The furniture saga has finally come to a temporary close. After hunting high and low all over Hamburg, we broke down and went to Ikea. Twice. I know, I know. I really and truly hate that place; but we were in dire straits. All David could think about was a couch. He just really wanted somewhere to sit and I was tired of coming up short at places that were once so promising. We spent all of Wednesday evening, Thursday evening and Friday evening on the prowl for a suitable couch. Wednesday, we went to Sofort Mobel - a great and inexpensive clearance joint that we had visited over the weekend. The one couch we had our eye on was gone and the only couches that remained were either 9 feet long with a giant chaise lounge attached to the end or what they call an "ultra couch" - a huge velvet number that when you sit on it, your feet are about a foot off the ground. The damn thing looked straight out of a deviant porn movie.
Dejected, we resigned ourselves to an Ikea trip. Thursday after work, we hopped on the train and gave Stella a quick walk before we got back on the train to head to Ikea. These details are important because everything in Germany closes early - like 7 o'clock early. Ikea is the real freak show and they close at 8pm. So, by the time we made it there, we had about an hour and a half to furnish the front of our apartment. You can see where this is going right? Especially if you've been there. The place is collosal. We managed to pick out (sort of) a hodge podge of suitable furniture. BUT, we couldn't decide on a couch and the dining room table we settled on was out of stock. This with about 20 minutes to go. David threw in the towel and I followed. We abandoned the pathetic cart filled with a book shelf, a shoe rack and other odds and ends. We proceeded to get on the wrong bus out of Ikea and got completely lost in Hamburg. Thank goodness there aren't really bad neighborhoods. This story has a happy ending, I promise.
The very next day (sounds like a fairy tale, right?), we got back on the train (or the horse, or the dog that bit us) and made yet another trek to Ikea land. We totally scored a couch that was priced at 550 euro, marked down to 125. It's purple. But the green area rug we got to go along looks pretty sweet. We also got a dining table and chairs and two "reading chairs," which absolutely don't match the rest of the decor. We are trying to hide them in the bedroom until further notice. Ugh! But anyway, I am happily tapping away at the keyboard from my new purple couch while David reads at the other end and Stella snoozes on the green rug. Ahhhh...
Ok, briefly, we met some really cool teachers and kindly befriended us during an unexpected and torrential rain storm at our new favorite neighborhood pub. It turns out that one of the teachers has played violin for the Hamburg U. symphony for over 40 years and he invited us to a concert. Nice, huh? It's nice to know someone in the neighborhood - they've already divulged a heap of info about markets, cool places to hang out and stuff in general. We've also been invited to the violinists klein garten kolony. They are these tiny little cabins - about a hundred to a colony - surrounded by breathtaking gardens right in the city. They are just for spare time use. You can't live in them. David already asked. But the klein gartens are great - a wonderful little oasis in the city. I can't wait.
Let's see, we also discovered a great little Saturday farmer's market (thanks to the teachers). You can get veggies, fruits, a million different kinds of cheese, meats, fresh pasta, olives, spices - you name it. Then today, there was a "flohmarkt" - a flea market! Just a block from the house. No one really does yard/garage sales. There are just these periodic flea markets in public spaces around town. It was great. I learned how to say "how much is that?" And numbers in German are pretty easy, so I can nearly understand when someone replies.
Last night, we also went to a fun district in town with a co-worker - it was great and we would never have found these fun little bars on our own. We'll have quite the entertainment line-up when friends and family arrive!
I guess that's about it. I am about to unload the washer, which apparently runs for about 2 hours. I honestly can't figure out what's going on and the clothes aren't any cleaner. The damn washer is supposed to be a high efficiency machine. I don't know about that.
Sunday, June 24, 2007
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
Work, Fish, and the Latest on Furniture
We started work on Friday. It went well and I can’t complain. Here are some of the details: our schedule is flexible. We just have to be at work by 10:30. And if for some reason we can’t manage to drag ourselves to work by 10:30, we need to call by 10:00 and say what time we can manage to drag ourselves in. Also, they provide (really good) coffee, juice and bottled water. I know, it’s kind of a small matter. But, damn, the coffee’s good and it’s nice that the IEA cares. What else? David and I share an office (neat!) and the people in charge of such things keep asking what we need, to include plants to make the office more habitable. There are two big windows in the office, which for a recently former grad student is a big, hairy deal. I was informed today that it is German law that workers must have access to daylight – very impressive, maybe even more so than the coffee. The job seems very cool, if slightly undefined. We’ve been hired, at least in part, to get a research program off the ground for the IEA. The details, I think, we’ll have to work out with our boss, who arrives from New Jersey next Tuesday.
Ok, next headline topic: fish. We went to the “fish” market on the harbor Sunday. There isn’t much fish for sale, hence the quotes; however, you can get just about anything else from fruit and vegetables to cheap crap such as cell phone covers and shoes to tourist chotzke like t-shirts and coffee mugs. A Hamburg institution, apparently, the market opens at 5 a.m. and is conveniently located right near St. Pauli, the city’s party district. I learned that it is somewhat customary to spend a night whooping it up in St. Pauli and then proceeding to the “fish” market to grab a coffee and some food before heading home to sleep (mark your calendars, J-Amy!).
Besides the staggering drunks, the best thing about the fish market are these four, evenly spread out vendors, who have gigantic, well-elevated stands and huge signs advertising their wares. The first is a guy peddling pasta, second is a fruit guy, next is a fish man and finally there are a pair of kooks unloading plants, all for bargain basement prices. Their sales method is really unique – they are very loud and make quite a show of putting together a package of what they have for sale. For instance, one of the plant guys has an enormous handle bar moustache and he curses, tells lots of jokes and throws small, potted plants into the audience. His partner showed us a good bit of his tattooed ass right before he sold a crammed-full giant box with about 10 plants, including a huge banana plant and a palm for 30 euro. It is a real spectacle.
The fruit guy throws bananas in the audience all while stuffing a huge wicker basket full of pineapple, bananas, grapes, melons – you name it. He’ll even throw in a flat of pineapples at the end of the morning. This is all for 10 euro (about $12). David and I bought one and we got so much fruit, it filled three shopping bags. We froze most and we are currently working our way through about 20 bananas and 4 pineapples. We’ll be regular, to say the least. The basket that the fruit comes in is nice, too. It will come in handy for hauling groceries home.
Furniture update: while we have no new furniture, we have actually visited two excellent prospects. We are still sans-furniture because we haven’t received the pin number for our bankcard and this country wholesale doesn’t take credit cards. Who ever heard of such an outlandish proposition? So, as soon as the pin comes in, we’ve got our eye on a sweet orange couch, a dining table from a closeout store and a desk and some other odds and ends at the used store. I am really looking forward to sitting on a couch.
Ok, next headline topic: fish. We went to the “fish” market on the harbor Sunday. There isn’t much fish for sale, hence the quotes; however, you can get just about anything else from fruit and vegetables to cheap crap such as cell phone covers and shoes to tourist chotzke like t-shirts and coffee mugs. A Hamburg institution, apparently, the market opens at 5 a.m. and is conveniently located right near St. Pauli, the city’s party district. I learned that it is somewhat customary to spend a night whooping it up in St. Pauli and then proceeding to the “fish” market to grab a coffee and some food before heading home to sleep (mark your calendars, J-Amy!).
Besides the staggering drunks, the best thing about the fish market are these four, evenly spread out vendors, who have gigantic, well-elevated stands and huge signs advertising their wares. The first is a guy peddling pasta, second is a fruit guy, next is a fish man and finally there are a pair of kooks unloading plants, all for bargain basement prices. Their sales method is really unique – they are very loud and make quite a show of putting together a package of what they have for sale. For instance, one of the plant guys has an enormous handle bar moustache and he curses, tells lots of jokes and throws small, potted plants into the audience. His partner showed us a good bit of his tattooed ass right before he sold a crammed-full giant box with about 10 plants, including a huge banana plant and a palm for 30 euro. It is a real spectacle.
The fruit guy throws bananas in the audience all while stuffing a huge wicker basket full of pineapple, bananas, grapes, melons – you name it. He’ll even throw in a flat of pineapples at the end of the morning. This is all for 10 euro (about $12). David and I bought one and we got so much fruit, it filled three shopping bags. We froze most and we are currently working our way through about 20 bananas and 4 pineapples. We’ll be regular, to say the least. The basket that the fruit comes in is nice, too. It will come in handy for hauling groceries home.
Furniture update: while we have no new furniture, we have actually visited two excellent prospects. We are still sans-furniture because we haven’t received the pin number for our bankcard and this country wholesale doesn’t take credit cards. Who ever heard of such an outlandish proposition? So, as soon as the pin comes in, we’ve got our eye on a sweet orange couch, a dining table from a closeout store and a desk and some other odds and ends at the used store. I am really looking forward to sitting on a couch.
Friday, June 15, 2007
Half in the bag and not knowing it.
David and I have spent the last week getting our lives in order. We now have our work visas, a certified letter attesting to the fact that we live at our address (which, apparently you need to do absolutely everything), a bank account (also necessary), and we are well on our way to having internet access (scheduled for the 25th). We have also staked out all of the good grocery stores, bakeries, internet kiosks, and we FINALLY found somewhere to get Stella dog food of decent quality. During all this new life arranging, we both noticed that we were still quite tired and sort of fussy.
After nearly a week, we couldn’t blame it on jetlag any more. David thought it might be a virus, I thought maybe it was the stress of moving. Turns out, we were pretty much half in the bag most days by 2pm. What with the absurd access, affordability and acceptability of beer, we would have a beer with lunch, a beer after we walked around and were feeling hot, after shopping for food, after looking for a dog food store…you get the picture. We were on a bender – a near constant, low-level beer buzz during any daytime (don’t even mention nighttime) activity. Now that we put two and two together (kind of hard when you are loaded), we managed to impose a time and quantity limit on this sort of behavior.
Tonight I didn’t have a beer all the way until dinner. I have to work tomorrow, you know.
What else? Wow, the quality of food here is amazing. Seriously. Even Aldi has a big selection of organic foods – fruit, juice, eggs, cheese, milk, pasta. It’s weird, even the one euro pizza we got at Lidl (a big Aldi-type store) had fresh mozzarella and sliced cherry tomatoes. I really like this. It’s a good thing we walk miles and miles (or kilometers and kilometers) everyday. Otherwise, my penchant for beer and bread would wreak havoc on my waistline.
Furniture update: no improvements. We can’t bring ourselves to return to Ikea and all of our traipsing about Hamburg has found us a couple of very high-end furniture stores we have no business in. We are, however, on to something. The welcome center, where we got our visas, gave us this big, fat, glossy magazine with lots of information about Hamburg. Better still, there is a long list of vegetarian restaurants and, more important right now, a list of furniture stores. We have several options, from a used warehouse where the city sells all of the discarded furniture put out on trash day up to a “dings-and-dents” furniture store that offers 50% savings for “small defects.”
We’ll see if we can stay sober long enough to secure a couch for our “flat.”
On a completely unrelated note, David and I are both looking into language courses – the one we’ve heard about from the IEA (our employers) was 345 eur for 8 weeks. Seems kind of high. I’ve heard that you can do state run classes for lots less. A side motivation for state classes: I’d like to put all the tax money The Man is extracting to good use by taking advantage of the lovely social programs I hear so much about.
Stella is well. She is a great apartment dog and took her first train ride yesterday. But, that’s enough material for a whole other post. We both start work tomorrow, so we’ll see what excitement is in store.
I still love Hamburg!
After nearly a week, we couldn’t blame it on jetlag any more. David thought it might be a virus, I thought maybe it was the stress of moving. Turns out, we were pretty much half in the bag most days by 2pm. What with the absurd access, affordability and acceptability of beer, we would have a beer with lunch, a beer after we walked around and were feeling hot, after shopping for food, after looking for a dog food store…you get the picture. We were on a bender – a near constant, low-level beer buzz during any daytime (don’t even mention nighttime) activity. Now that we put two and two together (kind of hard when you are loaded), we managed to impose a time and quantity limit on this sort of behavior.
Tonight I didn’t have a beer all the way until dinner. I have to work tomorrow, you know.
What else? Wow, the quality of food here is amazing. Seriously. Even Aldi has a big selection of organic foods – fruit, juice, eggs, cheese, milk, pasta. It’s weird, even the one euro pizza we got at Lidl (a big Aldi-type store) had fresh mozzarella and sliced cherry tomatoes. I really like this. It’s a good thing we walk miles and miles (or kilometers and kilometers) everyday. Otherwise, my penchant for beer and bread would wreak havoc on my waistline.
