When you live in a certain place for a defined amount of time, you seem to get used to what things look like. Landscapes, billboards along highways, people...that sort of stuff. I definitely got used to our home in Tampa. A great two-story town-home in the heart of the city. It was centrally located to some of my favorite places, yet it also provided me an escape from work and reality. Ryan and I were (ARE) very lucky with that house. It has a gym, business center, fabulous pool and grill n' chill area. There is a tiki bar just a short walk outside of the gates. YES!!! GATES...safety and security. I loved that it had nice walk-in closets, full bath tubs for my occasional soaks or the separate laundry room. It had it's moments of weakness though. Zero counter space for a couple who loves to spread out and cook. The AC unites were crap (still are) and caused many headaches. Parking was also a crap shoot...hoping that when you woke up in the morning...your car was still there and not towed the night before. In many cases in life, you learn to take the good with the bad...make lemonade out of those sour lemons. I did that with Tampa.
So, I am currently working on sweetening up my flavor of lemonade here in Germany; and I have found the same types of ingredients here that I did in Tampa. With any recipe...you have to adjust how much of this or that you put into it.
One thing I love about our German home is the ROULADENS. I have a fantastic recipe for rouladen which is a great German, slow-cook meat dish stew...now I know that ROULADEN is a word to "roll". Rouladens on a German home are outside the structure. Using an electric or hand-held mechanism, you can actually raise or lower these metal rolls that block all light and therefore heat from the inside of your house. Talk about BRILLIANT German engineering. These things will make your afternoon nap a delight. The first few days were were in our friends home visiting, we slept til 1pm because the light was removed from the room. I wish American homes had this feature.
Another thing that is a wonderful asset to our German home is heated floors. We haven't experienced winter here yet...but I am sure these will come in handy on the chill of the tile floors. Along with the heated floors, each bathroom has a heated towel rack. These Germans have figured some things out in life and embraced them! Brilliance I tell you!!!!
Now, many homes in Germany have other features that we wish ours had. Fireplaces are usually standard along with installed door hooks for hanging things. Installed doorbells that are rigged to indoor phones for security. Many nice small features.
But...and yes, there is always a but...there are a few things that will make you want to swear up and down...mine being the OVEN SIZE. Ryan and I are recently married and with that came gifts just like Christmas. One of these gifts was a fabulous Calphalon lasagna pan. Lasagna is one of my favorite things to make and I was stoked about this new member to our kitchen family. After opening it and eyeballing it, I started to get the cold sweats...panicking that OH SHIT, this is NOT going to fit in our German oven. What am I supposed to do with this lasagna pan for three whole years? Friends suggested using it as a fruit display. Maybe even a storage compartment. But to hell with that, I wanted it for actual lasagna. So, it is being stored in our pantry in its original box because I refuse to return it.
When I was originally looking at homes to rent online prior to getting here, I was falling in love with all of the old ones. You know...the quaint ones with charm, character and OH, A LOT MORE WORK TO BE DONE TO THEM!!!! Ryan and I didn't write them off as no good. We were willing to embrace living off base in every aspect. We had officially one week to find a home before they forced us into a 2 bedroom apartment home on base or cut-off our temp living expenses. Go Figure! So, out we hustled to the mad dashery of German house hunting. This would have been a perfect show for House Hunters International. When we saw homes we liked from the outside...they were crap on the inside. Mold, mildew...permanent state of moist. ICK! Ones we liked inside were often faceless or emotionless on the outside. Cinder block squares of less then creative architectural design. That was until we found Dr. Zeigler's small beauty. Our house is tucked away in a small courtyard off a small road to a small village. Nothing fancy which is just the way we like it. Although the outside is cement, it has a shade of blue to it while also having beautiful accents of wood beams. Not so bad for the outside. Then you step into something that has a touch of old-world character and modern day convenience. The house's interior of exposed wooden beams, terra cotta colored floor tiles, wood molding and an open feel of our home in Tampa. It isn't big like the other two homes we liked (see...perfect candidates for House Hunters Int'l). Ryan and I had to keep reminding ourselves that we didn't need a lot of space. It's just the two of us...no kids yet, no pets yet...minimal guests and way less space to work my Cinderella cleaning magic on it. It was a great choice and we are happy to call it home for the next period of time.
This brings me to my closing thought. HOME. I have learned that HOME is just a state of mind. A home can be a physical place...but it can also be a place in your heart and in your head. I don't even know where I would call home these days. I guess, anywhere that Ryan and I find ourselves...TOGETHER. To me, that is home.
What or where do you consider home?
Erica
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