Heidelberg

We went to Heidelberg, Germany on 26 June 2010. It was a Saturday so there were lots of people out and about. We don’t normally travel on a Saturday because we just go whenever I have a day off. This one just happened to be Saturday. It wasn’t bad though, it was nice seeing lots of people out. I’m glad I just wasn’t actually shopping for something because then it might have been a bit crazy with all the people.

There were a lot of places to shop so I would like to come back sometime when I can do some apparel shopping. It would be so much fun. I would have to save up money first because I know I would end up spending a lot, for sure. There were also lots of shops in the market that were very touristy. I wouldn’t say the Americans were the majority there, but there certainly were more American tourists there than I’ve seen elsewhere so far. I kind of laughed because I see how Europeans view Americans with the stereotypes they do. You don’t easily notice the quiet couple sharing ice cream at a table whispering in English. You just notice the overweight ones complaining about the hill up to the castle. And yes- fanny packs.

 There were a few churches in the area, but the Jesuit Church was the only one we had time to go into. It was very white and kind of tastefully plain inside. I liked it. I will definitely go back to visit the other churches and take a lot more pictures. I also want to get more pictures of the exterior of this church. I don’t feel like I got any good ones. I didn’t get any of the steeple that is on the other end of the church.

After the church, we headed to the castle. Unfortunately, it is under construction and it was hard to get pictures that didn’t show it. I was a little upset that it had to be under construction when we went, but we can always go back. It’s only an hour away. I also like that the castle is being taken care of. I don’t want the castle to be overly modified, but I don’t want them going into ruin either. I saw something on the USO tours list about a lighting of the Heidelberg Castle. I wonder if that might be some sort of celebration opening of the construction being completed. I think it was August and I’ll definitely have to look into it. I’d love to go back. I have other churches to visit as well.

After we were finished seeing the castle, we headed back down to the town and we were getting hungry. There were several places where you could eat outside in the squares. It seems like there is some sort of order to it where certain umbrellas belong to certain restaurants. We had no idea what was what. We just took the first open table we could find.

It’s funny how we think of German food and we almost immediately think of saurkraut and wurst. This is the first time I’ve had it in Germany and we’ve been here over a month. In the area where we live, having a döner kebab or a schnitzel (typically breaded veal) is much more common. I also tried some cherry beer for the first time. It was a bit too cherry for me, but my co-worker who was with us said it looked much darker than what she is typically served (for cherry beer). It also wasn’t such a great combination with my meal, but oh well. I had to try it. It was still very good.

After we finished our meal, we headed back on the walk of several blocks to get to where we parked. There were lots of people enjoying ice cream so I had to, of course, get my second cone. The day was perfect for ice cream and it tasted so good! I can’t wait to go back to Heidelberg.

Mannheim: IKEA and Burg Frankenstein

On 21 June we went to Mannheim for a trip to both IKEA and Burg Frankenstein. We are still in need of some furniture for the house such as a bed, bathroom storage and things like towel racks, etc. I enjoyed IKEA and I like a lot of their stuff, but sometimes it’s a little too plain and modern for my taste. I didn’t find any beds I liked and they were all European sizes anyway. I’m trying to avoid European-size beds because we’ll always have issues getting correct sheet sizes after we leave Germany. Not only that, but they’re smaller and the only common solution appears to be putting two beds next to each other.

The Base Exchange does sell American-sized beds and sheets, but the selection isn’t the largest and most of everything is very pricey. They have just recently added a new bedroom set in the last week or so that is much cheaper and it’s Ashley brand. I don’t know much about that brand, but at least I recognize it and the display bed seemed constructed well enough. We’re leaning toward buying the bed and nightstands, maybe the dresser and mirror combo as well. Not until after Phil gets a new computer though. We’ll get there eventually.

Another issue is picking out bed linens to match the walls in the master bedroom. They are peachy and yellow with a sunshine banner. I still wish we were allowed to change it. If it weren’t for the banner, I think picking linens would be easier. But because of it, I think the linens need to not have so much detail because it will conflict with the detail of the banner- unless we found a blanket with suns that went well with it. The most likely set I’ll go with is some golden yellow 500 thread count sheets that are sort of a shiny ribbon pattern and a white duvet that would be either plain or have some sort of a sewing pattern (without colour).

