jumping through hoops

i found a flat i rather like in the downtown area, close to the main train station, only 15 minutes by car from the office. now i'm in the process of providing one billion pieces of paper in order to rent it for 6 months.

i must say, on this point, it was much easier in germany.
1. my work colleagues and i scoured the local paper based on my requirements (not on ground floor, lots of sun, including kitchen)
2. found a few interesting ones
3. called, visited, said i'd take it
4. signed the papers
5. put down a deposit, and away we go.

in the uk...
1. saw a handful of flats, liked one of them.
2. researched a little...realized i wouldn't be able to pass a uk credit check as i have no credit history here, so
3. had to offer to pay all six months in advance. negotiated the price down slightly based on paying six months in advance.
4. had to provide copies of my passport and work visa.
5. had to provide copies of utility bills in germany, to prove that i lived where i said i did.
6. had to provide contact details of my german speaking landlord, that they can cough up someone who speaks basic german to check a reference.

and now, just waiting....

My Monday

was extremely productive, i...
-received a new office pc, with all the stuff moved over from the old one and the new one is totally up and running.
-found the new office building, including the coffee machine and the bathroom.
-was placed in a desk next to a window.
-looked at my empty desk (which does not yet include a phone) and was rather pleased with the simplistic look.
-received a new company J car. it's no polo, disappointingly, but something larger which cost me 47 pounds sterling to fill up.
-opened a bank account, so benevelont company J can pay me to look at the empty desk and out the window.
-applied for a flat which i fell in love with. let's see if they can manage to take my reference in german so that i can be approved for said flat.

catching up and starting over

In the rush of the past few weeks, I may have missed a few key points if you're following along:

So what happened on the job front, H?
Benevolent company J came up with an offer which appeases me for the moment, so I stayed with them and received a UK contract.

Why the bitter melancholy?
In moving to the UK I had wanted a London location, or another major city like Edinburgh or Dublin. Company J has locations throughout England only; all were open options to me, excluding the central London office, due to space constraints. So while it's nice to have a well-paying job where they showed flexibility for allowing me to transfer, a small part of me recognizes that it's not the complete dream.

So where are you then H?
Somewhere in Essex county. Specifically, I'm in a commutable town into London, and company J has one of their larger offices here. There is a regional train into London and this town is 30 minutes or so from Stansted.

So what do you think so far?
It's a little quiet out here and not very diverse, but the people seem polite enough and the area seems safe.

So will you keep the blogging as is on this site?
Yeah, for now. Officially the title can remain the same (not sure if that's due to my forward thinking or abject lazyness!). Now, instead of whining about Germany I can whine about the UK instead. :-)

24 hours

I left Germany at 3 PM on Sunday. Most interestingly, balloons and confetti did not fall from the ceiling upon the presentation of my passport with the brand new UK sticker, which is now date stamped with my arrival.

I drove a left-handed manual car for the first time. I'm sure the car rental people at the airport were wondering why I was circling the car park. I thought it would behoove me to get some familiarity before getting on the highway where I have no directional clue.

So far, 22 hours later, I've only whacked my right hand on the door 10 times when attempting to shift gears. :-)

I called to get a National Insurance number. Because of the type of work permit I have, and because I'm from the USA, I may fall under their 'mail NI scheme', meaning they will mail me the paperwork rather than forcing me to come in for an interview. The phone person said I would either receive a post or hear back from them in a week if I need to come in. I'm a big fan of the mail-in idea.

Am back on the road in an hour, back to the airport, then on to Bratislava for the week.
Limited posting for a few days....

Reminder: Koeln Deutz on Saturday night

No valentine? No worries, I'll be wearing black. Stop by for a Koelsch, J will be here too. :-)

Location: Koeln Deutz (comment or send me an email-->phillygirl06@ NOT coldmail.com and I'll give you the exact location. ;-) It's a small, local, friendly place.

Time: 19.30ish, until 22ish or whenever people go home. Feel free to stop by for one beer if you're only passing through en route. Will even buy you a beer if you prove that you read me on a semi-regular basis. ;-)

See you Saturday night!

