German Efficiency ...or not.

Germans seem to divide into two very distinct categories. The first is very direct, very efficient, if they say they'll have something done by tomorrow, they probably have it nearly finished already. The other category is a lot more laid back, if they say they'll do something tomorrow, you won't see them for another two weeks, and when they do they'll still have certain obstacles to deal with, before they can get whatever it is done.

I have been very lucky that both my supervisor at the school and my landlady are firm members of the first category. My supervisor almost overpoweringly so- my first week in school, where I was easily confused and everything was new, she asked me what the project for the interschool foreign language competition was going to be, and seemed a bit disappointed that I didn't alrady have a fully formulated plan. I don't want to disappoint her, and I'm trying to do everything as efficiently as she does, but even now, she'll ask me to do something, and she still seems a bit surprised when I actually do it and return it to her... I'm hoping that's more to do with her being the head teacher, and always being so busy and having so much on her mind, and that she doesn't actually think I'm completely useless.

On reflection, perhaps my landlady belongs to a small subset of the first category, she is very efficient and will do everything as soon as she said she would, but unfortunately she never seems to be home, so even though I know she'd help me as soon as I ask, she is never around to ask! At the moment, our flat has no washing machine, so we have to ask her for the key to use her washing machine in the cellar. I have some washing that needs doing, but I have been knocking her door and ringing the doorbell every afternoon this week, and I still have not been able to get hold of her. (She lives upstairs, and rents out the entire ground floor, so it's not like I have far to go, but I don't want to have to add 'being smelly' and 'having no clean clothes' to my list of things to deal with!) Also, I have no idea how late is too late to knock on someone's door, especially you are knocking from within the same house. I know the Germans get up early, but I don't know what's the average time to go to bed, and seeing as I'm religiously going to bed at 10pm every school night (or at least trying to), anything after 8.30 pm seems horrifically late!

Unfortunately, the teacher who has the bed seems to be very much a member of the second category, which is why, nearly 4 weeks after moving into this flat, I still have no bed. It doesn't look like I'll be getting a bed this weekend either, then I'm going to Köln for the week and I'm not going to be in school to ask her if it's sorted, or arrange a time, so it's going to be a while yet...

Maybe I should start taking bets on what will happen first: will I get my clothes washed, or will the bed arrive?