As mentioned in an earlier post, I had plans to visit my folks in Northern Germany. This is exactly what I did. On Monday I hopped on a train and drove to Hamburg and from there out into the countryside. I had made this decision very spontaneously and surprised my parents a bit by showing up on their doorstep, which is unusual as they usually pick me up from the train station. But I really wanted to give public transport a try and took the bus (which only goes every hour or so).
“Work Vacation”
Normally I’m very much in vacation mode when I stay with my parents, but this time I explicitly wanted to be active and get things done. So, on the first evening and throughout the next days I started compiling a list of things that needed to be done. There was a variety of repairs and improvements on the house, some work to be done in the garden and also some woodworking.
I did my best to stay motivated and to get things done and have to say that it worked quite well. And it was fun, too. My parents endured my energy bursts and went along, sometimes a bit apprehensive, but overall eager to also see things getting finished.
Dressing Room
One of the main jobs to get done was a complete overhaul of my parents’ dressing room. So, we started early on by making plans and deciding what the new interior should look like. To keep things somewhat simple, we decided on the classic wardrobe from IKEA with sliding doors, but that also meant figuring out the logistics of picking it up, assembling it etc.
We ended up spending the weekend on disassembly, driving back and forth and putting everything together. Unfortunately, we had to wait for some parts, which were not available, so we could not finish everything right away and had to delay the last 20% until next week.
Gardening and more
Something deceptively simple that I always enjoy when I’m out there in the countryside is the fact that there is a garden. I live in a flat on the 5th floor, so I never get the opportunity to walk around and tend a garden. It’s a nice change of pace, so I made sure to help out with mowing the lawn, watering the plants and doing lots of smaller things around the house.
I really enjoy doing things with my hands. Seeing the immediate result and feeling physically exhausted (rather than mentally, which is more common for me) is very good.