A Month of Settling Down

Me: “Babe, come over here. Look at this.” (pointing to my overnight bag)
Soenke: “Yes, what? Look at your overnight bag??”
Me: “Yes. Do you see a problem?”
Soenke (with a puzzled expression after close scrutiny): “No. What.”
Me: “IT’S DUSTY !!!!!!!!”

And therein sums up the current situation.

May 2006 may just go down in history as the first entire month of global-airspace-without-Jennifer.

There are reasons for this. Whenever I come home wholeheartedly sick from a trip (as I did from our stellar Road Trip), I suddenly lose enthusiasm for flying germinators. This phenomenon has lasted up to a year – back in 2003. (Never fear, it’s already wearing off this time.)

In the meantime, I succumbed to a new malady, if you could call it that. A hardcore bout of DECORATING FEVER. Soenke would rephrase that to say I have been spending money”¦. lots of it. In heart-stoppingly costly spurts that cause the ever-spendthrift German to reach for the nearest valium. Why, you ask? Because I realized that I spent much of my time trying to escape from our white-walled, boxy, sanitarium-feeling apartment, rather than savoring homey downtime surrounded by beauty. I had never really gotten around to comprehensively making our place a home.

So it started with paint. Lots of paint, lots of walls. Warm terra cotta to counteract the German winter. Soothing green for an inspiring kitchen. Aqua blue in the bedroom to remind us of the color of the water on Mauritius. Then came art. Real art, from Barcelona, that had been sitting in a cupboard crying out to be framed. A new sofa – a huge, inviting, curl-up-with-5-people-and-watch-a-movie sofa. Then curtains – so that our longsuffering neighbors would no longer have to watch us frolic in our pajamas every morning. And dishes – our cupboards were full of family hand-me-downs, which, while great for a bachelor, did not suit super-chic Global Girl. But in Germany, all this takes TIME. 8 weeks. 10 weeks. Longer. I think I’ll see this fabulous new sofa right about the time I retire, and the curtains not much sooner.

Soenke bravely partnered in this process, with only small agonized protests as I whisked away his childhood nightstand and Bubba Gump souvenir cup for good.

The realization eventually dawned on me that I unwittingly had moved to a new country without really bringing any of my own possessions – other than some clothes, proper tampons (don’t ask), and eventually ALL my travel books. I spent a fair amount of time trying to figure out how to recreate my comfortable OC existence”¦ being frustrated that Germany doesn’t seem to have all the tools to recreate that existence”¦.then giving up and going Deutsch. It’s like reinventing myself as a new person – reflected in all the new things around me. I grew up with a 3-hole punch, now I’m using a 4-hole punch. I used to write checks, now I do bank transfers. I always liked ice in my drinks, but no one does ice here. A therapeutic trip to Pottery Barn is but a distant memory. My Starbucks habit is broken. Even my pillow is a different shape (they’re square here).

There have been decided improvements: fresh flowers – as cheap as they are – are a weekly must in Germany, not just a luxury. Downtime on Sunday is addictive; you CAN’T shop (all the stores are closed), so you have to relax. Sitting in a restaurant for hours without being hustled off the table has long ceased to feel like a guilty indulgence. Receiving a cheese education and a smorgasbord of samples at the käse counter feels sooo European. And I am now a firm believer that the only way to buy bread is straight from the bakery.

I don’t know why every step of the way has felt like such a struggle – why can’t I just go with the flow and embrace the changes? (Soenke says “˜JA, HALLOOOOOOO! PLEASE!! YOU’VE BEEN DRIVING ME CRAZY!’) I’m getting better at it – really – I am. As my mom sagely advised me when I was griping over the more-than-100% increase in my health insurance premiums when I switched to German health insurance: “Honey, just accept the inevitable and get on with it.”

In the meantime, I’m boosting the German economy and “getting on with it”¦.”!

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Picking up my new wall candy:

These dishes are like a party on your table!:

After hard shopping, it was time for a glass of bubbly at the Veuve Clicquot Champagne Bar in the Alsterhaus: