Time and money...

On the 18th I asked some of my colleagues where the local laundromat was. Some were confused since apparently it is rare to have a place that has washers and dryers for you to use. Clearly a translation error... I then explained that I wanted a dry cleaners... someone to wash my clothes for me so I didn't have to waste my time doing it. This of course was scoffed at by my supervisor. Pay extra money for something you can do for yourself, Insane! I drove around with Frank to check a few places he thought might be able to clean my clothes for me. We failed... I was left with doing my laundry at der club. Good news, there was a lady down there that said it was ok to use the laundry. Bad news, she was Turkish, didn't speak any English, and the pictured was what I had to work with. I would have said fine wait a few more days, but the overall lack of air conditioning on this continent is a bit prohibitive.

On the 19th I was given a list of possible apartments in Köln. The funny part was they expected me to pick a place out that day after doing nothing for over 2 weeks. I went to Ford and talked to my contact there who lives in the area and had him help me pick a few places out. My number 1 choice was shot down by my supervisor since it cost more than his house payment. Why give me an option I can't have? So I narrowed my options down to 3 places within walking distance of downtown and gave it to the lady in charge of making the arrangements. The funny part is she called me today to check my schedule for a walk through. Now how am I supposed to find these places without a navigation system in any reasonable time frame? Look up a map of Cologne and see if you could find a place pretty easy near down town... The good news is I will forgo eating for a few days since I bought a navigation system on my own. €111 and the company couldn't pick up the tab... She wanted an evening walk through (my time) and actually asked if 5 pm was too early... I'm kind of tired of being bent over by my company. So I told her either Tuesday or Thursday night. She asked about my weekend and I laughed at her and said next week was a possibility. I told her Tuesday or Thursday, not Wednesday since the head of engineering invited me out to watch the Germany game. She asked what I was doing Friday night. I laughed at her again and told her I was on my way to Berlin at which point she finally got the idea that my weekend is MY weekend. I should use a map to find the apartments when I have my appointment so that way I miss them and tell them had they paid for my navi, I would have used it for their business... In the end though I get to move in 1 week. However, it will take at least 2 trips since I can only fit 1 suitcase in my smart car at a time, unless I bust out the back window... haha...