We didn’t buy anything we actually went to IKEA looking for, but we did buy two floor lamps. They also had bulbs that I should have bought, but wasn’t sure what the price would be back on base so I didn’t. I now regret that. It was about five Euros for two bulbs. When I got back to base, they were eight dollars for one bulb! I ended up going to Kaufland’s off base where I think we paid about three Euros per bulb.

Back to 21 June! After IKEA, we headed to Burg Frankenstein. I’m very happy that we got a GPS because I’m not sure we would have ever found it without it, even with written directions. The castle wasn’t quite what I was expecting, but it was still very neat. I also liked that there weren’t very many people there. I felt like I could take pictures and not have anyone waiting on me or getting in the way. There were several people riding bikes along the trail up to the castle, and then heading back down. Other than that, there were only about two or so other couples exploring the place.

After taking lots of pictures and enjoying the beautiful weather, we finally decided to leave. We headed the way we came in and found that the gate was locked shut. I worked with it for a few minutes to make sure we weren’t just being dumb and couldn’t get it open. It sure was locked. I have to admit, a little bit of fear set in because I don’t think we had our cell phone with us and even if we did, what good would it do? I could call someone from work and say, “Hey, I’m locked in a castle an hour away.” But that wouldn’t get us out. We walked around trying to find another exit and I continued to take pictures. Haha. I think Phil got mad that I was still taking pictures. There was a restaurant and I had seen a person near it earlier that looked like they worked there. We knocked on some doors and windows, but no one was there.

Eventually we found an exit on the other side of the grounds that led out into the woods. There was a path that went two opposite directions. I thought for a second about the layout of the castle and decided to head left. Plus… I always pick left first over right in a maze. The trail was kind of neat taking us around the outer wall of the grounds. Eventually, it passed through a narrow garden before heading back up to the gravel road to take us back to where we parked. In the end, I was actually glad we got locked in because I don’t think I would have even noticed the trail or dared exit the grounds that way. It was fun.

Our New Home

We got the house we wanted! The move-in date was 15 JUN, but we couldn’t actually move in until yesterday, 18 JUN because FMO (Furniture Management Office) couldn’t deliver the temporary furniture until then. The temporary furniture is very basic and the bed is a small “double” bed. They didn’t provide any pillows or sheets so we went to the Airmen’s Attic to borrow some stuff. As expected though, everything they had was very old and smelly. We washed everything, but it still stunk. It made sleeping last night unpleasant. I now have increased motivation to buy a bed on Monday, my next day off.

However, I’m very grateful for all of the helpful things we have as part of this PCS. Just the fact that they even provide temporary furniture while waiting for our household goods to ship (on a boat!) and the Airmen’s Attic operates off of donated items and volunteer workers. It’s also nice that FMO delivers and picks up the furniture. They also provide the American-size refrigerator and washer and dryer for our entire time here. I’m glad we sold our washer and dryer before we left. The only pain there is we missed CE (Civil Engineering) when they came out to hook up the washer and dryer. They have to bring the hoses. They’ll be back out on Tuesday though and we can use the base laundry until then. Unfortunately, the spin cycle doesn’t work on most of the washers there so it takes about 2-3 hours to dry the laundry, but it’s free.

Most of the windows on the house have rolladens which are far better than mini-blinds that we’re so used to. Why does so much crap in America just have to be so cheap and breakable? Every time we moved out of an apartment, we had to pay to fix stupid cheap blinds. If you just invest a little bit of money, you’d have something far better like rolladens. They have neat windows too where if you turn the handle sideways, the window opens like a door. If you turn it up, it opens at the top to tilt back. I like that a lot. I don’t know whether that’s a German or European thing, but I love it.

Our main bathroom is on the third floor and has large windows with a great view over the village. Haha, but these are the only windows in the house that don’t have rolladens and while standing in the (clear glass) shower, I know I can be seen by the entire village. We went to the BX (Base Exchange) for curtains, but they only had floor length and short mesh ones that I didn’t care for. These windows are long windows, but the floor length ones are too long. They would work perfectly if I cut them in half. I’m tempted to get a sewing machine and turn two curtains into four. It would be fun. They sell some at the BX for $100, but I think for now, I’ll just take them to alterations and have it done. We need to watch our spending because we have a lot of expenses right now trying to get settled.

