The Whirlwind Househunting trip...

Our visit over Spring Break 2006 was exciting, exhausting, successful and overwhelming - all at once. We flew over on a Saturday night, not leaving Chicago until 10:30 p.m. The flight was uncomfortable for me and I didn't sleep well, in part because my husband was snoring but was too far away for me to easily reach over and shake him. But also in part because my mind was racing with what we were about to do. The idea of picking a house and a school, making a final definite commitment to the move and what that would mean to our family, had a million thoughts flitting through my brain. My 10-year-old had no such problem. She was asleep in her seat before we took off from O'Hare and slept non-stop the entire trip. She slept through the meals and even when the flight attendant came and pushed her seat back to recline. She never moved. The other girls slept on-and-off, more on for the 15-year-old and more off for the 13-year-old. But everyone slept more than I did (except the couple sitting right in front of my snoring husband).

When we arrived it was Sunday afternoon. We'd rented a car, so dragged our significant stack of luggage all over the under-construction-Frankfurt airport more than once looking for the Thrifty car rental desk, only to learn that they are off-site and we had to call for them to pick us up. We had 2 cell phones with us, one German and one US one that was suppose to have service in Germany, but couldn't seem to make either work. So by the time we got Thrifty on the phone and they said they were on their way, we were already frustrated. Fortunately, in our travels, we saw a vending machine for Magnum ice cream bars - the best chocolate covered ice cream on a stick we've ever eaten, so we bought a couple to share while waiting for the van.

We picked up our rental car and headed off to the hotel. I say "car" in the most general sense of the word - we'd ordered a van because we knew that most German cars are small and we'd be travelling with not just the 5 of us, but also our relocation agent, possibly a realtor and my niece was coming to join us in Frankfurt from her semester abroad in London for the 2nd weekend of our stay. So we had a huge van - equally as large as the one Thrifty sent to fetch us from the airport - and it took my dh ("dear husband") some time to remember the mechanics of driving stick. Then, figuring out if the MapQuest directions followed the German roads and road signs was another challenge. Fortunately, we eventually found our hotel.

We unloaded the bags and had a quiet dinner in the hotel beer garden. The first hurdle, especially for our oldest, was drinks. She usually just drinks water at home, but of course, not mineral water and not fizzy water - just plain tap water. Not an easy thing to find in Germany. Her next thought was, since this was vacation, how about a virgin strawberry dacquiri? But, we didn't see anything close on the menu. The other girls ordered Sprite, which was actually 7-UP, but our oldest isn't a pop drinker, so it was a challenge. Eventually, we all got drinks and food and ate a nice quiet dinner and headed back up to bed. There's a 7 hour time difference, but it didn't matter much to me the first night, I was exhausted after sleeping so little on the plane. I had trouble that night, waking up in the middle of the night and not being able to get back to sleep, but was ready to go early the next morning.

Our first morning, we met with Catherine, our relocation agent, in the hotel lobby after breakfast. She had taken a questionnaire from us several weeks earlier with information about our current house. The idea was to find us a house comparable in size to what we have in Illinois. This was not an easy task, as our current home has 4 large bedrooms and a lot of space - probably 3,500 square feet, including the family room in the finished basement. Houses in Germany tend to be much smaller, but I was adament that the girls each have their own bedroom. I didn't want to make this move any harder on them than it already was by forcing them to begin sharing a bedroom. We were flexible about pretty much everything else - it could be an apartment, a house, a townhouse, have a small yard, a large yard or no yard - we just wanted 4 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms.

Catherine gave us our schedule for the next three days, during which time she would be showing us the two international schools and the houses she'd found available for rent that might meet our requirements. Amazingly, she'd found a lot of large houses, primarily in several of the smaller towns to the northwest of Frankfurt. The first stop was school #1 - the Frankfurt International School (FIS). When I'd researched schools on the internet, it seemed like this school wouldn't be as good a fit for our girls, simply because they teach the I.B. program and the other school, ISF, offers American A.P. classes. Given that our oldest would be starting her junior year of high school in Germany, and was already signed up to take A.P. classes back in Illinois, it seemed like a good idea to send them to I.S.F. to maintain continuity for her. However, FIS has incredible after-school programs, for both students and parents, is larger, more established, and has a great community for expats. We had heard from an acquaintance that more Americans put their kids in FIS as it was more like an American school.

For whatever reason, FIS just didn't click for us. The adminstrator we met was very nice, took us on a tour of the extensive facilities and gave us a lot of information about the school. But, by the time we left, when our relocation agent asked what the girls thought about the facilities, our oldest was tearing up. Her high school in Illinois recently finished a $40M renovation project, making it a tough school to beat when it comes to updated facilities. This was not an auspicious beginning.

We went on to tour houses, some of which were great and some of which were not. We decided early on that we had to name each house in order to keep them all straight when we talked about them later. This proved to be a very valuable tool, since we saw 16 houses in 3 days and would have had trouble keeping them straight without the names, my notes and my digital camera. I'll never house-hunt again w/out a digital camera. Each night, we reviewed our notes, talked about the houses, and looked at the photos. Once we decided a particular house wasn't for us, we just deleted the pictures. Usually, this was over dinner in the hotel because we were too exhausted to go anyway. Right before our early bedtime.

