Sick of "kaput"!

===== WARNING - THIS AIN'T SHORT! =====
After the last few days, I must say that I am sick of the word "kaput". Here's a list of things that we have had to get the landlord to come and look at:

1. The stove.
We went to cook dinner one night and the oven wouldn't turn on. I went down to the landlord and gave her a bit of "Ich kan nicht der Ofen anstellen" (I can not turn on the oven). She seemed a little confused by this and kept saying "Was ist anstellen?" (What is 'anstellen'?). At least this is what I think she was saying, though maybe she was asking WHAT I couldn't turn on. After much turning on and off of hotplates, determining that 2 worked and 2 didn't, etc. it turns out that the safety switch had tripped. SOLVED!

2. The kitchen tap.
The tap in the kitchen was leaking a little. Luckily the guy came to fix that at the same time that the whole oven fiasco was going on. Aparently today he came back (for an unknown reason) and gave Belinda a plug (minds out of the gutter, people!) for the sink, which was missing when we moved in. He thinks Belinda is a freak because she didn't want a plug with a chain on it, and this would mean that she would have to pull the plug out with her hand. What else would you use? Honestly! SOLVED!

3. The bathroom door.
Sunday morning I noticed that the bathroom door was a little tough to open. When I was turning the handle, the latch-thingy wasn't pulling back all of the way, and was catching when opening the door. I didn't think much of it until Belinda tried to go back into the bathroom to put on some washing and found that she couldn't open the door. No problems...except that I was BUSTING to go to the toilet!..and so was Belinda after waiting for about an hour, hoping that it would initially miraculously fix itself, and then when that failed that the landlords would come and fix it.
Anyway, with the whites of our eyes slowly going yellow, we boarded the 'Brush-mobile and went to Burger King (thank you GeorgeW for having a base so close by...hence lots of US fast-food places) for a McPiss. (For those who don't know, a McPiss is when you go to McDonalds for the sole purpose of using their toilets. This is a close relation to the McDump, or the McShit).
Oh yeah, here is the note that we left for the landlord, which they also didn't understand (WTF?!?!?!?!).
"Herr & Frau L. Vielen dank für der Apfelkuchen. Es ist sehr lecker. Klein problem. Wir konnen nicht die Badzimmertür offen. Sie ist nicht verschließt. Es tut mir leid. Brett & Belinda"
Here's what we thought we said...
"Mr & Mrs L. Thank you for the apple-cake. It is very yummy. A small problem. We can not open the bathroom door. It is not locked. I'm sorry. Brett & Belinda"
Reading it now, I realise it is a shitty note, that makes about as much sense as any note left by someone with the grammar and vocab of a snail.
Anyway, finally they came to fix the door (or maybe just to find out what the f'k we were on about). After much trying by Hr L. and his son, they finally called a locksmith who came and opened the door for us...USING A DRILL! Turns out that the tongue-type-thingy that keeps the door closed had snapped off in the hole-type-thingy that it sticks into in the wall. (Does that conjur images of french-kissing for anyone else?!?!) SOLVED!

4. Belinda's keys.
So, my keys work fine. I can get into the house, and then into our apartment. Belinda's key, on the other hand, can get her into the apartment...but that's not too helpful when you can't get into the building...but she can open the letterbox! :)We decided not to tell Hr & Fr L. about this yesterday because we thought that the stress might kill Hr L. He was lookin' kinda shakey after the whole Badzimmertür incident of 2005.

Anyway, that's enough from me. I think Bel has some stuff to write now....

Tschüs,'Brush.