One if by land, two if by sea

On Thursday night I arrived at the Hook of Holland ferry terminal just before 20.00 for the 22.00 ferry. I had never driven this route before, so I left plenty of time to allow for traffic and getting lost. From the Cologne area, it's actually quite easy, mappy sends you up the A3, then over to Venlo, and onward to Tilburg/Breda, then to the Rotterdam Ring road. The tiny town of B is slightly north of Cologne, and door to door my trip time was 3 hrs 15 minutes. I was taking it easy as Mr. Polo was fully loaded and not going much above the speed limit. I imagine you could do it faster if you tried.

Upon arriving, the terminal seemed very empty. Check-in is from 18.45-21.15. When bringing along a car, assuming you already have your ticket purchased and printed out, you drive immediately up to the check-in booth. There were no cars in front of me, and two lanes to choose from which shared a middle booth. (So if you were driving a UK car you could choose the lane which put the booth window on the right, while in my German car I choose the opposite.)

Upon driving up, I saw the clerk look at something and then greet me in Dutch, so I think there was a little camera showing the number plate. I responded with a general 'Hallo'. She continued in Dutch and asked me for my passport. Once I handed it to her she switched to English and was very friendly.

So I'm driving a car with a German license plate which is packed to the gills.
My passport is American.
I purchased my ticket on the Irish version of the Stena ship site (as opposed to the UK version) because I wanted to pay in Euros to avoid a conversion fee.

After she gave me a room key and a little map 'and remember, once you pass my gate, you are on UK time!' and the next step was to proceed up to the next booth, passport controls.

At passport controls, there was a man in a safety vest standing in the middle of the lane. Why they do not invest in more durable gate controls rather than humans, I am curious. He also started with Dutch and then switched to English upon receiving my passport.
Passport guy: Are you travelling alone tonight?
Heather: (slightly confused look, as Mr Polo was visibly packed up, including my tent and backpack on the front seat). Yes.
PG: (now noticing the full car). Moving?
Heather: yes, moving flat to the UK, from Germany.
PG: I need to take this inside to stamp it, just a moment.
Heather: Sure, no problem.

I can see him in my mirror, he's showing my passport to the other guy operating the other window. After about 5 minutes, he comes back out.

PG: I've never seen this before. (waving my passport)
Heather: You've never seen an American passport before??? (realizing how incredulous I sounded after it came out of my mouth. I realize this isn't a common travel route for tourists, but really, now.)
PG: No, these pages with letters. I've only seen numbers before.
Heather: (relieved) Oh! That's the extra pages, when you get them added later.
PG: Hmm. When did you enter the Schengen area?
Heather: Umm. Christmas time? I arrived in Holland tonight from Germany. I am a permanent resident in Germany; I live and work in Germany.
PG: So then you're moving to the UK then you come back to Germany to return the rental car?
Heather: I return from the UK by ferry on Monday, then I return to Germany. But it's my company car, not a rental.
PG: I need to ask my chief about these letters. Can you drive over here, I show you where.
Heather: (drives into the detention zone and opens a pack of crackers.)

Blue Immigration Police car zips up near me. I draft an SMS to my Dutch colleagues to come rescue me from the Dutch slammer at Hook, with it one button away from sending in case I need to send it in a hurry.

Blue Police Man: (appearing at my window after another 5 minutes) Hello!
Heather: (black coat now covered in Saltine crumbs.) Hi.
BPM: (smiling) Going to the UK tonight, you will need this. (handing me my passport)
Heather: Did you give it a nice stamp?
BPM: Yes of course! Sorry about that, my guy, he had never seen the letter pages before.
Heather: No problem. Better safe than sorry. (Wondering if that phrase is fully understood by Dutch speakers, or too colloquial. Also wondering if they have an information source where they look up standards like the letter pages or do they have a special hotline to a US government person who would answer such questions on the fly? Or would the chief be expected to know all such variations?)
BPM: (thumbs up and smiley): Have a safe trip!
Heather: (Dumbfounded, zipping away toward the boat, slowly realizing, this was the anti-German passport experience--someone just apologized to me rather than blaming me for their lack of knowledge and was friendly.)

