European kitchens

Several people have told me in the past year that if you pay attention to the feelings in your dreams, it can sometimes give you a clue to what you're feeling and experiencing when you're awake, because your subconscious tries to continue processing and problem-solving when you're sleeping.

It's a pretty easy guess, then, what last night's dream was about.

I dreamed that I had ordered a custom-built house, and when it was done, Andrew and I packed up all our stuff and drove over to the house to move in. Several local friends, some of whom are German, showed up to help us unload everything into the new house.

As we walked up to the house, I realized that the kitchen wasn’t finished — it had only three walls, and the fourth wall was open to the outside; also there was no roof. So it was like an outdoor kitchen.

“They didn’t finish the kitchen!” I said, upset.

“Yes, they did. This is the European style of kitchen,” said my German friend. “All the kitchens in Europe are this way.”

“But what about when it’s winter, and it’s cold and rainy?” I asked.

“Oh, we just plug in extra heaters and use umbrellas, it’s totally fine,” he said.

Although this dream is a lot more exaggerated than real life scenarios, the feeling reminded me of the many times that I -- as someone still becoming familiar with the culture of my immediate surroundings -- am trying to understand the normal way of doing things in my new home.

In a new culture, at first glance you might think the way of doing things seems rather impractical, inefficient or straight-out strange. Yet, if you take the time to ask questions, observe how new friends do things and why, you often find that it makes good sense in your new context after all.

And then you have funny dreams about it.

-- Gina