Tuesday, March 06, 2007

There is a lot going on…

We finally moved to our new apartment in the Kirchheim borough of Heidelberg. While the seemingly endless stacks of boxes tell me we’re not quite out of the woods yet, it’s safe to say the Prickrils are as happy as proverbial gophers in soft dirt (maybe that’s only a proverb to us Oklahomans).

I got in from 10 days in the States last Friday (March 2, 2007). Although severely jetlagged, I was up early on Saturday so I could get to our new apartment in time to greet the gentlemen delivering and installing our washer and dryer. I’m not sure how much longer I can take this exotic, fast-paced European lifestyle. I then went back to our temporary apartment in Bad Schönborn (or Bad Sunburn as some call it) to begin the laborious process of packing our things for yet another move.

Here’s the thing about moving: Moving next door is a nightmare, plain and simple; moving a greater distance than that becomes exponentially harder as you cross various socio-political/geographical boundaries, e.g., county, city, state, country, continent. That being said, we sure move a lot for people that avow such hatred of the process. How much longer will it be before you see us, voices digitally disguised, on a “Move-aholics” segment on Oprah? For those scoring at home, B and I have moved 4 times on 3 different continents in our 8 years of marriage.

Anyway, back to our apartment. On Sunday our good friend Thomas, a German friend and coworker also married to a Brazilian, came to our new abode to help install a few light fixtures (many thanks Thomas). As I’ve mentioned before, you often rent or buy dwellings in Germany that don’t have a single light fixture or kitchen. We bought some fairly attractive halogen track lights at Ikea on Saturday for 8 Euros each! Good thing they’re reasonably priced as this building’s architect is clearly a light freak. Everywhere you look there are wires dangling from the ceiling begging to power a light bulb or set thereof. I’ll spare you tales of my misadventures but will quit this subject with a piece of hard-won advice: turn off the breakers before you use pliers to cut electric wires* (have you seen the Travelocity commercial with the gnome?).

BTW, we have no kitchen! It’s scheduled to be installed on Wednesday. Definitely an interesting experience wrangling three kids with no sink or counters, though I can’t say I’d recommend it.

In closing, I’d like to make it clear that a couple of months in Germany have done nothing to squelch my American ingenuity. I arrived at home famished at about 9:00 tonight after a video conference with some folks in the States, only to find some leftover spaghetti (from the Pizza Hut in our neighborhood!) with no silverware in sight (said forks etc. being buried deep in a mountain of boxes). Since I had already found my toolbox, I wasted no time digging in with a spackling knife. While the first few bites were a little gritty, this tool is highly underrated as an eating utensil. I assume you’ll take my word for it.

* Those who know me will have no trouble believing that I actually cut into live wires. Stay tuned to this blog for a post on how my shoddy workmanship burned down an entire neighborhood in Heidelberg.

2 comments:

christina said...

Congratulations on your new apartment.
My husband and I move about every 5 years :) This will be our 3rd move together and our first to a new continent.
It's funny how we swore at our last move we wouldn't do this again, but the opportunity to live in Germany was just too good to turn down.

Ted said...

Greg

I loved the spaghetti pic. When I was in the Navy, we would use our fingers. Go Yankee ingenuity. Sounds like things have been hectic,but good. Poor baby though, having to put up with San Diego and Silicon Valley