IKEA is located about an hour away from us in Mannheim and I can’t wait to go there and some other furniture stores. It kind of makes me wish I had just sold almost everything we had so we could buy all new stuff that actually matches. That and I don’t want to wait until the end of July for it to all get here. I’ll try to get rid of a lot of it though on RamsteinYardSales.com. I also don’t want to buy so much furniture that we have trouble moving back to the States. Not that I think I ever want to do that. I want to stay here forever. Stuff like the bed, we’ll have to either buy from the BX or online. They have different bed sizing here. The BX didn’t have a huge selection, but there was at least one or two beds and bedroom sets that I kind of liked. I kind of have a bed (blanket) set that I liked too, but I might also shop online for that. That shouldn’t be too much of a hassle.

I tell you what is a hassle though, trying to get internet and phone set up! I’m grateful every time I have the pleasure of working with an English-speaking German, but man when you get one that doesn’t speak English! I want to cry sometimes. But I know I’m in their country and I should be speaking their language. I actually like that they don’t bend over completely backwards for us. They shouldn’t- this is their place. But I want to learn more German so bad, it’s just that I’m trying to get settled right now and it’s so difficult. We set up a contract with Kabel Deutschland for internet and phone. We had them schedule a hook-up appointment with the landlord, but he missed the appointment and claimed they never called him. That’s because when they came out, I was at work and they called me. I told them they needed to call him, but the guy didn’t know enough English to understand me. So I tried to call the landlord a few times, but he never answered. That really upset me because if you miss the first appointment, they take forever to schedule you for another appointment. I would have just done it myself, but the landlord won’t give us the key to the utility room that has the cable modem. When we met with him last night, we discussed the possibility of moving the cable modem outside of that room so we have access to it if we need to reset it or anything. He seemed like he might go for it, if it will work.

That’s another thing. We go back and forth between being mad and really liking our landlord. The worst thing is he hardly ever answers his phone- especially when we need him. Last night when I got off work, we went to his house (around the corner, but physically attached to our house) to talk about paying the deposit + rent, completing the move-in inspection, and the cable setup. It went well. He talked a lot about what he does for a living and I think he has cancer. He has something wrong with his chest, but he doesn’t seem to be able to tell us. It seems like some sort of multiple tumors or cancer. Anyway, he offered us some beer (delicious) and told us about what beers were good and what weren’t- where to go for the discounted good stuff. That was cool. We also talked about music and the music festival he had just gone to with his son. He plays bass guitar and his son is learning drums. He has some friends that play too. He says we should start a band with him. They are almost done building a sound-proof room in their house and he has said multiple times we could come over and use it. I think he really wants a band. Haha. He asked me if I could sing. Haha. No. We also talked about going together to Oktoberfest, some wine fests, and music festivals. I hope we do. That should be fun.

He often says his English isn’t very good, but it’s a million times better than our German. If he struggled to find the English to say what he wanted, Phil told him to say it in German. I don’t think he understood why we wanted to hear it in German. Maybe he’s just not use to Americans that know a *tiny* bit of German. While talking to his Grandmother (who also lives in the same house), she spoke almost entirely in German, but we could understand most of it. I want them to do that though. I want to learn it and I can’t if they’re always speaking in English to me.

Back in the hotel room, Anubis (our cat) was going stir crazy. He was running around like wild and trying to escape whenever we opened the door. I couldn’t wait to get him into the giant house instead of being cooped up in the same hotel room for forever. But when we finally did, he was obviously affected by the unfamiliar territory. And with the house being so big, it’s taking him some time to get used to it. At first we kept him in only one room for most of the day yesterday. Later, we closed some of the doors, but let him roam the entire third floor and just the living room of the second floor. I’m afraid of losing him in the house, but I guess as long as he doesn’t get out, he’ll be ok. I don’t know if it was him last night or what, but there were noises in the house and it creeped me out. It woke me up. Then I couldn’t stop thinking about the movie Paranormal Activity. Our third floor hallway and stairs remind me of that couple’s house, for some reason. Now I’m getting all paranoid like a kid. Haha.

First Few Days in Germany

When we arrived on Ramstein Air Base, Germany, our sponsor, Staff Sergeant Shutes, who would also be my supervisor, met us outside. We carted all of our luggage to a pick-up point while he went to pull his car up. When he pulled up in a Honda Civic, I almost laughed. There was almost no way we would fit three people in that car with all of our luggage. On top of that, he had tons of stuff in the car like a car seat and just other random things. Somehow, we just barely managed to pull away with all of the luggage to the ceiling and on our laps.

