Updates

Well the apartment is finally finished! FINALLY! We had a little delay because of Ikea but now it is allll done and it feels goooood! What happened with Ikea is we went last Saturday to buy a computer desk, scrapbooking desk, and a bookshelf. I had so many boxes of office supplies and books but no where to put them so I waited to unpack them until we had the furniture. Anywho neither Matt nor I had ever bought anything from Ikea so we did not know how to write down the little numbers on the displays or about finding the small things you want (ex: photo box) in the downstairs warehouse area (we took the display haha). But after figuring it out then figuring out how to find the furniture boxes in the warehouse we were all set.- and to those of you who are saying "Come on guys it's not rocket science" remember we are in Germany so its not like we can read any of the signs! Ikea is particularly annoying to buy from because it doesn't take American credit cards so you have to bring cash (or use the ATM there) and you have to pay full price at the check out THEN go to customer service to have your VAT form (tax free form. German tax is 19%!!) to get reimbursed. Well we get home with our tons and tons of boxes- that was fun carrying down our narrow staircase- and then we had to put it all together. The 2 desks and filing cabinet and computer chair took 5 hours. Then we started in on the bookshelf, which came in 3 boxes thats how big it is, only to find out one of the boxes was the wrong color. By this time it was 8pm (Ikea JUST closed- but its also 30 minutes away) and it was Saturday so like everything else in this country it was closed the next day. So Monday after Matt got off work we had to borrow Barreto's station wagon AGAIN to load up the wrong box and go back to Ikea just to be told that they didn't have the right box in the right color. Well I had a few words with them and got us gift cards in exchange for gas money and free breakfast coupons but still it was annoying. So they made us take the box back with us and said come back the next morning. That night we figured out that my seats lay down in the back of my car so thankfully we didnt have to borrow Barreto's car a third time. Tuesday Jen and the baby went with me to exchange it for the right box- got 2 free coffees for waiting hehe- and that night we put it together.

Wednesday I skipped German class and the gym and finished the whole apartment...well except the bathroom but not much to do in there. It has felt 90% better just having a HOME again. German class and the gym have been going well. The week's worth of lessons helped me Monday when I was having to explain to the Ikea customer service rep. who spoke no english that it was the wrong color and such lol.

Nothing eventful Thursday or Friday.

Today we ran to the library and commissary when dum dum dum DUUMMMM my wonderful husband backed my car into a concrete pole. So now my beautiful 2008 kia which only had 2 dings from driving now has a scraped bumper. Thankfully its not dented but its still going to be a pain in our ass to sand it out and repaint it. Lets just say words were coming out of my mouth that should NEVER have come out in public. Thank god I'm not a teacher yet hahaha. So I forbid him to drive my car ever again and drove us home. Ironically we had just pulled out the cash from the ATM to buy Matt's car. Barreto came over and checked out the engine and such for us (he's a certified mechanic and used to work for Ford- convenient!) while Jen and I hung out with the baby and had some wine. Btw 2 good German wines are: Mueller Thurgaud and Reisling- Spaetler. So now Matt is a proud owner of a Ford Probe which used to street race so its all done up. Just have to buy a radio for it because the owner took it out.

So thats my fun eventful life this week. There's other things going on but that doesn't need mentioning on here. Miss you guys!