Memo to self: If the UK doesn't work out, perhaps I need to think about working in the Netherlands...

Aboard the ferry from Hook of Holland to Harwich

On the road to the Hook of Holland

I was briefly stuck in traffic behind a dressed up potato from Munich:

Most interesting response

From the Germans I have known since arriving here, probably the ones who know me the best...upon hearing that I will be moving to the UK, the initial reaction has been a 3 sentence standard, consistent from each:

(thoughtful pause, staring into space) Yes....yes, I think that will be good for you.
(quickly followed by) Not that we want you to leave Germany of course, H!
(and a return to philosophical seriousness) But I think this move will definitely be good for you.

As do I.

How to maximize your decluttering efforts - by moving

1. Move early and often.

2. Don't fork out cash for movers--do it yourself so that every item you are taking elsewhere, you will literally feel the weight.

3. Set a limit on space alotted for such a move.

4. Move in the winter time.

So where am I at?
1. I moved from the US to the UK in 2003, with two suitcases. I moved from the UK to town #1 Germany in 2003. I moved from town #1 to Cologne in 2005. I moved from Cologne to the tiny town of B in 2006. Now, I move to the UK in 2009. If I would not have had those three moves since 2003 I'd probably be much worse off.

2. As I knew I wouldn't be in Germany long term, most of my furniture was of a 'dent and scratch', 'trash-picked' or Ikea variety. So therefore I had no problems to sell it all off or give it away. Everything else I boxed and carried to the car on my own.
-Small Heather-sized boxes are my secret. Easier on the back as well as more convenient for the best Tetris-like arrangement of boxes in a small space.

3. My limit at this point in my life is whatever fits inside a VW Polo.

4. Not sure how it happens, but I seem to feel the need to make major like changes that somehow pan out with a January or February move. Knowing that it's cold and wet outside, I keep things moving and anything that I'm 50/50 on taking is easily decided.

I'm off to the UK for a long weekend. I'll leave a few more posts for you while I'm gone.

Plan the work, work the plan...

During the next 16 days I have the following on my to do list:

-finish employment contract negotiations, or find a new job in the UK.
-sell the last 1 big item which will not come along to the UK.
-get to the post office to mail off the final ebay items.
-finish/submit my UK grad school applications which I've been working on since late November, to make my self-imposed deadline of submission before leaving Germany.
-figure out if/how the remaining items (bicycle, book, clothing) will best fit in Mr. Polo for next Thursday's drive to the UK. Mentally I've pictured it, but I need to confirm with the measuring tape if I'm correct in my mental arrangement.
-get Mr. Polo washed before attempting to load the car (he gets very dirty parking on the street near the office, thus packing him requires him to be a little less grimy).
-de-register in Germany, and then spawn corresponding cancellation letters to various Germany service providers like my internet.
-do a final clean of the flat.
-make travel arrangements: I need to be in a business meetings in various countries the day after I drive back from the UK, and then the 2nd day after arrival in the UK.

If you're contemplating that last bullet, it means that in the roughly 10 day time span from when I drive to the UK and back, and then fly to the UK for good, I will be in five European countries (including Germany and the UK), while orchestrating a flat move on my own.
Good times.

And I need to kick this cold this week. :-(

going to bed early

saturday already filled up with tasks, most of them fun.

one of my 'too large to bring with' items left tonight, bringing the total remaining down to 3, one of which has already been agreed for sale and pickup next week. the other two (the washer and dryer), i've been holding on to on purpose.

every time something leaves i feel a little more free. i think i will be slow to buy anything in the uk, to savor this feeling of simplicity and freedom.

back with you on sunday.

The most fascinating Germans

Maybe it's because I'm in a good mood because I'm leaving...or because the Germans I'd dealing with recognize that I'm leaving so they're not on my case to integrate...or because I'm meeting like-minded frugal people--however, in selling off the things from my flat, I am meeting the most fascinating set of Germans since I've been here.

