As I write this, I am dazed with jet lag. In this haze, the thoughts I had on the airplane for this blog post are distant and somewhat difficult to grasp. The moment we arrived back in Europe, it was as if the trip had never happened. Three weeks of the Great...
The GW Expat Blog
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Expat issues
Some R&R for German Mothers
I have a confession. This might not come as a surprise to some of you, but it’s been tough being a mother to three children under the age of five. Especially in the last few months as my baby has become more sensitive to noise and light, and as I’ve had to try to...
The German Past raises its ugly head
A couple of days ago I opened my local newspaper here in Reno and turned to the "Nation & World" section. Wow! A huge headline jumped out at me: "Germany links serial killings to neo-Nazi sympathizers: Turks are outraged by slow action." The Reno Gazette-Journal...
Expat Hospitality
As I have mentioned before, my husband is a professional hockey player, now playing here in Switzerland. We spend nine exciting months of each year in Europe, then three whirlwind months in Canada. As much as we adore our time overseas, it always requires some...
Don’t be Stuffy
A few years ago, a building contractor told me a story that scared me enough to change my habits: “I worked with a young couple recently who fully remodeled an old house. They both worked full-time. Every morning, they both got up, took showers, got dressed and left...
German Cuisine: a Comforting Constant
One of the small things that charmed me about our San Diego neighborhood when I first visited it, was the presence of a small, independent used cookbook store. Sadly, it's closing this Christmas. The owner explained to me that she can make more money working less...
Cheese Please!
When the cool fog starts rolling across Lake Zurich, and the neon green foothills begin showing white frosting on top, my thoughts immediately turn to the tastes of Swiss winter foods. Last fall during my first few months in Switzerland, I started hearing people talk...
What to do with all that junk?
The trash separation schemes in Germany are legendary, and have been covered in this blog previously: Garbage in, garbage out. But what do you do when your stuff doesn’t fit in any of those little bins anymore? Take it to the dump! In Germany, they don’t actually have...
Bad Nauheim and Elvis
Towards the end of my October visit to Austria and Germany, my wife and I drove to Bad Nauheim in the state of Hesse, about a half-hour drive north from Frankfurt am Main. When I told Germans why I was going there, I usually got chuckles in response. Today the spa...
When to go Home
It’s hard to know when to go home. Situations arise back in Canada that often tug at my heart, wanting to pull me across the ocean. Though we get to experience many wonderful things while living here, we expats also miss out on a whole lot. While we do have most of...
Schaffe Schaffe Häusle Baue
That’s nice thick Swabian for “work and work to build a house”. The Swabians are probably the most home-owning obsessed of the Germans, and even here, I’m not even sure that the majority of people live in their own property. Continental Europe in general is very...
Finding Childcare in Germany
I mentioned in my previous post that spending the first year of baby's life with him or her at home is common and expected in Germany, at least in the west. On the other hand, it isn't so easy to go back to work within the first year or before age three because of the...
Canadian Wedding with a German/Swiss Twist
Four months before my July wedding I was inundated with the same comment from almost every female I encountered: “Oh you must be so busy!” Further into the conversation always came the question, “Is it difficult planning a wedding from overseas?” I was living with my...
Out and About in the Schwäbische Alb
(This post is totally focused on the SW of Germany... apologies to readers in other regions!) Have guests coming? There is no reason to trek all the way to Neuschwanstein to see a castle; there is plenty to be seen within a two-hour drive of Stuttgart. Having spent a...
The First Twelve Months
I've been enjoying getting to know my new baby during these first three months of his life. I organized a Mommy & Me Yoga/Baby Massage class at our local yoga studio here in San Diego to give myself that regular undistracted one-on-one time with baby Lenny. During...
Credit card differences
I was planning to write today about the problems sometimes encountered by Americans when they try to use their US credit card in Europe. As fortune would have it, I experienced exactly the reverse yesterday: Trying to use a German card in the US. I was helping a...
Go Forth and Reproduce
It’s a fact: Germany needs babies. The generous welfare system of this social democracy needs young people to work hard and pay enough taxes to support the rest of society. One problem: young people are too busy working to bother with raising the next generation of...
Moving with Max
Pets are becoming more and more a part of the family. They live in our homes, sleep in our beds, and the lucky ones even join us on vacations. So when considering relocation to another country many pet owners would never dream of leaving their furry family members...
How many Germans are international travelers?
Germans have a reputation as travelers. They even claim to be the Reiseweltmeister (world champions of travel). Indeed, many citizens of Germany do travel abroad and in Germany. If you visit US national parks, as I did this month, you could get the impression that...
Soccer Fever!
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...
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