Moving on up

This morning my dear sweet husband set me up. He took Claire downstairs for breakfast while Luke and I stayed behind to get dressed. Our two hotel rooms are connected by an inside door that we leave open. Luke was in his bathroom and I was walking into my room to get dressed. I had just slipped my burgundy nightgown over my head when I looked up and saw a Chinese businessman looking right at me from down the hall. I don’t know which of us was more embarrassed. The love of my life had left the door wide open. I could have killed him. I mean, I am no prude. But I don’t want strange men seeing me the way the good Lord made me. At least not first thing in the morning before I’ve had my coffee.

Ah, well. I think it was my mama who once quoted what someone said to her: “It don’t matter if somebody seen ya nekkid. If they seen it before, it won’t be they first time. And if they ain’t seen it before, they won’t know what it is anyway.”

While I’m telling on Dave, I have to tell you a cute one from our first couple of weeks here. Dave saw a pretty fountain flowing from the side of an old building in Waldenbuch. He said, “Look, finally, a drinking fountain.” I asked, “Are you sure?” He said, “Yeah, it says trinkwasser right here. That means drinking water.” So he took a big fistful and gave Luke a drink. Then I looked closer. “Oh no! It says KEIN trinkwasser! That means NOT drinking water!” Well, that will teach us to learn our German!

Today we signed the papers to rent our new house. Well, actually, Dave signed them. According to the Army, wives are incidental. But what else is new? Anyway, we saw our home finished for the first time. The last time the floors were not down, there was no kitchen and the walls were not painted. Now it looks shiny and new and fresh. A clean start. Well, maybe not so clean. The movers are coming tomorrow and it is supposed to rain all day and the landscaping is not finished. MUD. Yuck. But I hear that German movers put down blankets everywhere, so that will be good. If they don’t I will have to whip out my dictionary and give them what for, as soon as I figure it out.

The style is modern, a huge departure from our lovely old Victorian back in Colorado. The kitchen is about a third the size of my Colorado kitchen, but the appliances are jumbo sized for Germans (about jumbo dorm sized for Americans) and the countertops are black granite, which is virtually indestructible (but then, they haven’t met Claire). I can cook a normal sized turkey in the oven and the fridge will hold enough food for the week. But we will have a larger one downstairs for parties and such, provided by the Army. I sort of like that. It will force us to live more simply and not stock up so much.

It is still weird to me that the rooms have no closets. There are no pantries, medicine cabinets, shelves or anything. That is where Ikea comes in. Plus, the Army will provide schranks, these huge ugly particle board wardrobes. That will help.

It has a large sunny loft on the top level. There are four levels. The next one down has three bedrooms together with a full bath. Then the next level down is the main entry, with kitchen, dining room, living room, and another full bath. The bottom level is a finished out basement and laundry room. German houses are almost always 3-5 levels. Land is precious, so they take advantage of vertical space. We have a postage stamp-sized yard, but that just means less mowing. But it is enough to hula hoop in! The other half of our duplex is owned by a guy who works for Mercedes. Hey, I wonder if they have a friend and neighbor discount…

Really, though, it feels good to have a place to spread out. There are three cool playgrounds just spitting distance from our house. The kids are excited about seeing their toys again. I can’t wait to cook. And now, if I want to run around my house naked, I’m pretty sure no Chinese businessmen will be hanging out in the hall.