Monday's Moment: Acceptance letters are starting to trickle in!

 

Monday's Meowment: Always Watching

 

Monday's Moment: First Snow

Monday's Moment: Wait what?!?!

 

Monday's Meowment: Do I need a bath?

 

Monday's Moment: Tomato Harvest before it Freezes

 

Monday's Meowment: Nothing to see here

 

Monday's Moment: Hay People!

 

Monday's Meowment: Rough night?

 

Monday's Moment: Incoming

 

Monday's Moment: Can cats read?

 

Monday's Meowment: Supercat takes a Nap

 

Monday's Moment: Double the Wishes

 

Monday's Moment: Confident Tomato

 

Monday's Moment: Is it a bird or a plane? No, it's a pattypan!

 

 

Monday's Meowment: Morning Cat Grass Snack

 

Monday's Moment: Most Important Holiday of the Year

 

Monday's Moment: Before, During, After

 

Monday's Moment: Hair flip, Mermaid Style

Monday's Moment: The joy when you get CHOCOLATE ice cream on the plane

 

Monday's Moment: New Names for Everyday Objects!

 

Monday's Moment: Achtung!

 

Monday's Moment: Ornate Window

 

Monday's Moment: Fall Blooming Anemones

 

Monday's Moment: Thanks for the warning....but I'm already out of the channel

 

Monday's Moment: Oysters in Pluffmud

 

Monday's Moment: The walk home

 

Monday's Moment: European Firebug (Pyrrhocoris apterus)

 

Monday's Moment: Hearing a SNL skit every time I pass this place....

 

Monday's Moment: Fence

 

Unpacked....the official Wohnung tour!

So I'm way past due for this one....in keeping with tradition now that we are on post four, it seems only common courtesy to give a tour of our housing like I did in Doha, Suva, and Tbilisi. So in Frankfurt, 80%+ of the community gets put into an apartment housing compound. So can I can at least give one an idea of what a three bedroom apartment looks like (apartments range from studios to 5 bedrooms). So what's in a name? Wohnung is the German word for flat or apartment. So it seemed perfect for the title....

So the housing compound is an assortment of buildings looking like this. Having gone to coffees in some other units, it is interesting to see how they are all slightly different. There's probably 50+ building like this and each one is slightly designed different....I wonder which one was built last and is "perfect"...lol. So the consulate Richard works at used to be an old hospital. Previously a German hospital and then a US military hospital (fun fact: G.I. Elvis Presley had his appendix removed there!). Needless to say, I have no desire to walk the halls of the consulate by myself at night! The apartments were built after WWII when the hospital was converted to a US military hospital and are old military housing. The interiors remind of us our grandparents house (ex. circa 1950s style doors, shelves, ledges, etc). 

Standard apartment entrance...the length of entry varies between apartments, some have a cut out where we have the mirror. We've seen some kitchens that have been remodeled...ours is not of them. I do love the gas stove! Lovely view of the cookie cutter building behind us...lol.

The washer and dryer being in the kitchen is apparently a German thing....I've since made a curtain to hide them (and our recycling on top) when not in use. It makes the room a bit smaller but looks nicer. Some units have the washer and dryer behind closet doors. I've also seen a unit with a cut out between the kitchen and the dining room. That one is really open and nice.

The dining room has the same table we have had at all the posts. There are few families in a trial program that is renting furniture from a local company and have completely different furniture. That would be exciting if that becomes the norm! We rotated the table 90° and it made the room bigger. We made a little coffee/beverage station to the left under all our Starbucks mugs. We might ended up needing a third rack while we are here! 

The cat loves the cat hammock on the window. On the opposite side of the house, we put up her cat tree. So then she can get morning and afternoon sun for nap times...

So the main room is much more of multipurpose room. We have the den using the main portion of it, in a little window alcove is Richard's "office" on work from home days, and then to the side is my little office/craft area.

While not ideal, it works for the most part (except when both Richard and I have work calls at the same time...then someone has to go in another room).

Through the lovely glass door in the den is the bedrooms. In theory, the door could be closed to make the bedrooms quieter in the evening. Only problem is the door is older and sticks so when you open and close it is quite loud and would wake anyone sleeping...lol. The room sizing is quite odd. Two rooms that are nearly identical in size and then a tiny room. 

Still lugging around our king size bed, BEST DECISION EVER!! The wall opposite the window is built closet/drawers. So not much to see. 

We think the teen actually took the "Master bedroom" as it might be a foot bigger on one side, but the placement of the closet/windows wouldn't work with our king size bed. So we let the teen have the extra room.

Poor little Clarissa got the tiniest of rooms. 

She wanted the queen size bed that was originally in our bedroom, so she literally has a BEDroom and a tiny walking space.

We have two neighboring bathrooms that are quite popular and in high demand while everyone gets ready in the mornings.

The bath and bedrooms did not have any good space for hampers, so I got these to place in the hallway between the bed/bathrooms. It was funny the "complaints" of the hampers was they were too small....but for our small European washer, they are the perfect size. A full bag is a full load. 

We do have a storage unit in the basement to store the holiday decorations and luggage. Richard was working from home for delivery/unloading of all our things. Given we weren't guaranteed they would come back for empty boxes, we had the movers unpack the boxes. Richard had a little panic attack with all our things just piled up all over the place. Once things got tucked away into closets, drawers, and cabinets it all worked out. A majority of the furniture in our home stays with the apartment for the next family, so that helps in we don't have to find a place for all that (though there is still too much furniture). That wraps up what is the shortest housing tour yet!