Housing & transportation

2:47 PM 7/14/2006

It turns out that the house we were going to see has been rented already. John is frustrated, and I can't blame him. Without a car we are unable to get much done. But he has really been productive! I don't really feel able to contribute since I have to take care of Jacob. That leaves me stuck in the hotel room. That, and I have to be available if John wants to go see a house. So I wait.

We are staying at the Franconian here in Katterbach. The staff are German and friendly; most speak fluent English plus another language or two besides (Spanish or Italian usually). We did have a reservation for 30 days through housing, but that was for Wuerzberg... 45 minutes away. We may very well have to move to another hotel called the WindMueller (Windmill). I foresee several trips, since our sponsor only has a small car and we have none.

John is looking at cars. He asks about wagons and I am glad for the extra space, but wonder if he'll enjoy it much once I have the Toyota back. Selling his little red Subaru was good for our bank account, but not so good for his morale. Whoop, looks like he found a BMW wagon he likes for under 3000 Euro. That's around $3183. Now all we need is a VAT relief form so we don't pay the 16% tax. I wonder if VAT relief is available to civilians (non military family)?