And the search continues....

I know I've only been here for two weeks, but somehow it seems like I should have found an apartment by now.

On Thursday evening Mark and Karen went with me to see an apartment on the street behind theirs, and it was really nice. It's the perfect size for me, and the rent and utilities fit into my budget. Someone even shovels the snow in the winter and cleans the basement. The only problem is that it's being shown by a realtor instead of the owner, and if I choose to rent the apartment I have to pay almost 1000 Euros in fees to the realtor. Besides the fact that I just don't see how I can pay that much for anything right now, it seems silly to me to give someone money when they do nothing but show you around the apartment (and in this case, the person currently renting the apartment was there and she was the one who did most of the work).

I had another appointment yesterday to see an apartment that sounded perfect...until I found out that it was on the eastern side of a park on the eastern side of Bremen, and the bus that goes to that area only runs twice an hour in the daytime on weekdays. Ingrid suggested I also find the schedule for Sundays, which I hadn't thought about, and it turns out the earliest bus on Sunday comes about 8 minutes after church starts. So, that apartment won't work just because it would make it difficult for me to get anywhere. Ingrid even said she's never been to that part of Bremen before, and she's lived here more than 20 years. I wanted to look at it anyway, though, so that I could have something else to compare to other apartments. Each one I see shows me something else I either want or don't want in a place.

Ingrid had an eye appointment yesterday morning, so I went with her in hopes that she would be finished in time to go with me. No such luck. I had to leave before she was finished, but I was confident that I could find the place on my own and that I would appreciate (even if not until later) the learning experience of seeing an apartment on my own. I had my street map and I knew the bus schedule. All I had to do was walk about half a block down the street, get on the streetcar, ride down about 4 or 5 stops, get off, and get on the bus, which was supposed to leave 8 minutes after the streetcar arrived. The map showed the same name for both the bus and the streetcar stop, and the stops were at the same place, so I figured I had more than enough time to make the connection.

As I've learned time and time again here, if it should take 30 minutes to get somewhere, if I allow at least 45 I might get there on time. Well, this was one of those cases. When I got off the streetcar, the signs at the stop showed the streetcar numbers and Bus 21, but I was looking for Bus 20, which was no where to be found. I double-checked my map, and when I was sure the bus should be there at the same place, I crossed the tracks to the stop on the other side and asked a woman there if she knew where Bus 20 stopped. She did not know and suggested that I ask the driver on the next streetcar if he knew where it was. So, when the next streetcar came, I got on and asked the driver, who continued driving down the road in the direction from which I had just come. He gestured over his shoulder and said something about "Marcus," which I took to be the street name, so I thanked him and got off at the next stop.

By this time, about 5 of my 8 minutes had passed, so I took off running back down the street toward where I knew the stop should be. When I got back to the streetcar stop, I asked two girls standing there if they knew where Bus 20 was, and they said it was down the street, around the corner, and down a little ways on Marcusallee. How in the world was I supposed to know this? Especially when the map showed the bus and streetcar going to the same place? So, once again I took off running. I finally found the stop, only to realize I had missed the bus by about 2 minutes. And of course, it wasn't coming again for about 28 minutes, and my appointment to see the apartment was in about 16. I looked at my watch and thought that maybe I could walk there in that time, and again I took off down the street like a mad woman. When I finally arrived at the next stop about 10 minutes later, I realized the whole thing was useless because I still had another 2 or 3 stops to go and then a 5 or 6 minute walk to the apartment from the last bus stop. I already knew I couldn't live there since the bus didn't come very often, so as much as I hated to do it, I gave up and turned around.

To make matters worse I had to call the man who was supposed to show me the apartment to apologize and explain why I didn't show up. Besides all that, I think what frustrated me the most was that I felt like I got nothing accomplished. Mustering the courage to call and schedule the appointment felt like a step ahead, like I was making progress, and even though I had seen several other apartments, not getting to see this one made me feel like I was taking a step backwards. Last Monday I went to an appointment and the person never showed up to show the apartment, and I felt the same way then. I want to keep moving forward, and while I know everything I do here teaches me something, I was still frustrated with myself.

I was determined to do better today. This morning Ingrid, Mark, Karen, and I were supposed to take the bus outside of Bremen to a small town called Oyten to visit Stefanie, and when Ingrid and I stepped out the apartment door, the apartment advertisement pages from today's paper were sitting outside our door. There's an elderly woman who lives downstairs, and I think she brought them for me. We took them along with us on the bus ride, and at Stefanie's this afternoon they all encouraged me to look through the paper and find a place to call. So, I did and found several good prospects, one of which was furnished. They all thought I should call the people today because it would probably be rented quickly, so I got out my script and made the call. I was embarrassed about calling in front of other people, but after I called and made an appointment for this evening, Stefanie told me my German was very good. My first reaction was to say, "What's good about it?" Karen leaned toward me and said, "This is when you say 'Thank you.'" So I said, "Thanks!" and Ingrid and Stefanie laughed at me. It was good to hear, though, that a native speaker thinks my language skills aren't as bad as I think they are.

So, Ingrid and I went to see the furnished apartment this evening, and I had mixed feelings about it. The house it's in is about 150 years old and is gorgeous, and it was definitely good to get to see a furnished place; but, I would still have to provide a few things, and I think in general it's just more space than I need and is also too expensive.

Thus, I still have no apartment, though I do have more prospects to call on Monday. Please pray that I can find a place that will fit my needs and my budget and that will be where God wants me to be. I know there's a place out there for me, and I just need to be patient while I wait to discover it.

Tomorrow after church services, Stefanie, the Abercrombies, and I will take a train to Braunschweig where a small congregation of about 7 people meets on Sunday evenings. Jim usually goes there on the first Sunday of each month to preach for them, but he and Elsa are still in the States for a few more weeks, though we are going anyway to encourage the people there. Also, Stefanie says that Ute, who visited Bremen two weeks ago, has a few household things she wants to give me. Her mother died recently and she's trying to get rid of some of her things. Because we will eat with the people there after the service and then we have to ride the train back to Bremen, it's going to be a very long day and a late night. I think it will be a good day, though, and I look forward to seeing more of Germany and visiting with this tiny group of Christians I've heard so much about.

Then, I get to return to the dreaded hunt for a place to live, though I guess there are worse ways to spend a Monday morning, aren't there? :-)