Discussing expat life in German-speaking Europe


Posts tagged Ireland

How being an Expat has made me a better . . . Brit?

Nov05
2012 Written by JessicaL

A few posts back I wrote about how being an expat has made me a better Canadian. After thinking about it a bit further, I have actually come to realize that being an expat has also made me a better English and Irishwoman. Now I have to admit, I have never been to the UK, nor Ireland, and would never presuppose to be an expert on either place, so this may all sound a bit whacky. But bear with me as I explain how being an expat in German-speaking Europe has helped me to really discover my Irish and English roots.

Growing up in a multicultural country like Canada, we are taught from a young age to appreciate our own unique ethnic backgrounds. There were “Multicultural Day” festivals at school where students were asked to come wearing clothes that represented their families’ ethnic heritage.  Amongst the beautiful traditional Chinese, Aboriginal, Ukrainian, East Indian etc. outfits, I recall going to school on that day wearing a plastic green cap that came as a free gift with a case of beer on St. Patrick’s Day. That was about as close to being “authentically” Irish as my family really was, or so I thought for many years.

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Posted in Expat issues, History and culture - Tagged , , , ,

Farewell, for now…

Mar10
2011 Written by sarahfancy

As usual, I am late for my blog post. So much for German punctuality. It has been a busy period around our house since we moved to Ireland. What with working full time and taking care of the four kids together with my husband, I am not finding enough inspiration to write a blog about Germany and living in Germany. I feel a bit far away from my life there at the moment, during this phase of adjusting to a new life and culture in another country.

I know, excuses, excuses…But my only contact with Germany right now is through my husband and my family in Heidelberg. My kids are still speaking German at home, but we are struggling with maintaining the balance when their lives outside the home are all in English. I hope that we can keep it up and that we will get enough German visitors to give them perspective on the language. Right now, it is all daddy.

So my point is this: I am taking a break from blogging for the German Way. When I am feeling motivated and less busy, and more inspired, I will come back. I’ll also pop in with guest blogs once in a while (again, when the inspiration hits). I do hope that I can return in the future when I have more to give and more to share. I have enjoyed blogging for the past year or two. Good luck to all of you expats out there. Enjoy it!

- Sarah

Posted in Expat issues, Miscellaneous - Tagged , , , ,

Punctuality: Am I Obsessed?

Feb01
2011 Written by sarahfancy

When thinking about what to blog about this time round, I came back to one of my seeming favorite topics, punctuality. I had forgotten that I blogged about it in October, but something is calling me back again. I had been speaking to a colleague who had worked for the Irish arm of my former German company, and she mentioned that her boyfriend was always teasing her for being German (she is Irish) after being at a German company for a couple of years. She also expects people to be on time for meetings, follow through, and generally be on time. Her patience is as tested as mine is in many of these areas, although I do admit that my blog posts are almost never on time!

A recent poll done by Reader’s Digest and quoted in a video on the Deutsche Welle website indicates that, despite the trend in lateness when it comes to German trains (they said that only 1 in 5 was in time in recent months), Germans still place high value on punctuality. As the saying goes, five minutes early is considered “on time” by Germans. Thirty-two percent of those polled were willing to wait five minutes for someone, 36% were willing to wait 15 minutes, 6% were willing to wait 30 minutes, and a mere 2% would wait 60 minutes for a person they were meeting. As a recent expat in Ireland, where punctuality is not geschätzt or even expected, I have found that I even have to mention to people that they can expect me to be on time so as not to throw them off in their preparations for a party or evening out. READ MORE »

Posted in Daily life, Expat issues, History and culture - Tagged , , , ,

Multi-Kulti Christmas

Dec31
2010 Written by sarahfancy
Irish Christmas

Irish Christmas

This past year, our international family became even more international when my husband’s sister married a man from Colombia. When we moved to Ireland in September, the family decided that we would all celebrate Christmas together in Galway this year. The flight was direct, and short, so we anticipated no big problems. Anyone who has not been living in a cave for the past month will know that we were wrong on that front.

In the weeks leading up to Christmas, I had discussions with my older two girls about whether we would do “American” or “Irish” or “German” Christmas. I was pushing for a little bit of each. The older girls wanted to open presents on the 25th, as is done here in Ireland and in the US. I preferred to open them on the 24th, especially because the grandparents were visiting from Germany. We had finally concluded that we would open the German presents on the 24th and the ones from Oma in America on the 25th. But the bad weather made that decision for us.

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Posted in Expat issues - Tagged ,

Losing my German

Nov23
2010 Written by sarahfancy

We have been in Ireland for about three months now, and every time I speak to my closest German friend, I notice words slipping away. I was “home” this weekend, so I am feeling better about that again, but it is amazing how quickly it happens.

