Firsts

• First driving in Germany

• First (and second) house tour

• First (and second) ridiculous bureaucracy

We knew there would be a lot of firsts in Germany, some of which we were looking forward to (döner kebap and Biergartens) and others that we knew would probably be annoying (dryers that don’t dry and constantly fighting the language barrier). So far though, everything has gone really smoothly and while we are often confused about something at first, we can generally figure it out after a bit.

Driving

One of the huge advantages of our temporary apartment is that it also comes with a car, which immediately makes it easier to navigate our day-to-day life. However, it also means that we had to figure out German driving really quickly, and added some low-level anxiety to getting around. The good news is that it has gone fairly well so far. We’ve been studying for the driving test we have to take next week, so we were already familiar with a lot of the road signs and concepts that aren’t the same between the two countries, so it was really just a matter of practice. It also helps that the car we have is pretty small (a Hyundai hatchback), which has been useful on some of the very narrow roads and for street parking. So far, the worst situation we have encountered is a stop sign immediately before entering the autobahn, which meant going from a full stop to the speed of traffic (I think it was 80 kph there) with very little merge area and limited sight lines. We made it safely, but it definitely wasn’t our favorite experience.

Touring apartments

While the temporary apartment is great, we really need to find a place to live as quickly as possible. I’ve been looking at the main rental website for months now to get an idea of the market, but now that we are here it’s time to go look at places in person. So far we have looked at two places, which have had their own pluses and minuses, and we have reached out for more information for at least another 5 or 6 places.

The first apartment we looked at was actually pretty good — on a fairly quiet street, a few steps from Kurpark, not far to walk downtown, with a huge master bedroom, large second bedroom, and a lot of storage. The downside though was the very small living/dining room space, which would make it tight for our furniture, even though we didn’t bring that much with us, and the fact that it was a slightly older building. I could see living there though and we could make it work if we had to (and assuming it is even still available if we decide it’s the best one we’ve seen.)

The second place was right on the Rhine river with huge windows across the river-facing rooms (which was the living room and both bedrooms). The view was great, it had AC in several rooms, and it had a huge living room, which would easily fit our furniture. In the negative column though, the two bedrooms were pretty small (one of them might have been 8 ft wide if that), and the washer and dryer were in a shared space in the basement. It also had a bathtub in the master bedroom — just a fancy tub right there in the room. I’m sure the owners wanted to sit in the tub and look at the gorgeous river view, but it was seriously weird. We could also probably make the place work if we had to live there, but I think we would be pretty cranky about it.

Bureaucracy

Germany is of course already known for bureaucracy, but it’s an unholy union when you combine German and U.S. Army bureaucracy. Every step of getting settled here involves filling out paperwork and registering everywhere, which of course can only be done in a certain order. For example, one of the perks of working here is that the U.S. government subsidizes the cost of gasoline since it’s so expensive. To get the card for the gas though, we drove from one local Army base to another, only to be told that we had to go back to the first base to register our car, then drive to the second base to get the card, but we couldn’t register the car until we took the driving test, which required an appointment at a different office. Since our driving test is scheduled for next week I have put the whole mess firmly on my future me problem list.

We also had a “briefing” from the Army office that is supposed to help us find housing. I use the word “briefing” very loosely though, because we were handed a binder with printouts of a power point presentation, then had to sign extensive paperwork attesting that we had been “briefed” on all the things. The counselor did ask us if we had any questions, but after a couple of attempts I gave up. For example, the briefing (and every person I have talked to who has already gone through this process) mentioned we could use the local websites/rental services if we wanted to and the housing office would go over the contracts and help us out. When I asked for verification, the counselor looked at me like I was crazy, shook her head no, and said we could just find a place from the list the housing office had. Mind you, their website is really, really awful and the only way to get information about a place is to email them, which only seemed to work twice out of the 8 times we tried, and wait for them to send you the contact information. It’s a German holiday Thursday this week and most Germans, including the ones on base, will get Friday off as well, so there are gaps in availability and there are a large number of Americans competing for the same houses, so that’s fun. The briefing also warned us to make sure we didn’t rent a place from a landlord on the “bad landlord list,” but the list is kept by the housing office and they don’t actually share it with anyone who is house hunting. Cool. Cool.

I’m sure there will be more annoying things the longer we live here, but so far nothing has actually been that bad. Plus we were both in the military and have worked for the government for most of our lives, so we’re already pretty used to ridiculous requirements and paperwork.