You’ve Changed Us, Kitchen
After a late night of tearing down tarps, mopping the house (ceiling included!), and trying to remove the sawdust from our house, I’ll admit it. We’re crashed on the couch right now. We keep staring over at the kitchen a couple feet away. We’ve had so many memories throughout this project.
I don’t think I’ll ever forget the day I was sanding when our doorbell rang. The neighbor next door wasn’t feeling well and asked if we would stop making all the noise that day. I said that of course I would. Martin was at work; it was just me. I had plenty of jobs that didn’t involve power tools.
Then I shut the door and nearly fainted. It was my first conversation in German! Yes, it was rocky. Really Rocky. But I did it. The joy I had that day is the same joy we hold now for our finished kitchen. (I think that neighbor will have it when she finds out were finished, too!)
I’ve put together a quick rundown of our remodel on the tab above… obviously called “Kitchen Remodel“. It’s got a few things I’ve never mentioned (maybe a few unseen photos, too), and loads of before/after shots and links to a lot of our small kitchen tricks like the oven/microwave combo unit we snatched. Go check it out! I feel like there are so many wonderful and exciting things to talk about now.
If you have any questions about our kitchen or anything, give me a shout. Germany has become so comfortable that I sometimes wonder what kind of culture shock I’ll have back in the US. It means I also kind of forget that things like measuring water usage To The Liter aren’t exactly normal for everyone like they’ve become since we moved to Germany.
Now I just wish the bakery delivered those pretzels that they make every day. Well you know, and that I could actually call them without panicking. My German involves a whole lot of hand gestures for words I don’t know. I’d probably end up accidentally throwing the phone at our new kitchen while trying to gesture “go up the stairs”.









February 26th, 2009 at 1:29 pm
It’s “die Treppe hoch” :)
Fabulous new kitchen and it’s so much more rewarding to inhabit a space you created with your own two hands… and heart. I hope this will become a great new home for the both of you.
February 26th, 2009 at 3:10 pm
It is so beautiful!!!
February 26th, 2009 at 3:44 pm
Looks wonderful!!!! I want to come visit you in Berlin to see your beautiful apartment!
February 26th, 2009 at 5:13 pm
Wow, it’s completely unrecognizable! Your new kitchen looks really great. Well done you guys, enjoy the rewards of your labours.
February 26th, 2009 at 8:49 pm
I am so happy that now you can just relax and enjoy! Looks awesome.
February 27th, 2009 at 2:09 am
You are so funny! My German is a lot like yours. Lots of gesturing and fumbling to find the right word. Deutsch ist schwer! I try to learn as much as I can, but it takes my brain longer to process what someone is saying and think I’m either slow or just start talking in English. I had to take M’s car to the VW dealer yesterday and the only fluent English speaker was busy (though they all actually spoke a fair amount of English). I’m sure I must have look hysterical trying to explain (with gestures) that I had blown a tire and it needed replaced. I’m pretty sure I made the explosion sound accompanied by the appropriate hand gesture. How embarrassing. I now know that ‘blown tire’ is ‘geblasen Reifen’ in German. I am filing that away. Hopefully I’ll never need it again. The fluent English speaker eventually came over and commended me on my German and amusing hand gestures. Mortifying.
I’m so happy that your kitchen is done. It must bring you such peace. Do you just want to stare at it all day? BTW, I love the light fixtures. I forgot to mention that yesterday.
When we moved back to the States after our previous stints living in Germany, we had serious culture shock. The most amusing thing to us was the islands in parking lots. It was so weird to us. We kept joking that in Germany they’d have 3 houses and a gardenplatz in that space. You don’t realize how HUGE the US is until you live in a country the size of one of our states. For the first few months we were just continually amazed at how much space there was.
February 27th, 2009 at 5:09 am
@Mom in High Heels – blown tire means ‘geplatzter Reifen’ if the tire is already flat.
Although ‘geblasen’ is the present participle of blasen, the word is used most of the time together with the syllable ‘auf’ like ‘aufblasen’.
‘Geblasen’ is either vulgar and means, well, look here: http://www.dict.cc/?s=geblasen
or you use it in connection with glass like in ‘hand-blown glass’
February 27th, 2009 at 8:36 am
Yikes! Hope I don’t have any bike tire issues like those. All I’ve needed so far is air in the tires. Thanks for the lesson, Sabine. Ahh!
Katie
February 27th, 2009 at 9:29 pm
Loved the visit. You are quite interesting and have done a great job with your space. I will be back!
February 28th, 2009 at 12:45 am
the kitchen is an inspiration. Hope I could have such a counter.
February 28th, 2009 at 1:01 am
Sabine, I realized that after I posted! I need an edit button. I was thinking of the way you would say blown glass. It’s so hard to figure this German stuff out! Though I’m sure English is even more difficult for the non native speaker. It’s hard for many native speakers as evidenced by first person accounts on the daily news.