Getting Down to Business November 9, 2010

I arrived back in Germany on Sunday a year older (celebrated my birthday the day before) and definitely feeling every bit my age. For me, going over to the states is never as bad as coming back.

That looks about right....

Firstly, most flights arrive late in the day so when I fly over from Europe I usually only have to stay awake a few hours before hitting the sack. And secondly, my suitcase(s) are usually relatively empty so that I can load up on tons of stuff. At the moment, what I haul back is a combination of keepsakes, American foods I can’t find anywhere and this time lots of scrapbooking supplies, too. I always dread the trip back as I usually arrive early in the morning with a full day ahead AND hauling close to my body weight in luggage. I paid the extra $55 for a second suitcase which seems a rip-off (I remember the good ‘ol days of TWO free suitcases and seafood meals) but is still a better deal than shipping things by the US postal service. I did decide to go ahead and do that, too, and paid $53 for a box weighing about 17 pounds. So the airline prices seem almost cheap in comparison.

I’m happy to be back, but I have to say that the feeling is different from when I’d return to Edinburgh. Coming back to Edinburgh felt like coming home. It was a cozy, warm and comfortable feeling, almost from day one. I like Germany and it is growing on me, but there was something almost magical about flying in and looking at Auld Reekie from the air. Somehow Frankfurt just doesn’t have that same charm….and yet I am growing to really love and appreciate Würzburg. And I should be fair, too. Since we moved to Germany back in February, I’ve spent almost as much time in the states as here. So how could it feel like home? I’m so appreciative of the time I’ve had in the states, but I am ready to really focus on settling in.  I sort of feel like I’ve been living in limbo these past eight months, with “home” being some mixture of many places rather than just one.

Today in the store, the bakery clerk complimented me on my German and I had to laugh. I was able to tell her what I wanted, and understood a few basic questions she asked me, but I should be able to do so much more by this point. She probably wouldn’t be so quick to compliment if she knew I had been living here since February! So first on the agenda is language. Although I’m sort of dreading the commitment of a full-time intensive language course (especially doing it in winter – ugh!) I know I have to get off my lazy bum and just do it. And the other top priority is studying for and hopefully passing a written exam for a driver’s license here. The Mr. and I also have a lot more work to do on the flat. Six months have passed since we moved in, we still don’t have an oven, stove or kitchen cabinets. And there are still boxes everywhere. Part of the problem was moving into a completely empty flat with no kitchen or any closets and lacking lots of furniture, and part of the problem was being away so much. But I’m starting to go crazy looking at the chaos and not being able to cook pasta, so it’s time to kick it in high gear. The next few months are going to be busy ones, I think.

Trouble Ahead, Trouble Behind May 11, 2010

We signed the lease on Friday for the art nouveau flat, and the movers will deliver our things on Friday at noon. It’s a relief to finally have a place of our own, and to know that we’ll soon be reunited with all of our cherished (and now probably dusty) belongings. I am slightly worried about a couple of things, however, which puts a bit of a damper on the move-in joy:

1. We saw the newly installed tub\shower combo on Friday. I don’t think I mentioned this before, but one of the drawbacks to this flat and what would have resulted in an instantaneous veto from me had the Mr. said we couldn’t change it is the “sitting shower” in the bathroom. On our first viewing, the agent explained that a combination bathtub\sitting shower (basically a tub with a seat moulded into the back) would be installed. “Sitting shower?” I asked the Mr. with trepidation. He whispered that it wouldn’t be a problem to change it if we took the place. In the days following, the Mr.’s attitude shifted slightly from “we can change it, no problem” to “I think we can change it.” In the end, I decided just to trust his initial inclination and we agreed to take the place. He’s not as concerned about it as I am, but says he will do his best to try to fix it to a more normal shower setup. (I mean, what idiot came up with the idea of a “sitting shower,” anyway, in any other setting apart from a nursing home?) Then on Friday, we saw the shower nozzle for the “sitting shower” for the first time and entirely new fears (shared by both of us) have surfaced. It’s really, really small. I mean, we’re wondering how much water can actually come out of this thing since it’s so small. And because they chose an incredibly small nozzle, maybe that means there’s no good water pressure and we’re going to have a warm trickle of water with which to bathe every day? We’re probably just being paranoid, but I fear we may need to learn how to love being dirty.

