July started with Manja and I celebrating our anniversary… As those who have been reading these blogs for a while may remember, we kinda got together over a really long time, and so don’t really have an anniversary. So a while ago we decided that it would be in June, but we had been so busy that we kept pushing our date night to a more relaxed moment. That Moment finally came on a Wednesday night. I left work a little early, grabbed some flowers and got changed into a nice fresh shirt to meet Manja at a restaurant. I had chosen a local Lebanese restaurant which is a bit more upmarket and lent itself to conversation. We had a really nice night, chatting about everything that had happened that year, and our amazing journey so far while sharing a plate of Mixed Mezze. As the evening was really pretty, we decided to walk back through our local park in the sunset. We were so engrossed in our conversation, that we both failed to take pictures 😅
Anniversary flower being pretty
One of the responsibilities of my team at work is company events. We had decided to arrange a summer party for the whole company, which included a boat tour in the afternoon over lunch and a party with a buffet and cocktails in the evening. Being the first time I arranged anything like this in Germany, I was very happy that it went so well – I think everyone had a blast, and I even tried a cocktail or two for a change! Manja came too, and was stuck with me and Vincent cleaning up until about 1am – luckily we were only 15 minutes away from home by bike 🙂
Expecting the Party to take a toll, we had both taken the following day, a Friday, off. After a slow start we packed our gear once more, and at around noon Tina and Stefan picked us up. Manjas birthday gift to Tina was a weekend away at the East coast of Germany, on a small island called Usedom. Tina had the choice of being “with or without partners” and she had chosen to have Stefan and I come along. They picked us, and our Guitar, up in the afternoon and we snacked on some pre-made fruit salad on the 2 hour drive while we chatted. After we arrived and moved into our accommodation for the next few days, we decided to go off and have a timely dinner around 5:30, heading to a quaint place which had a typical “German Kitchen”. When we got in we were greeted by an eclectic collection of random stuff, including dolls in prams and stuffed animals on the walls. It wasn’t quite as spooky as the Airbnb in London, but definitely an odd place! Dinner itself was delicious though!
Even though it was getting a bit cooler, we decided to head to the beach, as daylight would still be around for a few hours. You really can tell why this place is absolutely over-run in Summer! On our way back home we got supplies for the next few days, including some fire wood as we had a small wood-fired fireplace in the lounge room and the temperature was definitely getting into the territory where it was useful to turn it on. With the fire going we settled down to play some music for a few hours before we all dropped into bed exhausted.
We started the next day with my typical avocado, salmon and poached egg breakfast, before heading over to the most famous beach area of the island, which also has plenty of small shops all over, including places which provided traditional versions of fish. We found out that today would be a parade day, so we walked over to the final destination of the parade and waited for a bit…. But it got pretty darn cold and the only entertainment in advance of the procession was a children’s entertainer who wasn’t that great…. So rather than freeze to death we decided to head back to the car. Manja and I made a short detour, only to walk right into the oncoming fair, so we spent a few minutes watching before racing back to the car where Tina and Stefan waited for us. For the evening we had decided on making some pasta at home, so Tina created a wonderful bolognaise! With bellies full we sat down to play some code-names and then guitar in front of the fireplace.
Today would be our final day, so after another breakfast a-la Simon, we packed our gear and loaded it into the car. Rather than racing back, we decided to check out one of the largest piers of the area to check it out. As it turns out it’s large enough to have a small shopping strip built into it. When we got back we were a touch cold, so we headed back into the township proper in search of some food. The food was elusive, but we did find this cool little statue which I posed with by hugging a dog… We eventually found a place we could all agree on and had Pirogges with view of the beach, but in a sheltered area. With the food all done we walked along the beach once more before jumping into the car and driving all the way home.
The next week we went to Ikea to get the final confirmation on our kitchen configuration – it was all approved, so we can order when we are ready! Yay!
