Mainz

Having been here a week, I guess it's time for the blog on Mainz. I really like this city. It's actually kind of large and thriving. I think the best part is the huge pedestrian shopping area in the inner city, on the border between the new and old towns. It really is huge and filled with everything you could want. Plus lots of pretzel stands and döner kebap joints. I'll tell you what, the döner might not technically be a german food (it's Turkish) but it's amazing. They have this huge like leg of meat thing roasting on a spit, and they carve off the outer layer, fill a homemade pita thing with it and salad, top it with whatever that sauce is, and voila, amazing goodness. It's so filling as well. So I think I'm actually eating cheaper here than when I was in the Czech Republic, but that's because I quit going to restaurants. I pretty much have an apple pastry for breakfast, a döner for lunch or dinner, and a little pizza from a pretzel place for the other meal. It comes to like 6 or 7 Euros a day.

The apartment search goes well. I got help today from Cathy, a woman at the Max Planck Institute who's job is basically helping new students get everything taken care of related to moving to Mainz. She went with me to sign the contract on the apartment, and was amazing dealing with them to get me a good deal. In one short (well not really that short) meeting, I learned a lot about Germans. Germans are very helpful and nice, until you try to do business with them. As Cathy put it, they are all so afraid that the other person is going to rip them off, they all try to rip you off first. So basically there is no trust in German business dealings. I have been having problems getting my money from America into my German bank account, and finally decided to just pull cash out of the ATM here, then take it to the bank to deposit. Well, I can only pull like five or six hundred Euros a day, so I needed them to be willing to let me pay the deposit and such on the apartment next week. It took some doing, but Cathy managed it for me. It helped that the real estate lady wanted to leave for lunch. So tomorrow, we should finish everything up, I'll get the keys, and no longer be homeless.

It's weird to think that this is my new home. I was thinking about it Sunday at church. I've been to church in three different countries and two languages since being here. It kind of felt like just another place I was visiting, but no, this is where I'll be for three years. It's going to be a great place to be. The ward here has been really great, welcoming and friendly. The singles group is great too. There are like 10 or so of them/us. From what I can tell a tight and supportative group. This is going to be a great place for me to be.