Now I have resumed my love affair with the internet, I just can't keep away from it. Well, unless there's not an internet cafe to be found near our new flat, then I'll be in trouble. Some things surprise me about Germany. The stereotype that I'd always been aware of was that of German efficiency. So I figured that sorting things like telephone connections and broadband out would be even quicker than in the UK, not that I've ever had any problem with that. But here it takes so long. We've been told that it'll take weeks- maybe 3 or 4 to get connected. That seems just excessively long. Not that I'm desperate or anything, but I've asked Heidi if we could pre-order our broadband knowing that we would be moving into our apartment. But no, things have to be done by the book, and first we have to be registered as residents in our area, and then we can start getting the phone line connected.
The other thing that I'd always thought about Germans was that they were sticklers for time, and never tolerated lateness. Maybe Berlin is a different story, but the standard practice seems to be to be late for appointments and call ahead and tell whoever you are meeting that you are stuck in terrible traffic, or that there's been an accident, etc etc. On our jaunts around properties, this seemed standard practice. I am collating a list of excuses to use at a later date.
I would never have thought that Germany wouldn't be big on Health and Safety. I kind of assumed that the way we are in the UK is just standard practice. Actually, I just never thought about it at all. It's just the way things are. But being here has opened my eyes to how emersed in Health and Safety we really are. I wish I could connect my camera in this place, and I could show you some of the photos I took at the zoo. The zoo is amazing. Quite easily the best one that we have ever been to, and we seem to have visited quite a few given our children's desire to seek out "baby animals" and the fact that if they wake up asking to see a camel we quite frequently indulge them.
Berlin Zoo was built in the 20's (I think, I may be wrong), and has beautiful architecture with oriental designed camel houses and elephant enclosures. The grounds are really lovely, and if I had my Rough Guide to Berlin with me I could tell you who designed them, but it's really nice and lovely to walk round. The best thing about it though is how close you get to the animals. They seem just a few feet away. They have those gulley things, so that you can't just walk into the enclosure without having to climb out of a 10 ft drop, but not in every location. Sometimes there's just a 30cm high railing and then a little insubstantial looking fence separating you from the less aggressive animals. Maybe it's electric and would fry your eyeballs if you touched it, but I don't get that impression.
Take the penguins for example. We've seen a lot of penguins in our time and I know in some places they have them out and they go for a little walk and stuff but would you ever put your hand in the water? Would you ever try and touch one? I just think we don't do that sort of thing. We think "Ew, that water looks filthy and I can't see a hand sterilising station anywhere", and as for touching the penguins, well that's just not allowed- even if we're not told that.
But here, well let me tell you, if you've ever harboured secret desires to touch a penguin as it swims past you, then this is the place to come. There are kids leaning over into the water stroking their backs. There are people trying to hold them while they are in the water! The thing to do seems to be to twiddle your index finger in the water to alert the penguins of your desire to feel a penguin. The penguin then swims past a few times trying to be coy and playing hard to get. You in the meantime have your hand in the water, and then on the third or so swim past, bob's your uncle! A penguin under your hand! We were amazed! I wouldn't be surprised if you could feed the zebras paprika crisps by hand. I have some photos of the penguin touching, but I'll put them up when I can.
To finish off on the subject of health and safety, we have been struggling with the heat in our apartment. It's been really hot, but I can't leave the windows open and the kids unattended for fear that they will throw themselves out from the 9th floor that we are on just because they can. Most of the windows are relatively high up (just above waist height) and open fully like a door would. So to climb out the kids would need to use a chair, but given that they have a tendancy to use stools and chairs for climbing then I wouldn't put it past them. The living room window's are much lower. They have a nice broad low window ledge that is perfect for your climbing toddler to ascend all by themselves. The windows in here open outward and have a stop on them to stop them going beyond reach. However that distance is still far enough that a child could get out without even having to squeeze. So every time I leave the room I have to close the window as of course this window ledge is a great draw.
The bathroom has some exciting plumbing features going on. The best is the ladder radiator and its wiring. At the bottom two sections are connected by some bare wire. I scream every time they go near it when they get out the bath soaking wet. It's such a relaxing place to be. Bring on the move...though I checked the windows and they also open outwards fully though there are ones at the top which we could safely open.
Sunday, 20 June 2010
Saturday, 19 June 2010
Cleaning the Berlin Wall...
So where were we?
So the furniture went- the zealous 3 man team were in and out in a couple of hours. They turned up, said "show us round, and tell us what's not to go, and we'll get on with it". So I took the kids away and they had everything packed before lunch. That's including the central heating control box thing, which I need to post back to our new tenant as soon as I get it (I do hope you are having nice weather, and he doesn't actually need to turn the heating on. I am completely unaware of anything that's happening in the UK, weather included, unless it appears on BBC World News- so as far as I'm concerned the only thing to happen in the UK is the French President coming over to visit the BBC for the Charles DeGualle 70th anniversary of his broadcasts while exiled there during the war. Newspapers must be a bit thin since we left then if that's the big story...).
So they packed that and quite possibly some of my recycling. Ah, how relaxed was I? I hadn't even bothered to put the recycling out and we were due to move! I know that they packed the bin, and I am not even 100% sure that it had been emptied. Ok, maybe it's just another tiny sign of my total laziness, I guess we can never know for sure...especially if we stop thinking about it right now.
So the only thing the packers left was a ton of fluff and dust that had been lurking under wardrobes and things, so after a mammoth cleaning session, we left after our 2 days in the hotel and arrived in Berlin. Now according to the quite substantial notes that Rolls-Royce give you, you are meant to arrive and feel like you are on holiday and then after a month or two, this feeling wears off, and you start thinking things like how slow the beauracracy is (compared with home), how nothing is quite as good as home, etc etc. They call it 'hitting the wall'. I hit it on about day 2.
Our temporary accommodation is pretty grim. It's not terrible by any means, it's just souless and of course there's nothing personal. So it's not even like being in a holiday cottage where you have books and ornaments and things. It's just bare. I hate being in it, and so do the kids. Anyway, I also arrived in Germany with some kind of sick bug. I had thought I'd got food poisoning the day before we left from a dodgy pizza in Frankie & Benny's (I must have been terribly excited about the move, because I can't think of any other reason I would choose Hoi Sin Chicken Pizza). Alas, I continued to feel dreadful for most of the first week. On top of that I managed to lose my blood pressure tablets somewhere along the line and that became a wee bit of a nightmare.
So I hit the wall. I pretty much hated it. I was stressed out because it turned out our Healthcare hadn't been organised and then I had loads of phone calls with people trying to organise doctors and all sorts of stuff. It all sounded promising, especially when 'International SOS' got involved, I don't know, they just sound like they'll do things in a hurry, don't they? Well, they don't. They like to take their time, let things back up in their Frankfurt office and call you 6 or 7 times to ask if you are having a heart attack right now, or would you be ok to pick up a prescription from the chemist you can see from your apartment window. But not yet. Maybe in a day or two. But it all got sorted, and I never had a blood pressure monitor with me, so at least I didn't know whether I was about to have a heart attack.
Mind you, the kids seemed determined to test it out. Second day in the flat and in an attempt to be more relaxed (for my blood pressure) I decided not to be checking on the kids every couple of minutes as I tend to do especially if they are being quiet, and just let them get on with it. So, I walked into this little room that's off the second bedroom (it's like a large wardrobe but has a window) and this was when I discovered that they had coloured in one whole wall with their new crayons. I went mental. They have never done this sort of thing before, so why do they start when we are in rented accommodation with not a cleaning product to our name?
I finally finished cleaning it with a successful combination of Cif and wipes this morning. Hours it has taken me. I didn't imagine I'd be scrubbing walls in my first week here.
So let's get on to the good stuff. The 'relocation service provider' is great. I had a great day last week that was like being on 'Location, location..'. We got picked up by our 'helper' Heidi, and taken to 6 or so apartments where we would get shown round with them and the agent and Heidi would do all the translating and we would say what we liked and what we didn't like and then they would tailor the rest of the properties we saw to meet our needs. It was brilliant fun. I could look at houses every day of the week. It was actually a bit more like Location, location with a bit of Escape to the Country thrown in. It seems as though people in Berlin live in probably far smaller spaces than we do in the UK, and certainly, I think the agents thought it was a bit odd that we were looking for seperate bedrooms for the kids. They also seemed to think it was odd that they were showing us what they considered pretty amazing apartments, and we were sometimes just not fussed about them. So I felt a bit like one of those folk on Escape to the Country who get taken into a kitchen the size of a field and they just casually winge, "It's just not quite big enough for the two of us".
