Friday, March 22, 2013

A Week Of Progress


Sometimes you can spend hours and hours working and everything still looks like a crazy mess or a horribly long process that will never be completed. At least this week was not like that.

I have worked many hours in the shop trying to be the best assistant I can to our DS/Pastor/Project Coordinator/Fix everything guy. This week the task was to prepare for the floor guy and the painter. Both were coming on Friday. Since we have a floor with more waves than the California cost and spots with a drop so dangerous it could be part of the Mavericks surf tournament, we had a lot of prep work to do before the floor guy came to lay the foundation layer. And so the entire week was spent laying a geometrical nightmare of plywood to create a level and stable foundation. Of course with my illogical mind this whole process looked like one confusing mess to me. It became my job to help lift and move boards and to make sure they were screwed down well. Along the way I also did some small finishing tasks to the walls. 

Finally after many, many hours of labor, cleaning, and preparing I met the floor guy Friday morning and this time he went to work. After we spent days ripping six layers of carpet, wood, and cement flooring out, it's kind of defeating to watch almost that many layers being put back on. Well, not on every part of the floor but on some of the lowest parts. Still it makes you think why didn't we just stop at the first layer of carpet. That would have saved us a lot of work. Well, most often it takes a lot of work to do a job right. We will now have an even floor throughout the shop and there is not the threat of the floor breaking beneath us anymore. So, yes all of that work may have been hard and long and set us back on our time schedule, but we will be able to guarantee that our customers won't fall through the floor. And even though it does not have the final flooring on it, it does look like a beautiful glassy sea instead of a coast line.


Friday evening I also met the painter and left him to spray the first primer layer. I am so excited to walk into the shop on Saturday and see how bright the white makes it. Also, I am excited that the amount of dust in the shop has dropped enormously.

So this week we see progress because it is beginning to look like a building we can use instead of a construction site (as long as you don't look in the kitchen, bathrooms, or storage rooms).

Yes, there has been a lot of sweat, blood, and tears (I really did start to cry when the vacuum cleaner died on me with still half the shop to go). Like anything in life it takes getting some bruises and shedding some tears to grow to a better place. :)

Help! We Need Some Supplies


Right now we are in the middle of remodeling the main cafe room and building the coffee bar. It has been a long hard process.  This week I met with the CEO of an industrial kitchen supplier here in Denmark. He is in the process of drawing plans and providing a list of suggestions for the kitchen appliances. The blessing of this is that the Founder and CEO of this company (H. W. Larsen) has come to see our place because they were interested in our idea of a non-profit shop and are preparing all plans free of charge. But, they can not provide us with all appliances free of charge. So, we are looking for help in being able to purchase much needed Kitchen and Bar items. These prices are actually discounted prices that they will give to us. Here is the list of items-
Item                                   DKK         USD
Espresso machine             17,788          3,086 (has been donated! THANK YOU!!!)
Coffee grinder (Espresso)      4,995             867
Coffee grinder (Black coffee) 4,375     759
Coffee brewer (Black coffee)  3,173      551
Display cooler (small)          3,750      651
Tapestry for wall                  1,500      260

Dishwasher                         22,089    3,832
Baking oven                           5,505       955
Toaster                                   1,961       340
Blender                                   5,019       871
Hand blender                           3,346       581

If you are interested in helping us out. Please email me (or leave a comment with your email address) and I will give you more details.

Tuesday, March 12, 2013

playing or working... a month of progress

Today marks my 1 month anniversary for my second term in Denmark. I can't believe it has only been a month because I feel like I have been back forever. We have been working hard in the shop. I have been in the shop, almost every day, slowly work away at all of the many projects and many tasks it takes to make a cafe. The past week I have gotten to add cementing walls to my list of experiences and tasks that I have accomplished while doing ministry. It has been a time of work, work, work. But, all work and no play makes Katie a boring girl. So, during the times of chipping and sanding away at floors, walls, and ceilings I have found ways to keep myself and others entertained. Let's just face it, I am good at finding crazy things to do. Like-
deciding to climb out of a window just because I can do it. :) But, really we have made a lot of progress in the shop. We are a day of work away from the professionals coming in. The professionals will paint the whole shop with the sprayer and lay the flooring. We have been delayed with the floor. When we discovered the hole that goes from our shop to the basement and that part of it was rotted wood, we had to stop and now wait for it to be examined before we can continue on. The only plus side of this is that because it is a building problem, and not just our problem we will have some help paying for the repair. To see the progress of the shop check out this photo album- sweet surrender copenhagen

At least all of the work has not been the gross, hard, dirty, exhausting kind. Last week we met with two different coffee suppliers. It was so nice to discuss and taste coffee, and of course it resulted in an over-caffeinated Katie. But, they had fresh Kenyan to try- I could not resist! We have chosen our coffee supplier. :) Now we are almost a coffee shop. We just need the espresso machine set up!

Our opening date has been moved to the first of May. We are still in need of Work & Witness teams this summer. We are also in a real need to purchase items for the shop. We still need kitchen and bar appliances. If you are interested in helping us, please email me. Thanks!

Monday, March 4, 2013

A Tour of Sweet Surrender Copenhagen

Thank You to all of our supporters. Here is a video showing what our shop is now and what we hope it will be in the future. :)