So, yesterday was our scheduled landlord meeting. I won’t keep you in suspense – WE GOT THE HOLY GRAIL APARTMENT!!! The landlords were very nice. He is a business man and has “interests” in the US, so he was familiar with us and spoke very good English. I’m not sure if she works, but she was very involved in the apartment management and was very warm and funny. Hubbz and I dressed up a bit (slacks/dress) because I figured this was Europe and we wanted to present our grown up and responsible selves. The first thing the realtor and current tenant said when we walked in the door was “you don’t look like American Military people!!” We took that to be a compliment…. I hope it was!!
At any rate, we spent an hour discussing and trying to appear calm and confident and kind and endearing. We explained that even though there was a chance that we would have to move with short notice, it was unlikely given the type of work Hubbz is doing here. We explained that we too were homeowners, and we understood the need for comfort with the people living in your home. Then, about an hour into the process the doorbell rang as the next person to meet with the landlord arrived!! We tried not to be discouraged by the fact that the meeting wasn’t the final step that we had hoped it would be….but just as we wrapped up the landlord said to us –“I must keep my obligation with the next appointment, but for me, my ‘belly feel ‘(cute, right?) says that I am 90% sure that we have a deal.” Phew!!
He said he would call us in an hour, so our realtor - a very sweet and somewhat excitable man – wanted to show us around our new neighborhood and take us out for a celebratory cocktail while we waited for the call. We toasted to new friends and new homes and sat outside at an Italian café literally steps from our apartment. He talked to us about places we should see in Europe, and we found him to be a very sweet and philosophical man. I hope we’ll continue to see him when this is all done. I’m a little superstitious, so when an hour passed without a call…I started to flirt with the dark side….maybe the appointment behind us had charmed the pants off of the landlord and we were out? Maybe we went from 90% to 0%?!? AAAHH!!
We had made plans to meet friends for dinner that night, so we shrugged off our fears and made our way toward their house. We decided to ignore our worries and focus on the good – and started to talk about how we were going to arrange furniture and what colors we wanted to paint the walls….and then we crashed our car. Yep… the car that JUST ARRIVED IN GERMANY ON TUESDAY….smooshed…in Germany…and, oh hooray – a two car accident, so we got to deal with German Polizei too.
Sigh. No one was hurt. The guy we hit was fine and VERY nice. Our car was drive-able....his was not. So we made our second call to our insurance company this month (see rental car post) and hung out for an hour getting information sorted out, filling out police reports and striving to find humor in our topsy turvy day!
The German folks around the scene of the accident were kind but very curious! One lady ran out of her apartment nearby to offer help – and to ask a bunch of nosy questions. She came back to talk to us three separate times before we finally left the scene. One time she pointed out the Yield sign that she assumed we ignored (we didn’t ignore it, we just misjudged the window we thought we had to cross traffic).
The Polizei wanted us to pay a fine on site – they misunderstood and thought we were about to leave Germany. Once they figured out that we were residents, they offered to bill us. Our insurance carries rental car coverage, and they’re AWESOME (USAA) so they’re going to call us on Monday with a list of mechanics they endorse. I wonder if fixing a Japanese car in Germany is as expensive as fixing a German car in the US….
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Our friends lived on the street where our accident happened. They were GREAT. They came and hung out with us during the delay. They helped us straighten our fender so we could be as safe as possible when we drove home and kept up our spirits while we waited for everything to be sorted out. They must have been starving because our realtor cocktail made us late to begin with. The accident shenanigans added another hour and a half.
We later wandered down to an African Festival for dinner near their apartment. It was mostly vendors selling wares, but the food was awesome and the music was fun (reggae). We had just settled in and started to really enjoy ourselves when we got the text that confirmed we got the apartment. So our already lifting spirits were high by the end of the night!
It was a tumultuous day, but all’s well that ends well. We are excited about finding a place to live – and one that we really like. We made a new friend in our realtor and met what our “belly feel” says is going to be a great landlord. The accident sucked –but – nobody was hurt and our experience with the German man and police was good. So we’re still counting yesterday as a good day for us…and hoping that today is relatively quiet in comparison :)
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