But we found somewhere. Well, we actually found 2 places that we loved, but one isn't available until August, so that ruled it out as I can't bare to stay where we are until then. So we are meant to move in on Tuesday. The moving team arrive at 8am and no doubt will be done by 9:30. I can't wait!!!
Those of you who I have been in touch with since the move will have heard my plaintive cries about there being no Robinson's Apple and Blackcurrant here - or 'purple' as the kids call it. Well, I can reassure you that the crisis is over! We took a wee trip to Kreuzburg this morning to a shop called Broken English. The owner was stood outside smoking when we turned up and laughed as Stevie squealed "Look at the window display!" to which the kids started chorusing "Purple! Purple!". So happy were we that we paid €7.50 for 3 small bottles to tide us over till my friends can start shipping it over in bulk. I never knew it would be so missed. I had also thought that things would have moved on quite substantially in the supermarkets from when I was in Munich 30 years ago. We came here on holiday 2 years in a row and I remember quite clearly the lack of what I assumed were international brands and there only being Paprika crisps. But here we are, and it's the same. How has Kerry Irish Butter managed to break through into this impenetratable marketplace, and why would you not be sick to death of paprika crisps after 30 years?? Seriously, would a little salt and vinegar not enhance life?
(Actually, I found some and they were described as 'Engish Style' and they were quite good, so I will return to them in times of desperate need, and won't be partaking of Broken English's 12 pack of Walkers for €10.50- can you believe that price?).
Right well, I could write loads but it's time to go. Next time I'll tell you about our trip to the zoo. It's amazing. There are bits about Berlin that make you feel like it would be like being in Britain before they thought about Health and Safety. Wait till you see my photos, you'll think I have a great zoom lens on my camera, ha, ha!
So the furniture went- the zealous 3 man team were in and out in a couple of hours. They turned up, said "show us round, and tell us what's not to go, and we'll get on with it". So I took the kids away and they had everything packed before lunch. That's including the central heating control box thing, which I need to post back to our new tenant as soon as I get it (I do hope you are having nice weather, and he doesn't actually need to turn the heating on. I am completely unaware of anything that's happening in the UK, weather included, unless it appears on BBC World News- so as far as I'm concerned the only thing to happen in the UK is the French President coming over to visit the BBC for the Charles DeGualle 70th anniversary of his broadcasts while exiled there during the war. Newspapers must be a bit thin since we left then if that's the big story...).
So they packed that and quite possibly some of my recycling. Ah, how relaxed was I? I hadn't even bothered to put the recycling out and we were due to move! I know that they packed the bin, and I am not even 100% sure that it had been emptied. Ok, maybe it's just another tiny sign of my total laziness, I guess we can never know for sure...especially if we stop thinking about it right now.
So the only thing the packers left was a ton of fluff and dust that had been lurking under wardrobes and things, so after a mammoth cleaning session, we left after our 2 days in the hotel and arrived in Berlin. Now according to the quite substantial notes that Rolls-Royce give you, you are meant to arrive and feel like you are on holiday and then after a month or two, this feeling wears off, and you start thinking things like how slow the beauracracy is (compared with home), how nothing is quite as good as home, etc etc. They call it 'hitting the wall'. I hit it on about day 2.
Our temporary accommodation is pretty grim. It's not terrible by any means, it's just souless and of course there's nothing personal. So it's not even like being in a holiday cottage where you have books and ornaments and things. It's just bare. I hate being in it, and so do the kids. Anyway, I also arrived in Germany with some kind of sick bug. I had thought I'd got food poisoning the day before we left from a dodgy pizza in Frankie & Benny's (I must have been terribly excited about the move, because I can't think of any other reason I would choose Hoi Sin Chicken Pizza). Alas, I continued to feel dreadful for most of the first week. On top of that I managed to lose my blood pressure tablets somewhere along the line and that became a wee bit of a nightmare.
