So Alex and I are taking the next step to making our apartment more like home with…bed shopping. Vestago BettActually, we’re only buying this frame and headboard (Bettgestell und Rückenlehne) because we already have the mattress and what is equivalent to the box spring. Apparently, the inner material of the mattress or futon is made of coconut, that means, very firm. It’s great for when one sleeps on the back but not so good for side-sleepers, like me >:XX One step at a time I suppose or we could easily rack up 50,000 Euro in furniture purchases. The frame will be made of maple with a redish stain because cherry wood is ungodly expensive.

German beds, these days, are very different from american ones. A lot of older cottages or european hotels have two ‘twin’ beds pushed together for the master bed, each with it’s separate fitted sheet and comforter (no flat sheet). They’re usually pretty squishy and remind me of the beds in the U.S. lattenrost = euro box springRight now, our bed rests on the floor under the Lattenrost. Which looks like this here=> You can adjust the dark plastic sliders in the center of the wooden slats to vary the firmness of the wood. We just going to place the lattenrost inside of the bed frame and there you have it. Pretty simple. But Alex and I found out as we are sorting out our differences in furniture ideas, we both have pretty expensive taste. But I think we’ve reached a good compromise.

Whohoo we went shopping. I am so impressed with IKEA, the parking lot is planned correctly, the store is set up so one doesn’t get wigged out with all the ‘stuff’ for sale (although I was on the edge), they have a ‘comfort food’ cafeteria serving cheaper-than-you-can-make-it meals, and quick check-out even with the mobs of people. There is even a child daycare (like a Chuck-e-Cheese, hehe) or let ‘em run free, it’s like a indoor house park.

We bought a tall cd bookshelf, a tall bookshelf, a tall wooden cabinet for our office stuff, a wooden office table top, a floor lamp, and light fixtures for the foyer, bathroom, and kitchen. All for less than 300 €. Unbelieveable.

And then there are things here in German that are ridiculously expensive. For example: Cooking tongs=8 € (~$9), a meat themometer 8 €, where is a Target or Walmart when you need just the bare minimum for a reasonable price.

So we are finally getting rid of the boxes in our apartment, lighting up the dark corners, and cleaning off the diningtable. We are so happy with our home:D

So we’ve moved into our new apartment and love it. However, we have no internet or phone connection as of today, thanks to Telecom. Hopefully, that will be resolved sometime this week. We bought a used washing machine around the corner. The people drive around and find used washing machines left on the street, fix’em and sell them for around 130 to 190 € a pop. They told us they sold 19 different dryers in the week before we visited them, bummer, what was left over looked pretty miserable. We expect to pick the washer tonight and I get to work!

Now that we’re moved in and we have no internet, its probably a good time to curb my addiction to the internet and get cracking on the studying. My exam is in 9 days, and there is hope that I can pass this tar baby.

I hope everyone is enjoying their respective winters. It finally snowed again this weekend. This makes all the better when its cold to see white.