Furniture update: no improvements. We can’t bring ourselves to return to Ikea and all of our traipsing about Hamburg has found us a couple of very high-end furniture stores we have no business in. We are, however, on to something. The welcome center, where we got our visas, gave us this big, fat, glossy magazine with lots of information about Hamburg. Better still, there is a long list of vegetarian restaurants and, more important right now, a list of furniture stores. We have several options, from a used warehouse where the city sells all of the discarded furniture put out on trash day up to a “dings-and-dents” furniture store that offers 50% savings for “small defects.”
We’ll see if we can stay sober long enough to secure a couch for our “flat.”
On a completely unrelated note, David and I are both looking into language courses – the one we’ve heard about from the IEA (our employers) was 345 eur for 8 weeks. Seems kind of high. I’ve heard that you can do state run classes for lots less. A side motivation for state classes: I’d like to put all the tax money The Man is extracting to good use by taking advantage of the lovely social programs I hear so much about.
Stella is well. She is a great apartment dog and took her first train ride yesterday. But, that’s enough material for a whole other post. We both start work tomorrow, so we’ll see what excitement is in store.
I still love Hamburg!
Ikea is hell and other observations about German living.
Where do I start? There is so much ALREADY! The trip from the U.S. went very smoothly. David’s dad took us to the airport (thanks, Dave!) and the flights were all on time. We had some uncertainty at the airport in Frankfurt. For one thing, we never really processed our stuff or Stella through customs. When we went through the passport check, the guy asked us what we were doing here. David and I both responded, “Working. For 3 years. In Hamburg.” The immigration guy grunted and stamped our passports and we were on our way. As we made our way from the international to the domestic terminal, I was uneasy about where and when we processed our belongings. I asked three different people and they all said, “Just go to your gate.” Hmm…well, what about Stella, then? Where was she?
As soon as we got to the gate, I immediately started pestering the Lufthansa folks about Stella. In halting (but VERY patient) English, several different counter people said they would notify us as soon as they knew that she boarded. I paced around making eye contact with the counter ladies whenever I could. About 2 minutes before the plane was due to depart, I asked one more time and I found that she was onboard. At this point, our poor neurotic dog had been crated for about 11 hours. I wondered how much fur she had torn out of her feet and whether or not she had plastered her crate walls with poo. We would see.
An hour later, we found ourselves in Hamburg. We sprung Stella from her crate, who appeared to be no worse for wear. She was positively dancing as we walked around – I imagine she really had to pee since her crate was dry. Again, I thought we would be asked to process our dog and stuff. We stopped at the customs desk and asked where we should report. Both of the guys working pointed toward the exit. “Now, wait a damn minute,” I thought. What about the USDA fiasco? (see earlier post). We spent an absurd amount of time and effort making sure we could get Stella into Germany and now there were just going to let her loose on Germany? What if she had rabies? What if she were a ferocious man-eating pit bull? I guess the officials would never know. Oh, well. We pushed our carts out the door with our drugged, unchecked dog in tow to start our new lives.
Our new apartment is great. Really great. The building is an incredible tank – completely made of brick and even though we have a south facing apartment and the sun has been shining non-stop since we got here, we haven’t even needed a fan. The apartment is sunny, spacious, clean and the nicest damn place I have ever lived. Wow – I love this place. There is a little refrigerator and a little washer and (best of all for David) a little dishwasher.
Our neighborhood is also super-duper. There are lots of shops, bars, restaurants (all of those we have tried so far are delicious and pretty darn cheap), a natural grocery store, a yarn store (yea!) and the train station is about a two minute walk from our apartment. But wait, there’s more. Beer is cheap (like $18 for a 20-pack case of tasty pounders – and that’s at the very high end) and you can drink it anywhere. I mean it. Anywhere. Josh, did you get that? In the park, on the train, on a bench, in the rain. I sound like Dr. Suess – but it’s great. Beer anywhere. I love it!
They are also conscious about energy and recycling and the environment in general. For instance, the escalators in the subway don’t run unless someone is on them. The light bulbs in our apartment are little and use lots of reflective metal to radiate more light. There are low-flow toilets, tiny fridges, well-insulated homes, tiny cars and much more. The public transportation is excellent and so is the fruit ice (I know, tangential, but whatever).