2. The kitchen situation. I feel really, really badly abandoning the super-busy Mr. to a flat with absolutely no kitchen for 1 1/2 months. The poor guy won’t even have a freakin’ kitchen sink. He says he’s not concerned about it only because he has a million other things on his plate right now and having no kitchen is the least of his worries. This doesn’t exactly alleviate my guilt. On Saturday, we actually found a range from Ikea that we both like:

Ikea's Abstrakt kitchen range in gray

The problem, however, is that the Mr. says he just doesn’t have the energy to delve into planning a kitchen right now, which is fair enough given his work. After much discussion we’ve decided that although it’s inconvenient for him, it makes sense for me to go now and to wait on planning and ordering the kitchen until July when I’m back. Alternatively, kitchen-planning faeries might show up and take care of everything for us, but I guess I won’t hold my breath waiting for them.

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.

The Housing Gods Have Finally Smiled Down On Us April 27, 2010

It’s been nearly two months to the day since we arrived in Würzburg, so it seems fitting that to mark this two-month anniversary something momentous is happening: we’re signing preliminary paperwork for a flat.

About 2 ½ weeks ago, the Mr. saw an advertisement in the paper for a flat in an art nouveau-style house. It’s in a nice residential area close to the city center, and within walking distance to the Mr.’s job. It was on a day where several other properties had popped up that were of interest, so the Mr. made several phone calls to try to set up viewings. Unfortunately, he never got through to the agent handling this flat, so we ended up going out and viewing something else that day. The Mr. later wrote a message expressing our interest to the agent when we got home.

Two weeks go by, and we hear nothing. We assume it’s gone.

Then, out of the blue on Wednesday of last week, the Mr. got a phone call. It’s the agent for the art nouveau flat, and he wants to know if we’re still interested. Apparently they had someone take it on the first day it was advertised, but that person later decided he wouldn’t be moving to Würzburg after all. We quickly set up a viewing for that afternoon.

My first impression driving up: jackpot. It’s an absolutely beautiful old house, with large bay windows on each floor and art nouveau flourishes in abundance. It’s on the same street of the hideous (from the outside) flat we viewed last week, only this time it’s one of the lovely houses.*

The flat is on the first floor of the house, but it’s actually more like a level between an American first and second floor. When you open the front door to the flat, you walk into a spacious entry room with the doors of all the rooms connecting to it. This room is the central hub of the flat. The two doors directly in front of you lead to the lounge on the left, and an office/guest room on the right. The lounge is very large with bay windows, and the office/guest room is also spacious with huge windows. Both rooms are very bright.

The lounge

The office/guest room

To the left in the entry room is a room that is a bit darker, but is ideal for a bedroom. To the right is the bathroom and a separate WC next to it. More on this in a minute. And then the last door to the right leads to a fairly large and bright kitchen with a small walk-in pantry and a door that leads directly to a balcony and steps down into the shared back garden.

The kitchen

With the exception of the bathroom, the WC and the kitchen, all the rooms have painted crown molding on the ceilings.

I fell in love.

It’s not perfect, though. In terms of the number of rooms, it’s not really an improvement on our flat in Edinburgh. We will still have just our bedroom and an office/guest room, but the advantage is that the Mr. will now be within walking distance to work, so if he does need to work while we have guests it won’t be inconvenient for him to go to his office. And although we won’t have an additional guest WC, the bathroom and the toilet are in two separate rooms which is obviously better than just one combined room.

It is much larger than what we had in Edinburgh, however, as all the rooms are bigger (except maybe for the kitchen…our kitchen in Edinburgh was actually pretty spacious) and we have a room in the basement for storage, too, which is great. I’m also excited about the garden. There’s a nice rose garden in the front, but honestly all of the garden areas around the house could use some sprucing up so I’m eager to dig in (ha ha…forgive the bad pun).

In the back garden

It’s not 100% ours yet as we don’t have the lease, but it’s been promised to us and we handed over pre-contract paperwork today. We can potentially move in as early as May 10. The next thing to worry about will be ordering the kitchen, but the Mr. says we shouldn’t get ahead of ourselves and first get the lease signed by the owner.**

The finish line is in sight, and we’re almost there. Hallelujah.

