I have a new apartment!
Everything has been pretty busy, but things are slowly but surely coming together.
I do suppose this is what people call "real life"... I have a place I am happy with, but which is by no means perfect. I always thought my German was pretty good, but the more problems I discover I realize I have never learned how to say "plumber" (Klempner) or "faucet" (Wasserhahn)
Also, I am always amazed at how much I took for granted. Like in order to do ANYTHING in the apartment, I need a screwdriver. I have never bought a screwdriver before. I had never even thought of buying a screwdriver before. Now I have four, but still cant get things done because I also need an electric one. Ah, the little things.
But I have a bed, and a telephone, and unlimited internet (which will soon be wireless) Also, I have aubergine walls and an ever-growing addiction to finding danish furniture on ebay (that I ultimately can't afford, but love bidding on when it is in the one-to-two euro range)
So, things are going well
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Saturday, March 7, 2009
Ein Fazit
OK... here's the deal:
Today in a panic I called about a hundred thousand apartments to look at, and made it to two.
The first one was ok... definitely needed a bit of cleaning up, but the tenant insured that it was going to be "renovated" (which I think meant cleaned in this case) before the next tenants move in. It had a good sized kitchen, a big room, a smaller (probably too small, which is why it's at the bottom of the list) room, a bathroom with a bathtub and a HUGE west-facing balcony. It was 600 Euros including utilities, and quite close to the train station (about an 8 minute walk) There were a lot of people there looking at it, and no one seemed to like it, I think because it was in fact quite dirty, and if there is one thing Germans hate, it's filth. and Fascism. and maybe also working more than 20 hours a week.
So I told the fellow that I would think about it and headed on to my next appointment, thinking that the next one couldn't possibly be worth my while because it is 15 square meters smaller than the other. Boy, was I wrong. I think someone's measurements must have been off. This place is located in Herdern, a very nice and safe neighborhood close to the city center (and about a 8 minute walk to my work) It is in the top floor, which means the ceilings are slanted, which some people hate but I find quite charming. Everything except the kitchen, which is relatively modern and big enough for a table, seems to be freshly renovated (take that back: the bathroom is all pink tiles, which may not be for everyone but I find it awesome in a kitschy way.) which is cool, except that everything is really white, including the tile floors throughout the place. There are a lot of windows, which means the apartment gets a lot of sun and light and the view from some of the windows is positively enchanting. There is no balcony, but the place is so close to so many gardens I don't think that really matters. The apartment is $590 including utilities, which is pretty awesome for Freiburg. Finally, I loved the woman that showed me the apartment, and she loved me too. We clicked in a very lovely way, I think. I told her I wanted the apartment, and she said she would make sure my name is at the top of the list when she discusses it with her friend, the landlord. Sweet.
So I left the apartment positively buoyant, thinking that I found the place. I even called Mark and gushed to him about how great it is and how happy I am. And really, I was. And I still am. But then, about ten minutes later, I got a phone call.
It was Sven, the guy from the place that I wrote about on Sunday (and Tuesday) which I visited on Wednesday. I had been a bit confused about their selection process: they had like 25 groups/people come in to see it this week. We could ask questions, etc, but I would guess the average apartment-hunter stayed no more than 5 minutes (Mark came with me and he is pretty chatty, so I would guess we stayed about 7 1/2) At the end of the visit, everyone that was interested in the apartment was asked to write their name, number, email address and occupation on a piece of paper, and that would be passed along to the landlord, who lives in Paris. He would then contact the people he liked, and Sven and co. (Marian and Bruno... yeah, I live in Europe) assured everyone that they had nothing to do with the selection process.
Liars! On the phone today Sven told me that they picked out a few people that they liked and forwarded our information to the landlord. I am one of four people that he contacted! I think it must have been my chatty boyfriend and clever stripper jokes that gave me an edge over the competition. So, I would guess that tomorrow I may be contacted by the landlord.
A little about it: it is a 3 room apartment (!) in the Oberwiehre, which is about half way between the city and where I live now. Like I wrote before, it is right by the Dreisam, the river in Freiburg, and around the corner from an awesome shopping center. It is about a 15 minute walk into the city center, and is actually right where I always used to think "man, I wish I lived here" when I would ride my bike home from work (the ride is upriver and I am out of shape, so it's rough. but only after like the 7 minute point, and I would say this apartment is at minute 5 or so) The kitchen is slightly smaller than the one in Herdern, but is big enough for a (and has a built-in) breakfast table for two. Which I guess could also be an any-meal, multifunctional table. Maybe it's called a nook. Anyway... the kitchen also has cute/kitschy black and white checkered laminate, which I love more than the pink bathroom, which it also has. It has two pretty big rooms which are similarly sized, one of which has access to the balcony, which is quite large. The apartment is on the ground floor, which means that the balcony hangs precariously at maybe 2 feet above the earth and doesn't have a nice view (on the contrary, it has a view of the bike shack) but it makes the entire apartment very friendly for the new addition to my family, Earl, who will be joining us once Jane leaves for Kazakhstan. Earl is my dream cat, by the way. Anyway, the real super duper part of this place is that it has a third room! It is pretty small, but big enough for a dining table and couch, I think, which means we will have a place to hang that isn't also a room specifically for sleeping. And we could host guests! The place is $550 including utilities.