On Friday it was time to head to Katrin and Kilians place to have a Birthday dinner for Jana, including delicious gin-and-tonic icy poles to get our tongues stuck on 😅
Saturday it was time to head off to Neuruppin, to meet Steffis parents as they had invited us when they were visiting Oz for Stefs wedding. We arrived by train, and Daniel, Stefs brother, was kind enough to pick us up. The parents have this awesome little sea-side property, which includes a Sauna, mini boat and nice little home. Of course we got taken for a spin in the boat, which was a LOT of fun. We chatted about life, the beauty of cultural differences and their horror flight home. Daniel had to leave in the afternoon as he had a longer trip back, and eventually it was time for us to head home too. Stefs Dad was kind enough to drop us off at the trainstation, even though it required him to take two trips in his little two-seater pickup truck 🙂 A couple of hours later we arrived back home toward midnight.
Sunday Morning I finally got to chat to Amy for a bit! It was great to catchup and find out how life was progressing in Oz. In the afternoon Kai, Manjas youngest brother, dropped by. We were giving him some support preparing a resume in the afternoon before heading over to do an escape room in the evening – We made it without too much hassle again, and it was great fun. To round off the day we headed out to grab some burgers before Kai headed home and we dropped into bed.
The following weekend we were off to Wiesbaden again, this time by car. Doris had been sorting some of her belonging to give or throw away, and we had agreed that we’d take some off her hands – like great glassware, silverware and crockery. Much to her disappointment, we had arranged to stay in an Airbnb nearby because we didn’t want to be a bother. We were told in no uncertain terms: Next time we stay with her.
We spent the day sorting out all sorts of things, including old documents which she needed support with to be able to read them at a reasonable pace. We agreed that we would take along the rubbish and destroy it securely, lest anything sensitive falls into the wrong hands. We also worked through various cupboards and Wardrobes with her, selecting things to keep, things we would take, and things to get rid off. In the evening we headed over to a winery to enjoy the scenery and chat about life, the universe and everything. Doris has a wealth of information on the area, and it was great to hear some of the stories of her past too.
On Sunday we had a nice relaxed breakfast with Doris. As we had the car there we decided to spend the morning checking out Wiesbaden a bit again. We headed into town and had some ice-cream on the promenade and a short stroll before we already had to make our way home. We dropped Doris off and loaded up the car – we ended up with a whole car-load of stuff which she did not need and we liked a lot 😅
Given that we still had a car, we also made use of this trip to borrow some tools from Ilka in preparation for our upcoming kitchen replacement!
On the 25th of July it was finally time to pick up our new kitchen! To make space for it though the first task was to remove the old kitchen throughout the week before, slowly taking everything apart and getting it ready for disposal, while moving all cupboards out. It looked a touch barren and we would have to wash our dishes in the Bathroom, but it was manageable. It also involved a few trips to the hardware store to get any and all tools we might be missing.
On the day itself, I headed straight to the car rental place after work, ready to grab the car only to get a “Sorry, you can’t hire a van with us, you haven’t had your license for 2 years….” Okay, says I. How about my Australian one? That one has been valid for around 10 x as long as you require. “Sorry” says the attendant “I can’t accept international licenses.” Well.. F*C*. So I called Manja, who jumped onto her bike to come and pick up the Van, arriving minutes before the place shut. After throwing our bikes into the van, we may or may not have switched drivers seats after the first intersection, as we headed home to “park” our bikes. We couldn’t just go to our “local” Ikea, because they did not have all the parts in store, so the drive took us around 30 minutes. It was starting to get tight, but we managed to get there and pick up the pallets of stuff we needed. It turns out that it’s quite a bit of work to just lift it all into the car… and we still had to take it out on the other side! We knew there was no way we would be making dinner tonight, so we stopped at a famous Veggie Döner place. Unfortunately they had a line down the street, and we did NOT have that kind of time, so we found the next-best place, who did not server a veggie Döner which was anything comparable, though did have a delicious chilly oil to spice things up a bit. While the food wasn’t perfect, we did have food which energised us for the next task: Carrying some 150 boxes and bits into our flat. Luckily we didn’t have many stairs to conquer, so we managed to have everything inside with a lot of effort but little trouble – though the kitchen counters were DAMN HEAVY! We were both exhausted, but still had one more thing to do: Put all the parts of the old broken kitchen into the Van for disposal the next morning. With that done, and laughing at the idea of someone stealing the van now, we put together the first cupboard so that we would have a feeling of starting the kitchen build on the day 😅
A few hours sleep later we really wanted to start putting it all together, but we had to pull the break a bit and make use of the Van rental to get rid of the parts of the previous kitchen we would be getting rid of. This meant getting up at around 6:30am, as we only had the van until 9am when the rental place opened up. We got to the tip around 7:30, and cleared out the Van, which contained not only the old kitchen but also all other larger pieces of rubbish we still had around. In Germany this service is free, and being so early we had almost the whole yard to ourselves 🙂
A bit later I was just about to pull into the driveway of the car-renal, but remembers that I wasn’t the driver. Whoops. We drove around the block one more time and may or may not have switched seats again. The Van was returned in perfectly good condition, and we jumped onto our bikes and rode home ready to start building.