*With pretty much all of the flats and houses we’ve viewed so far, we’d go along the street looking for the one for rent and would see lots of lovely looking buildings and houses along the way. I’d get excited. Then we’d come to the one for rent, and it seemed like every time it would end up being the ugliest building on the street. No joke.

**See my first entry “Hell Might Be Freezing Over” for details of the super fun stuff that can happen when you’ve signed a lease and you’re waiting on the owner to countersign.

Another One Bites the Dust April 22, 2010

Or, to be more specific, another possibility for a permanent place to live has gone up in smoke. The bungalow didn’t work out.

Here’s a recap of what happened, from my perspective:

We arrive for our 5pm viewing and are greeted at the door by the agent* and the owners. The owners are an older gentleman and his daughter. We exchange a bit of small talk about where we are from, etc. and then go inside. They seem nice.

The house is over two levels. The top floor has a kitchen room (minus an actual kitchen which we would have to purchase), a dining room with french doors that is connected via a sliding glass door to a large, bright lounge where one wall is entirely windows with a door out to the balcony, an office room, a master bedroom, a guest loo and sink and a bathroom with tub and his/her sinks. All the rooms are centered around the staircase in the center. Downstairs (which we never actually saw….more on this later) has another loo with shower and two additional bedrooms for guests.

While it is a bit dated in some ways as it was built in the 60s, I really like the house and its layout. The lounge and dining room are both lovely and bright with wooden floors, the master bedroom is pretty large and in general, it’s definitely big enough to work for us for a very long time. There are downsides: the heating system is old (metal radiators in the rooms), there are some pretty hideous limey-yellow tiles in the kitchen and guest loo that wouldn’t be replaced, we would have to pay for some type of flooring in the master bedroom, we would also have to pay the cost of having all the walls painted, and of course the cost of a kitchen and the agency fee. But overall, I love its vibe and could definitely see myself living here.

While we’re viewing the house’s top floor, The Mr. is asking lots of questions and there’s lots of discussion taking place between the agent, the daughter and the Mr., some of which is translated for me but much of it is not. This is how it works when we view something. The Mr. is fed tons and tons of information, and maybe 20 percent is relayed back to me. I don’t blame him for this. It would be exhausting for him to translate every single word, so he simply gives me the most critical information.

The Mr.’s also pointing things out to me: old heaters in the rooms, a crack in the floor…we have very different viewing styles. My inclination is to walk in and go, “Ooh, look at those huge windows…and so spacious! Beautiful!” However, I lack the appropriate language skills to convey my thoughts and compliments, so I simply smile a lot. The Mr., on the other hand, plays the role of inspector. He wants to know how expensive it’s going to be to heat, how energy-efficient it is, etc. He worries about the practical stuff. I guess we’re just playing our stereotypical roles, but there you have it.

At one point, we’re in the master bedroom and the Mr. points out to me that the windows are double-glazed and not triple-glazed as we were told they all were. He even goes to another room to compare the glazing, and comes back knowing for certain it is double-glazed only. He points it out the agent. The agent is unsure, he calls the daughter in to ask. She comes in and starts explaining something. I saunter out back into the lounge to look at the huge windows again, imagining where our sofa will go and what color we’ll have the walls painted. Everybody comes in and the Mr. is asking something.

The Mr.: Wah, wah, wah, wah?

Daughter: Wah wah wah wah.

The Mr.: Um…I’m not so sure….wah wah wah wah.

Daughter: Wah wah wah wah. Wah wah wah wah wah, wah wah wah wah. Wah wah wah wah!! (Seems like she’s getting agitated and angry about something…I hope it’s not with us….)

(The Mr. tries to interject something, unsuccessfully)

Daughter: Wah wah wah wah. Wah wah wah wah wah, wah wah wah wah. Wah wah wah wah!! Wah wah wah wah wah, wah wah wah wah. Wah wah wah wah, wah wah!Wah wah wah wah!! Wah wah wah wah wah, wah wah wah wah. Wah wah wah wah, wah wah!!! Wah wah wah wah!! Wah wah wah wah wah, wah wah wah wah. Wah wah wah wah, wah wah!

(The Mr. seems to be apologizing? Seriously, what’s going on here….)

