Remember a few months back when we were overwhelmed with jet lag and trying to find towels and a shower curtain at IKEA?  Well we’ve had to go back a couple of times for more details.

The price of everything in Germany includes a 19% sales tax except on food.  As much as I’d like to say we buy all locally made and environmentally focused products, that enormous sales tax is still ringing in my ears like the bad music my roommate blared freshman year.  Sometimes you have to go for what’s cheap (okay, so cheap plus 19% tax!).  For many Berliners, that answer is IKEA.

I’ve never been to an IKEA in the US, so I don’t know what it’s like.  The prices might be a little nicer, though something tells me the stores aren’t surrounded by enormous furniture taxis like the ones we maneuver around.  Take a peek:

(Image by Martin for Making This Home)

Shh.  It’s Sunday in Berlin.  That means no malls, no grocery shopping, and definitely no construction projects.  Everything is closed, and excessive noise is off limits.  Germans value their day of rest.  If you break the rules and, I don’t know, mow your lawn today, you’ll be given a nice little fine.

Transitioning to the German way of living was really hard for us.  We honestly didn’t know what to do with ourselves.  I mean, who can relax when your house is being remodeled and looking like this?

So it’s taken a little trial and error, and now here’s what we’ve found about Sundays in a country where the old fashioned values are still practiced and very much enforced by the law.  Lets just say I’m slowing down a lot more, loving life, and finding happiness.  It’s not worth stressing over things you can’t change, after all.

A Beautiful Sunday in Berlin

9:00 Attend church.  You can find any type of service in a multitude of languages.  Church bells will ring throughout the city, welcoming you with their deep, vibrating tones.  These bells will continue to ring at various times throughout the day, bringing music and reflection.

11:00 Go to a cafe.  Order the most amazing coffee EVER for less than two bucks.  Sit in the sunshine with a newspaper or book until friends arrive.  Visit and eat the delicious spread of food served buffet style for six to fifteen bucks depending.  Don’t worry about waitresses asking if you need anything over and over.  Just kick back.  If you want something, make eye contact or say, “Entschuldigung“ excuse me to her, and she’ll come.  This is how to get your bill, too.  Otherwise, she’ll leave you alone to relax for hours. 

3:00 Buy fresh flowers.  (Flower shops are one of the few businesses allowed to open today.)  You’ll find a shop every block or two, and the flowers will only cost a few bucks.  I suppose you could buy souvenirs in the tourist districts, too.  But today you’re a local.

3:30 Take the kids to the park or go to the flea markets.  Tip your head back and let the sun shine on your face because sunny days are rare.  

6:00 Go home for a small dinner of rolls and croissants (made by the bakery down the street yesterday), the greatest cheese and salami of your life (locally made and sold at the Saturday farmers’ markets), and fresh vegetables.  Drink mineral water and locally brewed beer from glass bottles that you put a 10 or 15 cent deposit on at the beverage store next to the grocery store.  Eat a little quark (yogurt-like dairy product) with fruit or yogurt (the most delicious you could ever have.  I suggest hazelnut.).  Have a pastry or cake wrapped in a piece of paper for dessert (also from the bakery for around a buck); fight off the urge to eat a second or third.  (Well maybe a second is okay.  They tend to be fruit or quark based with 1/3 of the sugar US treats have.)

7:30 Do the things that make you happy as long as they’re not loud enough to disturb the neighbors.  Vacuuming, running the dishwasher, and doing laundry are classified as unnecessary noise, so I’m sorry.  No chores tonight.

9:00  Maybe sneak a little bite of chocolate.  (Just be forewarned… you’ll never be interested in American chocolate again.)

(images from Flickr and Katie for Making This Home)

Things got back to order at our house.  Yep, after a day of tweaking, Martin did it.  He managed to correct our crooked countertop by shaving off a piece of this cabinet in the front:

It was sad to let that extra space go.  We’d custom built it to hold some of our plates that are now homeless and looking for a place to go.  But that’s how life is sometimes, right?