We took a city tour today like a couple of dorky tourists just to get the lay of the land. I saw a guy in a banana hammock (a g-string speedo for non-Scrubs fans) walking about the square. There are pictures to prove it. And in the red light district there is a street forbidden to women (bastards!). Anyway, the main point of that is the street that you have to use to access it is called David Strasse. Go figure, degenerate porn would be connected to David Strasse. David thought Joanne would get a kick out of that (re: Pornsylvania).
Unfortunately, we spent two afternoons at Ikea losing our minds (and a little slice of our souls, I fear). That place is like a fucking bargain basement consumer Disneyland. I mean, it is acres large and floors high. It just kept going on and on. I honestly couldn’t believe it. On the bus ride to the place, it looks like you are coming up on some kind of Six Flags or something and then you see the bright blue and yellow building and you know – you have arrived. They have everything and shit is cheap. Oh, and there is a cafeteria with beer! I would have really preferred to buy second-hand. However, my and David’s desire to not sleep on the floor, fear of bedbugs and ignorance of German won out. We bought a bed, a dresser, and a wardrobe (not much in the way of closets in Germany) and I had the best night of sleep in forever. I’ll send pictures in a later entry. The beds are kooky. There is no box spring, just this weird lattice system that we had to assemble from scratch (fricking Ikea) that involved lacing this webbing through each of the lattice rungs (you need to see photos).
So, for now, we have two barstools left behind by the previous tenants and a mostly furnished bedroom. We plan to get a couch (or chairs or chairs & a couch) as soon as is reasonable and a dining table and chairs. Again, I am really hoping for second hand finds. We’ll see.
I love Hamburg!!
As soon as we got to the gate, I immediately started pestering the Lufthansa folks about Stella. In halting (but VERY patient) English, several different counter people said they would notify us as soon as they knew that she boarded. I paced around making eye contact with the counter ladies whenever I could. About 2 minutes before the plane was due to depart, I asked one more time and I found that she was onboard. At this point, our poor neurotic dog had been crated for about 11 hours. I wondered how much fur she had torn out of her feet and whether or not she had plastered her crate walls with poo. We would see.
An hour later, we found ourselves in Hamburg. We sprung Stella from her crate, who appeared to be no worse for wear. She was positively dancing as we walked around – I imagine she really had to pee since her crate was dry. Again, I thought we would be asked to process our dog and stuff. We stopped at the customs desk and asked where we should report. Both of the guys working pointed toward the exit. “Now, wait a damn minute,” I thought. What about the USDA fiasco? (see earlier post). We spent an absurd amount of time and effort making sure we could get Stella into Germany and now there were just going to let her loose on Germany? What if she had rabies? What if she were a ferocious man-eating pit bull? I guess the officials would never know. Oh, well. We pushed our carts out the door with our drugged, unchecked dog in tow to start our new lives.
Our new apartment is great. Really great. The building is an incredible tank – completely made of brick and even though we have a south facing apartment and the sun has been shining non-stop since we got here, we haven’t even needed a fan. The apartment is sunny, spacious, clean and the nicest damn place I have ever lived. Wow – I love this place. There is a little refrigerator and a little washer and (best of all for David) a little dishwasher.
Our neighborhood is also super-duper. There are lots of shops, bars, restaurants (all of those we have tried so far are delicious and pretty darn cheap), a natural grocery store, a yarn store (yea!) and the train station is about a two minute walk from our apartment. But wait, there’s more. Beer is cheap (like $18 for a 20-pack case of tasty pounders – and that’s at the very high end) and you can drink it anywhere. I mean it. Anywhere. Josh, did you get that? In the park, on the train, on a bench, in the rain. I sound like Dr. Suess – but it’s great. Beer anywhere. I love it!
They are also conscious about energy and recycling and the environment in general. For instance, the escalators in the subway don’t run unless someone is on them. The light bulbs in our apartment are little and use lots of reflective metal to radiate more light. There are low-flow toilets, tiny fridges, well-insulated homes, tiny cars and much more. The public transportation is excellent and so is the fruit ice (I know, tangential, but whatever).
We took a city tour today like a couple of dorky tourists just to get the lay of the land. I saw a guy in a banana hammock (a g-string speedo for non-Scrubs fans) walking about the square. There are pictures to prove it. And in the red light district there is a street forbidden to women (bastards!). Anyway, the main point of that is the street that you have to use to access it is called David Strasse. Go figure, degenerate porn would be connected to David Strasse. David thought Joanne would get a kick out of that (re: Pornsylvania).
