Pick-A-Day

June 2010
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Rewinding a tiny bit–back to Thursday…

A quick rewind is in order: Thursday the movers came to move me: they promised to arrive between 7 and 8. I got a phone call at 7:04 telling me that they were half a kilometer away.

Pause there for a second: If movers in the US promised to arrive between 7 and 8 (and they wouldn’t), they wouldn’t show up until 11. Of course they would actually promise something like 11am and show up three hours late. I’ve never had a handyman in Germany show up late, they always show up on time, if not early.

My mother swears that the ones in America have no concept of time and that one should schedule an entire day if the plumber promises 10am and no longer than 30 minutes because they won’t show up until 2 and it will take an hour and a half—but there’s always the chance they’ll show up at 10:30.

So the two workers were incredibly efficient and fast and we were on the road to Berlin by 10—we got separated on the highway and I was doing fine by myself until I got to Berlin and faced a choice on which direction to go on the A100. I chose the right one, thought it was wrong, turned around, and then ended up at Tegel, the airport, instead of Wilmersdorf. I ended up driving across the city because I never could figure out how to get back onto the highway, ultimately guessing the way to my storage unit—which I did pretty quickly only losing about 40 minutes.

The storage unit was quickly filled and we headed into the city to my temporary lodgings to drop off the few things that I need for the next month or two.

After I was in my new place, I took a cold shower and got cleaned up before finding a nearby burger joint (ate a KGB burger) and then another café where I got some work done (I had a deadline to meet). At some point it became clear to me that I needed sleep—so I slept from 5:30 until 9.

That was moving day.

Friday was my move out inspection back in Weimar, at 10: so I woke early and hit the road.

Let me say something obvious: the German Autobahn is awesome. I love driving on it: I didn’t have the best car in the world, but I sustained 170 without any issues and peaked at 190 a couple of times—still shy of my personal record of 220. However the autobahn’s on and off ramps pail in comparison to US Interstate on and off ramps.

I got back to Weimar by 9, did some last minute cleaning and work in the apartment before the official handover – which took about an hour – followed by a quick trip to the Stadtwerk Weimar Offices to change the name on the electricity. Basically I had a whirl-wind morning. I returned the car just after 12 and then had lunch with friends and hung out with another friend – spending my last four hours enjoying Weimar.

From there I caught the 16.59 to Berlin and was home by 8.

My body announced it was time to go to bed.

4 comments to Rewinding a tiny bit–back to Thursday…

  • starman1695

    If you get anyone in the US to give you a specific time, you’ve achieved a miracle. The best you can hope for is something like “sometime between 9 and 5” or maybe “sometime between noon and 4”.

  • other people try the gym, adam just moves to have a work out.

  • koko

    good luck with the apartment shopping!

    I had luck with the HVAC guy…he said he’d be there at three pm and was there 15 minutes early. but yes, in general the us isn’t time friendly.

  • starman- you sound like the infamous cable company appointments with the between 8 and 5 time frame. In Bloomington we had morning or afternoon which boiled down to 8 to 1 or 12 to 5. Sweeeeet!

    anki – It’s the cumulative stress of everything happening quickly. I’m finally sleeping the whole night through for the first time in a long time!

    koko – thanks! And 15 minutes early is quite impressive.