Today, a woman came for the small Ikea bookshelf; it being for her small daughter (perhaps 2,5 years old) whom she brought along. She was asking me about my future plans and mentions that she, her husband and small daughter will be moving to Spain, hopefully this year. Her English was superb, with accent, but not a noticeably German one.

She explained that she had lived outside of Germany for over 8 years, most recently in Argentina, where she met said husband, an Argentinian. When the Argentinian economy collapsed, they decided to come to Europe, but of Germany, 'I do not like the lifestyle, especially now that I have gone and have come back.' (I didn't get to ask if she has family in the region, or if the job only brought them to this area.) And she uttered one of my favorite Germanized English phrases regarding life in Germany--'it is nothing for me'.

So their plans are to move to Spain as they speak Spanish at home and for a different lifestyle and better weather. So they are not investing too heavily in life here for the moment depending on how things turn out, only small things like my used bookshelf from kalaydo.

2nd verse, same as the first

Since returning from the US and then the UK, I've turned up the flat moving activities. Prior to the December holidays was taking care of things I don't use, so now I ran out of fat to cut and am cutting to the bone. Specifically, I'm down to 35 nights before I leave Germany for good, of which only 25 of them are in Germany. (I ended up with a work trip to Bulgaria, and as I have never visited before, I managed to extend a few days to include the weekend.)

Recent activities...I've spent every waking moment listing things on kayado to sell. Since returning in January exactly one week ago, I've sold:

-my Ikea wardrobe
-the bed
-my remaining Ikea lamps. (Fortunately I have overhead lights in the living room which stay with the flat.)
-an old suitcase
-every kitchen appliance excluding the coffee and juice machine. The juice machine is up for sale. The coffee machine will be one of the last things remaining. ;-)
-various sundry items which won't come along to the UK, to the tune of over 100 EUR.
-my remaining English books from bookswapper.de, so that I have a chance to use my remaining credits to zero out my balance.

I wasn't planning on selling the bed quite so soon, but the person who bought the wardrobe was very pleasant to deal with and extremely effiencient at taking apart and picking up the wardrobe and offered to take the bed. I can deal with a few extra nights on the floor in exchange for the ease of getting one more big thing out of the flat so easily. Plus, I kept the bedding, that will come to the UK.


I am rather surprised at how easy it has been thus far to sell things in Germany. Granted many of the things here were bought expressly because I knew I would leave at some point. So there was limited emotional attachment, especially as much was 'dent-and-scratch' floor models or sperrmuell.

Next up: hitting it hard for the next two weeks, clearing out as much as possible and trying to figure out the logistics of how the car should best be loaded. I've eaten every vegetable in the house so I've had to go to the store to replenish veg and tofu, but otherwise I'm eating down the remaining food in the flat, nothing new so that I have as little as possible left when it's time to leave for the UK.

Keep on keeping on

My landlady showed the flat the week before last and the people wanted to take it but something fell through. She called earlier this week, she'll bring someone again on Tuesday night. This is actually quite useful as it forces me to keep moving, keep cleaning, keep clearing.


Exciting stuff I've been up to lately? Warning: not so interesting. ;-)

1. I sold my TV, TV stand, free to air box and antenna via kalaydo.de.

I've been pleased with the experience of selling things via kalaydo and ebay.de. I had started selling things a few weeks prior to my German test, partially to force myself to get my game up on my practical, daily German. I'm not a big fan of TV, but I bought one for educational purposes. No, really I did, in order to be able to hear spoken German from outside of this region. To that end, I bought the most basic one possible--a floor model which was super discounted when walmart was closing a few years ago in Germany. There was no way any of it was coming to the UK, so I gave it all decent prices and then one lower bundled price if someone would buy all. I listed it on Sunday and it was paid and picked up on Tuesday, under the bundled option.

