Moving in Germany (Part 1)

Part 1: The Search

There must be readers here who have noticed my 2-month absence from the blog. Well, there was a reason for it: I have been busy moving into my new digs. Moving is a complicated process in any country, but in Germany it was a unique and adventure filled experience for me. I have divided this experience into parts to break it down for y’all.

I began the search for a new place with my German girlfriend and partner in crime. We thought a one bedroom apartment should be enough for the both of us, but if we got a good deal, we could go for a two bedroom place as well and then host guests when someone from out of town visited or a friend needed to crash. I was soon to learn, however, that finding a place is not the easiest thing in Germany.

Now, there are many forms of the German language, like any other. There’s your everyday Alltagsdeutsch, the professional German and then there’s the one I like to call Wohnungssuchedeutsch aka a-new-German-invented-just-for-the-hell-of-making-your-life-miserable-while-searching-for-a-new-apartment. This entirely new language is composed of a lexicon of words with short forms that will make your head spin and let loose a flow of expletives from your tongue. Naturally, my girlfriend told me to take care of the search while she would take care of calling the landlords/landladies of the apartments we both would narrow down from those I found.

What do those words and alphabets even mean?!

I was, of course, ready to call for backup after the end of Day 1 of our search. I had no clue what all of those alphabets pretending to be short forms of words even meant. Thankfully, before I could call on my girlfriend for help, I decided to ask my other girlfriend: Google. And Google answered. There is a great website to find the meanings of all of these weird and complicated words and all one has to do is search the abbreviations.

Feeling a sense of accomplishment at my use of Google, I arrived in front of my girlfriend and announced that a list had been prepared and we shall find a new apartment in no time. Ever heard of people jinxing things? Turns out there is a bit of an accommodation shortage in most cities of NRW. For this reason, each flat has a number of contenders willing to bend over backward for their future landlords and prove themselves worthy of a rental agreement.

After a seemingly endless list of flats to look at, landlords to please and estate agents to be called, we found a guy willing to give us his place in a month’s time. However, there was a catch: we had to paint the place ourselves because the current tenant was unable to due to her being pregnant. Incidentally, the lady in question smoked (and I suspect also drank) while with child! She had had a falling out with the child’s father and her ex-boyfriend and had disturbed the neighbors so much, she had to be kicked out of the place. Enter us.

Here ends, part 1. We shall continue with my exploits in a new post. Stay tuned.