The Home Stretch May 5, 2010

On Monday, the Mr. received an email from the agent for the art nouveau flat with the lease attached. The plan is to meet him and the owner on Friday at 2pm at the house to go over final details and sign the lease. Last week we arranged for the painters who were already working on the ceilings, etc. to go ahead and paint the walls for us too, so the flat should be ready to move into by this weekend. We still have to arrange for the moving company to deliver our things, however, so we probably won’t be able to move in until next week at the earliest. I’m a little nervous something could still go wrong when we meet the owner (we don’t exactly have a good record in these situations), but since we already know everything about the flat the Mr. won’t have to go into “inspector mode” so we should be able to avoid any catastrophes. Fingers crossed.

It’s going to be a stressful and busy next couple of weeks. This evening Mia has to go into the cat hotel and she’ll stay there until Sunday when we’re able to return to the holiday let. We’re checking into a city center hotel from tomorrow until Sunday, with the bulk of our things stored here. From Sunday, the tentative plan is to come back and stay in the holiday let until whenever the move-in date is arranged. And then, I’m Indy-bound.

I had been thinking I’d wait until June to go to Indiana so we could have longer to order a kitchen. We realized, however, that I actually have to leave Germany by the end of May to stay legal with the tourist stamp I was given when we flew in. We haven’t been able to officially register me and make me legal yet because we first needed to provide a copy of a property lease agreement (Ha! Yes, wouldn’t that be nice?) and a copy of my medical insurance coverage. Getting this arranged with an insurance company has also been a big pain in the butt 1.) Because they always seem to need more and more information, and then each time they come back with more forms they ask “has your health status changed at all?” If I say yes, I’m guessing you’ll need more information, right?  2). Because they do annoying things like charge 20 euros more per month for my coverage since I was in the hospital in August 2009. Nevermind that I was completely cleared of any problems by doctors in the UK back in November….so it’s back and forth, back and forth. Anyway, in theory we’re finally getting somewhere with being able to provide both a lease agreement and proof of insurance, so I should be able to register as a resident soon. We figure it’s probably best, however, for me to leave within the three-month tourist visa period and do it when I get back to avoid any problems.

As for the kitchen, well, we have a microwave, a toaster and a kettle and the Mr. says that’s enough to get him by until I’m back and we can take the time to order exactly the kitchen we want. I keep asking him if the above three things are really enough to get him by until July, but he seems to think so. He said he might look into buying a small, cheap fridge if things get desperate, which I have a feeling they will sooner rather than later. I mean, how is he going to store milk? And chocolate? (He likes refrigerated chocolate for some reason…I know, weird, right?) I’m kind of worried and feeling a little guilty for abandoning him right after the move to a flat full of boxes and chaos and no kitchen. He’s so busy at the moment I’m not quite sure how he’ll find the time to go food shopping, or what he’ll eat for dinner when there’s no kitchen to cook in. I have visions of him eating microwaved ramen noodles night after night and wasting away to practically nothing…well, okay, that’s not likely to happen…he likes chocolate too much to waste away . But if anyone wants to fly in and cook (or, er, heat up) some dinner for him at some point while I’m away, I’m sure he wouldn’t object.

Home Again, Home Again April 12, 2010

I’ve been living abroad for 5 ½, going on six years now, and it’s interesting how my idea of “home” has changed over the years. Initially, when I first moved to Scotland, home was the US and Indiana. And then slowly over the years, as my possessions overseas grew along with my relationships, home somehow also became Edinburgh. Now that the Mr.  and I have moved to Germany, the idea of home has become even more complicated. Can someone have three “homes”?

Indiana will always be one of my homes as long as I have family there. And in some ways, I still feel like Edinburgh is home, too. I suppose that feeling will probably fade the longer we are gone, but it was the city where I spent the majority of my adult life working and living until this point. And now Würzburg is home. Sort of. Some might argue it’s our only home as it’s where the Mr.”s job is, and although 95% of our stuff is in storage somewhere 50 km away at the moment, it’s where the majority of our possessions are kept. But what defines a home? Is it where your job and things are located? Or is it where your friends and family are? For now, I’m finding it a little difficult to think of Würzburg as home since we’re living a bit like nomads and we have no friends or family here. And yet, when we returned from Italy on Tuesday, it did feel in a way like we were coming home.

Living abroad or traveling, it’s not uncommon to be asked, “Where are you from?” as soon as it’s clear you’re not local. The response used to be that I’m from the US, the Mr. is from Germany and we live in Scotland. Now that we’re living in Germany and the Mr. is German we’ll probably get asked that question less, but somehow I feel torn when explaining where I’m from. Although I was born and raised in the US, I somehow also want to acknowledge that I’ve lived in Scotland for the last 5 ½ years and not the US. True, 5 1/2 years is not that long to live away from the US, and yet my outlook on life and the way I see the world has undoubtedly also been shaped by my experiences living in the UK. And yet to explain all this to someone who probably just wants a simple answer is not really possible.

