant woman. She must have seen the dazed, confused look on my face and pointed to a pole and held up her ticket. OH! You have to have a ticket and get in line that way! That's what those numbers were above the clerks' heads. We walk over to the opposite side of the pole and there are three buttons with German words next to them. I look at Ted, he looks at me and shrugs his shoulders and pushes one of t hem. Out pops our number. It is 294 and they are on 292. OK. We can sit for a few minutes and wait, so we do.
Now it's our turn. Of course the first words out of my mouth are "Sprechen sie Englisch?" (Do you speak English?). Sigh again. She doesn't. I show her the VAT form and she totally understood what we needed. I held up my hand and showed her TWO forms (one for tonight and one for last night). She quickly...and I mean QUICKLY, completed those complicated 4-5 page documents, made copies of the receipts, has us sign the two forms and takes us over to the cashier. This is efficiency!
Since I'd never done this before, I was expecting that we would receive a check in the mail. Not so, IKEA gives us our money back, right then and there! I'm a happy camper.
She cuts us in line (ahead of all these people) and the cashier begins to process the VAT form. The first one we get back 65.02 EURO. OK! Almost enough for the delivery! That will work!
The second one there's a problem. The cash register says 8504 EURO! If only it were true. The cashier realizes there's a mistake somewhere (it should have been 85.04 EURO) and calls our lady back over. She literally RUNS over to the register and Ted whispered in my ear..."and she's no spring chicken, either". She RUNS the paperwork back to her desk, checks it and RUNS back to the cashier. In the meantime, the Cashier explains to the waiting customers what's going on. I guess she told them to get into another line because some folks moved over to other lines while others did not.
It appears her register is frozen on that transaction and she needs a head cashier to release the transaction. While all this was going on, we started a conversation with the guy behind us. He works on base and he's from Alabama. He said the VAT forms are a pain but why pay 19% tax on big ticket items when you don't have to?
Finally, the transaction is released and we get our money and leave. Again almost enough for the second delivery so that a good thing!
I'm ready to go home. Too much excitement for me these past few days! ;)
Thursday 06/04/09
Day 73: Lack of Communication.
The day starts out fine. I'm planning on doing some company work today. However, those plans quickly change as I receive an email notice from the shipping company that's handling our household goods that I need a half a dozen documents in order to process the shipment through customs!
I am NOT a happy camper. To say that I'm angry is an understatement. The shipper should have told us about these document requirements four weeks ago when I emailed and asked the status of the shipment. Two weeks ago I emailed the corresponding shipper in Germany and he didn't respond to my email. I finally emailed my shipper and asked him to intervene because I want to ensure our shipment gets delivered in a timely manner. We are in a time crunch here. We have to be out of our apartment by the 23rd of June and it's the 3rd of June and the shipment is due in port tomorrow.
I let the shipper in Germany, the shipper in the US and Ted know that this situation is unacceptable in it's current state. I fully intend on sending a letter to the shipping company after the shipment is delivered into my hands. They need to knwo their communication on important pieces of information is sadly lacking.
The German shipper responds that the shipment is delayed and won't hit the port until 6/7/09. Another delay that we cannot afford to have.
Since I only have email to Ted during the day (the apartment phone is ONLY for incoming calls and I refuse to use my cell phone because it's so incredibly expensive), I fire off an email to someone over at his company. I'm hoping someone there can give us some direction as to where we can get these documents. One we have and I'm not at all worried about, our passport photos. But the rest...I have NO idea what the documents are, much less how to get them!
Emails flew back and forth all day until finally, Ted emails me and tells me he's been in touch with the MP Customs office on base. They tell him we will only need one specific form from them and our SOFA cards (SOFA stands for Status of Forces Agreement). Apparently this card is a magic key to get us through customs. The only thing is, I wonder if it's going to be acceptable since the German shipper never mentioned it and I know the Germans are anal about their rules and order.
I finally receive an email from the German shipper who asks me if we have a SOFA card. I respond that we do and he responds back that this card will make it much easier and gives me the same form number my husband told me about.
After a few very tense hours of corresponding back and forth, my mind is not settled enough to work on company work. I wish I could just CALL these folks, it would be a heck of a lot easier than dealing with email but right now, it's the only method of communication that I have. That's another reason I want to get settled in. I want to be able to call people and stores when I need to and hear my family's voices.
Ted knows I'm upset and seeks to reassure me that all things will go as planned. The wind up is that it's going to take at least a week for the shipment to get to the warehouse and a day to get through customs. We are not sure how long it will take for the shipment to get from Bremen (the port it's coming into) over to Stuttgart. So I'm hoping we get our shipment on the 20th.
Ted brought home the VAT forms the other day and I'm reading through those. The base charges $4 for EACH form. These forms are used to refund us the 19% tax on all goods and services. What a money making venture that is...$4 for every form. YIKES!
Ted ALSO brought home a present for me. A speeding ticket that I sort of knew I was going to get. It happened way back when we were on our way back to Munich (the ONE and only time that I drove). Ted said that I cannot ever talk to him about him speeding since I'm the one who got the ticket. Apparently, they have cameras set up and a picture is taken. We didn't know for sure whether we got one or not (but Ted was pretty sure because I saw the flash but didn't know what it was until he said, you're going to get a ticket and it will come by mail in about a month). And sure enough, a few days ago that darned ticket showed up with my name on it. He's been gleefully letting me know that in the two months we've been here, I got the ticket and he hasn't. And I only drove that ONE time! UGH! But I reminded him that I wouldn't have been driving at all, if he hadn't drunk the beer in Munich and it would have been HIM that got the ticket and not me! Luckily though, the ticket is for 15 Euros (about $20). I can live with that and so can he. He seems to think it's pretty funny, actually. I do not.
