I don't know much about apartment living in the States any more as I've lived in houses since 1976. Here, when you sign your lease, you also get all the copies of the keys to your place. There's no super with a master set. It's important not to lock yourself out.
I managed to do so, however, a couple of weeks ago, just as the housing agent was coming by to pick up his finder's fee. I took the garbage out and didn't realize until I came back inside that I had shut the always-locked-front-door behind me and had only my cell phone, but no keys, in my pocket. It was late in the afternoon and beginning to get chilly. The dog was inside, along with my keys, and my coat.
I had given my second set of keys to Hannah, who is a 10-minute tram ride away, so I called her to see if she could bring them to me, as I was expecting the housing agent any minute. She ran out to get the tram, which only runs every 20 minutes, and then called me to suggest I meet her at the tram stop so she could just stay on and get back home. She had friends coming over.
The housing agent arrived just as I was calling him to tell him what had happened and that my daughter was on her way with the keys. He left for another appointment, but was coming back in a half hour. I left to go meet the tram. Five minutes later Hannah called back to say that bus service had been substituted for the tram and had changed the schedule just enough so that she had missed the one to my house, and she couldn't wait for the later one. I would have to go to her.
But by then I had had an idea. The flat next door to me is still vacant and we have a shared back yard. I remembered leaving my back door open, so if the housing agent had the keys with him to that place, I could go through, step over the fence and get back in. I called him again, he did have the keys, so I walked back from the bus stop to the building. He arrived with the keys, I went into the back yard, and no, I hadn't left the back door open after all. There was Maggie, looking bewildered out the window at me.
Mr. Housing Agent had to go to another appointment and agreed to return in a day or two for his cash. So back I went to get the bus for Hannah's, told the bus driver in my faltering German the only story I could manage, which was that I had lost my wallet with my buss pass in it and had to get to my daughter's, and he kindly let me on. The driver on the return trip was not so nice. In fact he was downright nasty, and to escape his radiating malevolence I got off a stop early and walked the rest of the way home in the dark.
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Blogged Down
I think I am finally rested from the strain of planning and executing this move. I no longer need to sleep for 12 hours at a time and then take a nap a little later. It has interfered with my hobbies. Like blogging. Or doing anything to blog about.
The weather has turned cold; it just went from summer to winter with only a brief courtesy wave at fall. Days of wind and rain alternate with a day or two of bright blue sky, so it's hardly cheerless, at least not yet. We are still on the German version of daylight savings time, so it will only get darker and colder, and the festive Christmas markets will not last through the whole long winter. I think January could get a little grim. Might be the time for me to travel to Spain...
The building behind mine is wrapped in plastic like a Christo installation and it magnifies the sound effects of the wind. I kind of like it. I feel accompanied, somehow, as though I have my own foley artist making me feel glad to be cozily inside. I need a hat.
By the end of next week I will have been here two months. My German course is almost finished; just another 3 classes. I am pleased with my progress on several fronts: a) my language skills have improved; b) I have made some good friends; c) I have dropped the whole competitive over-achiever need to excel and fear of failure. I learn what I learn and work however hard I want to work, which isn't very, and enjoy myself along the way. It's been fun to make tangible strides, to go from such a meager level of comprehension to being able to understand at least most of what is said in class, and to be able to construct some rudimentary conversations. I will miss the structure, the stimulation, and the people when this is over; I will not miss waking up to an alarm clock (my cell phone, with its perky "Beach" theme) every morning nor having so much of my time consumed by just one activity. I am looking forward to a wider exploration of Berlin.
The Goethe Institute offers a lot of additional cultural experiences to their students but I have not taken advantage of these outings. At first I was just too tired to do anything else, and now I don't want to leave the dog home alone for too long at a time, as most of these extras take place after a brief break for lunch on school days. I can't say enough good about the Goethe Insitute, however, and I may take an evening class or two over the winter. It's been an excellent experience and the people have been a hoot. And German? Well, German will be impossible to master so I can work on it for the rest of my life and still be learning something new. It will be completely reliable on that front.
The weather has turned cold; it just went from summer to winter with only a brief courtesy wave at fall. Days of wind and rain alternate with a day or two of bright blue sky, so it's hardly cheerless, at least not yet. We are still on the German version of daylight savings time, so it will only get darker and colder, and the festive Christmas markets will not last through the whole long winter. I think January could get a little grim. Might be the time for me to travel to Spain...
The building behind mine is wrapped in plastic like a Christo installation and it magnifies the sound effects of the wind. I kind of like it. I feel accompanied, somehow, as though I have my own foley artist making me feel glad to be cozily inside. I need a hat.
By the end of next week I will have been here two months. My German course is almost finished; just another 3 classes. I am pleased with my progress on several fronts: a) my language skills have improved; b) I have made some good friends; c) I have dropped the whole competitive over-achiever need to excel and fear of failure. I learn what I learn and work however hard I want to work, which isn't very, and enjoy myself along the way. It's been fun to make tangible strides, to go from such a meager level of comprehension to being able to understand at least most of what is said in class, and to be able to construct some rudimentary conversations. I will miss the structure, the stimulation, and the people when this is over; I will not miss waking up to an alarm clock (my cell phone, with its perky "Beach" theme) every morning nor having so much of my time consumed by just one activity. I am looking forward to a wider exploration of Berlin.
The Goethe Institute offers a lot of additional cultural experiences to their students but I have not taken advantage of these outings. At first I was just too tired to do anything else, and now I don't want to leave the dog home alone for too long at a time, as most of these extras take place after a brief break for lunch on school days. I can't say enough good about the Goethe Insitute, however, and I may take an evening class or two over the winter. It's been an excellent experience and the people have been a hoot. And German? Well, German will be impossible to master so I can work on it for the rest of my life and still be learning something new. It will be completely reliable on that front.
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