Unfortunately, we spent two afternoons at Ikea losing our minds (and a little slice of our souls, I fear). That place is like a fucking bargain basement consumer Disneyland. I mean, it is acres large and floors high. It just kept going on and on. I honestly couldn’t believe it. On the bus ride to the place, it looks like you are coming up on some kind of Six Flags or something and then you see the bright blue and yellow building and you know – you have arrived. They have everything and shit is cheap. Oh, and there is a cafeteria with beer! I would have really preferred to buy second-hand. However, my and David’s desire to not sleep on the floor, fear of bedbugs and ignorance of German won out. We bought a bed, a dresser, and a wardrobe (not much in the way of closets in Germany) and I had the best night of sleep in forever. I’ll send pictures in a later entry. The beds are kooky. There is no box spring, just this weird lattice system that we had to assemble from scratch (fricking Ikea) that involved lacing this webbing through each of the lattice rungs (you need to see photos).
So, for now, we have two barstools left behind by the previous tenants and a mostly furnished bedroom. We plan to get a couch (or chairs or chairs & a couch) as soon as is reasonable and a dining table and chairs. Again, I am really hoping for second hand finds. We’ll see.
I love Hamburg!!
Wednesday, June 6, 2007
Sentimental journey
Ok, everybody. This is it. We are down to less than 24 hours in country and in the last 3 hours, I have begun to feel sentimental about leaving. Jeez, I feel like a sap. I am quietly saying "goodbye Japanese dresser," "goodbye Maggie," "goodbye little American things to which I have become accustomed." The bags are packed, Stella's crate is completely covered with labels identifying her and her intended destination and contact numbers (in both countries), and we have a bag of snackies - courtesy of Dave. All that's left at this point is to drink some beer and soak up our last night in the U.S.
It's funny how even though our whole world is consumed with this transition, even lives very proximal to ours carry on without a hitch. Dave is out trimming the hedges, Lou is snoozing on the doggy bed and Stella (who doesn't know what's about to happen) jogs around the house following whoever moves. All these day to day events just happening all around. Ok, I really am getting sappy. I'll keep this short.
I've already signed David and I up for two Hamburg "meetup.com" expatriate and ESL groups. This should ease the transition. Although, I think we need to beware not to become too reliant lest we miss the point of being in the foreign country. I was hoping to get in on a knitting group, but no luck. I guess that knitting isn't the crazy hit in Germany (yet) that it is here (again). I'll persevere. I have to. Otherwise that damned "first sweater" will never get finished. And I really want to wear it around the office. Offices are reputed to be harsh environments not really fit for humans and I imagine I'll need a sweater.
We've reserved a van to drive us to our apartment. At first we were going to rent a car but our boss very strongly advised against trying to navigate the city after a long flight. One of our colleagues is meeting us at our apartment to translate and do the meet and greet with the apartment broker. Little things such as landlords not speaking English are what I often forget and what I am going to get used to (happily, mind you).
Well, that's it. Next time I post I'll be on another continent. Wow.
It's funny how even though our whole world is consumed with this transition, even lives very proximal to ours carry on without a hitch. Dave is out trimming the hedges, Lou is snoozing on the doggy bed and Stella (who doesn't know what's about to happen) jogs around the house following whoever moves. All these day to day events just happening all around. Ok, I really am getting sappy. I'll keep this short.
I've already signed David and I up for two Hamburg "meetup.com" expatriate and ESL groups. This should ease the transition. Although, I think we need to beware not to become too reliant lest we miss the point of being in the foreign country. I was hoping to get in on a knitting group, but no luck. I guess that knitting isn't the crazy hit in Germany (yet) that it is here (again). I'll persevere. I have to. Otherwise that damned "first sweater" will never get finished. And I really want to wear it around the office. Offices are reputed to be harsh environments not really fit for humans and I imagine I'll need a sweater.
We've reserved a van to drive us to our apartment. At first we were going to rent a car but our boss very strongly advised against trying to navigate the city after a long flight. One of our colleagues is meeting us at our apartment to translate and do the meet and greet with the apartment broker. Little things such as landlords not speaking English are what I often forget and what I am going to get used to (happily, mind you).
Well, that's it. Next time I post I'll be on another continent. Wow.