When I look at the ticket, I'm able to figure out that I was going 3km above the speed limit. Three kilometers??!! When I ask Ted if he read the ticket he said, "no, he didn't". When I tell him how fast I was going, he said, "that's a speed trap!". He finally admitted that he can't needle me too much if it was only 3km, that's less than 2 miles above the speed limit! I also reminded him that if it were him driving and not me, the fine would have been a lot higher. He won't be needling me any longer. I guess it was fun for him while it lasted! LOL!
I thought Ted was going to get home early so we could go get the paint but tonight he was late do to work related issues. He got home around 6:00. OBI was not happening tonight. By the time we have dinner and get over there, it would be closing time again. He said to check IKEA and see what time they close and we'll head over there instead. We still have to buy a bed and Ted is getting nervous as IKEA closes at 9 so we quickly eat dinner and head on over there.
Once again, we go to the parking deck via that twisty-turny several stories high ramp. We go inside and are immediately discombobulated once again! IKEA is confusing to begin with and then add to it the German twist on doing things and the language barrier and you feel like Alice in Wonderland! LOL!
We are looking for the beds but come across the tables. We settle on a light butcher-block type table with two leaves (the leaves store on a shelf under the table...which is very cool) and matching birch chairs with white cushions (I DEFINITELY will be reupholstering those white seats! LOL!). I write down the brand and color and whatever numbers I can find. I finally realize that there are aisle and rack numbers on them and write those down too. As we walk through the store, Ted spots a "barhocker" (barstool) that folds and will be perfect for him for work. His knee has been bothering him and for 25 EURO, this is a quick fix. We write down those numbers down too. It's about 7:30 by now and we still haven't looked at the beds. We need to get moving.
We find the beds and the bed slats and settle on a bed slat that elevates not only the head but the feet as well. We REALLY liked the electric ones but they are, unfortunately, a little too pricey at this time. We will be saving some 250Euro by buying the slats from IKEA as opposed to the furniture store. However, Ted doesn't like any of the mattresses and wants to buy the mattresses from Klaus. I agree that it's probably wise to do so. He will call Klaus tomorrow.
We look for a bed that will house the two 90cm x 200cm slats and mattresses that is not so low to the ground that we both have a hard time getting out of bed. We finally find a walnut colored bed that will work and it's fairly inexpensive too. That's definitely a plus! We are already planning on bringing back those slats and mattresses to the states. The beds we are sleeping in are incredibly comfortable.
I also wanted the night stands, which are pretty cool because they are on wheels and they have this shelf that goes under the bed. It's a perfect storage place for shoes! Ted asks me if that's what it's for. I really don't know but it's a great idea to hide those shoes, don't you think?
We go to the counter to speak with someone and the customers are two deep. It's finally our turn. We ask the lady if she speaks English. She says a little. Her English is better than our German...by a long shot! I give her the papers to enter the table and chairs along with the bed and the slats and nightstands. She puts it into the computer. I ask if they deliver and it turns out, if you can wait for the deliver for five days, there's no charge! No charge for a delivery??!! That's terrific, we'll take that!
Unfortunately, though...they don't take VISA but have an ATM machine in the lobby. We know there's a limit to how much cash we can withdraw on a given day so we split up the order and take just the bed, the slats and the bar stool and put the rest on another order for tomorrow.
By now it's about 9pm and the store is closing. Since it's IKEA, we have to pull the barstool, the slats and the metal brace that goes in the middle of the bed to hold the slats. We find everything except the slats. While Ted is looking for them, I spot a warehouse person and ask him if he speaks English. He speaks a little. Everyone says that but they speak very well, in my opnion, thank goodness!
He verifies we have the right items and helps us put them on the cart. Now we have to go get the money and check out and go to the "transport" (delivery) desk. We stop someone to ask where the ATM machine is and she tells us where it is. I stop her again and ask her if she handles transport. She points to another desk around the corner. Ok...now for the cash.
A clerk comes up to me and tells me I have to check out (at least that's what I THOUGHT she was saying). I tell her in English that I'm waiting for my husband to get cash from the ATM. I don't know if she understood me or not but she left me alone after that. LOL!
Ted comes back and we check out. We zip on over to the transport desk and get the delivery squared away for this coming Monday. They will call Ted an hour before to let him know when they will be coming. I'll probably be there painting when they make the delivery.
One thing occurs to us when we're getting in the car. This furniture has to be put together, which is fine. We've done it before and we can do it again. However, the instructions will be in German!! I hadn't considered that. Oh well...I think I'll try to get the instructions in English online and surprise Ted.
We decide to go to the apartment to drop off not only the metal brace but the TV that's been in Ted's car since Saturday. We get there and it just turned dark. Slowly we maneuver that TV (which really wasn't that big to begin with) up the stairs and into the apartment. We look around and I see that the half bath will probably need a primer coat as the previous tenant painted periwinkle blue "Swooshes"
on the walls above the tile. Oh well.
Since Frank left some clothing poles in the bedroom we will be temporarily using those until we can purchase a wardrobe for our bedroom. We will need a chest of drawers though and that we should purchase here shortly. Ted wanted to know which bedroom would be the master bedroom. I told him the bigger of the two and the one with the balcony. It's earmarked as the children's room on the floor plan but we are goign to use it for our room for several reasons: 1) it has a balcony, 2) it's bigger than the other bedroom and 3) it's the furthest away from the street.
Ted opens the glass sliding door out to the balcony. Now he can't get it shut. The sliders are SO strange here!! They pop out at the top, much like the windows and then pop out on the bottom. It turns out that the handle pops them back in again. Very strange but very cool.
