[Suggest the Fred Rogers song, "Won't You Be My Neighbor?" for reading this posting.]
First apologies for the delay in posting. The night of the last posting was the last one where I was able to find an unsecured WiFi connection in my hood. So I am truly out-of-touch at home except for my BlackBerry, hence the lack of postings as I have to remember to do them in Word on my home computer, transfer them to a USB drive that my firm computer then wants to encrypt and render useless, etc. This posting will probably be long enough for several postings, though, so you'll have your fill for a while.
Anyway, aside from the lack of phone/internet service, I am more or less temporarily settled in my place, though anxiously awaiting the arrival of my sea shipment. How cool would it be if you could do a sea shipment tracker like a FedEx shipment tracker and watch the shipment cross the sea (of course, a bow cam from the ship to see wave height and weather conditions would be quite helpful), clear customs, and hit the rails or highway to make it to the final destination? I suspect the moving company does have some information, but doesn't have the level of interest on the degree of pitching and rolling of the ship that I may. One also wonders whether, given at least shipments to the U.S., such a tracking system would also pose increased risks for terrorism given our apparent inability to secure our ports. But I still would like to know.... Anyway, according to the moving company over here, the shipment was to have arrived at port in Hamburg this past Thursday (5 February) and then would have to be transferred to Bremen to clear customs. I still have this fantasy that everything will be delivered to my place this Friday so that I can settle in over the weekend. You know, given that I don't have much more than candlelight under which to unpack on weeknights.
The kitchenette was delivered last Monday, but required the services of a plumber to hook it up. So as of Thursday morning (yes, the same 5 February when the shipment was to arrive in port -- perhaps I should have bought a lottery ticket for the €30 million lotto here!), I had actual cooking and refrigeration options (though admittedly my walk-out refrigerator on the balcony was doing a fine job refrigerating my Coca Cola Light and yogurt -- you didn't think I could go off yogurt-enhanced products cold turkey did you?).
The washer and dryer have now been installed. The delivery was something of a mess. Birgit had called to change the delivery date from Wednesday to Thursday (you know, because it was 5 February and the stars were clearly aligned), but they showed up on Wednesday, which I was able to cleverly deduce from the fire engine red note left in my mailbox which I believe was demanding I call them immediately. They called my cell phone on Thursday (not on Wednesday when they were actually trying to make the delivery) and didn't really speak much English. Fortunately Per (my partner at the firm here in Frankfurt) was in my office so he spoke to them in German and arranged for Saturday delivery. Problem is that I needed to call them on Saturday morning and, in German, confirm a delivery time. Uhhh.... Big shout-out and snaps to Per who volunteered to call them Saturday morning and then call me with the details. Huge burden lifted!
So Media Markt showed up on Saturday morning and installed the items. If I didn't describe the situation already, the general practice here is to have one's washer and dryer in the basement of the building. It's like a laundry room, but you have your own dedicated machine(s) rather than a coin-operated kind of dealio. However, similar to the coin situation, you can actually lock the power connections to your washer and dryer (there are actually little keys for this) so that no one can steal my power. Apparently the water is a free-for-all. Anyway, in the space assigned to me and where my keys work with the power, there is only enough space width-wise for one machine, meaning the dryer then has to be stacked. No big deal, right? So the guys installed the washer, and put the dryer on top, but it was quickly clear that there was a problem. The top of the washer was pretty slippery and the 'feet' of the dryer were hard plastic rather than rubbery. The guy shook the washer and it was easily to envision, in a fit of passion and wringing of the washer, the dryer falling off. Hmmm.... The guy suggested a 'gummy' which I assumed meant a rubber mat of some sort.