He took us to Hotel Christine in Landstuhl not far outside of the base. That area is very nice and there were people walking and riding bikes everywhere. Seeing some gardeners in white shirts and bright blue overalls was interesting to me. The guys were just so very German looking. We went inside and the receptionist’s English was very good, but I couldn’t stop smiling like a nerd because she would speak German to the other girl and it was still weird to me. Unfortunately, that hotel did not have any rooms available for pets until a later date. We considered putting our cat in boarding, but I really didn’t want to do that. We eventually found a hotel that would allow a pet, but only for a few days because I guess there was another reservation. We took it.

We were then staying in the Schloss Hotel right next to Burg (Castle) Nanstein. We haven’t gotten to visit the castle yet, but I can’t wait to do so. Later in July, I think, one of my co-workers is getting married and their reception is at the Schloss Hotel. I think it will be a rather long reception, like all afternoon and evening. He mentioned they’ll be doing pictures during that time and the guests would be able to go walk up to the castle so I’ll be sure to take my camera.

Lieutenant Nunez is a friend of mine. We use to work in the Mob together. He was a Master Sergeant, but crossed into the Army to commission. He PCS’d to the KMC (Kaiserslautern Military Community) area back in January of this year. There are several small bases and posts in this area so they  just call it the KMC area. He has been extremely helpful to us.

The Schloss Hotel was very, very nice and luxurious, but their WiFi access was quite expensive and we knew we couldn’t stay very long with a pet. Lt Nunez found us a room at Hotel Europa that would allow a pet, was cheaper, had free WiFi, free breakfast, and located right outside of base. It was much more convenient for being picked up because we didn’t have a car yet. I will also say that we wouldn’t have gotten the house we did if it wasn’t for him. We owe a grill out in his name.

So in the new hotel, we were able to check the housing listings and make phone calls to set up appointments to view the places. It was very difficult though because some of the landlords didn’t speak much English. It was stressful and depressing being repeatedly hung up on when neither one of us could talk to the other. We checked the listings every day and we would call every new one. But more often than not, they were already rented by time we got a hold of the landlord. Some of them we would get to go see, but we would get there and the place would be a dump. Just very old, moldy, outdated, damaged, etc. That and some of the villages don’t have internet access, or they only have dial-up. That was the primary reason we started looking into the Bann area more closely. That area has new houses built after 2003 and they have 32 Mbps internet speeds. Back in Georgia, we only had 1.5 Mbps and, for reference, Zoomtown only offers up to 5Mbps and I think Roadrunner “Premium” is something like 10Mbps.

We scheduled our driving test soon after arriving here, but couldn’t test until two weeks later, at the earliest. We eventually got to test and both passed on the first time. Not everyone does. It’s just a book test though. That was a major relief. We already had plans made to buy a 2006 Mini Cooper from a Major that was PCS’ing back to the Pentagon. We had an agreement to buy it the day we got our license. Here, you can’t buy a car, or transfer a title, rather, unless both members have a valid license. The car also has to pass an inspection. The car ended up failing the inspection because there was a crack in the windshield, but the owner ended up paying to replace it for us.

Now we have a car to get around without looking for a ride. It made a world of difference. Now I just can’t wait to get our first shipment so I can stop wearing the same three outfits.

The race to the contract

Yesterday we were able to go look at that house. It was very large and nice being on the newer side. It’s also in Bann which has the 32 Mbps internet- compared to the just over 1 Mbps we had in the U.S. The tennant still had yet to move a lot of stuff out so that was a little distracting, but I don’t mind. I would like to remove some of the wallpaper in a few of the rooms and get rid of the fishes that are stuck everywhere in the bathroom. The landlord said he would clean up the yard for us, but I wonder if I could ask him about the wallpaper too. I dunno. It had a garage and a huge attic space. The kitchen was fantastic too! It was large and had plenty of room for the extra American-sized refridgerator that we’ll be getting from FMO (Furniture Management Office) since the typical German-sized refridgerator is about the size of an American freezer. The least desirable thing about it was that it had a decent-sized yard for around here, but it wasn’t quite big enough for corn hole. I’m torn. But I still want the house.

The problem: Two other parties are interested in the house as well. Apparently verbal contracts are potentially legally binding here, but this landlord is willing to accept the first contract that is brought to him. That’s good for me, because it gives me a chance to get the house. The housing office was closed yesterday due to a German religious holiday, but they open at 0730 this morning and I will surely be there at 0725 waiting to get a contract together. I don’t know just yet, but I really hope I can get the place.

