It's official. We found our new home! We signed the rental contract today. I won't go into details about what all that involved! Let me just say "Thank God for Khan at Housing." He called the German Landlord multiple times and worked things out with him in German. A few times, the conversation seemed to get heated at which point I turned to Mark and said "They sound angry. But then again, all Germans sound angry ~ so I think we are OK." All is well that ends well!
For all of our friends who are coming soon:
We were told today by Housing that starting June 1, all Officers will be required to live off-post. Enlisted will live on-post and there is not enough housing for Officers too so they will be directed to find housing off-post. PCS season is here so there will be housing off-post coming available but it goes quickly.
We are feeling very fortunate to find a home so quickly! This area is known for being tough to find housing. We arrived on a Wednesday and went to dinner with our sponsors Friday night. Monica came up and introduced herself and went on to tell me they were leaving for the US May 14 and that her home was for rent. I asked when we could see it. We saw it immediately, met with the Landlords, and signed the lease. Good Karma!!
The home is off -post in a good-sized town called Sindelfingen in Boblingen in the Stuttgart area. We decided to live off-post for a number of reasons. We felt it would give us more of a cultural experience here and allow us (especially Mark) to get away from his work environment and have a place that was just for our family. Plus, it will force us to explore our area and get to know the foods, language and all of the other wonderful things Germany has to offer.
Sindelfingen has a great Marketplace with tons of restaurants and shops. There are sidewalks and squares and lots to see and do, just minutes from the posts where Mark works (Panzer Kaserne) and the one where the kids attend school (Patch) . The bus stop is on the corner and the train station is within walking distance. There is a German Waldorf school/kindergarten one block away that has a nice playground for Luke.
Sindelfingen is known for its automotive industry (the Mercedes plant is here) and it is close to the Stutgart Airport for all of our friends who are coming to visit us! It has about 60,000 people and is around 1,500 feet above sea level (a big change from the Carolinas).We hear there are a few American families living nearby but mostly German families. We picked out the paint colors today ~ they are painting the entire inside for us. The yard has beautiful gardens too which I will thoroughly enjoy. Will post pics soon!
its beautiful!!!!and thank you so much for the info. we wont be coming until october 1, so its good to know we can stop wondering whether we should live on or off post! :) i just hope there will be homes available to us when we get there. and i hope that housing will now be more accommodating since there will be no choice.
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