Home, Sweet Home

Not a bad view, eh?

I finally found an apartment! Actually, I think my apartment found me. I was with a 5th grade class on their introduction to the school library, kind of awkwardly hanging out while the librarian explained how the library worked, when my Betreuungslehrer (supervising teacher) came in and told me he'd heard of an apartment. So we ran downstairs to the teachers lounge where the landlord was sitting on his break. He's one of the music teachers at the Gymnasium, and he had the 4th floor of his house/apartment building up for rent. I got to visit that afternoon after school, and of course I took it! I moved in two days later. 

I suppose it could be a little closer to school, but almost everything I need is within 15 minutes walking. I live on the edge of Porz, a city in its own right that was incorporated by Cologne back in the '70s or so. It's about 25 minutes south of downtown by Strassenbahn, which puts me about 45-50 minutes from Bergisch Gladbach. That's really my only complaint so far. Across the street is a Lidl, one of the local grocery chains that is sort of a combination of a small Winco and a small RiteAid or something. It has fairly cheap candy, snacks, real food, and even a smattering of prepackaged clothes and random yard tools or little appliances. I can walk about a kilometer downriver to get to the downtown area of Porz, which has a little shopping mall with a place that really is like a RiteAid, a Saturn, and a bunch of other little shops.

I'm not sure, but I think the whole building is owned by Mr. Borchert, my landlord. He and his family live on the ground floor, and there are two more floors between us. Each floor has its own door, just like an apartment building. I can't tell if anybody lives on the second floor, but there is definitely nobody on the third. There's all kinds of remodeling materials on the stairs and no other names on the door buzzer, so I don't really know.

Apparently the place is used by Mr. Borchert's mother when she comes to visit, but it sounds like she won't be visiting anytime soon, so the place is mine as long as i want it. It came already furnished, which was fantastic. I have a nice bed that comes with drawers underneath it, a wardrobe, couch, coffeetable, dinner table and one chair, a lamp, reasonably comfortable easy chair, and (very) small kitchenette. The kitchen is actually a cupboard with a sink in it, and a two-burner hotplate sitting on top. The roof cuts into my space quite a bit, so I have to tilt my head to the side in order to wash dishes. There's no washing machine, but I know where there is a laundromat downtown Cologne, and something might sort of be in the works to get me one here. I bought an alarm clock/radio/ipod dock so I can listen to music and wake up to something besides really annoying beeping, I have an internet connection, and soon I'll have free train travel into Cologne proper with my enrollment in the University of Cologne.

I can hear the barges going up and down the Rhein at night, and I think Fridays and Saturdays there will a party boat that goes by, so I get a little excitement. There's a paved walking/biking trail right on the riverbank that goes for miles (or kilometers) in both directions, so I have my recreation nearby. I also just looked into joining some community sports clubs, and there are TONS.

It's home.

Bed is on the right.

Main window - Lidl is right across the street.

The kitchen.

Sort of the entryway into apartment.

Entryway, and bathroom is behind the red curtain.
Best view of the Rhein is from the bathroom window.