In a couple more days, I'm back off to intensive German language class and regular gym workouts (conviently located between the language school and the apartment), effectively giving me a daily schedule of 6-7 hour days, which I'm kind of looking forward to. I did not expect to spend my final "downtime" week sitting in the apartment waiting for the final workmen to come and complete the laundry list of finishing work-- you know, all the stuff that should have been completed before we were handed the keys to the place over a month ago. But here I am, waiting for guys that do not show up when they are scheduled, don't call when they know they aren't coming, and who do only partial jobs when they get here (lacking tools or vital parts they full well should have brought), which means more visits later down the road. There's still wires sticking out of the walls, a kitchen countertop that needs replacing (the first one was installed incorrectly), a missing kitchen cupboard (the first one was mis-ordered and never installed), touch-up paint to be applied all over the place, various construction flotsam inside and outside the place that needs to be removed, and other minor odds and ends to be accomplished. This was supposed to be 100% completed by yesterday. But by 6:00pm, only 1 guy showed up to do the most minor of jobs (installing a light, literally a 2-minute job), and nobody else was answering their phone. While it's been explained to us that this is fairly typical of German apartment move-ins, even our German friends are aghast at how long this process is taking. Our British relocation agent is a former prosecuting attorney, and she is already cooking up escape plans, short-payment of rent schemes and nastygrams to the apartment landlord. If we don't get some sort of resolution by week's end, at least some of these ideas will be implemented. But in the meantime, I'm chained to this table, waiting.
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