Advice for an American returning to the U.S.

Hello all! Brief intro: I'm a middle-aged (54) American musician living in Osnabrück. Been in Germany for over 8 years (first year in Berlin, but since 2000 in Osnabrück). I came to play music professionally, and I work as a freelance musician here. No wife, kids, or any reason other than my music to be here. I've learned basic German, but I speak it better than I understand it spoken to me. I'm told by Germans that this is "umgekehrt". I think this is one of the German "folk tales as fact" that I hear all the time, but perhaps it's true. Anyway, it's the case with me.

I was quite glad to find this forum, and it was a relief to find other English-speakers having many of the same difficulties as I do with day-to-day life here (crappy mayonnaise, indecipherable native logic [i.e. the decision-making process - or lack thereof], my inability [or lack of desire] to assimilate, etc, etc). And it's nice to find a place where these observations can at least be understood.

At the risk of being accused of "Kraut-bashing", life here for me can often border on the intolerable. Regardless of how maddening, annoying, or irritating I may often find them, how can I blame Germans for that? It was my decision to move here. I know I can stop complaining and leave anytime, and this will be addressed here.

I've observed that this forum is largely Bayern-oriented and that the majority of the members here are not American. Since I'm an American living in Niedersachsen, if anyone has a suggestion for a more appropriate website/forum for me to visit, please let me know. For now, this is the only place I've found that seems to fit. Thanks for all of your lovely - and frequently hilarious - insights.

I've been here quite a while, and I think it might be time for me to plan moving back to the USA. I shipped all of my stuff over here years ago, and if I'm gonna move back I have to start thinking about getting rid of a lot of my stuff - it makes no sense for me to pay to move most of my personal belongings/effects back home. So, I could use some informed advice regarding:

#1) Household stuff that I definitely must dispose of: a) kitchen I built myself (sink, cabinetry, dishwasher, etc), b) clothes washer & dryer, c) general furniture (Kleiderschrank, bed, sofa, Bücherregal, etc), d) Sky digibox & satellite dish, TV, PAL VCR, etc.

#2) Music/book collection. I need to sell off most of this stuff for whatever I can get. Some of what I have - those that mean the most to me - will go back to the states, the rest needs to be liquidated. I have several hundred books, mostly non-fiction, all in English. I also have hundreds of CDs, LPs and even cassettes that should be sold off. As I'm a collector, a fair amount of what I have is somewhat valuable [i.e. rare], the rest falls into the "a few Euros each" category.

The most likely suggestion for the music & books will be Ebay, I imagine. However, I'm also looking for any other ideas that might be a bit less labor-intensive. And what does one do with a kitchen that he had to pay for and build himself? How do you realize even a small percentage return on that investment? Any ideas? This stuff doesn't belong to my landlord - I was presented with a blank kitchen with pipes sticking out of the walls when I moved in here. And then there's the other furniture, TV, VCR, Sky digibox, etc - none of which I'll bring to the states.

I'd appreciate any cogent suggestions regarding my dilemma. My target move time is early/mid-summer (2008). I look forward to hearing from you. All the best, Doug

Welcome to Toytown. The forum is bottomBayern-heavy because it started out and operated for four years as Toytown Munich, going nationwide in 2006. If you think it doesn't have many American members, all the more reason for you to stay and increase their numbers.

Weekends on TT are rather slow, I'm sure that by this time tomorrow you will have quite a few practical suggestions on the various "disposal" issues. If there are some things that you'd like to start selling right away, e.g. books and the like, you could advertise first here to gauge interest and maybe sell some of them before trying e-bay.

Thanks for your reply Kay. I hope to hear from some other members, and of course I'm most particularly interested to hear from anyone living in the Münster/Osna. area. My biggest concern is figuring out what to do with the bulkier items: furniture, appliances and some electronics. Naturally, the bigger the item, the bigger a ball & chain it is for me. But all of it is an issue, so I'm open to suggestions.

Hi squanjaili,

It depends on what the value of your stuff is to you. Just before I moved to Germany (with only as much stuff I that could carry on my back onto plane) I just put all my stuff on craigslist and it was gone within a few days. I could have used ebay or some other means and maybe made a better return, but for me the real value of the transaction was just getting rid of the stuff! By that time I had already sufficiently enjoyed using my stuff enough (and some stuff hardly used at all) that it felt rather good to see people come by and leave with their stuff and a big smile on their faces, because they were happy to get a deal on some stuff.

So.. as you know there is craigslist, and its German equivalent, kijiji.de, they could be far easier and quicker than ebay.

and... Have you got an original Real Book that you're looking to part with

The kitchen is probably a write-off. Take it to Sperrmüll if you have to.

Otherwise, start sorting into things you absolutely cannot part with, and those you can.

Those you can't part with, take with you.

Those you can, give away. Seriously, give the stuff away. Unless it's a house, a car or other big-ticket item, or you're already an old hand at the eBay game, or have nothing else to do, the time you invest in selling stuff is usually not worth the time invested.

For books I have found selling via Amazon to be better than ebay. You can set the price you want, and you aren't charged a fee if they don't sell. POssible disadvantage is that you don't set an end-date, so they may sell anytime, or not at all.

Regarding the kitchen, why not try to sell it off to the next person moing into your flat? They will be faced with the same problem if there's no kitchen installed. A lot of people who buy a kitchen sell it off to the new tenant, as it's difficult to rip it out and get it to fit into the new place they move to. If the price is ok, tey shouldn't object to it having been built by you rather than purchased.

No idea what you're talking about. I have real books, cardboard covers with pages in between, and some paperbacks, too. Don't think I have a 'Real Book', tho. Whatever it is.

My husband and I (both Americans) are living in the Osna/Muenster area. Depending on what you have, we might be interested in some of your books and music.

Try listing your "for sale" items on the Toytown classified section. You may get a few bites there.

Sorry, misread your post, thought you had a "music book collection" rather than a "music/book collection." The Real Book is a book of jazz standards.

Before you ditch everything you own, get in touch with a moving company and get a general estimate on how much shipping a 20' container will run you. You might find it's cheaper to take some stuff with you rather than having to replace it in the US.

On the other hand, when we made the move to Germany a few years back, I found out that getting rid of things can be very therapeutic... We sold a few big-ticket items (cars, washer/drier, left some to be sold with the house (kitchen). The rest we gave away or threw out. Selling it would have been more effort that it was worth.

For selling stuff you cant or dont want to move back to States, i sugest web site http://www.stripes.com, ther you can post ad for free and is listed in Military Newspapers delivered around Germany for US military personel ...

Regards

thanks for that link! (www.kijiji.de).

Hey! I live right near Osnabrück and might be interested in buying your Sky-box from you. Let me know if/when you plan to sell it.
:-)

It only cost me $12.50 per cubic foot to ship my belongings from Chicago to Füssen door-to-door. (minimum 100 cubic feet) Try UPakWeShip.
The only problem is that it takes about 8 weeks. It's even cheaper if you want door-to-port or port-to-door service.