So I hit the wall. I pretty much hated it. I was stressed out because it turned out our Healthcare hadn't been organised and then I had loads of phone calls with people trying to organise doctors and all sorts of stuff. It all sounded promising, especially when 'International SOS' got involved, I don't know, they just sound like they'll do things in a hurry, don't they? Well, they don't. They like to take their time, let things back up in their Frankfurt office and call you 6 or 7 times to ask if you are having a heart attack right now, or would you be ok to pick up a prescription from the chemist you can see from your apartment window. But not yet. Maybe in a day or two. But it all got sorted, and I never had a blood pressure monitor with me, so at least I didn't know whether I was about to have a heart attack.
Mind you, the kids seemed determined to test it out. Second day in the flat and in an attempt to be more relaxed (for my blood pressure) I decided not to be checking on the kids every couple of minutes as I tend to do especially if they are being quiet, and just let them get on with it. So, I walked into this little room that's off the second bedroom (it's like a large wardrobe but has a window) and this was when I discovered that they had coloured in one whole wall with their new crayons. I went mental. They have never done this sort of thing before, so why do they start when we are in rented accommodation with not a cleaning product to our name?
I finally finished cleaning it with a successful combination of Cif and wipes this morning. Hours it has taken me. I didn't imagine I'd be scrubbing walls in my first week here.
So let's get on to the good stuff. The 'relocation service provider' is great. I had a great day last week that was like being on 'Location, location..'. We got picked up by our 'helper' Heidi, and taken to 6 or so apartments where we would get shown round with them and the agent and Heidi would do all the translating and we would say what we liked and what we didn't like and then they would tailor the rest of the properties we saw to meet our needs. It was brilliant fun. I could look at houses every day of the week. It was actually a bit more like Location, location with a bit of Escape to the Country thrown in. It seems as though people in Berlin live in probably far smaller spaces than we do in the UK, and certainly, I think the agents thought it was a bit odd that we were looking for seperate bedrooms for the kids. They also seemed to think it was odd that they were showing us what they considered pretty amazing apartments, and we were sometimes just not fussed about them. So I felt a bit like one of those folk on Escape to the Country who get taken into a kitchen the size of a field and they just casually winge, "It's just not quite big enough for the two of us".
But we found somewhere. Well, we actually found 2 places that we loved, but one isn't available until August, so that ruled it out as I can't bare to stay where we are until then. So we are meant to move in on Tuesday. The moving team arrive at 8am and no doubt will be done by 9:30. I can't wait!!!
Those of you who I have been in touch with since the move will have heard my plaintive cries about there being no Robinson's Apple and Blackcurrant here - or 'purple' as the kids call it. Well, I can reassure you that the crisis is over! We took a wee trip to Kreuzburg this morning to a shop called Broken English. The owner was stood outside smoking when we turned up and laughed as Stevie squealed "Look at the window display!" to which the kids started chorusing "Purple! Purple!". So happy were we that we paid €7.50 for 3 small bottles to tide us over till my friends can start shipping it over in bulk. I never knew it would be so missed. I had also thought that things would have moved on quite substantially in the supermarkets from when I was in Munich 30 years ago. We came here on holiday 2 years in a row and I remember quite clearly the lack of what I assumed were international brands and there only being Paprika crisps. But here we are, and it's the same. How has Kerry Irish Butter managed to break through into this impenetratable marketplace, and why would you not be sick to death of paprika crisps after 30 years?? Seriously, would a little salt and vinegar not enhance life?
(Actually, I found some and they were described as 'Engish Style' and they were quite good, so I will return to them in times of desperate need, and won't be partaking of Broken English's 12 pack of Walkers for €10.50- can you believe that price?).
Right well, I could write loads but it's time to go. Next time I'll tell you about our trip to the zoo. It's amazing. There are bits about Berlin that make you feel like it would be like being in Britain before they thought about Health and Safety. Wait till you see my photos, you'll think I have a great zoom lens on my camera, ha, ha!
Tuesday, 1 June 2010
Next stop Berlin...well nearly....
