Our German Home

I’ve spent so much time talking about all the places we’ve experienced that I’ve never taken a minute to tell you about where we come back to after these adventures – our home. Since we’ve been spending quite a bit of time here during quarantine, it got me thinking about the adjustments we’ve had to make and how much we have changed since we’ve come to Berlin.

When we first arrived to our new “flat”, I had so many different pictures in my head of what would be on the other side of the front door. I was right about some things, other things I could never have predicted. We’ve grown to love many of the unique features while some are still taking some getting used to. These are some of the things that stand out about our German home.

THE BUILDING
Buildings are made up of front and back buildings with an inner courtyard, or “hof”, that separates them. This communal area is usually where the many different colored garbage bins are stored, it has an area for bike parking and sometimes includes a playground. Because all rooms have a proper window, the buildings are built in a square shape that encloses the courtyard and the center of the building does not exist.

The interior walls of the home are made of concrete, unlike American walls which are hollow and covered with drywall. And, to answer our friend who asked, “Are American walls like the movies where you can punch through them?” Well yes, yes they are.

When looking for a place, the non-bedroom rooms (or living spaces) count as rooms. To clarify – we have two actual bedrooms. But in Germany, living rooms, dining rooms, etc. are counted as rooms too. It was very confusing at first. Our listing is considered three bedrooms where our “third” room is the main common area. But it’s also our dining, kitchen and living. Confusing, right? I also still can’t get used to counting the ground floor as “0” and what would be the 2nd floor as 1st.

Each building has a “hausmeister”, a caretaker or a janitor who repairs/cleans the building. I love ours! Although the most we ever say to him is a quick hello, his German efficiency in mopping the stairwell every Tuesday at 8AM and being so quick to paint over any graffiti within 24 hours makes me smile every time I see him hard at work.

DOORS AND LOCKS
Always be sure to carry two VERY important keys with you. You will need the “master key”, which opens the building of your apartment (also the storage and trash area), and then another that opens the actual door to your home. We’ve made the mistake before of thinking the other has the keys and gotten locked outside in the dark with our hot dinner we picked up on the way home. Having to find a locksmith, overcome the language barrier and pay a hefty fee will is a great way to learn to not repeat this mistake.

The door locks itself with or without a key but to be really secure you have to “deadbolt” it which requires a certain amount of key turns. The locksmith showed us how easy it is to break the door open if you don’t lock it all the way. Now we make sure to leave our keys in the lock and perform the infinite turns upon entering our home. If anyone is staying behind when you leave, like your kids, you can’t deadbolt the lock or they’ll be locked in from the inside.

GUESTS / MAIL
Each building entrance has an intercom system where the residents’ names are listed. When your bell is rung, the intercom calls a phone in your home where you can speak to whoever rang the bell and hit a button to unlock the main door and let them in. All residents share the same address and don’t have unique unit numbers so making sure your name is marked clearly helps with package deliveries since couriers won’t leave them without a recipient.

The doorbells sometimes denote the floor and side of the building you live on. None of the older buildings have elevators so couriers will usually leave your package at someone else’s apartment (usually ours because we’re home all day) to save them the effort of repeatedly climbing up and down stairs. Don’t want junk mail? Leave a note on your mailbox and you’ll never see an ad for what’s on sale next week at your local grocer.

WINDOWS
Ok, these are definitely quite solid and impressively designed. In fact, our windows are one of the most common features commented on by our visitors.  Unlike most American windows, which are on a track that goes up or down, a single handle controls our windows. The handle gets put in the down position to shut it, horizontal fully opens it and tilting up opens the window at a crack. Simple and effective.

HEATERS
Each room has its own unit. The metal pieces and poles running up the wall give it an old-school feel. Each unit has its own dial and setting from 1-10 so there isn’t a universal temperature throughout your home. They get hot to the touch and make cracking noises but they’re pretty useful (as I’ve been taught by a friend) to dry your beanie after coming in from the rain. Heaters are on most of the year here but when summer comes, boy do we miss a good air condition feel!

BEDDING
I’ve sure spent some time in my day arranging and rearranging decorative pillows every morning but having a “picture perfect” bedspread doesn’t seem to be a thing here. This is because each person gets their own duvet cover and they’re own oversized European pillow. There just aren’t many ways to make this look pretty. I like that the stealing of blankets in the middle of the night is now a thing of the past, but I can’t shake this 26”x26” overly flimsy pillow that is nowhere near comfortable.

BATHROOM (“WATER CLOSETS”)
I’ve fallen in love with having a “#1” and “#2” flush button in my home. Even though our rent includes water, it’s nice to know we’re saving where we can. The toilets don’t have a tank. It’s basically just the seat hanging from the wall. And yes, we have a bidet. Seems to be a question we’re always asked! The one thing we were picky about not wanting when finding a place was this particular tub/shower situation – I don’t even know what it’s called. These tubs have detachable shower heads and no curtain. I couldn’t bear to think about how to master the art of keeping water from spilling everywhere – especially then having to teach a child.

KITCHEN
This being the nicest place we could get within our budget and in the area we wanted, this was probably the biggest upset especially since I love to cook. We were so used to entertaining back home, here I’ve had to figure out how to make this work with little to no counter space. As is common, our washing machine is also parked in the kitchen and our biggest cabinet is our fridge. There are no disposals. One friend couldn’t believe this was standard in the US and that we have “blenders in our sink”.

And since we sold most of our things, a furnished home was the better bet for us. It thankfully worked out since we found later that Germans take their kitchens with them when they move and most unfurnished homes come without one.

STORAGE
Thankfully our furnished place came with a good amount of storage. Everything is truly smaller here and though you probably wouldn’t hide you spare pasta boxes in the jacket closet back home so you have to find space where you can. Doing laundry is probably the most annoying aspect since I have to use an indoor drying rack that takes up an awkward amount of space. I sure miss having a dryer, especially for sheets and towels, but I also like how much longer our clothes last.

It’s been an adjustment and we’ve come along way, but I have just decided this will be a work in progress as long as we are here. The biggest and best lesson I have learned (quickly, thankfully) is to not be so wasteful and to just buy what you really need.

When we came to Germany, we knew things would be different. Finding out how different has just been part of the experience and, for the most part, a huge part of the fun. Sure, our flat is not what we’ve been accustomed to our whole lives, but we’ve learned we can be happy anywhere we are together. “Home” is never about where it is, and always about who is inside it.