I was a little embarrassed to tell people I was taking German courses. Not because I think language courses are embarrassing. Quite the opposite. I think they are incredibly valuable. I was embarrassed because it has taken me so long to get there. After over a decade...
The GW Expat Blog
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German language
Karl May: German Westerns, Winnetou and Old Shatterhand
If you've never heard of Winnetou, Old Shatterhand, Kara Ben Nemsi or Old Surehand, you probably didn't grow up in Germany or another German-speaking country. Those characters created by the German author Karl May (1842-1912) are as well-known in Germany and a few...
Going to the Movies in Germany
As Berlin steamed with temperatures in the mid to high 30s C (90 degrees F) over much of the last month, I looked for ways to cool down. My family hit a lot of the classics, including copious park hangs, elaborate ice cream sundaes, visiting the pool, and even...
Quirks of Vacation Days in Germany
It is the day after Ostern (Easter) when this post goes up, so still a holiday in most European countries. As I am on vacation in Spain, I was pleased I wouldn't have to take Friday or Monday as vacation days as they are public holidays throughout Germany. That isn't...
Life in Germany since the Invasion of Ukraine
I was in the throes of Covid when the invasion of Ukraine began. In my own personal pits of exhaustion and despair, I watched in disbelief as a war in Europe began. The first 48 hours we were glued to the news. I watched line after line of Russian military vehicle...
Winterferien in the Austrian Alps
Since my daughter started Grundschule (elementary school), we have come to the grim realization that we are tied to the school schedule. While schools in Germany have many extended breaks throughout the year, they have traditionally been inflexible about vacation days...
What’s in a Name? Exonyms: Köln vs Cologne, Donau vs Danube, Beijing vs Peking
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...
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,...
Swiss Family Robinson: From Johann Wyss to Walt Disney
Some facts about The Swiss Family Robinson and Robinson Crusoe: The "Swiss Family Robinson" was not named Robinson. Robinson Crusoe was of German heritage. Daniel Dafoe, the man who started it all, published a sequel called The Farther Adventures of Robinson Crusoe,...
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...
The Matterhorn and Zermatt: What You May Not Know About the World’s Most Iconic Mountain
Berg der Berge (Mountain of Mountains) Let's start in Zermatt, a city without combustion-engine autos (to preserve its pure mountain air). Electric-powered shuttles provide local transport. Most visitors reach Zermatt via the cog railway from the nearby town of Täsch....
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...
Germany in the USA and Canada: Part 2
A Preview of German Place Names and Connections: From Leipsic to Winesburg When I first wrote about German Place Names in the USA and Canada more than five months ago, I realized that the topic was far more vast than I had originally thought. Since then, as I have...
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...
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