Uh oh...

Uh oh is right. We heard back from the landlords on our request to install a satellite dish on the outside of our apartment. Apparently, they have no issue with the concept but they feel fairly confident it would not be approved by the building's homeowner association, which is the next step in the process. Inside sources tell us that one of the neighbors refuses to ever approve anything. It was not an outright statement of "It definitely won't be approved", but our landlord's feeling is that this will most likely be akin to "fighting city hall". So, as we approach the end of month 5 in Germany, and still have no access to English language TV programs, we are not sure of our next move in the pursuit of this elusive thing called "TV".

We have not yet bought the German TV...which is a good thing. If we were to install satellite, we would have to make this acquisition since Germans use a thing called PAL, and US TVs won't work with this technology. I think it's been a smart move to wait on this purchase....

Before you say, "Five months without TV? So what have you been watching?" let me assure you that we are watching TV...in our own way. We have 3 TVs with us in Germany, albeit US ones, and they play DVDs just fine. Having created a rather extensive library of DVDs and VHS of US television programs and movies, we have been able to keep ourselves entertained. And thanks to my aunt, she is keeping us current on a few favorite shows from the US...mainly the Law and Order franchise. News? We read the paper or access CNN on the internet. Sports? A bit more problematic, but we are somewhat accustomed to not getting anything but soccer, cricket, and Taiwanese baseball from our time living in Taiwan so we are already used to that...

So as we ponder next steps, we are trying to determine what makes the most sense…go ahead and submit the request to the homeowner group or install ISH digital cable (even the name is not terribly appetizing) which provides maybe 6-10 English language stations and supplement this with our own DVDs and VHS tapes? Buddy is even wondering if there is a way to adhere the satellite to a free standing item, such as a heavy table and locate that on our balcony. This way we could still have our satellite but bypass the approval process…