Exonyms: Shape-Shifting Place Names "Munich" is the English exonym for the city that Germans call München. An exonym is a name used in a specific language for a geographical feature situated outside the area where that language is spoken, and differing from the...
The GW Expat Blog
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German vocabulary
Comparing the Covid Response of the USA and Germany
After 2 years of not seeing my family, I was back in the USA twice at the end of last year. In October we booked emergency tickets and were back visiting a sick family member within 72 hours. A Christmas trip was planned. Both trips were a low-key shock to the system....
How many lives does a cat have? What is Trick 17?
Number Idioms in German Cats have been around for thousands of years. They are said to have more than one life. Just how many lives depends on where you are. Arabian and Turkish cats have six lives. For some reason German or Spanish cats have seven lives. In the...
Marijuana in Germany
Christmas has passed and we are entering the truly dark days of winter between Weihnachten and Silvester, waiting for the weather to finally warm again in …. May? I was on a call with a new colleague from Turkey and she visibly blanched at the news that we have months...
Donations in Berlin
Germany is officially in the fourth wave of the pandemic. After a summer of poking our head out of our shell, feeling like maybe - maybe! - things were a little closer to normal, another lockdown looms. The new coalition government is doing their best to avoid this,...
Differences Between School in Germany in the USA
We’ve been on a short visit back to the USA which has luckily coincided with Halloween. Our kids, 2 and 6-years-old, have only experienced the Germans’ half-hearted embrace of the holiday before. Our American friends and family have been fascinated by the differences...
Gendering and Sexism in German and English: das Gendern
In the last few years, Germans and other German-speakers have been embroiled in a debate over das Gendern, or "gendering." Anyone who has tried to master the German language knows that, unlike English, all nouns in German, not just proper nouns, are capitalized and...
Different Appliances in Europe and the USA
Last month I met my parents in Iceland for a week of travel and an epic reunion. We hadn’t seen each other in over two years; since my 2-year-old was a baby, since we used to travel, since Corona was just a beer you drank on Cinco de Mayo. At the end of June 2021,...
Starting School in Germany
Starting school is a big deal no matter where you are. I’ve been seeing my friends in the States post pics of their kids in front of the front door, backpack on and smile on their face. I posted my own proud picture of my first grader at the beginning of August when...
Ice Cream in Germany
The German word for ice cream is Eis, pronounced similar to “ice”. This leads to countless renditions of Vanilla Ice’s “Ice Ice Baby” by any North American English-speaker in Germany. In fact, it can be hard to get the song out of my head in summer because Eis is...
48 Hours in Leipzig
After over a year and half of going no further than Brandenburg, we had to get out. It was time to travel. But still only half vaccinated and with most places partially shut down we didn’t want to go too far. So we decided on a weekend trip to Leipzig. We had visited...
School Supplies in Germany
After the uncertainty of applying for a Grundschule (elementary school) outside of our district, we have successfully waited it out. Our daughter got into our first choice! Considering how competitive finding a KiTa (preschool) can be, we had no idea if there was any...
Food Delivery in Berlin
In the USA, food delivery has always been an option. Whether it was pizza or the local Chinese, the American demand for convenience dictated you could get hot food delivered to your home almost 24/7. Even in my childhood home out in the wilds of Washington State, we...
Sledding in Germany
Several years ago, we experienced our first white Christmas with our daughter. She was a toddler - a near perfect cherubic age - and we were staying in my husband's hometown. As the flakes began to fall and softly cover and quiet the landscape, we felt the wonder of...
Germany in the United States and Canada
North American Communities with German Namesakes This was originally intended as a normal brief blog post about German (and Austria/Swiss) place names in the USA. However, as I was researching and writing this post, I began to realize that the topic was far more...
Looking for Work and Starting a New Job in Germany
After a 2020 that threatened to end civilization as we know it, I allowed myself to be hopeful for 2021. Sure, Silvester (New Years Eve) was downsized to a quiet night at home (fireworks still blasting outside by people gloriously ignoring regulations) and we were...
My Favorite German Words and Expressions
Meine Lieblingswörter und Redewendungen Thanks to Hitler's ranting speeches and Hollywood WWII movies, the German language has a less than ideal reputation as a foreign language. Among most people who do not speak it (and even among some who do), German is regarded as...
Is Christmas 2020 Canceled in Germany?
If you have ever been in Germany at Weihnachten (Christmas), you know it is a magical time. Christmas markets bring people together, the glühwein flows, the smell of Gebrannte Mandeln is everywhere, and Germans are at their jolliest. It is also a Coronavirus...
Superstitions in Germany
Since this post is sandwiched between Halloween and a truly terrifying presidential election in the USA, I thought this was the perfect time to go over some German superstitions, or Aberglauben. Every culture has them, but when you aren't raised around them they can...
The German Who Named America
America • The Americas • American: What's in a Name? How did the American continent (Erdteil in German, "earth part") get its name? America, considered one continent or a "double continent," was the fourth one to be discovered by Europeans. When (in 1606) they found...
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