The Mr.: Thank you, goodbye. (Shakes hands with daughter and her father. I do the same. Agent walks us out.)

Agent: Wah wah wah wah. I’m sorry, wah wah wah wah. (Hands The Mr. his business card.)

The Mr.: Wah wah wah wah. Wah wah take a picture and you’ll see wah wah wah.

(We walk away from the house.)

Me: What the %&$* just happened?!?!

The Mr. explains to me that while he was asking his questions throughout the house, he could tell the daughter was slowly getting more and more annoyed. Then the question was asked about the double-glazed windows in the master bedroom. She explained that they had decided on double-glazing for these instead of triple as they are west-facing and deteriorate more quickly (or something like that). The Mr. then pointed out to her that they actually aren’t west-facing windows, and she lost it. She went off on a tangent about how this place “isn’t right for us,” and The Mr. is “too theoretical.” She also threw in things like “it’s too big for two people,” and “isn’t a good fit and it won’t work.”

And that was it. Another opportunity disintegrated.

What did we learn here, kids?

1. Be careful when an owner is involved in the viewing. The two times we had a viewing blow up was when the owner was present. As I explained, the Mr. plays the role more of inspector and although he isn’t overtly critical, he asks probing questions that might reveal less than ideal answers. Owners don’t want these questions asked and they don’t want to have to defend the property. They want you to ooh and ahh and give compliments and say “we’ll take it” with no further information required.
2. This is a rental market where the owner holds all the cards, not you. In less absurd cities in the world, the owner or agent spends his/her time trying desperately to convince you that this property is perfect and you should take it. Here, it’s the other way around. There is so much competition and demand for decent property that you actually need to convince them to give it to you and not someone else. Because no doubt there are 10 someone elses lining up to take it if you don’t.
3. We should have moved to Hamburg.

*As I think I’ve explained before, in Germany you can find a property either through a letting agency or directly through the owner of the property. By far the better choice is finding something directly through an owner because this is offered “provision” or fee free. If the property is being offered through an agency, however, it means you as the renter will pay an agent a huge amount of money (in this case it would have been 2,500 euros) just for him/her to show you the place and handle the lease paperwork. Then the agent’s work is completely done, no joke. You deal directly with the owner from then on for any repairs, etc. so the agent makes a HUGE amount of money off of you for essentially doing nothing. If I ever re-enter the work force, it will be as a property agent in Würzburg.

Still Homeless in Hoechburg April 18, 2010

We passed on the “Mediterranean” flat with the reddish-brown tiles. We viewed it one more time on Friday afternoon and I left feeling more convinced that we should take it, while the Mr. left more unconvinced. Frustratingly, this is the exact opposite of how we both felt the first time we viewed it. The Mr. was really impressed while I was more uncertain. Flat-hunting is exhausting. Sigh.

The Mr.’s issues are mainly with the bathroom and the kitchen. The bathroom is small and would be pretty cramped with both of us standing in there brushing our teeth, for example. Also, the shower head is in the middle of the tub making showering a bit awkward (just like in our flat in Edinburgh – incredible. I was miserable for 4 ½ years of showering, never seeing anyone else’s bathroom with this kind of idiotic construction and I discover it in Mediterranean flat. Unbelievable.) The other problem is the kitchen. It’s actually fairly small and we would have to buy an entire kitchen, which is of course very expensive. The Mr.’s problem with that is that if we’re taking this flat with the goal in mind of staying in it only 5 or 6 years, what happens to the kitchen when we move out? We can try to take it with us, but what if our new kitchen is bigger? How do we add to it when maybe the cabinets have been discontinued? What if it looks completely out-of-place or simply won’t work with the water/electrical connections? So at least we’ve come to realize that if we’re going to take a city flat that will only work for maybe 5 or 6 years, then it really needs to have a kitchen already because buying one just doesn’t make sense. I was a little disappointed that we didn’t take it, particularly as the Mr. had sold me on what a great area it would be to live in, but I’m okay with it.