It's time to leave and go home. All in all it was a productive evening even if we didn't get the paint yet...at least now we have the bed frame, table and chairs!
Wednesday, 06/03/09
I am NOT a happy camper. To say that I'm angry is an understatement. The shipper should have told us about these document requirements four weeks ago when I emailed and asked the status of the shipment. Two weeks ago I emailed the corresponding shipper in Germany and he didn't respond to my email. I finally emailed my shipper and asked him to intervene because I want to ensure our shipment gets delivered in a timely manner. We are in a time crunch here. We have to be out of our apartment by the 23rd of June and it's the 3rd of June and the shipment is due in port tomorrow.
I let the shipper in Germany, the shipper in the US and Ted know that this situation is unacceptable in it's current state. I fully intend on sending a letter to the shipping company after the shipment is delivered into my hands. They need to knwo their communication on important pieces of information is sadly lacking.
The German shipper responds that the shipment is delayed and won't hit the port until 6/7/09. Another delay that we cannot afford to have.
Since I only have email to Ted during the day (the apartment phone is ONLY for incoming calls and I refuse to use my cell phone because it's so incredibly expensive), I fire off an email to someone over at his company. I'm hoping someone there can give us some direction as to where we can get these documents. One we have and I'm not at all worried about, our passport photos. But the rest...I have NO idea what the documents are, much less how to get them!
Emails flew back and forth all day until finally, Ted emails me and tells me he's been in touch with the MP Customs office on base. They tell him we will only need one specific form from them and our SOFA cards (SOFA stands for Status of Forces Agreement). Apparently this card is a magic key to get us through customs. The only thing is, I wonder if it's going to be acceptable since the German shipper never mentioned it and I know the Germans are anal about their rules and order.
I finally receive an email from the German shipper who asks me if we have a SOFA card. I respond that we do and he responds back that this card will make it much easier and gives me the same form number my husband told me about.
After a few very tense hours of corresponding back and forth, my mind is not settled enough to work on company work. I wish I could just CALL these folks, it would be a heck of a lot easier than dealing with email but right now, it's the only method of communication that I have. That's another reason I want to get settled in. I want to be able to call people and stores when I need to and hear my family's voices.
Ted knows I'm upset and seeks to reassure me that all things will go as planned. The wind up is that it's going to take at least a week for the shipment to get to the warehouse and a day to get through customs. We are not sure how long it will take for the shipment to get from Bremen (the port it's coming into) over to Stuttgart. So I'm hoping we get our shipment on the 20th.
Ted brought home the VAT forms the other day and I'm reading through those. The base charges $4 for EACH form. These forms are used to refund us the 19% tax on all goods and services. What a money making venture that is...$4 for every form. YIKES!
Ted ALSO brought home a present for me. A speeding ticket that I sort of knew I was going to get. It happened way back when we were on our way back to Munich (the ONE and only time that I drove). Ted said that I cannot ever talk to him about him speeding since I'm the one who got the ticket. Apparently, they have cameras set up and a picture is taken. We didn't know for sure whether we got one or not (but Ted was pretty sure because I saw the flash but didn't know what it was until he said, you're going to get a ticket and it will come by mail in about a month). And sure enough, a few days ago that darned ticket showed up with my name on it. He's been gleefully letting me know that in the two months we've been here, I got the ticket and he hasn't. And I only drove that ONE time! UGH! But I reminded him that I wouldn't have been driving at all, if he hadn't drunk the beer in Munich and it would have been HIM that got the ticket and not me! Luckily though, the ticket is for 15 Euros (about $20). I can live with that and so can he. He seems to think it's pretty funny, actually. I do not.
When I look at the ticket, I'm able to figure out that I was going 3km above the speed limit. Three kilometers??!! When I ask Ted if he read the ticket he said, "no, he didn't". When I tell him how fast I was going, he said, "that's a speed trap!". He finally admitted that he can't needle me too much if it was only 3km, that's less than 2 miles above the speed limit! I also reminded him that if it were him driving and not me, the fine would have been a lot higher. He won't be needling me any longer. I guess it was fun for him while it lasted! LOL!
I thought Ted was going to get home early so we could go get the paint but tonight he was late do to work related issues. He got home around 6:00. OBI was not happening tonight. By the time we have dinner and get over there, it would be closing time again. He said to check IKEA and see what time they close and we'll head over there instead. We still have to buy a bed and Ted is getting nervous as IKEA closes at 9 so we quickly eat dinner and head on over there.
Once again, we go to the parking deck via that twisty-turny several stories high ramp. We go inside and are immediately discombobulated once again! IKEA is confusing to begin with and then add to it the German twist on doing things and the language barrier and you feel like Alice in Wonderland! LOL!
We are looking for the beds but come across the tables. We settle on a light butcher-block type table with two leaves (the leaves store on a shelf under the table...which is very cool) and matching birch chairs with white cushions (I DEFINITELY will be reupholstering those white seats! LOL!). I write down the brand and color and whatever numbers I can find. I finally realize that there are aisle and rack numbers on them and write those down too. As we walk through the store, Ted spots a "barhocker" (barstool) that folds and will be perfect for him for work. His knee has been bothering him and for 25 EURO, this is a quick fix. We write down those numbers down too. It's about 7:30 by now and we still haven't looked at the beds. We need to get moving.
We find the beds and the bed slats and settle on a bed slat that elevates not only the head but the feet as well. We REALLY liked the electric ones but they are, unfortunately, a little too pricey at this time. We will be saving some 250Euro by buying the slats from IKEA as opposed to the furniture store. However, Ted doesn't like any of the mattresses and wants to buy the mattresses from Klaus. I agree that it's probably wise to do so. He will call Klaus tomorrow.
