The Really Interesting People

I got the contract Monday afternoon and signed it, and the version with their signatures came through today, so it's officially mine! I could theoretically have gotten the keys tomorrow at 8 am, but I'd have to leave at like 7:15 to get there on time, and I'm just not mentally prepared to be out of bed that early. (I'll be *awake* that early, but still farting around on phone games.) So I'm meeting her at 9:45 on Monday, at which point I'll have the apartment. I can order my fridge and measure for cabinets and get the actual locations of the doors and things. Then I can start looking on ebay for used cabinets and see if there's anything I like that fits and isn't too expensive (and has some matching bottom cabinets).

I also will be deciding if I want a dishwasher or not. They're very convenient, but I might rather have the storage, you know? You can get a half-size (30 cm) dishwasher here, which means I could put a 30 cm set of drawers beside it.

One huge weight off my chest, once the payment comes through, is that my money from the shares I bought was promised to me by the end of next week, so if that comes through early in the week, I can buy furniture and appliances. If it's later in the week (or if it doesn't come at all, at which point I'm getting a lawyer involved, yet another thing I can't afford), I'll have to wait.

It really sucks not to have a real credit card in Euros and that the USD-EUR rate sucks so bad right now, because it would be convenient to put this on my Delta AmEx and rack up some miles. (Honestly I keep thinking I should cancel it and just keep the one Visa I have, because there's an annual fee and I don't use it enough to be worth it, even if I get Delta miles on it.)

It also really sucks that my long-scheduled, long-awaited trip to the US for 4th St and seeing my family is right in the middle of this process. But since I'm getting the keys on Monday, I get a whole extra week I hadn't planned on, so that's really helpful.

Since I'm paying rent through June and into July, and most of my stuff is going to be here, I don't have to move Musya before I disappear for 3 weeks and find a cat sitter and stress her out with a new location and no me. She'll be here where she's familiar and happy. And then get disrupted right after I get back, but there's no avoiding that.

I'm probably going to take a small carload of things over (or a larger one, if I can get help) including Musya after I get back and basically settle in over there and come back here and box things up. I won't worry about her getting out or stepped on in the moving process (I've decided to hire movers) if she's already at the new place and I just lock her in the bathroom with her litter box and food. She'll yell and everything, but she'll get over it.

I'll also have to figure out how to get from my old place to the new place before the movers do, because transit takes 45 minutes if everything works out perfectly, and depending on traffic, it takes half an hour or more to drive. One derby friend said she had a friend waiting at the new place while she cycled over. Which could work, if I can find someone who's also flexibly employed or unemployed. Or find someone to bum a ride off of, whatever.

As I probably mentioned already, I've been looking for an apartment since the beginning of December, and seriously looking since February or March. I've filled out contact forms for probably 150 apartments at this point, and I got a grand total of 6 showings between March and this past week.

( prefab concrete construction )

( Landeseigenen vs. Deutsche Wohnen )

( Genossenschaft )

( the process )

Rough day, basically given up hope that I'll ever find a place of my own, so I drank the little airplane bottle of Berlin Distillery's Sundown Gin that's been on my shelf for a couple years. (It's really good; citrus and gin taste. Tastes like watching a sunset.) I put on this 5-hour YouTube video about Disco Elysium I'd been watching for over a week while I crocheted. I had about 90 minutes left I think? When it ended, I checked my phone, and there was a message from the Genossenschaft, sent at like 8 pm.

I opened it with trepidation, but it said "wir freuen uns" (we are pleased to) and I read it closer, and they picked me. Of the six people who they showed it to, I'm the one they chose. Me! I have no idea what their criteria are, but I guess I fit them.

I haven't received the contract yet; it's the weekend. The rate quoted in the ad was (this is insane) 314 € a month warm (incl. heat, water/sewer, trash) (230 cold). I'm currently paying 550 a month for 20 sqm in a shared flat in a much more convenient location (tradeoffs! I would love to stay in this area, but when you get a lease for somewhere you don't hate AND it's a Genossenschaft, you take it).

( some logistical stuff )

The only major downside is that it's in a part of the city that's served by only one S-Bahn, though there are two tram lines and some buses. No U-bahn at all, because East Berlin. It's also about 45 minutes away from roller derby and board meetings (every 2 weeks). It could be a lot worse; I focused my search on the east side for a reason. Spandau is over an hour to roller derby. I'll also have to change which branch of my gym I go to, because my current one is ~45 minutes from the new place (incl. 15 minutes walking) and the one in Marzahn is about 20 on the express bus.

tl;dr: I'm moving into a commie block and am pretty pleased actually.