Settling In to Settling In

We’ve been here in Munich for two weeks minus a nice long weekend in Leimen. The one thing that is crystal clear at this point is that we have a long period of settling in ahead of us. I’m mainly talking about our living situation, where we made a new addition to our collection of random furniture today by adding a rug. Besides that we’re still where we started, with a bed, crib, kitchen table and three chairs. Our apartment doesn’t feel like a home, and it won’t for at least another week. The main thing we’d like to get at this point is a couch, somewhere comfortable to sit besides our bed. Unfortunately the deck seems to be stacked against us for getting this done quickly. Most German furniture stores seem to take six to ten weeks to deliver a couch. Even buying a couch that is in a warehouse in the area and having it delivered takes three to four weeks. The best we can do is to buy that warehouse-bound couch and pick it up ourselves in seven to ten days, driving a rented delivery truck and carrying it ourselves up to our apartment. So we’re trying to scheme something in between, ordering the warehouse couch and hiring some guys to pick it up and deliver it for us. Sure, if we were twenty-somethings without an almost-two year old or even the thirty-somethings we are with friends to watch Lily, we would do this ourselves. But here we are, sitting on our living room floor moping.

While I’m at it, let me complain that both of us ordered cell phones at least 10 days ago and they have not shown up. Nope, can’t just pick them up at the store, they have to be sent. And our bank account took over a week between establishment and being able to receive a deposit. And the internet service we ordered will be set up four weeks from the order date. So all in all, yes, I am either very spoiled with my American expectation of customer service, or customer service in Germany sucks. Sorry Germany, I wasn’t able to plan every aspect of my life at least a month in advance. And where I could, your lovely restrictions like “you must have a registered German address to open a bank account” put a snag in my plans.

Yes, there’s some frustration at Maistrasse 45, we’re not feeling so settled or satisfied. We’re more wishing we could just hit fast forward for a couple of months to a time when we have furniture, phones, and internet access that doesn’t come from a USB stick accessing the mobile network. Yes, this probably sounds snobby and unappreciative, and yes, we eagerly signed up for this. But that doesn’t mean I can’t rant, does it?

Yes, this is all negative and yes there are some positives but this post is already long enough so let’s just get this out of our system and move on.