Ten days remained on our temporary housing and we had the desperate urge to get out of our cramped apartment. The time had come to leave Landstuhl, we signed a lease and our house was ready to be inhabited. The only problem, we had no household goods, therefore; we had no furniture - leaving us with one option, a voyage to IKEA (auf Deutsch, "Ick-E-ah"). Unfortunately, FiFi has the loading capacity of a lunch box, we were going to have to figure a way to get the items delivered.
The week started out with some good news, we got word that our household goods were finally ready for their trans-Atlantic trip and the estimated time of arrival was narrowed down to the month of June. To maintain a semblance of sanity during an Ikea trip, it is of the utmost important to assemble a list of items out of inherent necessity. Ikea is an hour away from our house, therefore; we had to ensure our planning was thorough enough to complete in a single trip.
Our house was unfurnished, sans a single chair for the desk in the kitchen - with our furniture arriving sometime next month, purchases could only be justified by cost effectiveness. For starters, we needed a bed so we could sleep at our house (heated tile flooring is welcoming, but uncomfortable), this would also double for furniture in our spare room for future visitors. Also, our rooms are typical European style, therefore; we would need wardrobes - rounding out the agenda; a couch, chair, and coffee table. Simple enough, our list was complete and it was time to take on the nebulous void, Ikea.
Why is it that Ikea has a design similar to that of a Casino? Large structures with easy access, aimlessly meandering patrons, a ubiquitous sensory overload, and once inside, there is no getting out.
We set sail late in the morning, arriving at Ikea around noon - had a quick lunch in the food court and mentally prepared for the typical, painful Ikea experience. Before we started shopping, we went to the customer service desk because we needed to know if they would deliver to our area. After a half hour at the desk and many phone calls later, the answer varied from: yes, no, that's just past our delivery range - to, "wait, where is that?" Ultimately, the answer was yes, and it would cost an extra $30 Euro to go past their delivery range. Ikea was already stressing us out and we had yet to step foot into the showroom. Maintaining focus, we pressed on, we had been in Ikea more than an hour and were just making it to the display floor.
It felt like days... no, weeks... no, months... did we miss the World Cup..?
Suffice it to say, we found everything we needed in the showroom, although, this process took nearly three hours. Casino-kea had trapped us and we still had to complete our reconnaissance mission in the warehouse. Here, we also encountered the unforeseen expenditures; we had no pillows, silverware, glasses, plates, or bowls - like a casino, just when you think you can walk away, the house reels in more loot. By the time we reached checkout, we had a shopping cart and two large warehouse carts full of boxes and assorted goods.
Checkout proved to be the smoothest process we encountered, with exception to eating lunch hours earlier. After our purchase, we needed to make our way back to the customer service desk, grab another number and wait to be called. However, we had been in Ikea so long, the person working the service desk was a different employee - we went through the same process of organizing a delivery to our area. Luckily, we had written the information given to us before and our delivery was scheduled. By the time we left Ikea, it was a little after 18:00, we spent over six hours there - had we applied for jobs when we arrived, we would nearly have a full day's pay by the time we checked out. The mission was complete, we fought a necessary evil and we both survived - plus, this meant we could move into our home sooner rather than later.
Three days later, Ikea arrived at our empty house and we finally had furniture. By the end of the week I had our new furniture assembled and we were prepared for our final move.
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