House Hunters International Part 2

House #1: Close to school

This home has 4 levels. Enter the home on the ground level. A beautiful entry way, 1/2 bath, kitchen with new appliances, and a living room/dining room that opens to a patio.

Downstairs is the basement, which has a huge room (play room?) laundry room, and access to the one-car garage.

Upstairs on level 2 you will find 3 spacious bedrooms and a full bath with shower and tub.

The fourth (top) level has one huge master suite and a bathroom with shower.

Other features include landscaped patio, several balconies, automatic rolladen (blinds) throughout, very clean, marble floors.

 

 

House #2: Long commute

This home also has 4 levels. Enter the home on the ground level. This floor has a 1/2 bath, kitchen, and a living/dining room (with A/C).

 

Downstairs is the basement, which has a huge room (play room? man cave?), a storage room, laundry room, office, and access to the one-car garage.

Upstairs on level 2 is 3 bedrooms, a full bath with shower and tub, and the master suite with A/C.

The top level has 2 more huge bedrooms and a bathroom with a shower.

Other features: Gated front walk, small fenced back yard, 3 shared parking spots in back, satellite hookups, curtains, light fixtures, and auto rolladens.

House #3: Old City Center

This apartment was on the 4th floor of a building that was built in 1868. So, no elevator. And the laundry room is in the basement. This spacious apartment had 3 bedrooms and 1.5 bath. A balcony with a great view of the city. And it was right in the heart of downtown, so close to everything.

 

We decided to eliminate "Long Commute." It was too big for us and not in the right location. "Close to school" was also too big for us. If I had to pick from these three, I would definitely go with "Old City Center." I loved the old building and the location and it was more the right size for our family and close to markets, restaurants, and shops.

 

But for now, we will keep looking.

Here are pictures of House #1:

 

 

 

 

House Hunters International Part 1

The system that's set up to find housing is archaic. It involves going to an office, looking through binders of printouts, finding some you like, writing everything down, and then talking to a counselor to have them make an appointment for a viewing. (Definitely not a small-child-friendly activity.)

I went in with a list of 4 from their website, which hardly has any information about the properties. And I found 6 other possibilities from their binders while I waited to see a counselor. After an hour, I was seen by a counselor who went down my list and eliminated most of my selections based on 1. The property was already rented, 2) The landlord didn't answer his phone, or 3) The phone number didn't work.

Three hours later, I left the office feeling discouraged and with only one viewing scheduled.

(By the end of the day, 2 more were scheduled 1. By the counselor through email and 2) By a person at Mr. Bloomsbury's office; a property she said she thought we'd like to see. So at least now we had 3 viewings.)

Firsts

I needed to mail some receipts to Lufthansa so we could be reimbursed for the toiletries we bought while they had our luggage. I'm happy to say it went pretty well, although I did receive one angry glare after one of my small children almost knocked over a sign. And the clerk didn't "Sprechen zie Englisch." But it was easy enough to point to my envelope and say, "Ein, bitte."

Another first was getting yelled at in German by a random lady. We were playing at a park, and apparently she was uncomfortable with how close my small children were to the fountain. She said something harsh sounding...I could understand "kinder" and her hand motions seemed to indicate they were playing too close to the water and could fall in. Before we came to Germany, I had read somewhere that Germans didn't mind unsolicited parenting advice. Consider myself warned!

Take out!

This is the first week Mr. Bloomsbury has been at the office on a regular basis. His work day begins and ends with an hour commute...on foot. After marching 5 miles a day, the last thing Mr. Bloomsbury wants to do is take another walk just to get dinner.

A kind woman at the front desk offered us menus for restaurants that deliver to the hotel. We've been pleased to be ordering good food from Chinese, Thai, and Italian restaurants and having them delivered 45 minutes later hot and ready to eat!

We have a stamp card for the Thai restaurant...only 7 more meals and we'll get a free one!

The delivery man from the Italian restaurant gave us a bottle of wine. "It's a present," the man said.

It's been about a month since I cooked a meal in my own kitchen. I'm starting to wonder if I'll even remember how! Until then, pass the curry!

Walking

I'd say about 90% of our waking hours involves walking. Want something to eat? Walk. Need to buy groceries? Walk. I'm talking roughly 2 or more miles each outing. With small children. Walking.

Moving here I had wanted a more pedestrian lifestyle, but I was thinking restaurants and stores would be more convenient. Our hotel is not convenient to anything useful. So we walk.

Walking isn't so bad. It is a good way to explore. The small children are doing quite well with all the walking. When they tire out, they always find more energy to chase pigeons or climb on a playground.

