Magdeburg Move

Hi, Yall!

A heartfelt hello from our chaos! But to be honest, it's pretty comfy already, although there is still much left to do. But in contrast to our prior moves I try to take more time to decorate and DIY. 

Let me recount a bit: Wednesday (27 Jan) our movers hit the bell 7:30 sharp. They wanted to package and wrap all fragile items, and after 2 hours they were done. They told us that they would return the other day to mount everything on the moving truck. The other day??? I mean, it's 9:30 in the morning, why not get the truck over, pack everything, drive to Magdeburg on Thursday and unpack the whole stuff on Friday? Well, the movers thought to take much more time packing and disassembling of our furniture, and therefore, no truck loading on Wednesday. The thing was, we wanted to hand over the house to the new owners and depart for Magdeburg, because Thursday morning we had an appointment with the telecommunications company to access the internet. Thus we informed the new owners and kindly asked if they could open the door for the movers the following day. That's what they did, and they even sent me a video from the empty house for me to check if the movers packed everything. Really nice!

We really have a talent for crisis management, don't we?

Fun fact: As we were so expertly prepared and the packing people were so fast, we even got a reimbursement when everything was done! 

The first things working in our new home were WiFi and the coffeemachine! Thursday we basically spent adjusting the dogs to the new environment, getting them used again to riding the elevator and to plan meticulously where to put which piece of furniture. Furthermore, we spent the first two nights in separate bedrooms: Me in the first floor with Else to keep her from getting silly ideas, and to be able to take a quick potty break during the night if needed, whereas hubby stayed with Heinrich in the upper floor to make him feel safe in the new surroundings. And as we established four walkies at fixed time slots, no accidents so far. In the meantime we learned that there live to other dogs in the floor above us, which is really nice to know. The owner of the estate seems to have a weak spot for dogs and considered that by choosing beautiful and robust floors and enabled a stepless access from outside to apartment door. Me and the dogs really appreciate!

In the picture with Heinrich you can see my office, and below the quilt there is a pile of two mattresses. Together with four euro-palettes this should serve as guest bed/guest sofa. But even without the palettes it's quite comfy. 

In the second picture there are various kitchen appliances in the background, and here is the story behind: We and the kitchen company thought, the kitchen would be delivered on 11 February and planned the installation for 11 + 12 February. But the kitchen manufacturer was ahead of time and the guy who will install it hadn't enough space to store it. And so the movers just headed home and the kitchen delivery guys popped in to place the whole kitchen in our apartment. Good news: Installation will be done on Monday and Tuesday already, yay! 

Then I can unpack the remaining boxes, because this is what our balcony looks like at the moment:

In our last two homes we didn't need closets, thus we have to get one. But as we didn't want to order a closet out of the blue, I dug up our old clothing racks until the custom planned closet made by the famous swedish furniture company will move in. I proudly present our closet for the time being:

Apart from that, everything that has a home, moved into said home, for example our shoes:

And may I kindly point out, that there is some imbalance between his and her shoes? 3.5 shelves are mine, the remaining 7.5 shelves are filled with hubbies shoes - who is the diva in this relationship, I ask you? 

And below you find a very creative way to place a dustbin :-) If Heinrich ever wants to play basket ball, he might practice under the desk...

And this is the view when washer and dryer are used simultaneously:

In theory you could pile both appliances, but because they are from different manufacturers, they differ in size and both have to stand on the floor. and as long as the washer is still working, they have to stay that way. Due to the pandemic the guest bathroom is only frequented by us anyway. 

Oh, and after three days of ignoring the stairs, Else tried to climb them and was mighty proud when she reached the upper floor! But climbing up was way easier than getting down, and so we had to put her harness on and get her slowly downstairs, step by step. Therefore we secure the stairs with moving boxes, because we learned that one box is not enough... On the long run we may have to install a baby security device, I guess :-)

Overall, the locals are super friendly, open and welcoming, our surroundings are beautiful, and as soon as we have defeated COVID I am looking forward to all the small shops, restaurants and cafès, theater, concerts - we are right in the middle of all hustle and bustle. 

And last but not least: In Germany we have a notification requirement which means you have to inform the local residents' registration office about your new address within two weeks. But the Magdeburg administration is a bit behind due to the pandemic and therefore we have an appointment on 16 March! So, we have to wait a bit longer to become official Magdeburger :-)

I will keep you posted - stay safe and sane!!!