So no more sadness.  We’re back to doing dishes in the kitchen with our brand new sink instead of in the bathroom.  And the half-size washing machine is back to its original position of not being a food prep counter.  Things really are looking up.  (Even if we can’t stop looking DOWN at that beautiful countertop.)  Here’s a peek taken from between the table saw and the plastic curtain dividing our living room:

Perfect, huh?  We picked out this granite countertop from the mom and pop shop down the street who sold us our oven/microwave combo.  We really wanted to get a recycled glass countertop or other recycled material, but we never managed to find anything in Germany.  I think you can get fined for not recycling, so we were pretty disappointed with our find in such an environmentally focused country.  (Great business startup idea anyone??)  

The only reason we could afford a granite countertop was because our kitchen was insanely small.   Plus the kitchen shop knocked 10% off the price for installing it ourselves.

So things are coming along.  We started sketching out some bathroom plans and hunting for environmentally friendly varnish.  And while we’ve got you on the topic, any countertop materials that you favor?  Do tell while I go wipe sawdust off of our new kitchen addition…

(Image by Katie for Making This Home)

In addition to speaking half-German, half-English at our house, we’ve developed a horrible habit of speaking half-metric, half-standard.  How far do we have between the parked car and our rented van full of lumber?  One meter.  How far to the nearest IKEA?  8 miles.  Thickness of cabinet wood?  10 millimeters.  And the horrible gap that isn’t covered by our brand new countertop?

3/4 inch.

It’s a dreary day in Berlin.  Okay, so most winter days are dreary in Europe.  This day was looking like double dreary duty because it turns out things weren’t going to plan.  Martin spent several hours sketching out a counter order, even after the counter salesman measured it.  We had to be sure.  We just didn’t foresee these two problems:

1. The wall we tore down halfway wasn’t exactly 90 degrees from the structural wall.  We built cabinets against it, and now… well, it’s pretty obvious that the wall is more like 91 or 92 degrees.  Hmm.
2. The countertop we ordered wasn’t cut at 90 degrees.  We would have been set if it had been overcut to 91 degrees to match our wall.  But it was undercut by a millimeter or two, heightening our problem on the other end of the counter to a whopping 3/4 inch.

Did you know such a tinsy tiny difference on one end of the counter could become such a problem on the other end?  Me neither.

So we started a little hacking… er, trim work.  We had until 5:00 when quiet hours set in and it becomes illegal to make unnecessary noise in Germany.  Sand, baby, sand!

(Image by Katie for Making This Home)

Okay.  Okay.  I’m giving in!  You’ve asked so many questions about what it’s like living in Europe, and I’m surrendering to the peer pressure.

The festivals.  The markets.  The not speaking English thing.  I’ve got you covered.

Check out the whole scoop.  It’s on the new tab called Berlin Tour beneath the header.

(Image by Katie for Making This Home)

When I was growing up, donating our old glasses was as much a part of my life as eating popsicles in the summer.  I thought everyone did this until I mentioned it to Martin and he looked at me like I was speaking Greek.  So for those of you who might not know…

Donate your old glasses and unused contact lenses instead of tossing them or keeping them in the closet until kingdom come!

New Eyes for the Needy started collecting glasses way back in 1932 when a Red Cross nurse noticed that people coming for help couldn’t read all the forms.  They didn’t have money to buy glasses.  Since then, the organization has helped seven million people in 56 countries.  Isn’t that incredible?

Sadly, it’s still a problem today, so good thing those of us access to 20/20 can help.

1. Give your old glasses and unused contact lenses to:

New Eyes for the Needy
549 Millburn Avenue
PO Box 332
Short Hills, NJ 07078

1/1/2010 Update:  Please contact New Eyes for the Needy to see if they are currently accepting glasses and contact lenses before sending your donation, as I have been notified by a donor that his offer could not be used at the time.

1/1/2010 Update:  Lions Club does NOT collect contact lenses.  They happily accept prescription and non-prescription eyeglasses and sunglasses and hearing aids – either used or new.

2. Make a $60 donation to buy an American a pair of glasses.

Don’t have to deal with glasses?  Well first, lucky you!  Second, here’s your chance to buy your first set of glasses.  More information here.

3. Donate other stuff to raise money for glasses

New Eyes for the Needy accepts:

So how easy is that?  You keep stuff out of the landfill, help people, and get a tax deduction for your green efforts.