2. Friday the desk and ikea floor lamp went out the door.

I had the most basic of desks, it was actually a table which I repurposed. It had an ikea look, all glass and metal. A woman found it on kalaydo after it had been there a few weeks, so I was happy. She was very happy, her 17 year old daughter 'is very into the simple ikea look, although I don't really care for it'. They recently redid their house to create more of a separate apartment for the daughter, so they needed to furnish it on the cheap. She was telling me, in her daughter's class, they were being asked, what is St. Nicklaus bringing you? Other kids are saying chocolate or whatever, her daughter proudly answered, 'a desk!'

As the lady was leaving she asked me if a lamp standing next to a stack of boxes was for sale.
-Yes, I bought it from ikea, it goes also. (Basically everything electrical is going, rather than dealing with the different electrical plug converters/fixtures.) Sure, for 7 Euros, it's yours.
'Perfect! My daughter will love it.'
Even better, you've saved me the trouble of listing it.

3. the sewing machine, out the door

My boss from the US didn't bring hers here. I had put it on the company J bulletin board and there she found it, duh. She has only been my boss since Sept, so I don't yet fully know her, but gosh, had I known she would have been interested it it would have saved me the hassle of photographing it, writing up an annoucement in English/German and then schlepping the announcement over to the main building to place it on said bullentin board. I live and learn on that one.

4. mashed potatos.

Actually D was on top of this one. D makes the best mashed potatos. I don't even try, it's one of the few veg dishes I don't do, mainly due to the excessive work. (I'm not a good potato peeler) I am a good potato buyer, however. I went to the potato farm and purchased 5 kilos of mashing potatos in advance of his visit and placed them in the cellar. He spent a few hours boiling, peeling, mashing and seasoning, so I now have plently of mashed potatos in my fridge and tiny freezer, enough to last a few weeks if I ration properly.

5. UK move

Since D had suitcase space, the first things are now off to the UK (my snowshoes and some German souvenirs). We had another big snow this week, but I'm willing to forgo the rest of the season as it's rare that we get a good weekend snow and I have so few weekends left...

What's next?
A. I'm packing for the US this weekend, to go next week Saturday.
B. More stuff I don't use to list, perhaps I can still get it out the door this week.
C. Lots of logistics, booking flight ticket to leave DE and some plans after that.
D. Booking a weekend to drive/ferry to the UK in late January. I'm still in job negotiations with benevolent company J to move my job to the UK, but I probably won't get moving expenses kicked in since it's a self-requested move.
However, I have a company J provided car and legally it is mine for personal use anywhere in the EU, excluding east of Germany. I don't have so many things but based on transport costs (in particular for my books), it will be more cost effective for me to pay up for the ferry, as the car + petrol are 0 cost (company J provided) and once I have more than 3 boxes of books, I break even.
E. Flat being shown again on Tuesday, so need to have things presentable again.

Buzzing with activity

The boring move minutiae is the only thing on my mind.

To summarize: I arrived in the UK almost six years ago with two suitcases. Yes, two! Then I moved to small-town Germany. Then I moved Cologne, Germany. Then I took a local contract and moved to the tiny town of B, to an apartment which was unfurnished, but with kitchen. Needless to say, I've ended up picking up a few things since arriving.

I probably won't pick up moving expenses from company J as this is a self-requested move. Also, I feel this is a new beginning, I'm not the same person I was when I was packing to come over from the US. In addition, I will be living in already furnished digs. I've set an arbitrary limit, one carload is all that will accompany me on this new adventure, maximum.

To that end, what is making the cut so far?
-a few boxes of books, in particular non-English books which I've picked up in various countries because they are cheaper when bought in-country and would be hard to find again.
-my Christmas market mugs. This is my one souvenir from living in Germany
-my business suits as i'll still need to have an office job :-/
-blue jeans and trainers from the US, because they're so d*mn expensive over here
-personal photos
-the laptop

What's outgoing (so far)?
-the balcony garden, already mentioned. :-(
-the indoor plants. thankfully, my work colleauge is more of a plant person that me, so she took all of them.
-books still on their way out, mainly through bookswapper
-the aldi sewing maching - i figured out this really wasn't a hobby i enjoyed.
-shoes i never wore much for whatever reason - ebay has been my friend on this one, as well as for several other random items.