Then we had (sort of) big drama yesterday in a very posh area in Würzburg. Unfortunately, I think the house the flat is in must be one of the ugliest in the entire city as it was horribly run-down looking. Built in the 70s, imagine a water-stained concrete block sorely in need of some serious sprucing up to at least look decent, especially when every other house on this street is stunningly gorgeous and expensive. The Mr. and I checked it out before we went to the viewing. We agreed that due to its catastrophic exterior there was no way in hell we would take it, but that we would go ahead and have a look anyway out of curiosity. The flat inside was surprisingly nice. Also, the balcony looks out at a large (and currently wild-looking) garden in the back the owner maintains but that we would be allowed to use. The price was also affordable. The Mr. was seduced. He did a 180 and was like “let’s take it” while I’m going “are you kidding me?!” I was also momentarily seduced by the nice interior, but seriously…the owner made no mention of any renovations, and I think I would feel pretty embarrassed and a little depressed coming home to an exterior like that every day. Finally, I got the Mr. to come around and grudgingly accept my veto.

Anyway, we’ve got a new possibility in the works (fingers crossed) we’re seeing tomorrow at 6pm. It’s a bungalow house here in Hoechburg, the town just outside Würzburg we’ve been staying in. We’ve walked past it a couple of times now, and it’s looks pretty nice from the outside with a bit of garden that needs a little TLC but could be really lovely. It’s an older house, but has had some renovations recently. It’s fairly big and is on the more expensive side, but buying a kitchen here makes a lot more sense as it’s a home we could actually live in for a quite a while, even with kids. And Hoechburg is nice. It has all the basic amenities (grocery store, pharmacies, a few restaurants, etc.) and even an organic/eco shop – all within easy walking distance. True, it’s not the same as living in Würzburg city center, but the buses are frequent and we’re planning to buy a car which I can also use.  After spending the day today lounging outside in the sun in the back garden of the place we’re staying, we’re realizing that it would be really nice to have a garden of our own.  So we’ll see. Maybe this is it….

Michael J. Fox, Where Are You? April 16, 2010

We viewed a flat on Wednesday and we’re torn. We’re leaning towards taking it, as it’s 3/4 of the way to being perfect.

The location is great – very central with all amenities – complete with grocery stores, a bakery around the corner, pharmacy, etc. all close by. It’s a five-minute walk to the Main River and being able to walk/cycle along the paths there. It’s also a block from the tramline and buses, or I could just walk to the city center in about 20 minutes. Both the bathroom and the guest loo will be re-tiled before we move in, which is nice. The building the flat is in is older but well-built and in good condition, and we’d have a garage and basement storage space. The flat itself has enough rooms to meet our basic requirements and should work for the next few years. I should also point out that in the two months or so of flat-hunting, we haven’t seen anything else this spacious and with a guest loo at this price in the city center.

But here are the problems:

1. Really tiny balcony and no garden access. The balcony is big enough for a small table and two chairs, but nothing else. So that’s not ideal. And Mia is *lo-v-i-n-g* the garden we have here in the holiday let, so we will feel sort of guilty taking that away from her. She spends almost all her waking hours just looking outside, and meows for us to take her out when she isn’t doing that. The balcony is such that she won’t really be able to see anything out of it, either, since there are wooden slats blocking her view.
2. The bathroom is pretty tiny and basic. This makes me a little sad, especially since HTSNBN had two bathrooms, one of which was huge with a posh new soaking tub.
3. The flooring throughout the flat is all terracotta tiles. They’re okay, just not what I had envisioned. Will our stuff look okay next to reddish-brown “Mediterranean” style-flooring?
4. Though it is bigger and in nicer condition, the interesting thing is that the flat “feels” an awful lot like our flat in Edinburgh, so I somehow find it a little boring. It has a similar layout of a long hallway in the center connecting all the rooms. And there are no great views, no stunning garden…somehow it lacks the “ahhh…wow” I had hoped for.
5. We will have to pay agency fees and purchase an entire kitchen. Maybe it’s not fair of me to list this as a complaint as it could apply to anywhere we rent, and dodging both of these bullets is probably unlikely.

I guess these are fairly minor complaints, but just enough so that we weren’t an immediate “yes” when we viewed it.

The Mr. placed an ad in the paper that ran on Wednesday and will run again tomorrow. We would like to check the paper early tomorrow morning, and see if anything happens with the ad before we say yes to this, but of course there’s a risk someone else might take it today or early tomorrow. (That being said, it’s been advertised on the web and in the paper for AGES, literally was around during the time when we rented HTSNBN. Still, our luck hasn’t been exactly great here in Würzburg….)