So today we left the hotel around 11:00 to go find lunch, and we returned around 3:00. We saw lots of cool buildings, parks, squares, fountains, etc. It's a beautiful city, really. I don't mind the walking. I just wish I wasn't forced to do so much of it just to get a meal.

We will get drivers licenses, our car will arrive from the States. And I am thankful we're not trudging through fierce blizzards or driving rain.

Where we live

We are currently living in a hotel room. There's a living area with a foldout couch, kitchenette, and bathroom, and a bedroom with 1 queen bed. This will be our home until we find our house. It could be a while.

We have Wifi, breakfast in the lobby every morning, a very friendly and extremely helpful staff, free laundry, and a small playground just outside.

The weather has been perfect: 70's and sunny during the day.

World Cup is in full swing. German flags are everywhere. We walked through narrow streets lined with cafes where TVs were visible from every outdoor table. The Netherland's game was playing and a group of lively orange-clad fans broke into song as the game ended. I almost feel like I'm on vacation! :)

First Outing

Day 3 of being here without luggage + 2 days of travel = 5 days total of having no luggage. We at least have a spare set of clothes I had packed in our carry-ons, so we've been rotating sets of clothes while laundering the others.

We were in need of toiletries, though. Unfortunately, we are unable to shop at the stores close by until we obtain certain credentials.

So the small children and I bravely made our way into town today, which involved walking to the bus stop, choosing the right bus, paying fare (which I didn't figure out, so that ride was free...oops!), and getting off at the right stop.

We found a store similar to Walgreens and bought some toiletries. We also found the Lego store and the small children pooled their birthday Euros to buy a nice set. We got lunch, gelato, saw an old Roman aqueduct wall, and played at a playground. Then we walked back to the bus stop, paid fare this time (I accidentally paid for 3 adults, so I figure that balances us out for the free ride), and walked back to the hotel. An all around successful outing!

We made it

We made it....our bags haven't! We did not have a great experience travelling...First with a delayed flight that made us miss our connection, so we had to spend the night in Chicago. The next day we had a flight to Boston, which did not have us all sitting together. At least we managed to sit 2 and 2. Then was our flight to Germany, which we also were not seated together. The best we could get was 3 and 1. None of us slept on the 6-hour flight, so we arrived tired and bleary eyed.

When we arrived, our ride was there waiting to take Mr. Bloomsbury to meetings all day. The kids and I hung out at the hotel, got some rest, and did laundry. We all had a set of spare clothes in our carry-ons, so at least we were able to put those on and wash our other set of clothes.

Our first day in Germany ended with eating a delivered pizza in our room, and we were all asleep in bed at 6:30.

Delayed

I'm not sitting cramped in a seat attemping to find a comfortable position in which to sleep. I will be laying horizontal in a comfortable bed tonight. By the time I wake up in the morning, the plane we should have been on will have landed at our new home. Without us, and possibly with our 5 pieces of luggage. 

A four-hour flight delay means we will add another day to our travel time before we reach our destination. At least we're not having to sleep on the floor of the airport!

Everything Familiar

There's comfort in familiarity. Comfort lulls us into a false sense of security and self-reliance. Giving up the familiar strips self-dependence and control. I feel this move will change everything. Not just the familiar surroundings and people, but also our family's day-to-day routines, our perspectives, our world view.

I don't want to be soft and unaware. I want to gain an understanding of how our world history has brought us to this point. An understanding of how another culture lives. Most importantly, I'd like to know there's a world outside 'Merica. While, I know it's the greatest country on earth, I would be limiting myself if I didn't step out of it for a while.

I don't know what the next few years will bring. In fact, I don't really even know what my life will look like by this time next week. I do know there will be trials, there will be adventure, there will be new and unfamiliar. It is Fire that bends the iron.

Someday I Will

I'm a traveler. When I was a small child I lived in Georgia most of the year and traveled half-way across the country to Colorado in the summers. I never spent more than a few years in one house. My roots never grew too deep.

As a kid on long car rides, I sat looking out of my window and reading maps....figuring out where we were, how much father we had to go, and names of places we passed by. (This was the time before GPS!)

I knew at a young age I loved to travel. I loved adventures. The first time I visited another country, I knew wanted to enjoy the adventure of living outside the U.S. Fast forward to present day - I now have been to 20 countries on 4 continents.

"Someday I will."

Today, the movers arrived. They are packing up my dishes, towels, clothes, books, furniture. The next time I see these things, I will be in my new home - in Germany.

Today is my "someday." Today I am.