Starting from the beginning

On Monday, the 24th of May 2010, we would fly from Atlanta, Georgia to Baltimore-Washington International Airport, and then on directly to Ramstein Air Base, Germany. For the first time since September 11th, 2001, I was able to bring someone through security with me all the way to the gate. We couldn’t believe it, but they allowed Mom to get a “gate pass”. That was very cool. With the little time we had before boarding began, Mom and I stopped by one of those news stand shops in the airport and I got one last postcard from Georgia. I plan to keep it for my personal collection.

The whole process of getting ready to go overseas, moving out of our apartment, and out-processing- just with everything we had to do, I was so busy getting one thing after another done. As soon as I would get past one hurdle, there was sure to be another unexpected one that would come out of nowhere. Nothing could just be easy. It was just constant get this, now go back and resolve that, there’s another hold up- it was rather panicking… to the point where it never really hit me that I was leaving in the sense that I was until we were about to board the plane and Mom started getting teary-eyed. I did a little too. But I was just thinking, “Man, when will I get to hear her voice again or hug her?” I can’t just call her every time I’m in the grocery store and I can’t remember what that random thing is that I need for something, whatever. Haha. This makes me grateful for the constant advancement of technology. I mean, we have Skype where we can do a video chat for free around the world. I can’t tell you how many times a day I’m just so thankful for internet and cell phones. We only had to go a few days without either and I’m telling you, it was eternal torture!

So, back to the traveling. The flight from Atlanta to BWI was rather brief. We sat next to a woman who was finishing a book. When she finished, we chatted a little off and on and she talked about how her and her husband had been traveling to all these places in Europe and how neat it was. She also gave us her book. I thought that was nice. Anubis did well on the flight, much more so than when we were trying to check bags earlier. He was rather audibly unhappy being cooped up in the carrier at that time, that is, until he noticed the checked bags being taken away on the belt. Once he saw that, he was quiet with amazement or something. It was cute.

When we landed in Baltimore, we had to get our bags because they would not be automatically transferred since our next flight was with AMC, a military rotator flight. Our flight would be on a DC-10. It was my first time flying in a plane that big, unless we flew in one to Disney World when I was a child, because I barely remember that. When we got to baggage claim, a man with one of those large flat carts offered to help us with our bags (because I was in uniform). He also announced over the PA for everyone to thank their service members. There was one other Master Sergeant there in uniform as well. Hah. Anyway, I knew the guy would expect a tip and we definitely needed the cart so I went with it. Where we were heading was the complete opposite end of the airport too, and there wasn’t any sort of tram or anything. When he was done helping us, I went to tip him and only had $20s and two singles. Oh man I felt like crap. I had to ask for change, and sure enough, he didn’t have much. I was thinking, “Whatever, I know you have a load of cash in your other pocket.” I ended up paying about $14. The good news is though, today I filed my travel voucher and was able to be reimbursed for it. Hah! Take that! I have to admit though, the guy with the cart was able to get us straight up to the counter basically cutting in front of about 50 people. That was awesome and .. I might say worth it.

After checking in at the AMC counter, we went to go find the USO. It was crowded and busy because BWI is a big port for the military and a lot of deployments go through there. I think most of the overseas flights go through that port, with some Asia flights leaving from the west coast. Anyway, they had free WiFi, unlike the rest of the airport, but they wouldn’t allow Anubis in there. Fortunately though, we were still able to sit across the hall and get the WiFi. We both took turns getting on Facebook and doing silly stuff. At one point, I decided to search for an outlet to charge my phone. I found one not far, next to a vacant baggage claim area. I stood there for a few minutes letting the phone charge before several people started showing up, obviously from a recently arrived flight. I continued to just stand there looking around, when I suddenly noticed the man standing directly left of me. He was older and wearing a golfer-style hat. We made eye contact and it took me about 10 seconds or so. He turned away and it looked like he was trying to hide a smile. But that’s right when I figured out it was Terry O’Quinn, John Locke from Lost. Phil was still on the laptop by the USO so I grabbed my phone and went to tell him, “You’ll never guess who I was just standing next to!!” He didn’t believe me, but then he had to walk over there and see him too. He ended up putting some sunglasses on. Then a guy started talking to him. He immediately pulled out his cell phone and then another guy seemed to notice. I could tell he was trying to hurry up and get out of there. By the way, this was the day after the series finale aired in the states. In all of our free time waiting for the flight, I wondered where he was heading or coming from. He had a guitar with him so I figured it was probably some sort of finale-watching cast party. Phil said he thought he saw the girl who plays Sun-Hwa Kwon, but wasn’t sure. Then of course we had to post this all over Facebook with excitement. Hah.

