A taste of what it's like to have a Social Life... again.

So on Tuesday i get a message from one of the girls that J and i met on Friday asking whether i wanted to meet up on Wednesday. She suggested a walk through the Stadtwald, which basically translates to 'City Forest' and so happens to be right near where she lives. I find out she doesn't live too far away from where we live, so i jump on the tram and i'm there in 3 stops. The weather is scorching hot at 31 degrees Celcius and once again the sky is clear of clouds.


It had been awhile since i was out and about with someone other than J. In fact since moving to this country my social life has dipped down to practically zero. Of course nobody's fault but my own. And even when we did come in contact with people, it seemed like very few knew how to speak English and carry a conversation. Or maybe they were pretending not to know in fear that they thought their English wasn't good enough.

Who knows.

Everyone has their own reason.



I'm not sure how far we walked but it didn't really matter. We just kept on walking and eventually finding a bench in the shade where we talked even more.


We chatted like we'd known one another for ages.

Or maybe that was just me starved of social contact and conversations, that i jumped at the chance to speak to anyone who was on the same wave length. But seriously, i was surprised how well we got along and how much we had in common. For instance she's taking a "time-out" from work whilst her husband is working and she too will be returning to German class next month after taking a few months off. And if that's not a coincidence, it helps to know that she's trying to adapt to her new life in Germany.


So anyway, while we're walking we're doing the whole nod, "Hallo" or "Guten Tag" to other passing dog owners whilst the dogs do their own kind of sniff and greet. I don't have a dog but i'm with someone who has a dog, so i feel automatically welcome.

And i notice unlike strangers who i pass on the street, dog owners take their time and before you know it a conversation is being started about what kind of breed the dog is. Which i found out earlier is a Boston Terrier. Then within seconds of talking, they switch to English half way through the conversation. I'm guessing they picked up that her accent wasn't German. And while they're talking i can't help but wonder how come that's never happened to me. How come everyone i come across seem to not know a word of English? Why do they seem so pissed off at the world or unimpressed with Life?

Maybe it's like those people who swear they always get bitten first by mosquitos even though they're in a room full of people. Maybe she projects some kind of vibe, an "English-speakers-flock-to-me" vibe.

*shrugs*


Maybe it's her 'Sweet Girl Next Door' look that she's got going on for her. I dunno. But what i do know is just when i meet someone i get along with, i'm already saying my farewells. But who knows, maybe we'll still be friends in years to come.

And ya know, it's true when they say when you leave a place what you end up missing most are the friends you've made.

But i guess that's just how the cookie crumbles.

Movin' to the Suburbs & into a new Home.

Waiting for the right apartment to show up online was proving to be nearly impossible and if there was one, it was way over our budget. So i'm guessing J's future boss found out that we weren't so successful in our hunt and was kind enough to fax us a list of apartments for rent [which only appears in the local papers twice a week].

And you know you can't judge a place by what is written or even photos, so you just have to physically be there to make a decision. So our original plan was to get a service apartment and check out all the 3-room apartments featured in the papers and stay until we found a place we both agree on.

And relying on real estate agents would be too expensive as we would have to pay them a fee should we agree on renting the place that they're showing. We're trying to avoid that. We ain't rich ya know!?

So then J's future boss calls him on Friday and says that she knows someone who's getting a divorce. And it so happens that they've just renovated their house and built it in such a way that there's another apartment upstairs. It comes with a kitchen, balcony and it's 70 square metres.

Basing it on our last viewing of the apartment we saw last week, we figured it couldn't get any worse. Plus it wouldn't hurt if we just saw it. We weren't getting desperate but i wouldn't be lying if i said, we were getting anxious as time was running out.

And so we're back onto the train on Sunday and keeping our fingers crossed.


1 hour and 57 minutes later J's future boss picks us up from the train station, which i thought was really nice of her and drives us to their work place, that way we could get a feel for the distance from his work to the apartment.