When we arrived in Ireland in August, our youngest, who was almost two, spoke mostly German. He had started in German Krippe in February of that year and was speaking it all day. His dad speaks German with him as well, so his only English tended to come from me, and sometimes from his older sisters, who mixed languages with the best of them, but were more likely to come out with English than German after seven years in Heidelberg. He did have some English, and understood everything I said, but his first tendency was almost always German.

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Posted in Daily life, Expat issues, German language, learning German - Tagged , , , , , , , ,

More Things I Miss About Germany: Punctuality and Public Transport

Oct19
2010 Written by sarahfancy

Being in Ireland for the past couple of months has of course given me a new perspective about Germany and its many benefits. Every expat in Germany has some painful dealings with bureaucracy and at least one or two stories to tell that make others cringe and nod in mutual consternation. We lament the amount of stamps required and the lack of opening times. But I may have moved backward in time when I moved to Ireland. Bureaucracy is live and well, but things are most definitely not as efficient.

Like in Germany, I have gone to various offices looking for various stamps and certifications and bits of paper here in Ireland. But several times I have turned up at these offices during what should be opening times and found a piece of paper on the door proclaiming the office to be closed. I was used to being able to look up opening hours and train times and all in the Internet. The Deutsche Bahn, the regional tram schedules, the opening hours of my town’s Rathaus. Here I am lucky to find a PDF bus schedule from 2009 in the Internet, and the buses run twice a day to the town that is still 5 miles away from where I actually live! In Germany you can get a bus to just about anywhere, no matter how small. There are no guarantees that the buses will run past 10pm on a weeknight, or that they run more than once an hour on Sundays, but they DO exist! READ MORE »

Posted in Daily life, Expat issues, Miscellaneous, Red tape and bureaucracy - Tagged , , , , , ,

Working My Way

Sep20
2010 Written by sarahfancy

I have just completed my first work week in Ireland, after working in Germany for most of my adult life. My most recent stint was at a large German company that was known for being relaxed and friendly, two qualities that are not always associated with other sorts of German companies. Now I am working at a large American company with an office in Ireland, and the differences are vast and amazing to me.

For a short while in the 90s, I did work in the US at a large automotive company, but for the most part, my working life has been spent in Germany. My first job was at a small publishing company that focused on the exciting world of roofing tiles and ceramics. There were four or five of us Sachbearbeiter, all of whom actually translated, edited and desktop published. When I joined the company, almost everyone used the formal Sie with one another, from the CEO down to the cleaning lady. After two years, my American openness had filtered out a bit and our whole department finally managed to use first names with one another. When I interviewed there, the CEO actually asked me whether I planned to have kids in the near future. Of course this was and continues to be illegal, but what can you do, poor and desperate for a job and fresh out of college? As a fresh-out-of-college feminist, this pushed my buttons. I was astounded that jobs in the newspaper were directed at either men or women. READ MORE »

Posted in Daily life, Expat issues, Work and employment matters - Tagged , , , ,

Dies and Das

Aug23
2010 Written by sarahfancy

Being a foreigner once again here in Ireland, after finally not feeling very foreign in Germany, is a new adventure. I finally learned the little cultural tricks in Germany, like not putting my hand out for change at the bakery, but waiting for them to place it on the little tray on the counter, and even the big ones, like closing doors out of habit in every room in the house. And now it all begins again…

Warning: This blog may be a bit rambly; I’ve spent all day delving through moving boxes, directing people and lugging furniture.

I’ve managed the driving bit, at least as far as the smaller roads around our little country town are concerned, but I think I will never be able to employ my excellent Autobahn passing skills in this country. First of all, people just don’t drive that fast. Second, I would be READ MORE »

Posted in Expat issues, History and culture, Miscellaneous - Tagged , , , , , , ,

Expats All Over Again

Jul26
2010 Written by sarahfancy

Like Jane and her husband, we are also on our way out of Germany. Unlike them though, we are becoming expats once again, this time in Ireland. There are so many things I love about living in Germany. This move happened quickly, and it was a choice for us, but it is scary and I can only imagine what I will miss about Germany, even while I look with excitement toward the new experiences that await me and my family in our new country (mit einem lachenden und einem weinenden Augen).

There are things I know I will miss and there are things that I know I won’t miss. For all my moaning about Germany, I know I have it good over here. This becomes especially apparent when friends from the US come to visit. I’ll start with the things I will miss: READ MORE »

Posted in Expat issues, History and culture, Miscellaneous - Tagged , , , , ,

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