GETTING SETTLED
This one is going to be a sporadic conglomeration of a few hits here and there, so I hope you enjoy!
Housing
I had to leave work one Friday a little early to go figure something out with my phone contract. I'd spent the whole week occupying myself in preparation for the decision to come that weekend regarding the apartment I wanted - if I would get it or not. So I got my stuff figured out at O2 (I think...), and jumped on the train to go get a haircut across town.
No sweat, diddling with my phone and playing spider solitaire when I get a notification from the apartment app I was using. Boring, assumed it was another notification of a new apartment I wouldn't get. Half a second later an email comes in with the name of the landlord. Commence heightened heart beat.
Open it up, read the message. Oh baby. I GOT THE APARTMENT!!!!!!! I was (and am) so pumped!!! Gah!!! I got off the train, shared the info with my family and nothing but happiness was streaming out! A little video to send them to show it, then I had to maintain calm during my hair appointment. After that though, I shot back a message saying I'd absolutely take it!
Excited and looking forward to having an awesome place to live, and with my new haircut, I was feeling good. Not sure what to do with myself, I kinda walked around and decided to try out the Alter Brauhof restaurant in town. I had my kindle, a good mood, an empty stomach, and was ready to relax. Got in, ordered the darkest beer they had, got some Maultaschen to go with it, and ended up having a very nice night in mini-celebration.
That coming Monday, I got to meet with the landlords (Vermietern) and get things roughly acquainted. There were a couple things to take care of, and some questions/requests I had for them, and in short, everything went great. As I've come to learn over the few times meeting with them, I got really lucky to have some really great people as landlords!
We met at the apartment and went through the place as a rough, here's what's here, here's what you need to watch out for, here's what they request for keeping the place in order, all that stuff. I had a few questions of what I could do with the place and how I could hang things (long story annoying, I can't screw anything into the walls. Grrrr.), just a general walk through of all that's there. Again, super friendly, helpful, sensible, easy people to work with!
I couldn't stop thanking them for choosing me for the apartment, and they were super thankful as well that they selected a good renter. I could talk a lot about it, but no need. We walked through the apartment, and then went out for pizza afterwards.
Nice to know I've got some really kind landlords, who are really down to earth. Easy to talk to as well, and it was interesting hearing about their experiences and lives.
One of the things I requested was the Wohnungsgeberbestätigung (Landlord Confirmation, essentially). It's a document that they had to provide. With that, I could go to the city office and re-register that I've moved to a different address. Why was that important, you ask? Well, without the certificate from the city that I'd officially moved to a different location, I was not able to allow the moving company to put my container through customs and schedule a delivery date.
Well, that Tuesday I got the forms midday, and my plan was in place to go first thing (even earlier than they opened) to get in line and get an appointment for that day to re-register. Well, two annoying things. One, I could have scheduled an appointment, but their appointments were booked out until the middle of next month. Screw that. On-site appointments are possible, which is what I was planning on. Website said 8:30 opening time, so I went and got there at 8:00. For some reason, people were already going in and out of the building, so I did and went to the place I was supposed to get a time for a meeting.
I got there, and the line was out the door. Wtf. So much for the website actually putting out the correct time, eh? That annoyed the hell out of me. But, I waited in line and eventually got to the counter. The lady behind the desk was happy I had all my paperwork ready, and then gave me an appointment for 10:40. Bwuh, only a couple hours of waiting...
So I went back to my hotel rather than just farting around at the city office. Got some emails written and worked on some projects, then went back to the city office with enough time to spare and plenty of time to wait. Long story short, the following happened:
- Got called in to the desk only about 20min after the scheduled appointment time
- Had all the correct paperwork and got re-registered
- Successfully acquired my Ummeldung! (re-registration paperwork)
- Mailed that off to the moving company, and got an appointment scheduled for the next week!
Officially, all set to go! :-)
The next thing on the list for the apartment was the official Wohnungübergabe (apartment handover). In Germany it's a little more official than I remember, and there was a form from the company supporting my move, as well as one from the landlords. Despite the official pretense, it was again super relaxed with my lovely landlords. We walked through the apartment, clarified that it's in essentially a perfect condition, I kept thanking them for all that they've done, they kept throwing more cherries on top of the cake, and all was well!
I did feel kinda bad about one thing though. After living in a hotel for around a month, and not really having my own place, I was expecting to move in on Saturday morning after checking out of the hotel, and having my new place officially to myself. Well, they mentioned a few times about coming back on Saturday and doing one or the other thing, and I was open and honest and asked if they could take care of it all the evening before instead. Again, I felt bad about that, but they were understanding and quite cool about it. Again, they are really awesome people!