So what do we do? Should we wait until tomorrow? What if nothing better comes along then? Do we take it despite its flaws? Or do we forget about this place altogether and hold out even longer? I wish future me could tell me present me what to do. Where’s a flux capacitor and Michael J. Fox when you need him?

The Long and Winding Road April 13, 2010

I get out of the shower this morning and the phone rings.

It’s the Mr.

“Guess what’s back on the market to rent?”

I hold my breath. “What?” I demand. “What?!” Patience is not one of my strong points.

“Guess.”

Deep inside me, a little voice whispers a hope that I dare not say aloud. Please, please, please let him say it’s House that Shall Not Be Named.

House That Shall Not Be Named. We deemed it this after the catastrophic meltdown and emotional turmoil that ensued when we found out the dream place we had signed a lease for and were scheduled to move into two weeks’ time had been sold. I suddenly found I could no longer bring myself to say the address out loud, so we re-Christened it HTSNBN.

We did the unthinkable, by the way. We drove past it once a few weeks ago. Did I ever mention that? It was lovely. Even better than I had dreamed it would be, and that was only from the outside.

We never should have driven past. That was probably a mistake. It was better imagining it as it was from the online images that didn’t do it justice.

“Don’t you want to guess?”

I can’t bear to voice my fragile dream out loud, because I know it’s likely it will be crushed.

“Come on, mister – just tell me!”

“Flat That Shall Not Be Named.”

“Oh.”

Crap. That wasn’t what I was hoping he would say.

Flat That Shall Not Be Named. We’re not terribly original, you see. FTSNBN is the one we viewed a few weeks ago in Frauenland that could have been a good find, but where it all went horribly wrong. The owner was pushy and wanted an immediate answer from us, the Mr. and I had some communication problems…it just went…wrong. Period. Thus the name FTSNBN.

And now it’s back on the market to rent.

“She’s now charging 150 euros more per month in rent, and she’s working through an agent so we’d have to pay those fees,” he explains. “Plus my guess is that she decided to rip out the old kitchen so we’d have to buy everything new. It’s a lot more expensive now. But what do you want to do? Should we still try to contact her?”

I’m torn.

I’m thinking back to the wide, grand entrance hallway. To the bright, sunny lounge with windows looking out into the beautiful and good-sized garden. The crown moulding around the ceiling. A garage for a car. A newly renovated bathroom and guest loo with shower. The ideal location precisely half-way between the city center and the Mr.’s job.

But then I’m also remembering that it will have carpet installed. And that the downstairs guest room is totally disconnected to the upstairs flat and has hideous orange carpet and strangely painted walls. And that the bathroom that comes with it is tiny and pretty run-down.

But the herb garden…the blossoming fruit trees….

And then I remember her. The owner. In truth, she’s the reason it all went wrong. Had we been greeted that day by someone warmer, friendlier and a little more patient, I am certain the entire day would have had a different outcome. We would have almost certainly said yes, and we’d have someplace to move into lined up and wouldn’t be living in limbo anymore. And I would feel good about it, despite hideous orange carpet.

So I say, “I know it doesn’t make sense in many ways, but I don’t know…it just doesn’t feel…right. Maybe it’s crazy to not try to get it, but my gut instinct is that we should let it go.”

And that’s it. The choice is made, I guess.

Are we stupid? Is it crazy to follow a gut instinct based on “feelings” rather than common sense that is screaming we’re passing up a great opportunity?

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.

Hell Might Be Freezing Over March 13, 2010

Many of you have been asking how we’re doing now that we’ve arrived in Würzburg, so here’s the story up to this point….

We arrived a little more than two weeks ago to a city that was just as lovely as I had remembered it, but also discovered the rental market here is even more limited and frustrating than we had imagined. This is not Edinburgh where the “property ladder” means people are constantly shifting their flat or home and there’s a steady supply in the rental market.

