Winter 2020 — Arrival
The keys were handed over on November 30, 2020. We arrived at a farmstead that had survived the Kaiser, two world wars, the Weimar Republic, the Third Reich, the GDR, reunification — 136 years of history soaked into the walls and woodwork.
The water pipes in the cellar were broken. We melted snow in a wok to make coffee, wash our faces, and brush our teeth. Parts of the electrical grid were working, so we could at least plug in heating plates and boil water.
We slept on foam mats in sleeping bags, as close to the tiled stoves as possible. The stoves take six to eight hours to get noticeably warm. Some nights, after arriving from Berlin, the temperature inside the house was minus five degrees. We curled up wearing woolen hats and thermal shirts.
Lacking closets, we improvised with ladders from the barn to hang clothes on. The ladders were spotted with chicken droppings — the barn had served as a chicken coop until shortly before we bought the place. Along with the ladders, we brought chicken mites into the house. A visit to the doctor, an ointment, and removing the ladders from the living areas brought relief.
It felt like starting a great adventure. There were moments when it seemed like crossing the line into fiction.