Saturday morning officially came. I woke up at the hotel, had a semi-relaxing breakfast, and went and got all my stuff packed up. I came with four bags, and moved out with my stuff now split between five. Didn't matter though, I threw it all in the car and off I went. Coincidentally, I had to give up my rental car that day too. So I stopped by the apartment, dropped my stuff off, drove over to Sixt to drop off the car, and then walked back to my apartment.
Oh. Boy. Was I pumped!!! I had all my stuff now in my new apartment. Man was/am I happy that I had a new place!!!
Mommy, you're going to be super proud of me. Guess what I did first as soon as I got back? After taking a couple pictures, the first thing I did was sweep the floors. After that? Went and bought a mop and mopped. I felt like a real adult (I guess). Then with clean floors, I got the few things I had with me unpacked, and now, gotta wait til Wednesday to get all my stuff truly there.
For your viewing pleasure:
So nice to finally have a home!!! And I can't wait to see what I do with the place, so stay tuned!
The Location
My building is in a pretty sweet spot in town. It's close to the main part of town, but kinda on the outskirts of the really dense stuff. So with that, I can be either in or out of the city in a quick manner.
One of the things I'm going to really like going forward though, is what's directly under my building. My kitchen looks out onto a natural roof, and under that natural roof are the following:
- Turkish Market
- Asian Market
- Thai Restaurant
- Pizza Place
- Household Goods store
Wanna see what I saw in the Asian Market? Cause I went insane when I did!
SALSAS!!! ZOMFG!!! I haven't got them yet, but I am SOOOO pumped to try them. But, the coux d'gras...
ZOMFG ITS JARRITOS AND THEY HAVE MANGO HOW DID I GET SO LUCKY!?!?!?!?!?!!?!?!?
The First Ausflug (Excursion)
[Rewind a few days - the day after I found out I received the apartment]
Though I was planning on doing it anyways before I found out about the apartment, knowing I finally had a living situation lined up made it easier for me to get out and actually go do something. I knew that something had to be in nature, so I was on the hunt for a good hiking trail.
Germany has a lot of good things going for it, one of them definitely being public transportation. Looking around on All Trails for a good hike in the Schwarzwald put me on one that sounded pretty good. I zoomed out on the map and hey, that wasn't all that far from Karlsruhe. Not only not that far, but there was a damn S-Bahn line that heads right by where the trailhead is! Wouldn't you know it, for my first excursion this time around, I'd go full German.
That morning, I got up and ate breakfast, and walked down to the next stop to catch the S-Bahn. How sweet. Got in and sat down, sent off some lingering messages and whipped out my book. Reading and relaxing while sitting in the train about to go on a little hike. How friggin cool.
Well after a little while the train pulled up to the last stop - Bad Herrenalb. It was still pretty nippy and somewhat early for this small-feeling little village. But I was ready for a day in the woods. Before I headed to the trail though, I stopped by the bakery to pick up a little sandwich and a pastry, but relaxed briefly with a little espresso before I headed out.
Walking through town was peaceful. It was a small little dorf, tucked up in the hills. With the hills, the sunlight hadn't quite reached the roads, so it was a little dark with the sun coming, a little cold with the days heat still on it's way, and a little quiet with all the people to come later on in the day. From the bakery, I had a relaxed walk through town, and eventually made my way up to where I thought the trail started.
I walked to the place I thought was right, and the signs were present. I kept walking though, and eventually realized I was walking in the opposite direction that I intended to walk (was still on the correct trail though). Remembering some of my training over the past 29 years of my life, I told myself to relax. Who cares if I'm going in the wrong direction from what I wanted? I'm outside, on a good hiking trail, with beautiful weather. Just keep walking and have a good time.
So that's what I did! Onward and upward. The trail was quite pretty, through some light forest and some farm fields. Eventually it started heading more upwards, with a mix of single track and forest roads. I kept following the signs, and kept on the right path. Again, onward and upward!
You can let not just your soul, but also feet dangle
A pit stop along the way was a real quick offshoot. I can't remember the name, but it was small cave formation in the hillside. Cool little spot.
The trail kept meandering up the hill, and eventually I made it to the quasi-midway point - Teufelsmühle (Devil Mill)! I got there, and unfortunately the tower was closed. Definitely a bummer, but there was a couple there and we were disappointed about it together.
