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How many Germans are international travelers?

by | Jul 25, 2011 | , , | 0 Comments

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 Germany is almost empty, and that most of the country’s population is in the US this summer. You will often overhear German, French and other languages as you hike the trails of Bryce Canyon, Zion, Arches, Mesa Verde and the Grand Canyon.

But in 2009 (the latest year for which statistics are available), Germans represented just 5.8 percent of all foreign visitors to the United States, totaling 1,881,944, a bit fewer than in 2008. That means that in 2009, barely two percent of all 82 million Germans crossed the Atlantic to tour the USA. Not only that, read more…

Soccer Fever!

by | Jul 18, 2011 | , , | 1 Comment

Japan Wins the 2011 World Cup – photo picked up via Google from Thomas Lachetta’s Blog

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 it? I hardly believe it. I’m pretty sure that no female sport has ever had as much attention as that game did yesterday… or perhaps I’m just biased. It was, after all, a World Cup tournament in this soccer-crazed country and my team was in the final. I even knew people in the stands (who I looked for every time the camera panned the crowd).

It’s a shame that Germany didn’t progress to the final as they had planned, but it lessened their pain when the team who kicked them out ended up winning the tournament. Japan was certainly the underdog going into the game, and despite my nationality I was secretly pulling for them. read more…

Enjoy the Silence

by | Jul 14, 2011 | , , | 0 Comments

It used to annoy me that I couldn’t do any shopping on Sundays and that our Saturdays were so hectic racing from one shop to the next when I first moved to Germany. Like anything in life, I got used to it. In fact, I started to like the fact that there was some time without the claws of commercialism, although that was never a major concern in southwest rural Germany.

The same goes for Hausordnung (house rules). Coming from the land of the free, it takes Americans some getting used to not only be able to run out to the grocery store or Walmart at 2 a.m. but also that running a load of laundry at a similarly unconventional hour in your apartment building is forbidden. After five years, I found that my mind and soul got used to having silence midday and roughly between 8 p.m. and 8 a.m.

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German Job Applications

by | Jul 3, 2011 | , , , | 0 Comments

CV vs Lebenslauf

The first and primary document that most employers will request with your job application is your “Lebenslauf”. A German’s Lebenslauf is very different from an American resume or a European CV. If you want to put together a Lebenslauf, it would be best to search online for a format you like or to refer to a book like, “Die perfekte Bewerbungsmappe” by Hesse & Schrader. This book can also help you to write a cover letter (Anschreiben). Some of the notable aspects of the Lebenslauf include: a photo of yourself, your age/birthdate, your marital status, number and ages of children, your hobbies, and your education from high school level. Often, Lebenslaufe do not contain descriptions of the jobs one has previously held, only the job titles.
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Not even the kitchen sink

by | Jun 27, 2011 | , , | 0 Comments

Apartment or house hunting in Germany can dramatically reveal some of the more important cultural differences between the US and Germany. One of them is what I call the “four bare walls” tradition.

When prospective buyers or tenants are house or apartment hunting, they may look at places that are still occupied and have full furnishing. Even if the real estate agent tells them that the furnishings aren’t included, inexperienced buyers may be totally shocked when they later discover exactly what that means in Germany. They open the door to their new abode, walk in, and… gasp! Not only are the walls bare, even the light fixtures are missing! Moving on to the kitchen, they see only roughed-in plumbing and electrical outlets. There’s not even a sink, much less cabinets, counters or a refrigerator! read more…

A Blog on Booze

by | Jun 24, 2011 | , , | 0 Comments

I would say I learned the hard way, that attitudes regarding alcohol are quite different in Germany than in Canada.  As a twenty-something living in Düsseldorf, (home to the world’s longest bar top if all were placed one after the other, as the legend goes) I very much enjoyed the nightlife.  It wasn’t the easiest adjustment however, from Canadian clubs and bars to European-style discos and pubs. Where I am from all local watering holes, nightclubs, restaurants etc., must close by 2:00 am, by law. So my first night out on the town in Düsseldorf’s pub-filled Altstadt, I was not prepared for the long night ahead of me. I was caught up in the dancing and cheering, the Ballerman-style music, and in the sea of decadent dark Altbier. Every now and again I would stop and ponder though, how amazing it was that it wasn’t yet 2:00 am. Really though, 2:00 am had come and gone, and by the time the chairs were being put up on the tables, the sun was out. Lesson learned.

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In Search of Healing

by | Jun 20, 2011 | , , , | 1 Comment

One of the typical hotspots in any political discourse between Americans and Germans is the topic of health care. Europeans firmly believe that a shocking percentage of Americans live without any access to health care, and Americans believe that the socialist Europeans pay their hard-earned cash to cure another (poorer) man’s illness. There is a bit of truth in both views, which is then ballooned by the media until it becomes impossible to understand how one country or the other can possibly survive on their current system.

For the purpose of discussion here, let us first differentiate between health insurance and health care. Health insurance is the system we pay into that should hopefully pay out in the event that we are ill and need financial support for treatment. Health care is the treatment of sick patients. While it is true that large numbers of Americans (about 16% of adults  and 9% of children) don’t have health insurance, hospitals across the country offer health care to anyone who comes through their doors – for emergency care.  And while Germany has universal health insurance, there are even people here who fall through the cracks and have no coverage. read more…

A German Sense of Order Restored

by | Jun 14, 2011 | , | 0 Comments

As I’ve recently blogged, I’ve been pregnant for the last nine months in America. It was a miserable pregnancy. While I was fortunate to not have any complications such as gestational diabetes or preeclampsia, I was debilitated by the discomforts of being so large and being stretched and pulled and swollen and from a significant decrease of energy. With two little ones who require a lot of attention, it was necessary for me to bring in some extra help in the way of assorted non-German babysitters and grandparents.

While I’ve been extremely grateful for the help and couldn’t have survived the pregnancy without it, it resulted in some new influences infiltrating our attempts at maintaining a sense of German order. read more…