We look for a bed that will house the two 90cm x 200cm slats and mattresses that is not so low to the ground that we both have a hard time getting out of bed. We finally find a walnut colored bed that will work and it's fairly inexpensive too. That's definitely a plus! We are already planning on bringing back those slats and mattresses to the states. The beds we are sleeping in are incredibly comfortable.
I also wanted the night stands, which are pretty cool because they are on wheels and they have this shelf that goes under the bed. It's a perfect storage place for shoes! Ted asks me if that's what it's for. I really don't know but it's a great idea to hide those shoes, don't you think?
We go to the counter to speak with someone and the customers are two deep. It's finally our turn. We ask the lady if she speaks English. She says a little. Her English is better than our German...by a long shot! I give her the papers to enter the table and chairs along with the bed and the slats and nightstands. She puts it into the computer. I ask if they deliver and it turns out, if you can wait for the deliver for five days, there's no charge! No charge for a delivery??!! That's terrific, we'll take that!
Unfortunately, though...they don't take VISA but have an ATM machine in the lobby. We know there's a limit to how much cash we can withdraw on a given day so we split up the order and take just the bed, the slats and the bar stool and put the rest on another order for tomorrow.
By now it's about 9pm and the store is closing. Since it's IKEA, we have to pull the barstool, the slats and the metal brace that goes in the middle of the bed to hold the slats. We find everything except the slats. While Ted is looking for them, I spot a warehouse person and ask him if he speaks English. He speaks a little. Everyone says that but they speak very well, in my opnion, thank goodness!
He verifies we have the right items and helps us put them on the cart. Now we have to go get the money and check out and go to the "transport" (delivery) desk. We stop someone to ask where the ATM machine is and she tells us where it is. I stop her again and ask her if she handles transport. She points to another desk around the corner. Ok...now for the cash.
A clerk comes up to me and tells me I have to check out (at least that's what I THOUGHT she was saying). I tell her in English that I'm waiting for my husband to get cash from the ATM. I don't know if she understood me or not but she left me alone after that. LOL!
Ted comes back and we check out. We zip on over to the transport desk and get the delivery squared away for this coming Monday. They will call Ted an hour before to let him know when they will be coming. I'll probably be there painting when they make the delivery.
One thing occurs to us when we're getting in the car. This furniture has to be put together, which is fine. We've done it before and we can do it again. However, the instructions will be in German!! I hadn't considered that. Oh well...I think I'll try to get the instructions in English online and surprise Ted.
We decide to go to the apartment to drop off not only the metal brace but the TV that's been in Ted's car since Saturday. We get there and it just turned dark. Slowly we maneuver that TV (which really wasn't that big to begin with) up the stairs and into the apartment. We look around and I see that the half bath will probably need a primer coat as the previous tenant painted periwinkle blue "Swooshes"
on the walls above the tile. Oh well.
Since Frank left some clothing poles in the bedroom we will be temporarily using those until we can purchase a wardrobe for our bedroom. We will need a chest of drawers though and that we should purchase here shortly. Ted wanted to know which bedroom would be the master bedroom. I told him the bigger of the two and the one with the balcony. It's earmarked as the children's room on the floor plan but we are goign to use it for our room for several reasons: 1) it has a balcony, 2) it's bigger than the other bedroom and 3) it's the furthest away from the street.
Ted opens the glass sliding door out to the balcony. Now he can't get it shut. The sliders are SO strange here!! They pop out at the top, much like the windows and then pop out on the bottom. It turns out that the handle pops them back in again. Very strange but very cool.
It's time to leave and go home. All in all it was a productive evening even if we didn't get the paint yet...at least now we have the bed frame, table and chairs!
Wednesday, 06/03/09
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Day 72: Buying Paint.
I woke up feeling under the weather, and decided to go back to bed for a bit. I slept for a few hours.
After all of the excitement of getting our apartment keys (boy, it doesn't take much to get us excited, does it?), I'm a bit tired. I don't do much of anything except answer emails, clean up the apartment (which doesn't take much because it's so incredibly small) and surf the Internet. There isn't much else I can do.
Ted is supposed to come home early so we can go to OBI to get the paint for the apartment and they close at 8pm. That's the ONE hard thing about living in Germany. We're so used to stores being open until 10 that shaving off two hours of that time really makes it difficult.
Unfortunately, he strolls in at 6:30! I was getting worried because he usually calls and it's not like him to be an hour late. It turns out that he was spending some time with a co-worker who is being shipped out to Africa in the morning. We anticipate that Ted will be going to Africa too at some point in the future, probably towards the end of the summer.
After quickly eating dinner we head on over to OBI to pick up the paint. Well, by the time we get there, it's 7:30 and the store closes at 8 so purchasing paint is not going to happen tonight. However, I can look at paint swatches and figure out what color I want. We also check out the rollers and paint brushes but we aren't buying anything tonight. It's just reconnaissance at this point.
For the remainder of the time, we walk around the store and I see they have window sheers at OBI (which is like a Home Depot or Lowe's). They aren't cheap either...although they do have some on sale. They also have bolts of material to make sheers (that won't be happening since I don't have a sewing machine). I find it interesting that the hardware store would have fabric!
The only issue with the sheers is that the Germans LOVE their wild colors and designs...I guess it's all Europeans, really. I don't see a beige or cream colored sheer (without additional colors or designs) anywhere! I don't mind the texture of some of them, it gives them interest but they are either vertical/horizontal stripes or dots or something else. Think IKEA designs! LOL!
I picked up a small scrub brush because we spilled something on the upholstered chair in our apartment and I want to clean it. Other than taking a paint chip and buying the brush, we were done for the night.
Tomorrow is another day and we will be coming back to finish this task.