So I went to Hornbach Baumarkt, which appears to be something like a Home Depot and which was strategically located next to a certain IKEA store (you knew I couldn't go more than a few days without visiting IKEA). They sold a mat that was designed to go underneath a washer, but I figured it could just as easily go on top of the washer as a base for the dryer. It is square and about a 3/4 inch thick, made of recycled rubber, and extremely heavy. I was proud of myself for having found such a fine match for my need, as the only other thing I could think of were shower mats (available at IKEA for €2,99 each, in case you were wondering). The problem was positioning the mat. Recall, the dryer is already on top of the washer. Surface of washer is slippery. Rubber is not at all slippery and is heavy. Dryer, while not particularly heavy, is a bit bulky. So there was I was trying to lift the dryer up with one hand and trying to slide in the rubber. Of course, when I lifted the dryer, it wanted to slide back/off the washer. And the rubber didn't want to slide at all. And I had a difficult time getting the rubber even under one of the dryer legs because it was so heavy and big. Of course, the dryer was too heavy for me to lift off and set on the floor. So there was this five minute session of grunting, lifting, mild swearing, careful maneuvering, and perhaps a few prayers for a man who could do this sort of stuff with me (and who could lift those heavy boxes of pressboard products at IKEA). In the end, though, I was successful and now have a washer and dryer.
I'm still not 100% (okay, not even 75%) sure how to use the machines. I push some buttons on the washer until it selects an option that uses cooler temperatures so it doesn't take so long (the hot water cycles involve a lot of recycling or something and area easily more than an hour), take a guess that I got the right slot for the detergent tabs, and then watch with bated breath to see if the water starts flowing in and contains some soapiness. So far so good and the clothes seem to be quite clean. The dryer is also a bit different from what I'm used to. There is no vent to the outside world where moisture is released. Instead, the moisture is condensed and captured in a plastic container of the dryer, which you then empty. I'm still not clear where I am supposed to empty this container. In most laundry rooms, there would be a sink, but that's not the case in our laundry room. So I ended up taking the container all the way up to my apartment to empty it. Maybe I can find a bucket or something for that, but there must be a better way.
So Saturday afternoon after all of these laundering good times, I was walking down the street to my neighborhood Aldi to buy some cleaning supplies. (I have no idea how to find a cleaning person, so I am left to my own devices.) As I was walking past the relatively small home appliance and electronics store across the street from my place, I noticed a TV in the window. It appeared to be a floor model on sale for the low, low price of €400. Not a big one (26"), but fine until my stuff gets here and will be fine for my bedroom. Score! So I walked in. First person I saw was an older gentleman and I immediately though, "This guy is soooo not going to speak English." Using the language prowess that was so effective with the woman at Media Markt for the washer and dryer, I said I'd like the TV and did he speak English. Turns out he DOES speak English and very well. Turns out the sale wasn't for a floor model. He didn't have the one in the window with all the packaging, so he sold me one that was actually a better model (HD rather than HD ready) for the same low price. I loved him already. He said that he wouldn't be able to deliver it that day, but.... "Even though I live next door?" Well, okay....
So about an hour later, Barney himself showed up with the boxed TV on a dolly. He brought the TV in and said he'd never been in my building before and would I mind if he checked out the views from the building. Have at it! He also noted that it looked like (in the dim light of my living room) I might have satellite TV from the building instead of cable. He said that if, after I turned on the TV and plugged it into the jack, there were no stations, to come back to the store. I asked when they closed since it was already about 5:45, and he said they closed at 6, but they were having company meetings at the store until 10, so I could just knock on the window. Hmmm. Okay. So I quickly set up the TV and realized that a coax cable was not included. Was back at the store by 6, bought a cable, and realized that it didn't fit into the plugs on the wall. Hmmm.... So back to the store, which was now closed. Sure enough, they let me right in, he sold me a satellite box, and said to let him know if I had any issues. Well, it worked like a charm. Al-Jazeera is coming through loud and clear (alas, no sea shipment tracking programs), as are about 100 German channels for free and a bunch of others I can only dream about. All made possible by Barney. Love him! Whoever says the Germans do not know the concept of customer service (which I generally have found to be fine, for the record), has not met Barney. He rocks! And he has also reunited me with Christiane Amanpour on CNN International, so alles gut!
So Barney, will you be mine? And even if you've already got a sweetie, know that I am going to buy my bigger TV, my overpriced coffee machine, and maybe even a surround sound system from you just the same. Love the local connection!
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