Setting Up and Settling In

Hello Everyone!

Our new house!

We have been hard at work since moving into our new house, and I feel like we are finally starting to get our head above the water, so to speak.  Moving into a new house is overwhelming in any situation, but setting up a house in Germany is proving to be quite exhausting. 

See my new VW Passat?!?! Gotta love German cars!

 

 Meredith waiting for the movers on move-in day.

 

Future spot for the kitchen table

We were very grateful that we were able to find a house that is comparable in size to our previous home in North Carolina.  We had been expecting to downsize, and had prepared the kids to expect that they might have had to share a bedroom.  To our great surprise, we found a 4 bed/3 bath house on a cul-de-sac, located in our desired area of Ulm.  Dan has convenient access to the Autobahn to get to work, and it takes about ten minutes to get the kids to school.  We aren't quite as close to the city center as we would have liked, and I am not able to walk to any shopping, but overall, we are very happy with the location.  We have a one-car garage, a nice backyard for the kids to play, and really great neighbors (who speak English, and have daughters who babysit!)

One of the biggest hurdles in getting all the boxes unpacked has been that, despite having ample space in the house, I still didn't have anywhere to put anything!  Houses here don't have closets, shelving, or even kitchens!  When we moved in, our kitchen was an empty room without even a light bulb hanging from the ceiling.  So, off to Ikea we went...again...and again...and again...

the 'kitchen'

Our kitchen is about 75% finished at this point.  Dan really had to step outside his DIY-comfort zone installing plumbing, cabinetry, and the oven.  Even now that all the appliances are installed, I am not completely competent in using them.  The dials are all in German, and the oven is in centigrade!  I think I will have to do a post about all the different features on my European appliances. 

 Here is a photo of the 'master bedroom' closet.  Notice the lack of shelves and cross bars for hanging clothes:





I have made some progress in the closet by adding two bookcases for shelving, and a few cheap hanging racks. 

 

Here is a photo of the hall bath, and the guest bath.  Please note the 80's-style tiling, and the metallic accents in the ceiling panels.  Very stylish.  Bathrooms are typically tiled from floor to ceiling here, which is kind of strange to me.  How much of a mess is expected, that we would need to hose down the walls? 

 

 

As everyone knows, it takes some time to make a house into a home.  We are working really hard at making a space that is comfortable and familiar for the kids, when everything else around us is unfamiliar and overwhelming.  Despite all of the effort over the last few months, we are really happy that we are here in Germany, and extremely grateful that we have this opportunity to explore the world from a different angle.  I expect that by the time we leave this house, we will have made many wonderful memories here.