Monday, June 4, 2007
Packing for moving (plus bats)
We are discovering that packing for moving is an entirely different process than packing for short trips (i.e. less than 1 month). For instance, I've never taken measuring cups, a set of kitchen knives or a 3 day supply of dog food during any of my other adventures. Nor have I *ever* taken 5 big duffels plus 2 carry-ons. I feel like an old-time immigrant with my steamer trunks full of hope. In fact, that's what I am - an immigrant. Expatriate is the hoity euphemism you normally hear. But the fact remains, I am immigrating to Germany - from whence my people came, mind you. I imagine that doesn't happen a whole lot. Not 120 years later, anyway.
David and I spent most of the afternoon carefully packing and weighing our big crazy duffel bags. We have these giant ziplocs that we used last summer during the "Great Boston Bed Bug Fiasco of 2006" to sanitize and store our clothes. I think they are called Space Bags. Anyway, you can pack them nearly full and then attach a vacuum cleaner to the little gasket thingy and suck out all the air. It makes the whole package about 1/3 the size and it feels like a brick. A brick of clothes. You could probably wallop somebody with one of these filled and decompressed bags and inflict some serious damage. I'll keep that in mind. We are living in the city, after all. The end result is that we managed to get 10 lbs. of shit into a 5 lb. bag - quite literally. It's amazing.
Anyway, we are nearly packed and our "papers appear to be in order." I will totally lose it if one of the German immigration officials says any derivative of that statement. It sounds very Cold War and very official and very very funny.
Ok, and the last bit in this installment is about the interesting wildlife that has made itself known at 156. We have been here since Thursday and we have had to remove 2 (count them 2) bats from the house. And I'm not talking Louisville Sluggers, here. I'm talking about flying rodent vectors. The second of the pair David caught with a fishing net. Unfortunately, the bat got all caught up in the net and it took a significant amount of effort to extricate the screeching, tiny beast from his nylon prison (at the cost of the net, mind you). It was quite an even to watch a bat move from the dining room to the living rooms to the dining room to the kitchen to the...you get the idea. All while the dogs looked around totally puzzled.
I'll post one more installment before we "jump across the pond" - so stay tuned.
David and I spent most of the afternoon carefully packing and weighing our big crazy duffel bags. We have these giant ziplocs that we used last summer during the "Great Boston Bed Bug Fiasco of 2006" to sanitize and store our clothes. I think they are called Space Bags. Anyway, you can pack them nearly full and then attach a vacuum cleaner to the little gasket thingy and suck out all the air. It makes the whole package about 1/3 the size and it feels like a brick. A brick of clothes. You could probably wallop somebody with one of these filled and decompressed bags and inflict some serious damage. I'll keep that in mind. We are living in the city, after all. The end result is that we managed to get 10 lbs. of shit into a 5 lb. bag - quite literally. It's amazing.
Anyway, we are nearly packed and our "papers appear to be in order." I will totally lose it if one of the German immigration officials says any derivative of that statement. It sounds very Cold War and very official and very very funny.
Ok, and the last bit in this installment is about the interesting wildlife that has made itself known at 156. We have been here since Thursday and we have had to remove 2 (count them 2) bats from the house. And I'm not talking Louisville Sluggers, here. I'm talking about flying rodent vectors. The second of the pair David caught with a fishing net. Unfortunately, the bat got all caught up in the net and it took a significant amount of effort to extricate the screeching, tiny beast from his nylon prison (at the cost of the net, mind you). It was quite an even to watch a bat move from the dining room to the living rooms to the dining room to the kitchen to the...you get the idea. All while the dogs looked around totally puzzled.
I'll post one more installment before we "jump across the pond" - so stay tuned.
Saturday, June 2, 2007
Gas prices really hurt in a big truck
We are so out of Urbana. This day has been in the making for four years. I literally cried the day we came to look for apartments in Illinois. I couldn't believe how profoundly ugly the landscape was - barren, flat, treeless. And how icky the weather was, at least that day - heavy and wet like an old dishrag. I really thought we had completely lost our minds. Time has mellowed my opinion of the "corn desert" if only slightly. I can now appreciate the subtle beauty of the spring when the corn just starts popping out of the ground and everything is a different shade of light green. And I actually looked forward to the fall - crisp cool days, the beer and chili fest and the end of the farmer's market with its bounty of peppers and apples.