In a surprising turn of events, I ended up making new friends! The couple there ended up being Sosanna and Edwin who lived just around the bend. We started chatting, and ended up being a really nice conversation. Talked to them about how I'd just moved to Karlsruhe and liked mountain biking, and they shared how their son just moved there for an internship. I ended up giving them my information, and vice versa, and whenever I head to their neck of the woods, I'll be getting in touch! So lovely to meet such lovely people! :-)
After chatting with them, I sat down and enjoyed the incredible view of the Rhein Valley. I pulled out the little sammiches and bread I got at the bakery that morning and had my makeshift lunch. Delicious food with a gorgeous view. ALWAYS a winning combination!
Well, unfortunately it was windy as hell, and because of that I was freezing by the time I stood up to keep moving. I got underway and did my best to warm up quickly, and eventually my blood started flowing again.
From there on, it was pretty downhill (literally) from there. A few beautiful views, a completely barren (tiny) ski hill, and some more forest roads to get me around the loop and back into Bad Herrenalb.
Once back in Bad Herrenalb, I wasn't quite set on what to do next. Not quite wanting to go back home and not quite wanting to walk around more, I headed to the park in the center of town. What'd I do? My favorite - took a nap!
They had some excellent lounge chair benches in the park, so I posted up, laid down, and was out. Bwuh. That was fantastic! Nothing like a good nap to make a day just that much better!
After waking up, I walked back to the train station and took the next train back to town. Pretty damn awesome that a little excursion can be achieved without stepping into a car!
Sundays are for Walking
Despite the long hike the day before, that next day I decided to meet up with a friend and go wander around for a bit. We weren't too sure where we wanted to go (I'll admit, I'm still working on getting up to speed on my German, so there are definitely some communication gaps on my end), but ended up driving over to Durlach and parking at a random parking spot in the woods out of town.
Got out and just picked a path leading in the woods and started walking. Was really nice! The weather was a little grey and gloomy, but the fresh air and good discussions made things quite enjoyable!
We didn't really have an end target, but just wandered around and took a few turns as we approached or came up to different intersections. Eventually we passed a horse farm and followed a more trodden path, then turned down what we thought was another good path. We followed that one and it passed a bunch of homes, and we got to meet a couple really cute dogs along the way. Eventually though, we weren't sure where we were going, and decided on turning around and heading back to the car.
Eventually got back, then headed into Durlach to see what we could find. Unfortunately, the Faschingsumzug had just happened and the city center was full of teenagers rebelling and doing whatever little kids do. All in all, it was a bit chaotic. We tried to find a cafe to go to, but the one we wanted was closed. Instead, we jumped back into the car and headed up the hill to the Durlach Tower.
Got there, parked, wandered to the viewpoint and had a great view of the Rhein valley! To add to it, we walked across the street and headed up the tower. Cool little old tower, and what a great view! We got up to the top and immediately got slammed with a ton of wind. That was nuts.
But it was still clear enough to see all around the place, with a great 360-view of the Black Forest, Karlsruhe, Durlach, a sight over to the Pfalz forest, and up north towards Heidelberg. Really gorgeous. More than likely a place I'll be taking people as they come to visit!
Quick Hits - During the Week
The week leading up to moving in ended up being both chaotic and quite busy, some because of the apartment, some other things just because. Here are some quick hits of what went down.
Monday
It was car search time. Through one of the car sales website (AutoScout24.de, ImmobilienScout24.de was what I used to look for apartments), I found a few that were decently priced, fairly close to me, and had a few features (including engine and exhaust standards) that I wanted. With that, and three of them picked out, I put my rental car through the paces and drove from Karlsruhe to Koblenz, Koblenz to Frankfurt, Frankfurt to Stuttgart, and then back on to Karlsruhe. Long story short, looked at a couple, but still can't make up my mind. Right now I'm car-less (for the first time in forever!), and it feels weird.
Tuesday
I've had some real luck and have connected with some really great people in the mountain bike community. They invited me to join to go see 1917, being shown in english (sweet!). Before though, we headed to the Thai restaurant literally right below my new apartment. The food? Fantastic.
From there, we walked to their house to hang out for a bit, and in the process they lent me a bike to use for the time being! How awesome! I rode the bike and locked it up at the hotel, and met them at Schauburg.
What's that? It's a really old cinema/theater in Karlsruhe, located in the Südstadt. What a cool place. Super old, with huge chandeliers, and everything. The movie ended up being AWESOME, and it was great to hang out with some great folks all night!
Wednesday
After a long day of work, including my first German class (it went well! I got evaluated at B2, and start my C1 classes soon!), I jumped in the car and headed back down to Strasbourg for another concert! Who was it this time? PVRIS.
I got in, filled up on gas, and then walked to a döner shop around the corner for dinner. I gotta say, even though it was one sample, French Döner was not as good as German Döner. But, I ate and headed on back to the concert hall.
Joywave was the opener, and they were pretty interesting. They were all in white jumpsuits, and the lead singer was pretty interesting. Good music, so a good way to start the night. After what always feels like too long of a wait, PVRIS came on. Oh yeah.
A quick summary of the concert, it was pretty good. Not sure what was up, but the lead singer didn't have a ton of energy. I kinda got the vibe she was a little sick, but her energy didn't come out until a little later in the show when she talked with the crowd a bit. In summary, it was still a good show. Glad I went!
After that, it was an hour-ish drive back home. Not bad.
Thursday
I gotta admit, I can't remember what I did on Thursday. I know it was a long day, and I felt really bad because I canceled on hanging out with a friend, but after a long week, I needed to get some sleep. Ended up not really getting any sleep though. Grrr. But, it snowed that day, at least I got a picture of that.
Friday
Friday! Woohoo! One day before I could move in!
Work was pretty ok. I got some things done in the morning (not as much as I wanted), and after lunch I got to jump into what I'll be doing on the technical side. I gotta admit, it was kinda boring. I had a big lunch, and the technical-side stuff involved me watching someone else work. That's kinda how it's going to go with getting started up, but I was struggling to stay awake. Either way, it was nice being back in the truck and I'm looking forward to getting more involved!
Soon, it was Feierabend, and I was off to the apartment handover! Y'all know how that went. Extremely well :-)
That night though I was also booked. My biking friends invited me to, what they proclaimed to be, a very German event. If you've ever heard of Helge Schneider (I hadn't), you'd know what I mean. So, Friday night, I walked across the street to the Schwarzwaldhalle, and met up with them for an interesting event.
Franz und Steph waren da und wir sind in (Not sure how, but I came back to writing this after taking a sip of coffee and my mind switch to German. I'm going insane...). Franz and Steph were there and we headed into the hall. At first, I was super impressed by the location. A huge event room, where what I assumed were a couple thousand people, were sitting and waiting for the show to start.
Then it did, and I was surprised at what it turned out to be. For the uninitiated, Helge Schneider is (as was described to me) a very polarising personality. Either people love him or hate him. I fall somewhere in the middle.
Well the show was pretty interesting. It was a half-comedy, half-concert show. The comedy was interesting. I got the impression he got insanely high before the show and just had a stream of consciousness monologue on stage. Some of it legitimately funny, some of it was lost on me. The other half of the show was the music, and it was really good! A mix of some rock and some jazz, I learned afterwards that Helge and his band is actually really well known for his music.
Long story short, an interesting show. Really glad I went, as I'm trying to keep the CBYX mindset of cultural experiences present in my head. So far so good!
Hiking Differences
Hiking paths are more than likely (at least in the Black Forest and near Karlsruhe) going to be less single track-type paths like what I'm used to back home, and moreso a good mix of single track, bigger walking paths, and forest roads. That's what the hike out of Bad Herrenalb was. A good mix of all of those types. I've got to keep reminding myself - It's not Good, It's not Bad, It's just Different. :-) I'm working on it.
Me? A Social Butterfly?
I gotta admit, over the last week or more, I feel like I've had a lot going on. Not sure how, but I feel like I've been pretty consistently busy. That can be good (and so far I've been enjoying it!), but it's definitely not something I feel like is normal for me.
What's Up Next?
Going into the week, the first thing coming up is going to be my new way to get to work. This is the first time in YEARS that I don't have access to a car. Huge difference from what I've known. But, because of that, I've got to take the train and bike to work. My bikes aren't here yet, but some of my new biking friends have been nothing but super awesome! They lent me a bike and I parked it over near work so I can take the train, and from the train bike up to the office. Slowly becoming more and more German! Hahaha
Monday and Tuesday is work, but then Wednesday I get my stuff! I can't describe how pumped I am for that! Finally, after a little over six weeks, I'll have my bikes!!! (And my other stuff, yeah...) They come on Wednesday, and I'll be able to start putting things in their places, figuring out how I want to set the place up, and slowly start to really feel and be at home. I'm stoked!
And to add to that, on that same day, my old roommate Lutz is coming to visit! I don't think I've seen him since I moved away from Hamburg, but he's got some time off, and is headed my way to catch up and explore around the area with me. Needless to say, I'm really excited to see him!
There are a few other things on the docket, but let's first focus on getting settled in, welcoming Lutz, and seeing where things go. If you couldn't tell already, I'm really starting to feel like things are falling into place. And for that, I couldn't be happier. :-)
Original Publish Date: March 1st, 2020