We saw I.S.F on the morning of the 2nd day, and what a difference there was right from the start. The administrator who met with us was animated and excited and got the girls engaged from the start. They were much more excited as we toured the school and asked a lot more questions. Because my oldest daughter moving at the beginning of her junior year, we had to meet with the head of ciricculum for the upper school, to discuss how she would join mid-way through their 2-year program for 10th & 11th grade. She got frustrated when she was told she'd have to take placement tests in math, English, Spanish, chemistry, biology and social studies in order to be placed in the right level of classes - especially since I'd told her she'd have to take tests while we were in Germany over spring break and then the relocation agent said she wouldn't have to take tests, and then the school told her she would have to, but we'd have to find a time to come back to take them. But, even with the tests and the concern getting her up-to-speed in social studies by taking a summer school class and some at-home tutoring from mom, she still seemed much happier with ISF. By the time we walked out of that school, the girls all agreed that they preferred ISF to FIS and that this would be the school they chose. Of course, for the younger two, the pool was definitely a plus.

Over the three days, we saw the "new construction," the "wine house," the "fish house," the "mole house," the "house on the hill," the "Bavarian house," the "yellow bathroom house," the "mansion"...we saw a lot of houses! It was basically fun for us all, especially the girls, even though it was exhausting. We left the hotel around 9 a.m. each day and usually didn't get back until after 6 p.m. Lunch was mostly a quick sandwich or pretzel bread from one of the many local bakeries. We saw a lot of lovely towns - Bad Homburg, Bad Soden, Konigstein, Kronberg, Oberusel, etc. All communities in which many expats live, all within a reasonable distance from the two international schools and some closer than others to the A5, the autoban highway dh would be taking to drive to Weinheim - probably 45 mins to an hour away. While in some of the towns, we did a little shopping, checked out a mall to get our biometric photographs taken for our visa applications, and even saw a castle or two. Even though it rained every day, there were spots of sunshine and it was warm. We really didn't get the tourist view of Germany, but we saw a lot in those 3 days.

The morning of the third day, as we drove to our first house and the only one in the city, my mind was reeling from the houses we'd seen at the end of the second day. We had a list going of the top 4 choices - the first two we'd seen on the first day (the new construction house and the wine house) and the last two we'd seen on the second day (the mole house and the Bavarian house). The Bavarian house was lovely and, even though not in my favorite of the neighborhoods we'd seen, I knew we could be very comfortable there. The owners live next door and were very anxious that we sign the lease, even though they had 2 other families who had already decided to rent it. We were the only Americans and the only ones with 3 kids and since the owners had such good luck renting to American families in the past, they really wanted us. Of the four houses still in consideration, the Bavarian house was my favorite, although the kids mostly liked the wine house better. But I knew that we could be happy in any of those four houses, except perhaps the new construction. Given all of the thoughts spinning around in my head, I was resisting seeing a whole new days of houses - we were scheduled to see 6, the first of which was the only house in Frankfurt itself.

As we drove to the Frankfurt house, I almost spoke up and asked our relocation agent if we could just skip it. The suburban houses were lovely and much more like we had at home. I didn't want to be in the city, didn't want an attached house when we could have a free-standing one in the suburbs, didn't like the thought of trying to find parking every day on the street outside some house in the city when I could choose a lovely house in the suburbs with a garage and parking area. I really thought we'd be wasting our time, but decided to keep quiet about it, because Catherine is a nice woman and I figured it wouldn't look good for her with the realtors if she called up to cancel so shortly before we were supposed to be there.

When she pulled up in front of the house, my eyes perked up immediately. It was absolutely gorgeous - but there was no way the entire house could be ours. We assumed it must be a two-flat or something similar, although we hadn't seen anything like that. The owner's agent met us at the gate and let us in. There was a huge driveway and 3-car garage inside the walled yard, as well as an enormous back yard. But the house - it was huge, immaculate and absolutely stunning. From the first moment, the girls dubbed this one the mansion - and it really was. The kitchen was much bigger than many of the others we'd seen - German kitchens just aren't that big. The house was built in 1900 and it showed - high ceilings (12-14 feet), beautiful crown molding, a gorgeous winding stairway - the girls call it the princess stairs. They all want to be married from that house so they can process down the stairs in their wedding gowns. There are 6 bedrooms, the master and two others on the 2nd floor and three more on the third floor. The girls can all be on the third floor, with their own bathroom, and a separate alcove for couches and a TV to watch US DVDs and videos - we could even hook up the GameCube up there. Everything had been updated 4 years ago, so the kitchen and baths were lovely and had every convenience possible. The entire house had been wired for cable TV and internet access. There are at least 4 large rooms in the basement, as well as a wine cellar. Rather than having to pick and choose what would go with us to Germany and leaving a lot of our belongings in storage, we'd have room for everything - and more! The "garden" is huge, very private, has enormous trees and doesn't feel a bit like you're in the city. And, the owner's agent told us, maintenance of the yard was included in our rent. We wouldn't even have to mow.

