*Insulation*

It's no wonder I freeze in German houses. Instead of having insulation between 2x4s and sheet rock, there are enormous stacked rock-bricks covered with bumpy wallpaper that just emanate coldness. They may be sturdy, but I miss the warmth. When you knock on a wall here, there's no way anyone on the other side is going to hear it, the knocking just gets absorbed into the rock. Thus the cold walls and the cold floors and the house shoes and sweaters around the house.