Tuesday 6/2/2009
After all of the excitement of getting our apartment keys (boy, it doesn't take much to get us excited, does it?), I'm a bit tired. I don't do much of anything except answer emails, clean up the apartment (which doesn't take much because it's so incredibly small) and surf the Internet. There isn't much else I can do.
Ted is supposed to come home early so we can go to OBI to get the paint for the apartment and they close at 8pm. That's the ONE hard thing about living in Germany. We're so used to stores being open until 10 that shaving off two hours of that time really makes it difficult.
Unfortunately, he strolls in at 6:30! I was getting worried because he usually calls and it's not like him to be an hour late. It turns out that he was spending some time with a co-worker who is being shipped out to Africa in the morning. We anticipate that Ted will be going to Africa too at some point in the future, probably towards the end of the summer.
After quickly eating dinner we head on over to OBI to pick up the paint. Well, by the time we get there, it's 7:30 and the store closes at 8 so purchasing paint is not going to happen tonight. However, I can look at paint swatches and figure out what color I want. We also check out the rollers and paint brushes but we aren't buying anything tonight. It's just reconnaissance at this point.
For the remainder of the time, we walk around the store and I see they have window sheers at OBI (which is like a Home Depot or Lowe's). They aren't cheap either...although they do have some on sale. They also have bolts of material to make sheers (that won't be happening since I don't have a sewing machine). I find it interesting that the hardware store would have fabric!
The only issue with the sheers is that the Germans LOVE their wild colors and designs...I guess it's all Europeans, really. I don't see a beige or cream colored sheer (without additional colors or designs) anywhere! I don't mind the texture of some of them, it gives them interest but they are either vertical/horizontal stripes or dots or something else. Think IKEA designs! LOL!
I picked up a small scrub brush because we spilled something on the upholstered chair in our apartment and I want to clean it. Other than taking a paint chip and buying the brush, we were done for the night.
Tomorrow is another day and we will be coming back to finish this task.
Tuesday 6/2/2009
Monday, June 1, 2009
Day 71: Walk through.
I'm so excited. Today is the day we finally get the keys to the apartment! It's a German holiday which worked out great for our Landlord. However, the time (6:30 this evening) is going to be a little bit of a challenge. Ted doesn't get home until after 5:30 and we have to have dinner before we leave. Hopefully, he won't be delayed.
I spent the day preparing the documents I needed for tonight's meeting, answering emails and just "putzing" around the apartment and fixing something special for dinner tonight: stuffed mushrooms to go along with our entree.
Ted came home and I QUICKLY put our meal on the table so we could leave to go do the walk-through. The document that we need to complete for the housing office is three pages long and quite detailed. We also have to get the meter readings so that we can keep track of what we owe in the way of utilities.
We left the house at 6pm and arrived at the apartment with five minutes to spare. A guy was waiting for us and it turns out he's the Landlord's cousin and half owner of the apartment building. The Landlord came within minutes and parked his car in the Tiefgarage or "underground garage or parking". We all walked up to the apartment.
He asked for the rental agreement as Ted scanned the original he missed the back pages of the agreement and the Landlord was missing the odd pages of the agreement. So we agreed to give him the agreement after his cousin signed it and he would send it back to us via email.
I began to complete the detailed form. It wasn't difficult because the apartment is quite new by German standards (2003). We looked at everything: glass in the windows, window sills, the exterior blinds (Ted calls them the "shields" - must be a Star Trek thing), the walls, the ceilings the electrical outlets, and on and on. I test the sinks and showers as well as flush the commodes to ensure those are working properly.
We go room by room and I mark down the condition of each element on the form. I remark to the Landlord that the previous tenant drilled holes in the wall near the entrance to the apartment (he damaged the call phone...the one that allows you to talk to someone who is at the door and buzz them in). The previous tenant, Frank, told us that he had the phone repaired and to not drill in that location because of the wiring. (I wasn't planning on doing ANY drilling! LOL!) Frank filled the holes and I showed them to the Landlord and we agreed that by painting the holes would not be noticeable.
There are holes in the tiled walls in the bathrooms in the grout area. The landlord said that if I'm going to drill, to not drill in the tile but in the grout. I wasn't planning on drilling there either! I mark down these holes on the walls. (I fully intend on taking photos of the apartment for our records so that I have photographic evidence of the form I'm filling out and that there are no issues down the road. Unfortunately, I forgot to bring the camera so we'll have to take those photos before we paint and move in.
The Landlord shows us where the water meters are. They are located in a panel above the commode in the half bath. The panel is sheet metal and is attached by super magnets. That's pretty smart!
We go down in the basement and he shows us the storage location as well as the location of the electrical meter. The Landlord had a document that showed all of the meters and their readings. We verified the numbers from the document against the actual meters.
Somehow we got to talking about it being a German holiday. I said the Germans get a LOT of holidays and asked what the holiday is. The landlord responds "The Holy Ghost". I realize he's talking about the Day of Pentecost (40 days after Easter)! WOW! I'm REALLY impressed that the entire country of Germany celebrates the Day of Pentecost! That is just TOO cool!! I also ask him what religion he practices, to which he replies: Evangelistic!
It is SO exciting to see how God gave us a Christian Landlord! This was icing on the cake, so to speak.
We tested that buzzer phone and it worked and he handed us the keys. We lock the door and leave.
We are just taking each day as it comes and trying to get things accomplished day by day. Tomorrow Ted will arrange for the electricity to be transferred into our name. I guess that's one bill we'll get every month along with DSL and phone service. Ted is researching those companies as well to get them hooked up as soon as possible. Ted has heard some horror stories (6 weeks to get internet) so he wants to get that ball rolling as soon as possible. We were told, however, that if we use the same company as the previous tenant, all they have to do is "flip a switch and we're good to go". This is a viable option. But that's Ted's department, not mine.
