Nothing is every easy

We drove by our new house (in the rain) so I could take a couple photos from the outside. If I hadn’t known the landlord was having the inside of the house painted, I would have been worried about the cars in the driveway.








One of the things Tom and I discovered since moving to Germany. We are very good at getting lost or as Tom calls it “taking the scenic route”. It seems that no matter where we are headed in the local area, we get lost. Today we were trying to find the BXTRA on one of the many US military areas in our area. We not only got lost once, but twice within about 15 minutes. But that’s not the record. Earlier this week we were looking for the housing office. We drove around and around the base looking for the building number. It was not where you’d expect a military housing office to be. When we finely found it, it was closed. Seems everything closes at 1500 (3pm). Now that’s not the best part. We couldn’t find our way off the base. We drove and drove and drove and just went in circles. I even got out the GPS and tried to find our way out. The problem with GPS is that it doesn’t know that the area is under construction and the gates are closed. As a last result, Tom just followed another car and we were able to escape the base. Not sure what we would have done if the other car had been going somewhere other than out the gate.
Another thing we’ve discovered is that ‘NOTHING IS EVERY EASY’. My friend G and his wife D told me that a few weeks ago, and it’s so right. With all the mini bases in the local area everything is spread out and no matter where you need to go, it’s on another base. You go all over the place just to find you are at the wrong place. Yep, nothing is ever easy in Germany.

We found a house

We are no longer homeless in Germany. We signed a rental contract on a house today. It’s a large house with 5 bedrooms with 2 ½ baths on 3 floors. It’s a duplex within easy drive (short distance) to both my job and Toms. We didn’t get a free standing house (single) but this is the next best thing.
I didn’t realize how hard it would be to find a rental house in this area of Germany. There are more renters than houses. I have found that not all landlords and not all real estate agents are honest with you. We’ve had 2 agents that said they had free stand houses that ended up being houses with the landlord living in the basement (we asked before viewing and weren’t told the truth). We’ve been showed a house that should have been condemned, and Tom looked at one that could be a TV Show on “Most Haunted”.
We wanted to see a single house on Friday (we liked the outside) when it went on the market, but were told the first viewing would be on Tuesday and we were be the first to see it. WRONG. On Tuesday I called to confirm the time for a viewing on the house, I was told that the house had been rented. I asked how it had been rented when the agent said we would be the first to see it. No comment from the agent. How depressing!
So I contacted a different agency and left a message with what we were looking for. We are not picky, just wanted something decent. A house with 3 or 4 bedrooms large enough for our American furniture, also must have internet connections (not always available in older homes) and two off street parking (in Germany they park on the street and you play dodge car to get around them). Shouldn’t be hard to find should it. The agent I talked to said she would have to check (she’s new).

I really didn’t expect anything, but it didn’t hurt to ask.
In the afternoon a different agent (from the same office) called me back. Stephan said he didn’t have a free standing house but he had a duplex that he felt met our requirements. He said it was a very nice duplex and if we saw it he knew we’d like it. I’ve heard that one before, but set up a time to view the house after Tom got off work.
Stephan didn’t lie. The duplex is very nice. Just a few years old, LARGE rooms, 3 floors, has a one car garage with parking space for an additional car. Nice yard and storage area. Great laundry room. There is a half bath downstairs and a full bath on each of the next two floors. I’ve had bedrooms smaller than the bathrooms. Tom and I looked at each other and then told Stephan we wanted the house. No photos yet. Here's a "Google Map" photo.
The only drawback is that it is a duplex and the landlord’s sister lives next door. Stephan explained that in Germany the duplex is not the same as in America. Law requires that the house have fire proofing between the houses and this is also sound proofing. Not sure if that will keep the neighbors from hearing Tom’s stereo, but he’ll have to learn to cut it down.
The best thing about this house is it empty! It seems that it was taken but the people forgot to tell the landlord they had a dog. The landlord didn’t want a dog to mess up his yard (or bother his sister). So we got the first viewing. No kids, no pets, a landlords dream.
So we get the keys Tuesday night (31 Mar) and our house hold goods will be delivered 2 April. Next week this time I’ll get to sleep in my own bed.
Poor Tom, as I start work on Monday 30 Mar, I won’t be able to help him with the delivery. I told him to put the living and dining room furniture as it was in our Texas home. To put the bedroom furniture in the bedrooms on the second floor. Then put all the rest of the boxes (mostly my knitting stuff) in the 2 bedrooms on 3rd floor. It will take me months to empty the boxes.

Since I don’t start my new job until next week, I’m still spending a lot of time looking out the windows. When we first got here I watched the cat across the street walk on the roofs of the apartment buildings. Now that the cat has moved (darn those people for moving, didn’t they know that cat was my entertainment?) I’ve had to find something else to watch.
You can only watch the traffic 4 stories below for so long. I admit when the sun was out I enjoyed watching the convertibles go by. Even thought it was only 50 degrees, there were lots of convertibles with the top down, but not me. So I decided that I needed a different point of view. Instead of looking out the front living room windows, I now look out the back kitchen windows.
And what do I see?
Pigeons, Pigeons and more Pigeons. It seems that a house about a block away has a pigeon coop in the attic. So I’m been pigeon watching. The pigeons are not as smart as the cat, but they are fast. It’s hard to get good photos of them in flight.
Can you tell I’m out of yarn?

I got a job

As of 29 Mar I will no longer be on LWOP from AF. I got picked up at Ramstein AFB. This morning I went over and turned in some of my in processing documents and I start next Monday. One more week of unemployment then back to work. Actually, I'm looking forward to going back to work and we need the money.

The house in Texas is still unsold, but with me working the morgage is less of a worry.

We think we found a rental house here. It's only about 6 miles from where I'll be working. We've seen it from the outside and like it. Tomorrow we get to see the inside. If the inside is as good as the outside, we'll put in a rental agreement. As always, we might not get it. It is more expenseive than we had intended to spend, but there are more renters than houses right now and it's only going to get worst.

Take care and keep on knitting.