The GW Expat Blog

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Buying Bio (Organic) in Germany

by | May 3, 2010 | , , | 0 Comments

Long, long ago, in 1992, when I first came to Germany, I, at the tender age of 21, had no real idea of what “organic” even was. Who did back then, except a few hippies and tree huggers (ha, ha). I had a few older and wiser friends with small children who bought bio products from under the bridge at a vegetable market in Freiburg, but at the time, I hardly even cooked, so I certainly didn’t understand the need to buy groceries at twice the price, when the fruit and veg looked battered and worn, even from the beginning. I was used to shiny (waxed) American apples and giant onions, ramen noodles and frozen ravioli. After a couple of years in Freiburg, when I went back home, I felt like an immigrant from some far away country where there was nothing available but a sad looking parsnip at the grocery store in the dead of winter. All that selection, all that food, all those giant boxes!

The next step in my transition towards bio came in 2003, when I moved back to Germany after five years in Michigan. I had a colleague at my new workplace who raved about the joys of organic. She only bought organic eggs, and insisted they tasted better. I thought she was crazy! What difference could it possibly make, I thought? Why do you have to have organic peanut butter — that oily concoction that you have to stir before eating? Again, I was not ready to shell out extra for an organic egg or anything else organic. read more…

Is Intercultural Business Training Worth It?

by | Apr 29, 2010 | , , , | 0 Comments

I recently had an encounter with some Americans who worked closely with German colleagues — not very well. They felt that their hard work and efforts were under-appreciated by the Germans and that they were regarded as a bunch of cowboys. They felt that compared to their Asian and European counterparts in the same company, they were the only ones following the rules. Meanwhile, the colleagues back at the German headquarters thought that these Americans were making up their own rules. I couldn’t have found a better example of the stereotypical cavalier American butting heads with straight-laced, humorless Germans. This seemed to be a clear case of intercultural communication problems.

Let’s dissect the relationship a bit.
read more…

Getting Intimate with The Swedish Chef

by | Apr 19, 2010 | , , , , | 1 Comment

I was warned about certain things, a lot of things actually, prior to my move to Germany.  None of them prepared me for what I call Swedish Chef Syndrome.

I am a native English speaker from the New England region of the US.  My own way of speaking is also heavily influenced, you know, by 20 years in California (we all say “you know” all the time).  I can communicate with just about any other English speaker from anywhere.  Some regions have more distinctive dialects than others, Caribbean and African nations, in particular.  I’ve always managed to make do, though.  I also had five years of Spanish while in school… so I’m mostly set in terms of getting around the Western Hemisphere, the former British Colonies and even Southern Europe where Spanish is close enough to Italian and Romanian that I can still function.

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No Google Street View in Germany and Austria?

by | Apr 12, 2010 | , , | 1 Comment

Today’s blog is inspired by two recent events in Germany: (1) The vehement opposition to Google Street View from some Germans and Austrians, and (2) the March 2, 2010 German Federal Constitutional Court decision that overturned a law that allowed government authorities to store telephone call and email data for up to six months, for possible use by the police and security agencies. The court ruled that the law was a “grave intrusion” of personal privacy rights.

One day not so long ago in Berlin I learned how seriously some Germans take their personal privacy. I was walking around shooting some photos of typical everyday, non-tourist scenes of life in Berlin, when I saw a new wing of a hospital that looked architecturally interesting. There was also a small courtyard with trees and benches where patients and visitors could get some fresh air. I was on a public sidewalk, far enough away so that any people in the scene would really not be recognizable. About a split second after taking my first shot, some guy in a robe sitting on one of the benches stands up and starts screaming and cursing at me in English with a German accent. (All photographers are Ausländer?) read more…

Expat, Phone Home

by | Apr 5, 2010 | , , | 1 Comment

Nowadays, there are many cheap and easy ways to keep in touch with friends and family at home when you are an expat in Germany. When I first moved here in 1992, I was only really able to call my parents from a pay phone outside my dorm, and I could talk for about 5 minutes for 5 DM (€2.50 or so nowadays). There were fancy phone cards that you could buy from the Post Office so you could use the fancy pay phones that didn’t take coins, but that was it. No bargains to be had. And you are almost hard pressed to find a phone booth around here due to the fact that even the majority of 7-year-olds have mobile phones!

Nowadays, I can use Skype (free), call from my home phone (flatrate of €3.95 through Telekom, called Country Select), or call from my mobile with prepaid (€0.09/minute), and chatting on Facebook or Google Chat (both free, and both also work on my phone).  It certainly makes things easy, and I do appreciate it, because with lots of kids in the house, I need to talk to my mom a lot for a number of reasons, including general moral support, advice on cooking recipes that she used to make, advice on unruly/rude teenagers, sympathy with the many illnesses this family seems to be getting and of course, bragging about the kids and letting them talk to her (and the rest of the family). read more…

Village Life

by | Mar 29, 2010 | , , , | 2 Comments

Sometimes I feel like we’re living in another decade in the past. The other day when I was looking at eltern.de, the website for Eltern (Parent) Magazine, there was an ad for the new Volkswagen Sharan model. The Sharan now has an electric sliding door. Although I’ve only recently submitted to the fact that minivans might be relevant to me, I seem to recall that this feature has been around in the minivans sold in the U.S. for a while now. This thought made me think about other aspects of our village life.

As I’ve blogged here before, my husband and I live in a small city in the southwest of Germany. I liken Aalen (population 66,503) to a large village rather than a small city.

My family and I shop regularly, every Wednesday and Saturday, at the local market, where we buy our fresh vegetables, fruit and poultry. Often, we run into friends, acquaintances, and colleagues. We buy our meat at our favorite butcher, where we are greeted by name, and usually buy our bread at the excellent bakery closest to us. But if I need white bread to make stuffing, for example, or prefer the house specialty of walnut bread at another bakery, I’d go there or if I want to buy my kids organic soft pretzels and raisin rolls, then I’d go to yet another bakery. In this respect, we are spoiled for choice. And I think we are spoiled by the fact that these small shop establishments are still very much in operation thriving from the business of our fellow “villagers” who place a high value on quality food. read more…

Perceptions of Healthcare

by | Mar 24, 2010 | , | 0 Comments

Since coming to Germany as a permanent resident about 3 years ago, I’ve had the opportunity to experience healthcare here in its varied forms.  Just so you get a good idea of what I’m talking about I’ll give you a short rundown of healthcare events that have occurred to me and within my family (minus graphic descriptions):

  • physical examinations as part of healthcare insurance checks
  • joint problems
  • gallstones
  • infant surgery
  • child surgery
  • homebirth

If you are looking for me to pass judgement on healthcare here, I can’t fully satisfy you.

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“Friendly Service” and Zero-Euro-Jobs

by | Mar 15, 2010 | , , | 2 Comments

Who’s left holding the (grocery) bag?

One definition of culture shock: The first time an American goes through the checkout lane at a German grocery store. The first shock is seeing the cashier/checker comfortably seated rather than standing. The second comes as the purchased items come zipping across the laser scanner — and you, the customer, discover that you are also the bagger (Einpacker). And you are under pressure from the person behind you when the checker starts scanning his/her groceries, barely a split second after you have paid. (The third shock comes if you don’t have your own bag.)

German entrepreneur Martin Lettenmeier wants to change that. At least the bagging part. He has founded a company in Fürstenfeldbruck, Bavaria with a typically “German” name: Friendly Service. (He probably chose the English name because the concept barely exists in German.) Based on his experience in the USA, Lettenmeier wants to spread the idea of the friendly grocery bagger in Germany. (“Profis stehen den Kunden beim Einpacken bei.”) read more…