So, that's that. I have a few good options and would really be happy with all of them, I think. So, I am going to wait until tomorrow evening to see if the fellow from Paris calls me, and if not, I will call the Herdern place. If neither of those work out, I really can't imagine that anyone is chomping at the bit for the place by the train station so... it looks like we won't be homeless after all! Very exciting news, because I woke up this morning doubtful. But like Mommy's wise adage always reminds me, everything happens the way it's supposed it.
In other news, this week was awesome. I love my new class and am working my ass off. Which is so much better than doing nothing. Today was a lovely Saturday; besides visiting apartments I had a very lengthy breakfast with Sarah, Jan, and the mystery baby (who I saw moving in Sarah's belly! Alien Worm indeed!) and played werewolves, ate a lot of good food and drank a lot of wine with my old students all night. The night ended with a coffee, which I took despite that fact that coffee has the effect of Cocaine, Speed, and Meth in my system. Hence the wordy blog post at 3 am.
I wish you all a lovely weekend.
Today in a panic I called about a hundred thousand apartments to look at, and made it to two.
The first one was ok... definitely needed a bit of cleaning up, but the tenant insured that it was going to be "renovated" (which I think meant cleaned in this case) before the next tenants move in. It had a good sized kitchen, a big room, a smaller (probably too small, which is why it's at the bottom of the list) room, a bathroom with a bathtub and a HUGE west-facing balcony. It was 600 Euros including utilities, and quite close to the train station (about an 8 minute walk) There were a lot of people there looking at it, and no one seemed to like it, I think because it was in fact quite dirty, and if there is one thing Germans hate, it's filth. and Fascism. and maybe also working more than 20 hours a week.
So I told the fellow that I would think about it and headed on to my next appointment, thinking that the next one couldn't possibly be worth my while because it is 15 square meters smaller than the other. Boy, was I wrong. I think someone's measurements must have been off. This place is located in Herdern, a very nice and safe neighborhood close to the city center (and about a 8 minute walk to my work) It is in the top floor, which means the ceilings are slanted, which some people hate but I find quite charming. Everything except the kitchen, which is relatively modern and big enough for a table, seems to be freshly renovated (take that back: the bathroom is all pink tiles, which may not be for everyone but I find it awesome in a kitschy way.) which is cool, except that everything is really white, including the tile floors throughout the place. There are a lot of windows, which means the apartment gets a lot of sun and light and the view from some of the windows is positively enchanting. There is no balcony, but the place is so close to so many gardens I don't think that really matters. The apartment is $590 including utilities, which is pretty awesome for Freiburg. Finally, I loved the woman that showed me the apartment, and she loved me too. We clicked in a very lovely way, I think. I told her I wanted the apartment, and she said she would make sure my name is at the top of the list when she discusses it with her friend, the landlord. Sweet.
So I left the apartment positively buoyant, thinking that I found the place. I even called Mark and gushed to him about how great it is and how happy I am. And really, I was. And I still am. But then, about ten minutes later, I got a phone call.
It was Sven, the guy from the place that I wrote about on Sunday (and Tuesday) which I visited on Wednesday. I had been a bit confused about their selection process: they had like 25 groups/people come in to see it this week. We could ask questions, etc, but I would guess the average apartment-hunter stayed no more than 5 minutes (Mark came with me and he is pretty chatty, so I would guess we stayed about 7 1/2) At the end of the visit, everyone that was interested in the apartment was asked to write their name, number, email address and occupation on a piece of paper, and that would be passed along to the landlord, who lives in Paris. He would then contact the people he liked, and Sven and co. (Marian and Bruno... yeah, I live in Europe) assured everyone that they had nothing to do with the selection process.
Liars! On the phone today Sven told me that they picked out a few people that they liked and forwarded our information to the landlord. I am one of four people that he contacted! I think it must have been my chatty boyfriend and clever stripper jokes that gave me an edge over the competition. So, I would guess that tomorrow I may be contacted by the landlord.
A little about it: it is a 3 room apartment (!) in the Oberwiehre, which is about half way between the city and where I live now. Like I wrote before, it is right by the Dreisam, the river in Freiburg, and around the corner from an awesome shopping center. It is about a 15 minute walk into the city center, and is actually right where I always used to think "man, I wish I lived here" when I would ride my bike home from work (the ride is upriver and I am out of shape, so it's rough. but only after like the 7 minute point, and I would say this apartment is at minute 5 or so) The kitchen is slightly smaller than the one in Herdern, but is big enough for a (and has a built-in) breakfast table for two. Which I guess could also be an any-meal, multifunctional table. Maybe it's called a nook. Anyway... the kitchen also has cute/kitschy black and white checkered laminate, which I love more than the pink bathroom, which it also has. It has two pretty big rooms which are similarly sized, one of which has access to the balcony, which is quite large. The apartment is on the ground floor, which means that the balcony hangs precariously at maybe 2 feet above the earth and doesn't have a nice view (on the contrary, it has a view of the bike shack) but it makes the entire apartment very friendly for the new addition to my family, Earl, who will be joining us once Jane leaves for Kazakhstan. Earl is my dream cat, by the way. Anyway, the real super duper part of this place is that it has a third room! It is pretty small, but big enough for a dining table and couch, I think, which means we will have a place to hang that isn't also a room specifically for sleeping. And we could host guests! The place is $550 including utilities.
