I feel so cut off from the world!!!!!

We've been in Germany since last Friday, but we've had no Internet connection! I never knew that the Internet had become so crucial to my everyday life. We can't get connected until next Wednesday, so I'm at an Internet Cafe. By the way, when they say Internet Cafe, they mean Internet only, because there's no food involved. I was really disappointed.
So, we've been in Germany for a whole week. It's been an adventure so far, that's how we're all looking at it, even Gabriella. She's been a real trooper. Until yesterday, we were in a temporary apartment which wasn't bad. It was the upstairs of a private residence owned by a nice Russian family. Aside from the occasional yelling conversations in Russian heard from below, it was a nice, quiet place to stay. On Friday, we completed the "walk-through" for our new apartment and then we were allowed to start moving our stuff in. The apartment wasn't cleaned when we arrived. It seemed that the last couple that lived there placed such a high premium on the fact that they painted the entire apartment white that they didn't bother cleaning anything before they left. Luckily, Dave's company is hiring a cleaning service, so next week it will look sparkling.
One thing I'm learning is that things are a lot different here. Everything takes twice as long, and not just because everyone is speaking a language I don't understand. We signed up for a bank account and the Internet service last week on Tuesday and neither will be ready until the middle on next week. There seems to be no "same day service" anywhere here. Also, almost no one accepts credit cards in Germany. It seems you need an EC card which is a bank card specifically for Europe. So, we've had to take out cash to buy everything. Needless to say, our bank back home was not too happy at first to see sudden large amounts of withdrawals every day.
There are so many more things to write about, but I'll have to wait because Dave is waiting outside the "cafe" with Gabriella. It's too cold today to walk around a lot. Of course we're walking everywhere. Next time, I'll tell everyone about the IKEA trip from the loony bin and hopefully there will be pictures. IKEA is becoming our friend. If you don't know what IKEA is please have a look.www.ikea.com I'll write again on March 5th if all goes well.