With Halloween drawing close, I've been thinking about holidays for expats. Which holidays are observed and how they are celebrated varies a lot around the world. In the English-speaking countries alone there are great variations. (Canada's Thanksgiving is the second...
The GW Expat Blog
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Daily life
More Things I Miss About Germany: Punctuality and Public Transport
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...
Working My Way
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...
Living the German Way in San Diego – Part 2
The sun is still shining here in San Diego. After 6.5 weeks of being homeless, living in hotels and staying with my parents in Pennsylvania, my family and I are finally installed in our own house, which we now call home in a neighborhood called Kensington. We are...
Levels of Language Proficiency: My Life in Germany
Beyond Ordering a Beer Recently I enjoyed reading Julia Child's My Life in France (with Alex Prud'homme). It's a great book (and the first one I ever read as a Kindle edition on my iPhone). Anyone who has lived abroad or spent only a brief time in the French capital...
Living the German Way in San Diego – Part 1
I admit that I was probably a bit whingey in my last message. I've had some time to get over my homesickness for Germany and Europe and embrace San Diego. It's nothing like Deutschland, but the living is so easy and the weather is as perfect (always in the 20s C/70s F...
Before Amazon, there was…
I'm an avid reader, and always have been. But as an expat in Germany, it wasn't always easy to feed my fervent need for reading material. When I was a kid, I sat between my brother and sister in the back of the car for every vacation with a pile of books at my feet....
Goodbye Deutschland
The title of this post is not meant to be in reference to Germany and its standing at the World Cup. Rather, it is in reference to the fact that this will be my last post on this blog while living in Germany. One prominent aspect of expatriate life is a higher...
A Night at the Ball: A Glimpse at German Fraternities
Last weekend, I accompanied my husband to Heidelberg to celebrate the 130th anniversary of his fraternity. A German fraternity is not quite the same as an American fraternity, but some things it does have in common are a heavy emphasis on drinking and membership into...
A Different Kind of Food Fad
OK, maybe it is not really a fad. Not here in Germany that is. But almost 6000 years ago the Kosher food "movement" (everything is a movement now) started. It still exists but has a big brother, Halal. The two dietary systems have much in common which shouldn't be...
Buying Bio (Organic) in Germany
Long, long ago, in 1992, when I first came to Germany, I, at the tender age of 21, had no real idea of what "organic" even was. Who did back then, except a few hippies and tree huggers (ha, ha). I had a few older and wiser friends with small children who bought bio...
Is Intercultural Business Training Worth It?
I recently had an encounter with some Americans who worked closely with German colleagues — not very well. They felt that their hard work and efforts were under-appreciated by the Germans and that they were regarded as a bunch of cowboys. They felt that compared to...
No Google Street View in Germany and Austria?
Today's blog is inspired by two recent events in Germany: (1) The vehement opposition to Google Street View from some Germans and Austrians, and (2) the March 2, 2010 German Federal Constitutional Court decision that overturned a law that allowed government...
Expat, Phone Home
Nowadays, there are many cheap and easy ways to keep in touch with friends and family at home when you are an expat in Germany. When I first moved here in 1992, I was only really able to call my parents from a pay phone outside my dorm, and I could talk for about 5...
Village Life
Sometimes I feel like we're living in another decade in the past. The other day when I was looking at eltern.de, the website for Eltern (Parent) Magazine, there was an ad for the new Volkswagen Sharan model. The Sharan now has an electric sliding door. Although I've...
“Friendly Service” and Zero-Euro-Jobs
Who's left holding the (grocery) bag? One definition of culture shock: The first time an American goes through the checkout lane at a German grocery store. The first shock is seeing the cashier/checker comfortably seated rather than standing. The second comes as the...
Movie Ratings — Watch Out!
I had planned to go see the movie "Valentine's Day" with my eldest daughter this past week in English, but the few times it was being shown just didn't work for us. On Friday we finally decided to go to see it in German in the local theater, and because it was "ab 6",...
Germany’s North and South Divide
Perhaps you've heard of the Weisswurstäquator (white sausage equator - these sausages are particular to Bavaria). If you haven't, it's the line that divides the north of Germany from the south, and it runs just south of Frankfurt. (Writer's Note: this border is open...
Buying Shoes for Kids: Germany vs. the US
Just recently, I went to buy my youngest his first pair of shoes. Ty the au pair came with us to chase Olivia through the store, expecting this to be a short process. He was wrong, of course, because this is Germany, and everything takes just a little bit longer! And...
Raising “Free Range” Kids in Germany
I'm concluding my Christmas holidays now here in America, so it's natural for me to once again think about how different my life would be if I were living in America instead of in Germany, especially as a mother. Despite all my good intentions to not shop as much and...
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