So, that's that. I have a few good options and would really be happy with all of them, I think. So, I am going to wait until tomorrow evening to see if the fellow from Paris calls me, and if not, I will call the Herdern place. If neither of those work out, I really can't imagine that anyone is chomping at the bit for the place by the train station so... it looks like we won't be homeless after all! Very exciting news, because I woke up this morning doubtful. But like Mommy's wise adage always reminds me, everything happens the way it's supposed it.
In other news, this week was awesome. I love my new class and am working my ass off. Which is so much better than doing nothing. Today was a lovely Saturday; besides visiting apartments I had a very lengthy breakfast with Sarah, Jan, and the mystery baby (who I saw moving in Sarah's belly! Alien Worm indeed!) and played werewolves, ate a lot of good food and drank a lot of wine with my old students all night. The night ended with a coffee, which I took despite that fact that coffee has the effect of Cocaine, Speed, and Meth in my system. Hence the wordy blog post at 3 am.
I wish you all a lovely weekend.
Auf Einmal
And just like that, I have three apartments that I think I can move into.
Today was a very lucky day!
More later
Today was a very lucky day!
More later
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
In a flash
Devin is coming!
One apartment ("backup" apartment) has been taken.
No word on the other.
Except that my also-almost-homeless coworker beat me to it today.
Optimism! woo!
One apartment ("backup" apartment) has been taken.
No word on the other.
Except that my also-almost-homeless coworker beat me to it today.
Optimism! woo!
Sunday, March 1, 2009
Just when you give up hope...
Man...
an apartment was posted online today and, although I haven't seen it from the inside, I am in love.
by the way, I have always found the adage "don't judge a book by it's cover" to be a little bit silly.
This book for example:
not only has a beautiful cover but is a beautiful book which I highly recommend.
This book, though...
I wouldn't touch with a stick (I stole it from Jessica's facebook... thanks Jess!)
Janey, maybe it's something for you!
Anyway, as soon as said apartment was posted online I emailed the guy, and about two hours later he said to call him, because the demand has already been so high and he doesn't want to answer the emails. haha, I like him already. oh, and his name is Sven... plus point! In those two hours Mark and I went on a walk and we walked to said apartment and it's really nice. New orange building, friendly neighborhood, right by the recently-moved University library and like a one minute walk to my favorite supermarket, Rewe. Ok, that's a lie... I love Migros more, I think. But Rewe is more reasonable.
When I talked to the guy (Sven's roommate, Marian... I think that's a girls name, but whatev) he sounds like he loves the apartment, but said it is getting a little small for the three of them that live there. It is a three room apartment with "two big rooms and a smaller room" um... sounds like two bedrooms and a living room to me! The kitchen was described as "pretty small" but has a table for three built in and a balcony... can't be that small!
So, to sum things up I'm in love. Except that other people get to visit the apartment on Monday and Tuesday, but I work both of those evenings so I won't be dropping by until Wednesday. grr.
Fingers crossed!
an apartment was posted online today and, although I haven't seen it from the inside, I am in love.
by the way, I have always found the adage "don't judge a book by it's cover" to be a little bit silly.
This book for example:
not only has a beautiful cover but is a beautiful book which I highly recommend.
This book, though...
I wouldn't touch with a stick (I stole it from Jessica's facebook... thanks Jess!)
Janey, maybe it's something for you!
Anyway, as soon as said apartment was posted online I emailed the guy, and about two hours later he said to call him, because the demand has already been so high and he doesn't want to answer the emails. haha, I like him already. oh, and his name is Sven... plus point! In those two hours Mark and I went on a walk and we walked to said apartment and it's really nice. New orange building, friendly neighborhood, right by the recently-moved University library and like a one minute walk to my favorite supermarket, Rewe. Ok, that's a lie... I love Migros more, I think. But Rewe is more reasonable.
When I talked to the guy (Sven's roommate, Marian... I think that's a girls name, but whatev) he sounds like he loves the apartment, but said it is getting a little small for the three of them that live there. It is a three room apartment with "two big rooms and a smaller room" um... sounds like two bedrooms and a living room to me! The kitchen was described as "pretty small" but has a table for three built in and a balcony... can't be that small!
So, to sum things up I'm in love. Except that other people get to visit the apartment on Monday and Tuesday, but I work both of those evenings so I won't be dropping by until Wednesday. grr.
Fingers crossed!
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