I can't wait to get settled into our permanent home for the next three years. And while it's fun for a few weeks even a month to live in temporary housing, three months is a stretch without your "stuff"!
Monday 6/1/2009
I spent the day preparing the documents I needed for tonight's meeting, answering emails and just "putzing" around the apartment and fixing something special for dinner tonight: stuffed mushrooms to go along with our entree.
Ted came home and I QUICKLY put our meal on the table so we could leave to go do the walk-through. The document that we need to complete for the housing office is three pages long and quite detailed. We also have to get the meter readings so that we can keep track of what we owe in the way of utilities.
We left the house at 6pm and arrived at the apartment with five minutes to spare. A guy was waiting for us and it turns out he's the Landlord's cousin and half owner of the apartment building. The Landlord came within minutes and parked his car in the Tiefgarage or "underground garage or parking". We all walked up to the apartment.
He asked for the rental agreement as Ted scanned the original he missed the back pages of the agreement and the Landlord was missing the odd pages of the agreement. So we agreed to give him the agreement after his cousin signed it and he would send it back to us via email.
I began to complete the detailed form. It wasn't difficult because the apartment is quite new by German standards (2003). We looked at everything: glass in the windows, window sills, the exterior blinds (Ted calls them the "shields" - must be a Star Trek thing), the walls, the ceilings the electrical outlets, and on and on. I test the sinks and showers as well as flush the commodes to ensure those are working properly.
We go room by room and I mark down the condition of each element on the form. I remark to the Landlord that the previous tenant drilled holes in the wall near the entrance to the apartment (he damaged the call phone...the one that allows you to talk to someone who is at the door and buzz them in). The previous tenant, Frank, told us that he had the phone repaired and to not drill in that location because of the wiring. (I wasn't planning on doing ANY drilling! LOL!) Frank filled the holes and I showed them to the Landlord and we agreed that by painting the holes would not be noticeable.
There are holes in the tiled walls in the bathrooms in the grout area. The landlord said that if I'm going to drill, to not drill in the tile but in the grout. I wasn't planning on drilling there either! I mark down these holes on the walls. (I fully intend on taking photos of the apartment for our records so that I have photographic evidence of the form I'm filling out and that there are no issues down the road. Unfortunately, I forgot to bring the camera so we'll have to take those photos before we paint and move in.
The Landlord shows us where the water meters are. They are located in a panel above the commode in the half bath. The panel is sheet metal and is attached by super magnets. That's pretty smart!
We go down in the basement and he shows us the storage location as well as the location of the electrical meter. The Landlord had a document that showed all of the meters and their readings. We verified the numbers from the document against the actual meters.
Somehow we got to talking about it being a German holiday. I said the Germans get a LOT of holidays and asked what the holiday is. The landlord responds "The Holy Ghost". I realize he's talking about the Day of Pentecost (40 days after Easter)! WOW! I'm REALLY impressed that the entire country of Germany celebrates the Day of Pentecost! That is just TOO cool!! I also ask him what religion he practices, to which he replies: Evangelistic!
It is SO exciting to see how God gave us a Christian Landlord! This was icing on the cake, so to speak.
We tested that buzzer phone and it worked and he handed us the keys. We lock the door and leave.
We are just taking each day as it comes and trying to get things accomplished day by day. Tomorrow Ted will arrange for the electricity to be transferred into our name. I guess that's one bill we'll get every month along with DSL and phone service. Ted is researching those companies as well to get them hooked up as soon as possible. Ted has heard some horror stories (6 weeks to get internet) so he wants to get that ball rolling as soon as possible. We were told, however, that if we use the same company as the previous tenant, all they have to do is "flip a switch and we're good to go". This is a viable option. But that's Ted's department, not mine.
I can't wait to get settled into our permanent home for the next three years. And while it's fun for a few weeks even a month to live in temporary housing, three months is a stretch without your "stuff"!
Monday 6/1/2009
Day 70: Sunday, day of rest!
We got up and went to church at the Panzer chapel this morning. It's the first time in a few weeks that we have made it to church. We didn't want to be coughing all through the service and possible infect those around us. But now we wanted to get back on track and get there. Ted wanted to check out the Calvary Chapel in Stuttgart but we still don't know where it is and besides we wouldn't be able to understand the message because it is in German.
Instead of going home we decide to go over to Patch and get the grocery shopping done and out of the way. It seemed silly now to go all the way home just to turn around and come back to shop. There are no parking spots on the first level so Ted lets me off so I can start the shopping. Once again, he said I was reading his mind...I don't consciously do it, it just happens!
I zip through the aisles as quickly as I can, marking off my list the things I had written down. I want out of the store as quickly as possible. By the time Ted comes in I only have a few more things to get. We get those and we check out. The bagger brings our groceries to the car and Ted gives her a tip.
We go home, put away groceries and both of us are hungry. I had bought bacon at LIDL yesterday and wanted to make Ted's favorite breakfast: bacon and eggs. I also bought two ciabatta rolls at Bopples yesterday. Perhaps Ted will go for a breakfast sandwich instead. The bacon package is small. It has I'd say no more than 10 slices of very thinly sliced bacon. I start the bacon and the eggs and what I find very interesting about this bacon is that while there is fat on the bacon (not much), there is no grease like US bacon. I wonder why? Ted loves the bacon because not only is it good, but it's not fried to a crisp (which is the way I normally like it). At least it's not still oinking!
