As we returned from our Holiday vacation, we made an enormous list of "to do's" for our remaining month in Germany. It is easy to talk about moving, but it is often hard work, headaches, and many surprises to get it accomplished!
One major surprise for us was our lack of knowledge about the contracts we had for our telephone, internet, and cell phones. According to our contracts, they could only be cancelled three months in advance, in writing! It was too late in the ball game for that to happen. Long story made short: Our phone was turned off the day we signed off on our apartment, our internet was turned off three weeks early, and we must pay for our monthly cell phone contract through August 2008 (even though we are out of country and without a German bank account!).
Packing was a longer process then we envisioned, as usual with a move. We had kept our boxes from our move TO Germany, so that was easy. We brought many items with us to Germany that we used during our first term, making room for the extras accumulated while there.
One major hurdle was where all of our household would be stored. Once WHERE was determined, we needed only to decide HOW MUCH SPACE was needed. With many thanks to Women's Ministries of Oregon, we were able to buy many needed items for our life in Germany. We had a refrigerator, stove top, oven, dishwasher, washer, dryer, two large wardrobes, and a complete kitchen full of cabinets (including the sink) that we needed to store. This would take lots of space.
Packing was the easy part. It is normal to find in a German apartment rental contract that a renter must return an apartment in the condition it was originally moved into. This meant, we had to paint our entire apartment white. We had painted four rooms, yes, the four largest rooms, with a splash of color. The walls in these rooms would need white paint. This was an understood for us. Yet, we realized that the rooms and ceilings we originally left white were a much different, darker shade of white. In essence, we had to repaint our entire apartment, walls and ceilings. It was accomplished ONLY through the help of many friends at church.
Our exit inspection took about 3 minutes. This is a miracle based on what COULD have happened. Why all the fuss about our painting and leaving our apartment, you ask? Our deposit was 1,800 Euro, a little more than $2,800 We were very intent on getting it all back, which is not always a given in Germany. The good news is that we received it all back! Well, everything besides the replacement bathroom sink we needed because we broke the original while packing!
We lived in a rental vacation apartment for one week while we had everything packed, or in the process of being packed. It was our home until the day we left for the airport. We were a block from the kid's school and two blocks from our old apartment. A perfect location!
God had given us favor with everyone in our circle of contacts to make this transition happen smoothly. It was many long days, and nights, of work, yet God paved the road for us. His Hand was always there!
— Posted in General
