At 8am on a Sunday, walking my dog here can feel like a scene from a zombie apocalypse film. Not that the maybe two people I will pass look ghastly and likely to want to eat my brains, just that there is an eerie quiet that descends on the village on Sunday. As...
The GW Expat Blog
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German language
Berlin Nuts
Without much of a summer, it was like I turned around and it was fall. Luckily, I love fall. Adore. It is my favorite season. But is was still shocking to see the trees suddenly aflame in orange and red. Walking became difficult as the ground was bumpily carpeted in...
Pumpkins are here, and not just for Halloween
Pumpkin Time It's pumpkin time (Kürbiszeit) once again in Germany. Among other things, that means pumpkin items are again on the menu. This post has been UPDATED for 2024. I love food. In my opinion all the best people do. I look forward to trying new dishes and...
Potty Training in Germany
I've talked about raising a child in Germany and I've talked about toilets. Now these two things have combined as I attempt to potty train in Germany. Give me strength. History of Potty Training in Germany Germany has an interesting history with potty training and -...
Goethe and Schiller in San Francisco
German Culture at the "Goldenen Thor" During a recent visit to San Francisco I got a surprising reminder of how truly widespread and important German culture once was in the United States – before two world wars drastically changed the role it played in America. My...
Fitting in at festival time
The summer is almost over here in Germany. The weather is still warm but lacks the intensity of mid summer, sun kissed families are returning from their adventures abroad, small businesses are reopening and pumpkins are already ripening in the fields. Autumn is most...
4 Ways in which Berliners are Actually Nice
I don't want to say Berliners get a bad rap, because they can be incredibly rude. They live up to the standard German reputation of shutting doors in your face, non-existent customer service, and refusal to engage in simple pleasantries - then up the ante with...
Taking Your Kids to the Beach Like a German
For the third year in a row, I have just returned from a fabulous beach vacation. Greece, Italy...we are apparently becoming European jetsetters (still fairly poor ones). Being in Europe allows you to make affordable vacation choices to unbelievable destinations....
What’s in Your German Basement?
Don't worry - this is nothing to do with Josef Fritzl...although mentions of basements seem to bring up that imagery. (To be fair, Fritzl was from Austria like another infamous German speaker). This post is about the German basements (Keller or Souterrain or...
Days for the Frauen and Männer
Holiday Alert! It is Muttertag (Mother's Day) this Sunday which means elegant brunches and bundles of flowers - no matter which side of the pond you are on. Mother's Day in Germany But the history of the holiday in Germany, Switzerland and Austria has a unique...
Austria and Germany: Worlds Apart
Billy Wilder (1906-2002), the noted Austrian-American film director (Double Indemnity, Stalag 17, Some Like It Hot), as famous as he was, used to complain about how he was frequently misidentified as German. Americans often get Austria and Germany mixed up. Sometimes...
Harvesting Germany’s Wild Garlic
Germans and their food obsessions. We are getting deep into Spargel season, but I am still stuck on the last seasonal mania, Bärlauch. Alternatively known as Allium ursinum, ramsons, bear leek, or wild garlic - all of these names meant nothing to me before coming to...
Guten Tag, Frau Schmidt
In the office the other day my colleague was in a quandary. “But I don’t know whether to write ‘Du’ or ‘Sie’”, she said, brow furrowed, “I’ll have to text my friend and find out what she says to her.” The "Du" / "Sie" under discussion was a cleaner, recommended by a...
How to tell when Germans are really being rude versus just being German
If you want to confirm the fact that the internet is not improving people's IQs, just type "rude Germans" into your favorite search engine. Boom! You'll get over 1.9 million results, most of which were written by morons. (But "rude French" pulls an amazing 39.1...
German Toilets
There are two kinds of toilets in Germany: (1) the old-fashioned shelf or platform type (Flachspüler) and (2) the newer non-shelf types (Tiefspüler). In older homes and flats you are more likely to encounter the shelf type. In newer residences or places that have been...
Why Don’t Germans Refrigerate Their Eggs?
Two Different Egg-Handling Philosophies After writing about German tea in my last post, my mind has been on food in Germany and how different it can be than food in the USA. Like the eggs I have stored in my pantry. That's right, my unrefrigerated pantry. I've talked...
Life and Customs: Germany versus Sweden
Expats living in Europe have a unique opportunity to travel and visit interesting places in many countries. Traveling from Berlin to Stockholm, for instance, is only a 75-minute jet flight – about the same time as flying between Los Angeles and San Francisco in the...
The Mysterious World of German Tea
I just tried to close my kitchen cabinet - thunk. Tried again - harder. Thunk! Sighing, I opened it to have an armload of tea rain down upon me. It's just that time of year. My husband works as an Erzieher, and one of the funny little perks of the job are the...
Those little things
Whilst the hard and fast legal rules of German society can be easily found and obeyed, like the red man and riding your bike in the bike lane for instance. Unwritten rules can be hard to pick up for foreigners in Germany and although you won’t be arrested for...
Hollywood Movies in Germany – “Krieg der Sterne” becomes “Star Wars” and “Moana” turns into “Vaiana”
These days, many Hollywood movies screened in Germany keep their original English title. But it was not always that way. In the past, especially from the 1940s to the 1980s, there was almost always a special German title created for German audiences. Often the German...
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