I've experienced several "American expat in Germany" rites of passage since I first moved to Germany, which was eight years ago: having a German wedding, learning to drive stick in the Swabian Alps, figuring out what goes in the Gelber Sack, pregnancy, giving birth,...
The GW Expat Blog
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German vocabulary
German Workers’ Councils Demystified
I’m taking on a lofty goal by trying to spell out what German Workers’ Councils or Betriebsräte are in 500 words or less, a concept that is often abstract to those of us from countries without them. If you are employed somewhere with a Betriebsrat, you should know who...
A bilingual Christmas
“It's the Christmas Man," my two-and-a-half-year-old son cheered, pointing to the large inflatable red-clad figure bobbing in the wind outside a men's clothes shop. In these first unseasonably barmy days of early December, we were yet to talk about the intricacies of...
Happy Advent
I am not homesick for Germany*. There must have been something in my eyes this weekend, when I attended the Toronto Christmas Market. Something strange happened as we walked past the huts selling ornaments and decorations from the Black Forest. These waves of...
German Grocery Stores Are No Visual Feast
One aspect that I have always loved about living in Europe compared to the US is the overall higher quality of food. Tomatoes taste like sweet sunshine and smaller Old World apples are crispier and sweeter than their mammoth American cousins. Then there are those...
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (final)
Today we'll finish my list of expat likes (the good), dislikes (the bad) and major gripes (the ugly). We are now in Part 2 of the "good" things. In Part 1 I began with "the bad," but my "good" list turned out to be even longer! So long in fact, that I needed to split...
Expat children
I am struck, watching my two small children grow up in Berlin, how different their childhood is from mine in England's industrial north in the 1980s. We are very integrated here - most of our friends are German. the nursery the children go to is German, and the places...
Re-expatriating
We've returned to the Fatherland after the grueling process of packing up and moving a household of a family of five. We drove six hours from San Diego to Las Vegas listening to Die Zaueberfloete non-stop. We saturated in ueber-Americana for three days on The Strip....
Football Daze
It is a perfect Northern European midsummer's evening, the sky a delicate swirl of gentle pastels and the soft air just cool enough for a cardigan: we have our window open. Then, quite suddenly, outside a tremendous roar erupts. Men, women and children let out shouts...
A German Education
I am going to attempt to explain the German education system in the simplest terms possible. For those with further education who can handle the exceptions, I have listed them at the end. When a child is born in Germany, it has the right to a place in a daycare from...
German efficiency and Berlin’s new airport
There is a German term for "German efficiency" – several in fact: deutsche Gründlichkeit, Effizienz, Fähigkeit, Leistungsfähigkeit, Tüchtigeit. German efficiency can be found gloriously in German doors and windows, in energy use (hall lights that only turn on if...
Spargelzeit
The first whiff of anticipation comes in early April when you notice the odd crate in the supermarket, labelled "from Spain" and extortionately priced. You keep your eye on the incrementally falling price over the following fortnight. And when it hits seven euros a...
Good Night, Sleep Tight, Watch out for the Crack!
Maybe you have visited Germany on a trip and noticed that the hotel beds were a little funny. Large, generously proportioned, down pillows, down comforters. But strangely, when you sink into the middle of the bed you find, well, it's lacking. There’s a crack down the...
Germans: We don’t need no stinkin’ apartment numbers
It never really dawned on me that the Germans don't use apartment numbers – until I lived in a German apartment house. The only way the postal carrier (Postbote/Postbotin) can deliver mail to the correct apartment in even a large apartment complex is by the surname on...
Tricks of the trade for the metrically challenged
In an earlier article I wrote about the many little differences in daily culture that can sometimes frustrate expats in German-speaking Europe. I listed 15 "Kleinigkeiten" that may or may not be minor matters – from traffic signal placement to the bare kitchen. But...
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...
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...
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...
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