Before we left, we walked around the neighborhood a bit, stopped in the butcher shop for drinks for the girls and saw at least 2 bakeries. We saw several other houses that day, but the first on everyone's list now was the mansion. In fact, that was part of what convinced me that this move was meant to be - all 5 o f us agreed that ISF was the right school for our girls and all 5 of us chose the mansion as our favorite house. No one had to be outvoted, no one's choice got ignored. We all agreed on both.

By the time we parted with Catherine at the end of the day on Wednesday, we felt sure that the mansion was the house for us. Chris was to go into the corporate offices in Mannheim on Thursday, so he would be taking the school and house information with him. We didn't know at that point if we were just on a fact-finding mission of sorts or if we could really go ahead and sign a lease on a house, if we weren't sure yet when we would be moving. And, actually, at that point, he hadn't told the company that we'd definitely accept the move. But, when he finally made it to the office on Thursday, after getting a little lost on the way to Mannheim, he accepted the job, got approval on ISF and gave them the applications so the company could pay for the school, and got approval on the house. Since it was comparable in size to our home in Illinois, it was a go. We contacted Catherine, who negotiated the rental price and starting date with the owner's agent and got a copy of the lease. We had a house!

Friday morning, before my niece arrived from London, we were able to go back through the house to take measurements and more photos. We met the owner's daughter, who had lived in the Chicago suburbs for a while and speaks wonderful English. Everyone was very excited, knowing that the house would be ours as soon as the paperwork was complete. We took lots of pictures, made plans for every room, and starting visualizing our furniture in the house. It started to become our home, even sitting empty. After we picked up my niece at the airport, we brought her back to see the outside of the house and the neighborhood. We walked in a larger circle around the neighborhood and had lunch at a Chinese restaurant a couple of blocks away. It all felt right. When we talked about taking this house, we discussed that it would be a new experience for our family, living in a big city as opposed to the suburbs. But, given that we were taking a three-year assignment, the bus for the school would pick the girls up right in our neighborhood and it was a shorter commute for Chris, we decided to give it a try. If we didn't particularly like city life, we knew it was for a short duration and we'd be back to the Chicago suburbs in about 3 years. So, we had a school, we had a house, and the move was on. By this time, my head was really spinning!

We took my niece to Heidelberg on Friday - it was beautiful. We climbed to the top of the cathedral and looked out over the city. We walked up to the castle, took the automated tour and marvelled over the incredible view. We had lunch in a little Italian restaurant and shopped at the Gummi bear store. It was a lovely day in Heidelberg, visiting and being tourists. We left Heidelberg at about 6 p.m. and drove to Weinheim, where we met the man who is currently in dh's new job, and his wife, and they gave us a tour of the facility that dh will be in charge of in his new position. Then they took us to a lovely dinner in a fancy Italian restaurant - good thing we like Italian food a lot. By the time we got back to the hotel on Friday night, it was midnight and we were exhausted. So, Saturday we took it slowly. Had breakfast in the hotel and then drove to Wiesbaden. While driving around the town, we spotted a Wal-Mart Supercenter, so we had to go in. Knowing that we'd need to buy a washer, dryer, extra refrigerator, and other German appliances, we really wanted to get a feel for what the prices would be. I also liked the idea of knowing what sort of things I could get in Wal-Mart if I wanted to, as opposed to what I might need to pack up and bring with me. It was very funny to see American section of the International food department - peanut butter, marshmellows, Hershey bars, and mac&cheese - what a great comment about the American diet. Ugh! We drove along the Rhine river for a while and then headed back to Frankfurt - we were all too tired to do much but have a nice dinner in the hotel and play some cards in the lobby. We found that the lobby bar would make virgin strawberry dacquiris, so the girls were happy. My niece was happy just to have some time with family, even if we didn't give her the greatest tourist experience of Germany. She'll have to come visit us once we're in the house and know our way around a bit - we'll be much better tour guides then.

Sunday we all packed up and headed out to the airport to fly home - us to Chicago and her to London. I felt good that she had about a month until her classes were over and her parents would come tour England with her the last week before returning to the states. We sent her back to London well-fed, renewed with a family visit, and with a little money in her pocket to help cover the high costs of living (and eating) in London. We played some cards in the airport, bought chocolates and books for the flights home and climbed on the plane to fly back to Chicago. We had an entire row to ourselves, the bulkhead row, which was very comfortable. The movies were good, we mostly stayed awake the whole trip, and got home tired, dirty, and overwhelmed, but happy. It was an incredibly successful trip, compared to what it could have been, and made me feel secure that we were making the right decision and embarking on an exciting and worthwhile adventure for all of us. The only thing was, I couldn't sleep for all the thoughts and to-do lists and what-ifs running through my brain. The move would be here in no time at all and there was so much to do to get ready. It would be great, but I might just go crazy in the 3 months before we left!