We spent the weekend drilling, cutting and putting it all together. It all worked well until we got to the bench tops, where I would have to do three things:
1.) Cut the right size
2.) Cut out the hole for the sink
3.) Drill the hole for the tap.
How hard could it be? We even had some spare space, so I decided to start with the hardest part first: Cutting out the hole for the sink. I marked it exactly, and carried it outside, drilled a hole and started cutting it out, using Ilkas little old jigsaw. By the first quarter my arm started to go numb from the vibration, but I persevered, using 4 new blades in the end, burning my fingers on a hot blade once. It was done! I tested and the sink fit, almost perfectly. I had taken off a tiny bit too much in the corners, (The sink has round corners) but it could easily be siliconed up and put into the back, where no one would ever see it. Phew! First part done. The rest was easy: Cut a straight line and drill a hole with a hole-saw. I marked up the cut and cut a nice straight Lin… a damn. The blade in the elderly circular saw had shifted and the cut was not at a 90 degree angle. I took the saw apart, re-tightened everything, re-aligned and took off another slither. The bench would not be about 50mm too short. We took it upstairs and tried it out. It fit, but there was something I hadn’t considered: The wall was not 90 degrees. this increased the gap bit, and meant that we ended up with an angled gap of 30 to 50 mm visible next to the oven. We could do preciously little about it and I was about to have a tantrum when Manja asked how large the cornices were, which seal the counter to the wall and stove. Turns out they were 50cm, so we could hide the problem! Yay! We held everything in place and I quickly screwed the counter top in place. The second counter top was simple, just a single straight cut, with a now working circular saw. I lined everything up and cut, until the resistance suddenly increased. Knowing that was unusual, I stopped and pulled out the saw. This time I had managed to cut into the kitchen chair which we used as a workbench. Luckily no structural damage, only a nice reminder of this day for years to come 😂
The remainder continued without too much trouble, until I realised that I had forgotten point 3 on the bench top agenda. A few curses later I very gently drilled a hole with the hole saw right next to the sink which was already glued in place. Of course, as fate would have it, the hole saw was not deep enough and I had to drill it from both sides, which was a challenge to get straight. I spent the next 30 minutes with a file slowly making it large enough for the tap to just fit! But eventually it did! Yay! Success! It was a struggle to get it all connected in the little space behind the sink, but it worked. I used the opportunity to also connect the dishwasher and washing machine to the siphon… which only had one inlet. DAMN IT. I connected the dishwasher for now, deciding that the washing machine can wait until we solve that problem next week.
Manja and I worked well together – I would take lead on building things while she would take lead in organising everything around me – including making me food the whole time even though I made it almost impossible to use the kitchen. Just before dinner on Saturday, for example, I suddenly noticed that the light in the oven was on, and upon further inspection I found a nearly ready home-made Flammkuchen in there. Score!
By Sunday most of the kitchen was functional but incomplete. We headed over to Ilka who had invited us for dinner and spend a nice and relaxing evening with the garden gang in the garden. By the time we returned I dropped into bed feeling more sore than I had in a looong time but also happy with how much we accomplished. While the finishing touches would take weeks of “just an hours” after work, most of the kitchen was ready within the constraints of the weekend.