Today is our last full day in the house. I am meant to be packing and getting organised, but instead have stopped all that and have been frantically tidying and cleaning as we have people coming round to view the house for letting. I had hoped to do this on Thursday once all our stuff had gone and we could just knuckle down and clean it in an empty state. Well as much as you can with 2 kids running around wondering where all their toys will have gone and me fitting in a hospital and doctors appointment on top of that. So tomorrow we move into a nice hotel once everything has disappeared, and then I suspect I shall sit down and realise that there are at least 6 things that I need vitally that are making their way down the M1 that I won't see for at least 3 weeks.
We have finally sorted out our temporary accommodation. Stevie helpfully told them we only needed 2 bedrooms. God knows why. Hamish cannot tolerate Orla in the same room as him at night. My mum helpfully said that 'He'll adjust'. Yeah, so he would. In about a year. Hamish helpfully has been keeping busy while I clean, pack, tidy and possibly fret about things I have not done. He found a biro and coloured in his ear canal. Like right inside. And a thorough job at that. By the time I work out how on earth I clean that when I struggle to pin him down to wipe his nose, we'll probably have moved back to the UK.
So, this shall be my last blog post until we are settled in Berlin. Catch up with you in a few weeks!
We have finally sorted out our temporary accommodation. Stevie helpfully told them we only needed 2 bedrooms. God knows why. Hamish cannot tolerate Orla in the same room as him at night. My mum helpfully said that 'He'll adjust'. Yeah, so he would. In about a year. Hamish helpfully has been keeping busy while I clean, pack, tidy and possibly fret about things I have not done. He found a biro and coloured in his ear canal. Like right inside. And a thorough job at that. By the time I work out how on earth I clean that when I struggle to pin him down to wipe his nose, we'll probably have moved back to the UK.
So, this shall be my last blog post until we are settled in Berlin. Catch up with you in a few weeks!
Thursday, 27 May 2010
Ready to go!
The kitchen 6 months ago.
The kitchen yesterday. See the suntan lotion has moved.
I'm ready to go. Inventory complete. One-way tickets booked. Removal men coming next week. Trampoline on eBay. Nowhere to live at the other end. Woo hoo!!!
Wednesday, 26 May 2010
Are we nearly there yet?
I explained to Orla that we were going to live in a new place called Berlin. The only thing up until now that I told her about Berlin is that when we get there she'll be able to start ballet. Anyway, I thought it was about time to tell her that we're going. So I told her that we'd be living in a nice new house, but that we'd be taking all her toys and all our things with us and it would be great. I also had to break the bad news that we wouldn't be able to take our trampoline, or the little pink plastic house or the swings. "Ok," she said "Can you leave your 'puter too?".
Really? Am I on the internet that much?
Really? Am I on the internet that much?
Saturday, 22 May 2010
Less haste, more speed
It's the one at the bottom of the pile. See? Right there...on the right.
I could tell you what fantastic progress we are making towards the move. I could tell you that we're bang on track for getting everything sold in time for the move to Berlin. I could tell you that I'm making real headway with all the form filling-out and the inventory.
But I am fed up of it all. The place is a mess. We have a sofa on the patio that never made it to the dump today, and the rest of the house is just strewn with a seemingly endless mix of items that defy simple inventory.
On the positive side, I finally saw proof of one of my mother's favourite sayings this evening. How does it go? "Less haste, more speed"? I think that's it. Stevie was rushing me to place adverts for the car on various websites just before he raced out to the pub, moaning all the while about how slow I was being. I wasn't. It's just that he was desperate to get down to watch the football though you would have thought he had something utterly vital to get to.
So, I was hurrying as best I could, and as soon as we finished we simultaneously realised that we forgot to put a price for the car in the adverts. I've been left to fix them but the database hasn't registered them yet so maybe it'll be tomorrow. Anyway, I have lost momentum now. I just want to swipe a pile of things off the remaining sofa in here and watch Ashes To Ashes again. I was too busy working on the inventory last night to really grasp what was going on.
Anyway, here's a photo of the canvas I have completed (and stuck in a pile) for my neice. Making a 'to do' list is top of my mental 'to do' list.
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