Moving On – Chapter Nine
Why should I have to pay for it?” she retorted. The fact that she had not fully descended the stairs played well to her condescension. I wanted to play to her sense of reason and explain that friends do not often bill one another after the fact. However, I was so irate that I could only demand confirmation that she knew what this meant – where this left us. She affirmed.
A week prior, I was running around organizing all that is involved with moving, and doing so in a foreign country in a foreign language. I was working with the bank to figure out security deposit processing (Part Zwei) and was trying to figure out the various stores where one buys various things like bed sheets, pans, cleaning supplies, and a computer monitor.
Still spending evenings in a bungalow in Tambach-Dietharz (T-D), I was occupied by packing up my belongings. I had arrived with two large suitcases and a small carry-on. Somehow I not only filled them, but had five boxes of additional belongings. Thankfully, I was able to recruit someone with a van to drive me to Erfurt the following Wednesday with the large items (and two donated chairs and one donated bicycle).
The Monday of the key exchange came, and I proudly became a resident of Erfurt. We were supposed to conclude with the official changing of the name on the mailbox, but the property manager forgot to bring the new sticker. The forty-minute ceremony ended quite unceremoniously.
That afternoon, I spend washing most of the dishes that the previous tenant gifted me. I also made my first of many shopping trips to get supplies. As I did not have a bed in the apartment, I grabbed the train to T-D for the evening. As the butcher was concerned about a possible raid from the inspection office, we agreed that I should focus on my apartment for the week. As such, I headed back on Tuesday to continue working on the dishes and then focusing on cleaning the kitchen and bathroom.
For the key exchange, the previous tenant is responsible for cleaning the floors and walls. As for the cupboard in the bathroom and the kitchen, which I was purchasing from him, nothing required them to be clean. There was a drawer in the bathroom cupboard that was full of hair trimmings. It is as if he continued to put his razer in there and decided to keep a collection. The fridge and cupboards in the kitchen were smeared with chocolate and coffee. There was even popped popcorn in the corners of the microwave. Tuesday was also busy, and I again grabbed the train back to T-D.
Wednesday was the day of the big move, so I was jamming out on Tuesday night, cleaning and finalizing the packing. That is when the email arrived: Utility Costs. “Hello Mark, here you will find the utility costs for electricity and water for your time in the bungalow. Please take from it the cost of the binoculars and pay the remainder tomorrow. Thanks.”
While I do not disagree that I used electricity and water, it was never discussed that I would be responsible for them. And why would this suddenly be presented after six month and be payable within 24 hours? I have not been on the best of terms with them the last couple months, we have sort of ignored each other due to busy schedules, but this feels a bit vindictive.
I definitely do not have over $500 in euro to pay the next day. Reeling from this Scaramucci-front-stab, I immediately storm over to the main house to ask for an explanation. “I don’t understand. Why am I receiving this invoice on my last night in Tambach???”
Chapter Nine – An Erfurter
I head to one of the many nearby parks that surround my new home. Sitting on a bench, I continue to ask, ‘how did I get here?’ In a foreign country, friendless.
The answer is quite simple: World War II. The conclusion of that war created the German Democratic Republic. The GDR created some uncomfortable living situations for many of its residents. One woman left with her two children coincidentally right when the wall came down. She was my high school German teacher. She brought a couple students from her home town (Tambach-Dietharz) over to my home town (Tomah).
I maintained communication with one of the students and visited T-D and Thuringia often over the past 14 years. When it was time for me to pull the trigger to live abroad, Thuringia was the place where I knew people. Unfortunately, that backstop is no longer in place; that safety net is gone; I’m on my own now. It is sink or swim time.
The plan was to end my time as a baker with my transition, but the bakery was short-staffed and offered me a couch so I could sleep a bit prior to my “shift”. I definitely was looking forward to the routine; something to take my mind of the recent happenings.
As I had some time to kill between grabbing the train to Gotha and catching the bus to T-D, I brought along my ukulele and sang in the park. A woman was making her way by, stopped and sort of hid behind a tree, then walked a bit behind me before approaching me. She apparently liked the music and wanted to know if I would be back at the bench with regularity in the future. Anna then told me about her daughter, who knew English really well, and asked if I would play for her as she walked away, which I did. We waved to one another after her three-song saunter.
I had told the folks at the bakery about Anna and was asked to play for them as they were cleaning the front shop, which I did. They were apparently so impressed that they said I had to play for the pastry chef’s husband and his father, which I did. Then after the shop closed for the day, I overheard the pastry chef telling two other workers about the songs I had played; “I have goosebumps just describing it,” she told them.
For those who have never heard me sing, my voice is not that good – no one would buy my CD if I had one. I believe it was simply the excitement of live music.
The pastry chef, to whom I had explained my tumultuous transition to Erfurt, thanked me for coming and for the entertainment. Sympathizing with my predicament, she said that she had something heartfelt to tell me: “You’re a part of our family now.”
