Jason's Daily Notes

I got up early-ish, like 10am, because my first viewing was at 11am. My facial wounds had scabbed up again. I showered and rushed out. The sun was shining brightly! I grabbed the tram. For some reason the ticket machine wouldn’t accept my cash, so I bought my ticket at the machine at the Hbf.

I had to figure out which train would come next, which was a little complicated. I did catch the S-Bahn, but it was too slow for me to make the 11:30 viewing. But it was no problem – I got a message from him saying that we would meet at 2pm instead. Perfect. This gave me another hour or two to hang out before going to my 1pm viewing.  I was excited – from what I could tell, today’s flats were goo – affordable, well-located and with cool-sounding flatmates. The first viewing, in Derendorf, was the best one of the day. Tobias greeted me, showed me the large room, which I could take with furniture, and we sat and chatted. He’s from Hamburg, works long hours, but is still very very chill. AND the other flatmate, Adina from Romania, works at Trivago! Yep that’s right – I could live with a co-worker. How perfect!

At that point, I didn’t want to view any other flats, because this one seemed so perfect. Nevertheless, I had appointments and wanted to follow up on them. I had 25 minutes to get to the next flat, so I walked. The area was nice, peaceful but at least a little exciting. I rang the bell and walked upstairs to meet Robin and his friend Jena. Rob was wearing a dress shirt and a sweater – a bit formal for being at home on a Sunday, I thought.  His flat was really nice and quite big. The flat had a cosy but modern kitchen, 3 bedrooms (one of which was to be used by his mom when she’s back for Christmas, etc.), and a nice large balcony. In the bright sunshine, the balcony looked especially inviting. We chatted for a while; he told me that he wanted to leave Düsseldorf but could find no job relevant to his background (truck logistics). He offered to look up directions to my next viewing but I saw that it was walking distance.

I said bye then walked to the next flat. Again, I was early so I hung outside for a few minutes. This neighbourhood was Flingern Nord, which actually seemed much cooler and residential than what I imagined (from looking at the map). Cafés and bars on each corner, and a good neighbourhood feeling. I rand the bell then went up to the top floor to view the room. Lars (guy moving out) greeted me and showed me the small room (which at €300 is also the cheapest of those I’m viewing). I met the flatmates – Verena and Kai, who are both studying. We chatted for a bit, then I went off. This room is the smallest, and the flatmates weren’t as open/friendly as I imagined.

I had over 2 hours before my last viewing, at 18:45. I walked and looked for a place to eat. I walked toward the city center, then caught the tram at Schloss Jägerhof toward Nordstraße. I walked toward Derendorf, thinking of getting Chinese or Asian food, but then changed my mind and opted for a kebab at the Turkish place near Dreieck. After finishing my döner teller, I walked toward the river, to enjoy the sunshine. As I approached, I saw that there were a lot of people hanging out on the riverfront. Turns out it was the monthly fish market, which stretched along the waterfront right in front of the Altstadt. It was great – a tent with a band playing schlager music, many stalls selling small bites to eat (fried fish, cakes, cheese, etc), and a few actually selling fresh fish. I had a fried potato pancake with applesauce. I then walked through the city center again. The line to get ice cream was ridiculous. I could understand, through: I mean, it was “only” like 11°C, but after such a long stretch of cold, snowy weather, even I wanted to just lay out in the sun.

Anyway, I was again ahead of schedule, so I took the tram toward Bilk, where my last viewing was. The U-Bahn was packed full of people; it reminded me of London. Robin warned me that this are was an “up and coming” part of town, and yes, there were some immigrants, but still it wasn’t bad by any means (I mean, after all, I lived in London). I met Daniel, T (Joti or something like that, from Laos), and Max. The room was big, and the flat was very spacious, with a huge living room (perfect!). We chatted for a while. T was a flight attendant for Air Berlin, and Max was a 19-year-old student who works part time at a hotel. I could tell we would get on well. So, I’d mark this flat as my #2 choice, because I would have to buy furniture and it was further away from my office.

That was it. I took the U-Bahn to the Hbf and caught the S-Bahn to Duisburg. Listened to music and watched the sun set outside the window. It was 8pm. The days are getting longer! Now if only they would get warmer!

Had leftover chilli with Martin for dinner. We made some (soggy) couscous to go along with it.