But here's the bottom line: I won't miss the place. Of course I'll miss our friends. Over the last couple of years we made friends that I know we'll stay in touch with for many years to come - just the same as our great friends from Albuquerque/Air Force. These friends are the reason, I suspect, that I feel slightly sentimental about CU. It must be the people because it certainly isn't the wonderful outdoor experiences or the unique and tasty food. Anyway, the Illinois part is over.
The move went reasonably well as moves go. Of course there is the last minute frantic packing when the contents of the house seem to have tripled. And the end-of-packing clutter that I never know what the hell to do with. You know, the random pot, 5 knick-knacks, 2 towels, handful of CDs and 8 half full bottles of shampoo - among dozens of other things. Should they all go in the same box? The nitpick in me says NO WAY! But the realist in me ultimately threw it all in one box and labled it "odds & ends." Then came the parade of neighbors, who I will genuinely miss. Some of them foraged through the unwanted what-have-you that we placed on the corner (rakes, Christmas tree, etc), while others wished us well and generously offered their well-appointed showers since ours was freshly sanitized for inspection.
Finally, we begged (and stole) trash space from friends and neighbors. It is amazing the amount of unwanted and generally unusable junk that accompanies a move. I just wasn't willing to cart a cupboard full of those crappy disposable Glad containers across the country. Besides, they were stained and smelly. And I didn't figure anyone could use expired coupons, a broken beyond repair filing cabinet, or the packing foam from the TV and VCR that we gave away. One trash item that may be of interest to Jeff is a particular toaster. Yes, we finally threw it out, plastic bag remnants adhered to the side and all. I didn't even try putting it in the "free for free" pile curbside.
The drive was enormously uneventful. And it seems like none of our stuff was smashed into oblivion. All of our belongings are now safely tucked away in a corner of the attic at 156 and we are taking it easy for a couple of days before the big trip. Stella finally received her endorsement from the USDA (see earlier post for that fiasco) and our newly minted (and badly photographed) passports are at the ready.
So, here we go. Bear with us as we try to get internet and phone connections over the next few weeks. The blogging may be sporadic for a bit but I intend to post very regularly as I am sure there will be MUCH material to write about.
But here's the bottom line: I won't miss the place. Of course I'll miss our friends. Over the last couple of years we made friends that I know we'll stay in touch with for many years to come - just the same as our great friends from Albuquerque/Air Force. These friends are the reason, I suspect, that I feel slightly sentimental about CU. It must be the people because it certainly isn't the wonderful outdoor experiences or the unique and tasty food. Anyway, the Illinois part is over.
The move went reasonably well as moves go. Of course there is the last minute frantic packing when the contents of the house seem to have tripled. And the end-of-packing clutter that I never know what the hell to do with. You know, the random pot, 5 knick-knacks, 2 towels, handful of CDs and 8 half full bottles of shampoo - among dozens of other things. Should they all go in the same box? The nitpick in me says NO WAY! But the realist in me ultimately threw it all in one box and labled it "odds & ends." Then came the parade of neighbors, who I will genuinely miss. Some of them foraged through the unwanted what-have-you that we placed on the corner (rakes, Christmas tree, etc), while others wished us well and generously offered their well-appointed showers since ours was freshly sanitized for inspection.
Finally, we begged (and stole) trash space from friends and neighbors. It is amazing the amount of unwanted and generally unusable junk that accompanies a move. I just wasn't willing to cart a cupboard full of those crappy disposable Glad containers across the country. Besides, they were stained and smelly. And I didn't figure anyone could use expired coupons, a broken beyond repair filing cabinet, or the packing foam from the TV and VCR that we gave away. One trash item that may be of interest to Jeff is a particular toaster. Yes, we finally threw it out, plastic bag remnants adhered to the side and all. I didn't even try putting it in the "free for free" pile curbside.
The drive was enormously uneventful. And it seems like none of our stuff was smashed into oblivion. All of our belongings are now safely tucked away in a corner of the attic at 156 and we are taking it easy for a couple of days before the big trip. Stella finally received her endorsement from the USDA (see earlier post for that fiasco) and our newly minted (and badly photographed) passports are at the ready.
So, here we go. Bear with us as we try to get internet and phone connections over the next few weeks. The blogging may be sporadic for a bit but I intend to post very regularly as I am sure there will be MUCH material to write about.
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