Talk about a nail-biter! Did you see that game last night? It was amazing! The stadium was packed, the fans were at turns euphoric and devastated, and in the end, it all came down to a few penalty kicks. For the world championship of soccer. Women’s soccer. You missed...
The GW Expat Blog
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Daily life
Enjoy the Silence
It used to annoy me that I couldn’t do any shopping on Sundays and that our Saturdays were so hectic racing from one shop to the next when I first moved to Germany. Like anything in life, I got used to it. In fact, I started to like the fact that there was some time...
Not even the kitchen sink
Apartment or house hunting in Germany can dramatically reveal some of the more important cultural differences between the US and Germany. One of them is what I call the "four bare walls" tradition. When prospective buyers or tenants are house or apartment hunting,...
A Blog on Booze
I would say I learned the hard way, that attitudes regarding alcohol are quite different in Germany than in Canada. As a twenty-something living in Düsseldorf, (home to the world’s longest bar top if all were placed one after the other, as the legend goes) I very...
A German Sense of Order Restored
As I've recently blogged, I've been pregnant for the last nine months in America. It was a miserable pregnancy. While I was fortunate to not have any complications such as gestational diabetes or preeclampsia, I was debilitated by the discomforts of being so large and...
German compartmentalization and closed doors
German compartmentalization comes as a shock to most Americans. This rigid compartmentalization is both physical (floor plans, closed doors) and mental (friends vs acquaintances, business vs pleasure). It is a cultural difference that usually becomes obvious to expats...
Swabian Delights
Because most of my experience in Germany has been in the Southern half of the country, I often believe that all German food is as delicious as it is here in the region of Swabia. Occasionally, we venture North on vacation and I realize with disappointment that this...
See you Thursday, in Switzerland.
When I first learned I would be moving to Switzerland, like most of us expats, I quickly went online and began bouncing around German-way.com and its many message boards, trying to find out more about the country and its people. During my years as an expat I have...
When the Swiss Invite You to a “Panorama”
Having grown up on the flat Canadian prairies, not a clear and sunny day goes by that I don’t step out onto my balcony here in Switzerland, look over the bright blue Zurich Sea, toward the glowing green foothills of the Alps, and say out loud, "Wow!" Brandon, my...
Do You go to Church?
Happy Easter! This blog post is slightly late this week, because I have been busy doing what we all should be doing this holiday: spending time with friends and family. And because I live in the religious South of Germany, it is a nice long four-day weekend, with Good...
Living the German Way Part III
I was disappointed to read that my fellow blogger, Sarah Fürstenberger, was leaving our ranks as German Way Co-blogger for the time being. She and I had become friends while recording the same chapter in life as American expats living in Germany through this blog....
On Food
I have long believed that food in Germany is better than food in the United States. This was mostly based on (literal) gut feeling: since about age 14, my life in America was a battle with my digestive tract. I spent many nights as a teenager awake in bed with...
Punctuality: Am I Obsessed?
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...
There’s a dog in the pub!
Different canine expectations Kaiserswerth, Germany, a small village just outside of Düsseldorf, is a dog haven. There are vast green farmers’ fields for miles, very little traffic, and the shore of the Rhine offers many interesting things to smell and discover. Dogs...
They don’t teach you those words in German class
I enrolled in an intensive course (a must-have when you plan to live in a foreign country and need to assimilate, FAST) within three weeks of moving to Germany. It met five days a week, five hours a day. The learning curve was steep. It was great. Within two months I...
An Adjusted Adventszeit
In the past week, I had to adjust to the fact that Christmas is OVER, a week earlier than I had become accustomed to. I was used to our southern German world being shut down not just from the week of Christmas to New Year's but also through the first week of January...
A Hockey Wife in German-Speaking Europe
Most would imagine that being the partner of a professional athlete would be quite glamorous. Some imagine it as a life full of designer handbags, contract bonuses, nannies, and lots and lots of leisure time. But as the fiancée of a professional hockey player here in...
Losing my German
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...
U vs Ü
Driving in the car with my family the other day, I overheard my four-year old son say to his younger brother: “I am so frustrating! No! I am so frustrating! Stop doing that!” I had difficulty suppressing my laughter, tickled at the irony of his statement. Yes, I...
Pregnancy in a Post-DE World
One of the most challenging factors in my family's relocation from Germany to San Diego this year has been doing all of this during the first trimester of a pregnancy. For anyone who has close experience with this 3-month (often longer) phase, it can make life extra...
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