After breakfast which should honestly be categorized as lunch since it's early afternoon, we sit down and read our email. Ted is falling asleep on the chair and I tell him to go lay down. Of course, like a child he resists and continues to sway in his chair but finally gives up and goes to lay down. I'm tired too so I decide a nap would be in order as well. It's after 3 by this time.
We must have been really tired because we slept until about 8pm!! YIKES! About this time, we knew we had to get ready to go do laundry (another chore that is starting to wear thin). After over two months of doing laundry at the base, I'm ready to have a machine of my own so I can do laundry during the day and not late at night.
We head on over to Kelley, after I make sure Ted has his badges. Mine are always in my wallet! There are a lot of cars there and I'm thinking we won't be home until midnight!
It turns out there aren't as many people inside as I thought and the commercial washers are all available. I scurry to get my clothes in them. Ted's co-worker is there finishing up his laundry. We chat for a few minutes and I settle down to work on a Bible study while waiting for the laundry to finish. Meanwhile, Ted goes over to the post office to check our mailbox.
The laundry is done and it's only 11pm. Great! Now we have to quietly take that laundry up the stairs and into our apartment. We don't want to disturb our landlords or the other tenants in the building.
It's time for bed!
Instead of going home we decide to go over to Patch and get the grocery shopping done and out of the way. It seemed silly now to go all the way home just to turn around and come back to shop. There are no parking spots on the first level so Ted lets me off so I can start the shopping. Once again, he said I was reading his mind...I don't consciously do it, it just happens!
I zip through the aisles as quickly as I can, marking off my list the things I had written down. I want out of the store as quickly as possible. By the time Ted comes in I only have a few more things to get. We get those and we check out. The bagger brings our groceries to the car and Ted gives her a tip.
We go home, put away groceries and both of us are hungry. I had bought bacon at LIDL yesterday and wanted to make Ted's favorite breakfast: bacon and eggs. I also bought two ciabatta rolls at Bopples yesterday. Perhaps Ted will go for a breakfast sandwich instead. The bacon package is small. It has I'd say no more than 10 slices of very thinly sliced bacon. I start the bacon and the eggs and what I find very interesting about this bacon is that while there is fat on the bacon (not much), there is no grease like US bacon. I wonder why? Ted loves the bacon because not only is it good, but it's not fried to a crisp (which is the way I normally like it). At least it's not still oinking!
After breakfast which should honestly be categorized as lunch since it's early afternoon, we sit down and read our email. Ted is falling asleep on the chair and I tell him to go lay down. Of course, like a child he resists and continues to sway in his chair but finally gives up and goes to lay down. I'm tired too so I decide a nap would be in order as well. It's after 3 by this time.
We must have been really tired because we slept until about 8pm!! YIKES! About this time, we knew we had to get ready to go do laundry (another chore that is starting to wear thin). After over two months of doing laundry at the base, I'm ready to have a machine of my own so I can do laundry during the day and not late at night.
We head on over to Kelley, after I make sure Ted has his badges. Mine are always in my wallet! There are a lot of cars there and I'm thinking we won't be home until midnight!
It turns out there aren't as many people inside as I thought and the commercial washers are all available. I scurry to get my clothes in them. Ted's co-worker is there finishing up his laundry. We chat for a few minutes and I settle down to work on a Bible study while waiting for the laundry to finish. Meanwhile, Ted goes over to the post office to check our mailbox.
The laundry is done and it's only 11pm. Great! Now we have to quietly take that laundry up the stairs and into our apartment. We don't want to disturb our landlords or the other tenants in the building.
It's time for bed!
Day 69: Errands.
We have two weeks of shopping to catch up on! UGH! We didn't get up until until 9. I think the traveling over the past weekend caught up with us.
We a ton of errands to run. First stop: Bopple to buy a loaf of fresh bread. We have to go there first for two reasons, it's on our way out of town and they close at one o'clock and we are sure we will not be back before then.
We next stop at Trieber for some breakfast. Trieber is located next door to LIDL where I need to buy local stuff but I didn't want to have to go back to the apartment and unload. We will come back after we get to the bank and to the BX.
We go to the bank to arrange the security deposit transfer into our landlord's account along with setting up the monthly transfer for the rent. We won't even have to think about paying the rent, it will automatically come out of our account. If we were in the US, I would prefer to write the check and send it but here in Germany this makes more sense.
We head on over to the BX and it appears the military families of Panzer are having a huge lawn sale right in front of the BX. As we walk, I wonder if they have some stuff that we could use. It appears they do. We pick up a used color tv for $12 and a web cam for $5. Great deals! I didn't see anything else that I just HAD to have so we went inside.
It was at this point that I noticed I couldn't catch my breathe. I told Ted to go into the BX on his own and that I would sit and wait in the food court. He took a very long time. I only gave him a few things to get. What in the world could he be doing?? He finally came out and I saw he was carrying not one, but two bags. What in the world did he buy? It turns out he bought tools for work, shirt and shorts for himself along with the few things I had asked him to get for me.
Now he had to go over and check out our phones. I forgot the code for my phone but it didn't matter, he came back out and said he was going to close down his phone because the cost of having a service in Germany was outrageous. I will be shutting down my cell phone as soon as we get a land line and VoIP set up in the apartment. I'm hoping we can do that quickly.
He also needed to get a haircut. So while he was doing that, they have these wonderful massage chairs in the hallway outside of the Barber shop. I sat and had a chair massage for 2 EURO. It was divine and felt SO good!
We head on over to Patch where I was supposed to do some shopping but I said we go on Sunday because I just didn't feel like fighting the crowds on a Saturday. Ted JUST made it to take his trousers to the cleaners (they close at 4) and we were on our way back to LIDL to get that shopping done.