Italy was beautiful. Although I was a bit worried about driving on the Autobahn to get there, once we got past Munich and into Austria it was less crazy. Thankfully Austria is a very sensible country with speed restrictions in place. Limone was absolutely gorgeous nestled in the mountains on Lake Garda and I couldn’t believe that it was actually as pretty as the images on the internet. Our hotel was very nice and very affordable considering the amazing views you get of the lake. Someday I’ll add photos I took of our room and the grounds. I have a feeling it’s probably pretty packed with guests in the summer, but we practically had it to ourselves which made it really peaceful and relaxing. The Mr. went swimming in the indoor pool every day and he had it to himself each time.  I wish I could say we had sunshine and blue skies every day we were there, but we only had two days of really good weather and one day that was absolutely dismal. We spent our time exploring a few of the towns around Lake Garda and also drove to Verona. We checked out “Juliet’s balcony,” or at least the balcony of a home that supposedly belonged to the Capulet family.

Casa di Giulietta Verona

It was tourist trap in many respects, but still fun to visit and the Mr. snapped a photo of me on the balcony (not me in the photo, however…I’m striking a dreamy Juliet pose, I believe!)  Our stay in Italy finished, we drove back to Germany to the country inn near Ulm where the Mr.’s family gathers each year for Easter. I enjoyed seeing his family, but somehow I always find it a little exhausting. The family meets over the course of three days, which is nice but is longer than any extended family gathering I’ve ever attended. Because they spend so much time together over these three days, I find myself getting frustrated and feeling a little isolated by the end as most of the conversation is obviously in German. It has gotten better as I can now understand key words here and there so I can often get a basic idea of what’s being discussed, but three days is still a long time to not really be part of the conversations happening. I hope that by next year I will have taken an intensive language class and the weekend will be more enjoyable.

And now we’re back in Würzburg. Well, Höchberg to be specific. Mia meowed quite a bit the evening we picked her up from the cat hotel and a little the next morning, but she seems to be back to normal. The search for a flat or house continues. While we were away, we missed out on a couple of things that potentially could have been good, but now we simply have to be very focused and not miss any other opportunities. Who knows…maybe “home” will feel more like home once we have a structural one of our own.

Arrivederci, Germany! March 26, 2010

Well, for five nights, anyway =)

Back before we moved to Germany, we had planned to do a short vacation in Italy in April. We figured would have been living in our new flat for more than a month at that point, so in theory the kitchen would have been delivered and installed, boxes would have been unpacked, etc. When we lost the flat,* however, the idea of going away pretty much went out the window as our new priority on arrival would be to find a flat or house ASAP. The likelihood of being able to go to Italy suddenly looked slim.

Well, almost a month down the road we still don’t have a place to call home. We’re going to see a place tomorrow that is located on a street with a very interesting name. It has lots of positive things going for it, but it’s on the more affordable side and we haven’t seen any pictures yet so I’m not holding my breath. I’ll blog about it either way – whether we take it or not – as it’s really too good an opportunity to pass up telling you all about it.  In some ways, it still seems like a bad idea to pack up and go anywhere as our first priority really should be checking every day for new property listings and immediately trying to set up a viewing for anything promising. On the other hand, we’re being kicked out of our holiday let this weekend as the owners need to honor a previous booking so perhaps that’s the excuse we needed….

Here’s the plan: the cat goes into the “cat hotel” tomorrow and will be there for about a week-and-a-half. She was there two weeks ago for three days, and although she came back a little smelly she didn’t seem to be irreparably damaged by the experience. She did get an upset tummy that apparently resulted in a bit of mess on her backside (and they gave her a bath), but it was likely caused by flea medicine she was licking off. That being said, this move has been tough on her and I feel guilty for inflicting further trauma. She’s scared of strangers now, for example. She used to be confident and friendly towards anyone who visited our flat, and now she hides when the owners from upstairs come in. So I know that us hauling her away in her carrier and then leaving her there will be hard.  On all of us. And this time it will be for much, much longer, which of course we can’t explain to her. They don’t understand people language, and it sucks.

Still, we’re looking forward to a “mini vacation” on Lake Garda. I’ve only been to Rome, and have longed for quite some time to see more of Italy. We’re staying in a small town called Limone, in what looks to be a fairly nice hotel with great views.

Limone on Lake Garda

After spending five days in Italy, we’ll drive back to Germany to the little town near Ulm where the Mr.”s family gathers each year for Easter. After Easter weekend, it’s back to Würzburg and most likely, back to the search for a place to call home.

*See my first post, “Hell Might Be Freezing Over,” for details on this delightful experience.