Okay, so I know I STILL haven't posted much of anything about Germany. So I thought I'd give you this little taste of it. At Ramstein, all officers live off base. You get a housing allowance, get lists of places available (with some sketchy details) from the housing office, and then you're off. Needless to say, this is not a very pleasant ordeal for somewho who is introverted. So after procrastinating for a day or two, I did start to call places about seeing houses. Unfortunately, within 24-48 hours of being listed by the housing office, most places are already rented. Last Friday, I looked at three places. The last place I really liked and was all set to rent. I was going to go back on Monday to sign the contract.
However, on Sunday, I was hiking w/ a group of people and one of them mentioned that he had a very nice townhouse next to him opening up that was close to base and very new. However, I couldn't look at it that night and was unable to get a hold of him the next day to look at it. I drove by it and looked in the windows and it seemed nice. I even drove around the neighborhood and found an Eis Cafe (ice cream cafe) and Catholic Church close by.
Then, the indecisiveness reared its ugly head. Should I go ahead w/ renting the other place or wait and look at this new place? I ended up asking the landlords of the old place if I could wait one more day before telling them if I wanted their place, but they said I needed to make a decision then (they had another person who was also interested if I wasn't). So I told them I didn't want their place. Then saw the other place the next day and discovered I didn't want that one either. I saw three other places that day (yesterday). One was very large, but very 70s (think yellow and green cabinets), bright yellow outside and very apartmenty. The next was nice but in a somewhat unsafe appearing area (I don't know if these really exist in Germany, but it made me feel unsafe).
I was sold on the final place I saw (and had to fight two other people for it; don't worry, not physically fight!) It's in a very nice area: close to a bakery (yum!), walking path to a lake, short distance to the non-crowded entrance to the base. The picture's below (sorry, I'll post a better picture later but it was raining and I was too lazy to get out of the car!) It's technically an apartment b/c there are three floors and each people has a floor. I have the ground floor. It's very modern and comes w/ a dishwasher, fridge/freezer (smaller than American fridges but larger than the normal college dorm sizes fridges that most places have), stove/oven, microwave, washer/dryer. It has a nice little foyer area, 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms (one very large bathroom w/ shower and separate bathtube), kitchen, fireplace, living/dining room, patio and yard (these last two are shared). I don't have a garage space but do have a carport that's adjacent to the house.
As always, I'm still regreting not getting the other place and wondering if I should have looked for a place a little longer, but I think I'm really going to enjoy this place. I move in on 15September and will send you more pictures later.
Now it's time to start a furniture hunt for a new bedroom set for the guest bedroom (or my bedroom!) All are welcome!
3 comments:
I found you! :) Great apt by the way! I'll bookmark you and stay caught up from here on out!
No way! I think WE are moving on the 15th!!! Cool!
Looks like a great place. I'm lovin' that you have a room for us. :o) Do you know any of the neighbors on the other floors? Any handsome Christian bachelors??? ;o) Oh, and how far are you from the ice cream cafe now?....I'm just asking. ;o)
I know there's an Australian who lives above and then a couple that works on base (civilian). I'm probably about 10 minutes from the ice cream cafe now. But only about 5 minute walk from the bakery!
Post a Comment