Ikea puzzles

Well dear readers, we have spent the last 5 days working non-stop on our Ikea furniture. One of the reasons it's cheaper is that you put it together yourself....all of it's million little parts...ALL of them. After realizing that yard sales just don't exist here and used furniture stores are not available either, we had to buy new. However, all the local shops were either through-the-roof expensive with good quality or through-the-roof-expensive with really poor quality. Thankfully 50 minutes down the autobahn we were able to reach our closest Ikea with decent prices, decent quality and cheap delivery costs....phew!

Last night we finally slept on a real bed. It's been 8 weeks of sleeping in small twin size beds, usually on the floor, so it was such a treat. The last time we slept on one nice bed was back in Gloucester! Our room looks like a hotel room since none of our personal effects are decortating the space yet, but it's nice. We also love the bedside lights that Stefan's mother gave us as early birthday presents! I also have a desk of my own now, perfect for when my next intensive German course begins in September.

Lots of things have worked out well to make this all possible: Stefan's job issues were resolved, giving us a paycheck we could actually use towards buying furniture (I FINALLY unpacked my suitcases today since I finally had a place to put my clothes!!), Stefan's old furniture from college days was retrieved from a friend's house and now he has his big desk again, we have a toolbox to build things with, and his old Ikea shelving system was able to be resurrected (and they still make it, so we bought some extension pieces) and now have enough space - we think - to unload all our books!

We are gradually getting this house set up....it just takes forever when you have to buy everything from closets (99% of houses have none here) to light fixtures for the ceilings (rentals just come with wires from the ceiling) to basic cleaning supplies!

It's a good thing we're finally making bigger steps because yesterday we received word that our boxes from America will be arriving on August 7th - the day before Stefan's birthday next week...the ultimate present! ha ha! We are looking forward to having our own things that will help this space feel more like home. I also packed a small stash of Americana - namely cheaper contact solution, maple syrup, baking soda, and my favorite toothpaste....yay! Yesterday I gave up wrestling with the toothpaste tube and finally admitted that no more could come out.