Eventually, late at night, we were able to board the overnight flight to Germany. When we got on the plane, we were excited to find that we had window seats and there was no one next to us! I was so glad were weren’t in those middle rows. I get sick if I can’t see out the window. Unfortunately, it was very, very hot and most people were in uniform. Everyone started taking their uniform tops off (t-shirts still on, of course) but it was still sweating hot. Everyone got free pillows and blankets, but it was like a cruel joke with the temperature in there. I would say it didn’t even cool off until 2 or 3 in the morning, after I had slept a few hours. We were served hot dinners and a small breakfast that were somewhat edible. I didn’t get much sleep though and I was very sore from not being able to lay down or anything. We also got free headphones and they played movies, but the headphone jacks didn’t work. Oh well. It’s over with and it was better than my expectations.

The arrival in Germany is another long blog post of its own so I’ll continue later. I start work tomorrow and I have to be in extra early for some meeting. Apparently, this type of meeting only happens when everyone is going to get yelled at about something. And it’s my first day. I have to get up at 0415. This is going to be great.

Gute Nacht.

House and expenses

So I’m going to attempt to play catch up little by little and go over the events of our experiences moving to Germany. I’ll try to cover subjects of both the past and present.

The present.

At the moment, I only have about an hour before my ride will be here and I was feeling like taking a nap. I have to go to a PIPS class. PIPS is a new (to me) software program used for military members to file their travel vouchers and be compensated for the expenses. This use to be done at Finance, but Finance is slowly but surely turning into a non-human computer. They don’t even have a phone number or walk-in office anymore. Everything is handled strictly by e-mail. This is hilarious because this morning, my supervisor overslept and when I was late for the mandatory class, I had no one to call and ask if I could be rescheduled for the afternoon class. Fortunately, Lt Nunez’ wife works finance and he was able to get her to move me. Normally, I would have had to e-mail them, wait for a 24-hour response to be told I’ve missed my opportunity and I would then have to file the travel voucher on my own with no assistance. That probably would have resulted in the process taking a few days to weeks to be completed.

After that class, there is a house in Bann I am dying to go see as soon as possible. I don’t know how long it has been listed, but it says the move-in date is today. It couldn’t have been listed for too long, but in this market, most of the good places go within 24-48 hours of being listed. I started calling the landlord last night and this morning, but have gotten nothing but voicemail (I think- it’s in German). I’ve left a few messages and even sent an electronic message through the house listing website. This house is the largest and nicest one we’ve seen so far. There was also an apartment in Kindsbach that we liked, but it’s a three-unit house where we only have the first floor and parking is very limited. As of yesterday afternoon, that apartment was surprisingly still available, but we’re holding off. I think the apartment is still available only because it’s kind of on the smaller side for a family and I think most people want to be in the houses and duplexes. If this house in Bann is still available, I think I’ll tell the landlord that I’ll take it as soon as possible. It’s about €105 over our housing allowance (meaning we’d have to pay the difference out-of-pocket), but we also get a utilities allowance that is about €400 more than we actually might need. We also have to consider that we’re taking on a new car payment for the Mini Cooper we’re getting next week. We just got done paying off the Camry. I’ve also tried to factor in cable (tv/internet/phone), gas ($3/gallon on base or €2/liter off base), and groceries. We have ration cards meaning we can only get so much gas on base before we’re required to pay the off base prices. That’s something like $7.58 a gallon or $133.70 to fill up my Camry. Can’t forget cell phones though. We’re currently sharing a pre-paid phone, but each call uses a minimum of 3 minute units and we burned through €15 in like an hour on the first day just calling landlords. Since then, we hang up after three or four rings instead of waiting for some automatic message. Most of the time, it’s not voicemail, it’s something else that says it will send you a text message when the person’s phone is available or something weird. I’m not sure what it says- again, it’s in German. Even the text message is. I don’t think they have the Droid here, at least I haven’t been able to find it. Cell phone plans here are extremely expensive, but you don’t pay for received calls, as I understand it. We MIGHT get some iPhones because that’s about the only decent phone here. But it’s €80 or €90 a month per phone, which is something like $225 a month for two phones. Can you believe that?

Okay my “chauffeur”, AKA Lt Nunez, is here to take me to lunch and then to the class. I ran out of time before I could do some catch up. I’ll try to do that later this evening. Tschüß!