It took 8 minutes and 57 seconds, literally from door to door and without any traffic.

We've only google mapped the place and know that it's not too far out from the city centre. We're more concerned that whether there's a bus stop nearby, that way i don't have to rely on J to drive me around and i can get my arse to my German classes on time.

Yes.

I intend to enroll in German classes again when we get there. Depending on the class, i'll either start in September or in October.

So anyway, we eventually get to the road and it's lined with houses. And all i can think is, "WoooOoh".

Unlike the apartments we're used to or that is within our budget, this is deluxe! We currently live in a 8-family unit, meaning the block has 8 apartments [2 on each landing and 3 floors to a block]. Each block is then connected to 4 other blocks each with 8-family units.

Just so you know, houses or apartments in Germany don't really have fences or bars on their windows. It's a strange concept believe me, it took me a while to get used to it. I guess the crime rate is not so high compared to other countries. And between each neighbor is a hedge or wall, so one knows where ones land ends and the other begins.

So anyway, the current tenant wasn't at home so the owner gives us the tour. The tiles in the apartment look more like gray marble as they sparkle under the spot lights. And the thick cream coloured carpet in the bedrooms feel like clouds as i set foot on it. He informs us that re-did the insulation and that there shouldn't be any problem with noise traveling through the house. He also mentions he even installed heating in the bathroom tiles - Yay, no more cold feet in Winter!

As promised the apartment even comes with a fully equipped kitchen with a kitchen exhaust, one that we don't have to pay for or install. And from the looks of it, he invested a lot of money in doing up the place. And for the price that he's renting the apartment for there's no way we could get a place any better. Even our apartment in Düsseldorf is more expensive and smaller! We were lucky that our previous tenant left part of her kitchen meaning just the counter top and the sink.

We even get a huge balcony that looks over the garden. And from the looks of it he or his new girlfriend has a very green thumb, the garden looks well taken care of. And their neighbor even built a small pool in their backyard for their kids. Which i'm thinking at that point is great especially when Little L comes down for holidays for a few weeks, she at least has kids her own age that she can play with. Plus down the road, there's a massive playground, so she's bound to make friends there.

When we were done viewing the place, the owner then invited us to his apartment for a drink and i guess for him to chat with us and see if we got along. We sat out on his patio and my gawd, were we impressed. He had an open kitchen with stone flooring [which he also put heating in] and he even built in his speakers into the kitchen ceiling!

Seriously, the place was so much nicer than we had expected. And although we may need to paint our hallway to a brighter colour, that's nothing compared to what was invested into the whole place.

Overall, the feeling is good.

But i couldn't take any photos since the place wasn't empty and i didn't think it was right to bust out my camera in his garden but J did ask if i could take photos from the outside.

So here it is...


You can pretty much drive right up to the front door. See, there's no gates or fences. Behind where the car is parked there's a garage but the owner hasn't got around to sorting it out and is currently using it as a garden shed. But it's all good since he has 2 designated parking lots on the other side. And the best part is we don't have to pay for parking, whereas the previous apartment we looked at, we had to.

And this is the street... It's a bit 'Desperate Housewives-ish'.


Our balcony is at the end of the house and if my memory serves me right it's about the width of the house itself.

Yup we're no longer going to be city folk. We're moving to the 'burbs - the suburbs! Well technically we only have the upstairs and we share the basement but still, i never thought i would be living in a house. Not now, not any time soon.

We tell the owner we'll call him later to tell him our decision and after 2 hours of sitting on the train we make our decision and tell him the good news.

Seriously, it hasn't really sunk in that we're moving yet. I'm a little nervous but i think that's just the excitement brewing.

But the only problem is, we can only move in in October. Because that's when the tenant is moving out. The owner said it was ok that we leave our stuff in the cellar and the spare room until the guy moves out.

Now that we've found a place we can start packing up all our things. And by next weekend we should be outta here cause J starts work on September 1st.

On to our next mission which is to find a cheap service apartment either there or in the neighboring city...