Argh. Today we found out that the apartment we wanted to rent in Bamberg fell through. It was the only one with enough space and amenities for our needs. Bambergians–and Franconians in general–defy the German stereotype. They can be woefully backwards and out of touch with technology. The apartments there have doilies and floral wallpaper and many are not Internet ready.

We finally find one we can live in and have been going back and forth with an uncommunicative landlord. After months of assuming that we had the place secure, the landlord demands an immediate deposit (which is fine) but he won’t use PayPal even when I offered to pay the receiver fee. He kept saying “PayPal gives us fees.” And I kept responding, “That’s cool, I’ll pay the fees.” But he obviously didn’t want to use PayPal. When I told him that my bank won’t allow for an international bank-to-bank transfer he suggested we look for another apartment. This is a guy who normally rents on a daily or weekly basis and he’s turning down almost 3 months of steady tenancy.

Which for us means that we are out in the cold looking for a flat for 3 months in one of Germany’s top tourist towns. By now our backup flat in Bamberg is booked up. Thanks to Mr. Lameo country bumpkin.

Let’s turn a bad situation into a good one shall we?

My first instinct after finding out the bad news:

Sunshine: Hey Josh wanna live in Munich instead? We’ll just visit Bamberg to drink beer.
Josh: Won’t it be expensive?
Sunshine: Fuck expensive, I have ruthless resourcefulness skills. I will find us a flat.
Josh: Go for it.

So I spent some time online. We have our eye on a few nice flats in Munich, where they actually live in the modern world.

Speaking of the modern world, it’s really neat being at this threshhold. We are so friggin lucky being able to live like we do, and it’s all because of technology and globalization. It’s actually just as easy for us to find a rental in Malaysia, Singapore, and Shanghai as it is in London. And it’s easier to find a flat in Borneo than in Bamberg.

We leave for London tomorrow!!! Last time I was in London I was 8 years old.

Looking forward rather than back, I have only two things on my mind: BEER and MUSIC. The two things that I have missed most.