I ask Ted if we can visit the store our Landlord gave us in Reutlingen. I want to start checking on beds. We get there at 5 and they close at 6 so we walk around and find a guy named Klaus. He tells us which bed and which frame to buy and gave us a price on a box to put the frames and beds in. It's VERY expensive and I'm thinking IKEA or the place that the previous tenant told us about a warehouse place where the furniture is good and not as expensive as IKEA. We need to check it out. This store not only sells furniture (and is three floors) but it sells linens, kitchen stuff, bath stuff and kitchens. I will need more than an hour to browse through this store. I'll have to find a bus that goes from Plieningen to Reutlingen so I can shop without having to drag poor Ted around...but I don't think he minds too much.
We did see that Reutlingen has quite a few "big box" stores that we will need to investigate in the coming weeks and months.
We get to LIDL and I buy the things on my list and we go home to unload. Ted is adamant that I go to the clinic. I'm still out of breath and we need to get another round of antibiotic for me. So off we go to the clinic.
We get there and the doctor on duty is the first doctor that saw Ted when he was sick the first time. She speaks English which is good. It turns out that I keep re-infecting my lungs because my sinusitis is not gone. So she gives me another round of antibiotics and something for the sinusitis. We go to the Apotheke to get the prescriptions. I'm going to have to get on the stick and get reimbursed from the health insurance for these prescriptions and for the clinic visits.
We'll have to find out if there's a clinic near Plieningen but with the doctor's offices right next door to our apartment we'll have to find one that speaks English!
By now Ted is famished and wants to eat. He wants to go back to the Schwaun Brau in Bernhausen (it's in Filderstadt as well) but is a ways away. For those of you in California think Rocklin and Roseville and for those of you in Ohio think Poland and Boardman.
We go there and the same waitress as before waits on us. We have our dinner and go home. It's time to rest and go to bed. It's been a long, long day!
We a ton of errands to run. First stop: Bopple to buy a loaf of fresh bread. We have to go there first for two reasons, it's on our way out of town and they close at one o'clock and we are sure we will not be back before then.
We next stop at Trieber for some breakfast. Trieber is located next door to LIDL where I need to buy local stuff but I didn't want to have to go back to the apartment and unload. We will come back after we get to the bank and to the BX.
We go to the bank to arrange the security deposit transfer into our landlord's account along with setting up the monthly transfer for the rent. We won't even have to think about paying the rent, it will automatically come out of our account. If we were in the US, I would prefer to write the check and send it but here in Germany this makes more sense.
We head on over to the BX and it appears the military families of Panzer are having a huge lawn sale right in front of the BX. As we walk, I wonder if they have some stuff that we could use. It appears they do. We pick up a used color tv for $12 and a web cam for $5. Great deals! I didn't see anything else that I just HAD to have so we went inside.
It was at this point that I noticed I couldn't catch my breathe. I told Ted to go into the BX on his own and that I would sit and wait in the food court. He took a very long time. I only gave him a few things to get. What in the world could he be doing?? He finally came out and I saw he was carrying not one, but two bags. What in the world did he buy? It turns out he bought tools for work, shirt and shorts for himself along with the few things I had asked him to get for me.
Now he had to go over and check out our phones. I forgot the code for my phone but it didn't matter, he came back out and said he was going to close down his phone because the cost of having a service in Germany was outrageous. I will be shutting down my cell phone as soon as we get a land line and VoIP set up in the apartment. I'm hoping we can do that quickly.
He also needed to get a haircut. So while he was doing that, they have these wonderful massage chairs in the hallway outside of the Barber shop. I sat and had a chair massage for 2 EURO. It was divine and felt SO good!
We head on over to Patch where I was supposed to do some shopping but I said we go on Sunday because I just didn't feel like fighting the crowds on a Saturday. Ted JUST made it to take his trousers to the cleaners (they close at 4) and we were on our way back to LIDL to get that shopping done.
I ask Ted if we can visit the store our Landlord gave us in Reutlingen. I want to start checking on beds. We get there at 5 and they close at 6 so we walk around and find a guy named Klaus. He tells us which bed and which frame to buy and gave us a price on a box to put the frames and beds in. It's VERY expensive and I'm thinking IKEA or the place that the previous tenant told us about a warehouse place where the furniture is good and not as expensive as IKEA. We need to check it out. This store not only sells furniture (and is three floors) but it sells linens, kitchen stuff, bath stuff and kitchens. I will need more than an hour to browse through this store. I'll have to find a bus that goes from Plieningen to Reutlingen so I can shop without having to drag poor Ted around...but I don't think he minds too much.
We did see that Reutlingen has quite a few "big box" stores that we will need to investigate in the coming weeks and months.
We get to LIDL and I buy the things on my list and we go home to unload. Ted is adamant that I go to the clinic. I'm still out of breath and we need to get another round of antibiotic for me. So off we go to the clinic.
We get there and the doctor on duty is the first doctor that saw Ted when he was sick the first time. She speaks English which is good. It turns out that I keep re-infecting my lungs because my sinusitis is not gone. So she gives me another round of antibiotics and something for the sinusitis. We go to the Apotheke to get the prescriptions. I'm going to have to get on the stick and get reimbursed from the health insurance for these prescriptions and for the clinic visits.
We'll have to find out if there's a clinic near Plieningen but with the doctor's offices right next door to our apartment we'll have to find one that speaks English!
By now Ted is famished and wants to eat. He wants to go back to the Schwaun Brau in Bernhausen (it's in Filderstadt as well) but is a ways away. For those of you in California think Rocklin and Roseville and for those of you in Ohio think Poland and Boardman.
We go there and the same waitress as before waits on us. We have our dinner and go home. It's time to rest and go to bed. It's been a long, long day!
Thursday, May 28, 2009
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