What lit the fire to get things moving here?
-My calendar which is rapidly filling up with little X's in the boxes. (66 more nights in Germany if you're curious.)
-Upon sending the letter to my landlady, she graciously responded, and asked if I could give her an availability schedule, as she perhaps already has someone lined up to see the place. The sooner I move things out the easier it is to put it into a more presentable fashion. Thankfully, the first two days I listed have already past, so maybe this was only an availability check.
-In addition, I'm doing this solo so spreading it out and doing a few things per day in advance is the only option.

London, by way of half of Germany

I am looking at booking my final trip out of DE (which is now 91 nights away). I am lucky in that I can travel from either Cologne or D'dorf, my only constraint in this instance is that someone is driving past the Cologne airport at 7 AM and would be happy to drop me off, which would be nicer than schlepping myself and my luggage on the bus and then the regional train.

I looked on all of the usual places for early AM flights...AirBerlin only runs from D'dorf to Stansted (my preferred UK destination for this trip), not Cologne to Stansted. Wings does Cologne to Stanstead but nothing in the early AM.

Branching out to Expedia and the similar sites brought some amusing options.
Keep in mind--AirBerlin will allow me to go DUS-STN, at 15 or 18.30, for 64 EUR (approx 81 USD).

Expedia suggested the below:
Sun 15-Feb-09
CGN-MUC 15.30-16.40 272 mi(438 km) Duration: 1hr 10mn, Flight: 6121
MUC-DUS 20.45-22.00 pm 302 mi(486 km) Duration: 1hr 15mn, Flight: 6040
Mon 16-Feb-09
DUS-STN 10.15-10.30 298 mi(480 km)Duration: 1hr 15mn,Flight: 8676
All for a mere 114 USD, which really isn't so bad, when you consider that I'm tripling the distance for a mere 30 USD. ;-)

It gets better...
For an extra 10 USD, instead of travelling through DUS, I can substitute in HAJ (Hannover), arriving into HAJ at 19.55 and departing the next morning at 06.30.
For an extra 20 USD, instead of travelling through DUS, I can substitute in TXL (Berlin), and still make it in on Sunday, or the next early morning.
Another TXL option: Cologne to Berlin, Berlin to D'Dorf, then the next morning's 06.30 DUS to STN.

I am so easily amused.

how does heather celebrate the friday...

which marks 100 nights (of which 78 will be spent in DE) until i'll be in the UK?

-by sucking it up and getting out the german books, as i have only 2 more weekends to study for the upcoming B1 test and there is one particular sub-section of the test i want to go after, in order to nail it.
-I've been spending every other Monday with my Polish teacher (she came to Germany as a child and is therefore a native of both languages), to work on pronunciation, as I feel that is my weak point.
-i feel i have a very good chance to get a high pass, so why not?

in other news i gave away all balcony garden items this week.
i currently have 4 auctions on ebay of other things i'm not using and do not need to bring with me to the UK.
bittersweet.

The final countdown

The date is now set: Feb 15. It's the first day on the working permit (I had requested that day).

I officially resigned my apartment this week for Feb 15. (My apartment contract has a 3 month notice period).

I have a giant calendar at home where I keep organized. I counted down backwards from Feb 15. 106 days until I leave Germany.

I counted down again, taking out the days where I'm not already in Germany, such as holidays in the US, etc., as those are 'non-productive' days in the grand scheme of moving. 84 more nights in Germany.

Holy cr*p, so much to do....
I then counted again to confirm. Then I opened a bottle of nice Spanish white wine upon second confirmation.

What a wonderful opportunity this will be to re-examine everything I own, and to contemplate if I really need it enough to cart it 550 km away. :-)

The answer to where Heather is going...

From the other post's comments:

Kristen and J: already knew.

Jul: thank you.

Moonwaves: I wouldn't have minded Ireland, to be honest.

Jeff: Spain would have been my next step using my Germany residency if this had fallen through.