In addition to the lack of choice, there are differences from the US or UK rental market that mean you as a renter pay big bucks. Most flats are found through property agents, and property agents in Germany make all their money up front for renting you the flat. This means that when you find something, you have to shell out not only the deposit but also usually 2.38 times your rent. So the agency doesn’t care whether you rent the flat five months or five years; they just made maybe 2,300 euros or so off of you, depending on the rent. Another difference is that in Edinburgh, for example, most flats to rent are fully furnished keeping your “start-up” costs low.  You can sometimes find unfurnished and partially furnished flats (we had a partially furnished one), but it’s by far easier to find a fully furnished flat as that’s more the norm. In the US, most apartments aren’t fully furnished but at least come equipped with a kitchen and bathroom fixtures. In Germany, most flats or houses to rent come completely barebones, just like you would find it if you were buying. No kitchen, no lamps, no bathroom vanity. Just the water and electric connections where you hook things up. The thinking is that this way you as the renter can always choose what you like. The absurdity, of course, is that as a renter you’d really prefer to not have to go out and spend 5,000 euros on a brand new kitchen which may or may not fit into the house you might wish to buy five years from now.

But before you can even calculate how much that new kitchen or vanity is going to cost you, apparently in Würzburg you first have to navigate the waters of finding something decent to begin with. And the first challenge in this and what has already cost us (well, me) floods of tears is finding a property agent or owner who won’t screw you over. Most of my family and friends already know what happened two weeks before we moved to Würzburg. But long story short, we had found a perfect flat that was lovely and large (the Mr.’s parents went to go see it and approved ), signed the contract for it and two weeks before our moving date we got an email from the agent that he had never signed the contract and the owner had found a buyer and was selling it. To be honest, this flat was partially what had sealed our decision to go to Würzburg to begin with. To lose it (and knowing that finding something else in this small city might be difficult) was devastating.

Then on Friday we hit a new property-hunting low.  We viewed a flat a 20-minute walk from the city center that had many, many positive things going for it. It could have been the one. A gorgeous yard complete with a cherry tree and herb garden, quiet, a lovely large lounge, a garage for a car…I could go on and on. In a nutshell, this is what happened: the woman who owns it is in the process of renovating it after her mother was recently moved to a nursing home. We met her yesterday and toured the home while she explained to the Mr. in German what she would change and renovate (sort of…and this was part of the problem). Then she basically wanted a decision from us immediately whether or not we wanted it. It had a couple of issues we weren’t 100 percent happy with; carpet would be installed in the lounge and bedrooms but neither of us is crazy about carpet, especially having the cat; the guestroom and guest bathroom were actually in a different part of the building and disconnected to the flat itself (not to mention hideous orange carpet in that room); and perhaps most importantly, the owner was uncertain of the exact move-in date because of all the renovations, but it would be at least May (and maybe later) before we could move in. Despite these drawbacks, the Mr. and I both liked it but told her we would discuss it and let her know later that evening. (We were most likely going to tell her yes, by the way….) But part of the reason we delayed saying yes immediately is because  I don’t really speak German yet and it’s impossible for the Mr. to translate everything that’s said during the course of a conversation. And of course the subtleties of a conversation are also lost in a quick translation, and there are things he has to wait to tell me in private on our own. (Like her pushiness and vagueness about exactly when the renovations would be finished were making him a little uneasy).

Anway, the Mr. told the owner we’d like to discuss it a bit more before making a decision. Sounds reasonable, doesn’t it? A matter of just a few hours. However, when we told her this she responded that she would now like to consider other renters as, basically, she thought we were being too picky about what we wanted. (I would like to say, just to be fair, that we are somewhat picky but she’s also charging a small fortune in rent and we don’t even know how most of the renovations will turn out!) So we had just spent the last 2 1/2 hours talking to this woman and seeing the house, all the time getting excited that it might be the flat for us, and in the last two minutes of our meeting she blindsides us with this. I couldn’t believe it.  Two minutes out the door I was bawling my eyes out in frustration and anger.  And nothing new has been listed online in the last two days. We check religiously. Sigh.

Life as an expat has always had its ups and downs, and I always knew that moving to Germany would present new challenges (and new opportunities, of course) allowing me to learn more about the world and myself.

Obviously finding a place to live is the first of those challenges.

We’re now considering buying something just to give ourselves additional options. For those of you who know the Mr. and his feelings towards buying property, the above statement might just mean hell has frozen over.