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...
The GW Expat Blog
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expats
Evolution of an Expat
I attended a dinner party the other night, at a comfy apartment in a suburb outside of Hamburg. Guests included Canadian (both French and English-speaking), American, and German teammates from my husband’s hockey team, and their spouses. It was a fun, casual evening...
What Makes You Happy?
About a year ago, I was on a walk in Germany with another expat. We were exchanging experiences and advice on living with the natives and dealing with German spouses, and comparing life in Germany to life elsewhere. Inevitably, the question came up: "Do you think...
Winning the Recycling Game
You'll have to accept my apology for the delay in this post, but I have been busy sorting my rubbish. As those of you know, thanks to previous posts by Hyde and Ruth, this is serious business here in Germany. I am reacquainting myself with what goes in the Gelber...
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (Part 1)
No, I'm not going to discuss Spaghetti Westerns today. I'm going to list some of my expat likes (the good), dislikes (the bad) and major gripes (the ugly) related to living in Germany. Although I'm going to start with "the bad," you should know that my "good" list is...
Something from home
"Can we bring you anything that you can't get there?" is a common question our visitors from the UK ask. We usually spend a good ten minutes, both of us running through supermarket shelves in our minds' eye, but almost always to no avail. Aside from the odd big pack...
Tschüss, Jet Lag!
For many expats, long distance air travel is just a regular part of our lifestyle. Whether you travel “home” sporadically for visits, or if you essentially live between two or more places, overseas travel, and all that comes with it, is just another challenge that we...
How being an Expat has made me a Better Canadian
It seems that every year, as I am doing the last minute prepping for our upcoming move back to Europe (Hamburg, Germany this time around), I get that same sad, longing feeling. Over the years of my on-again-off-again expat life, I have grown ever more fond of my home...
An Expensive Lesson in the Laws of the Land
For most of my first year in Germany I didn’t drive. I come from a small Canadian city with no major highways, and so the thought of the autobahn seriously freaked me out. I was, and remain, very surprised at how easy it was for my husband to simply turn in his...
Online Lifelines
Remember that time not long ago when long-distance phone calls were reserved for special occasions? Your uncle on the other side of the country would get a nice three minute phone call on his birthday, and your grandmother across the ocean could expect a quick "Merry...
Losing Language
It was inevitable. Our German was bound to get worse upon departure. The first year, mine seemed to remain intact. I was still feeling pretty German, and I spoke German almost daily with our German preschool teachers, with other German-speaking parents, and with our...
The Naked Truth
There was one very significant event that I happened to omit from my last blog, regarding my recent trip to Davos. In truth, I just wasn’t quite ready to talk about it yet. The incident was somewhat traumatizing, or at least severely uncomfortable, and it left me...
Bad Nauheim and Elvis
Towards the end of my October visit to Austria and Germany, my wife and I drove to Bad Nauheim in the state of Hesse, about a half-hour drive north from Frankfurt am Main. When I told Germans why I was going there, I usually got chuckles in response. Today the spa...
When to go Home
It’s hard to know when to go home. Situations arise back in Canada that often tug at my heart, wanting to pull me across the ocean. Though we get to experience many wonderful things while living here, we expats also miss out on a whole lot. While we do have most of...
The First Twelve Months
I've been enjoying getting to know my new baby during these first three months of his life. I organized a Mommy & Me Yoga/Baby Massage class at our local yoga studio here in San Diego to give myself that regular undistracted one-on-one time with baby Lenny. During...
You Haven’t Found a Job Yet? You Probably Aren’t Networking Enough
Last time I blogged it was about my job search in Germany. As I mentioned several times, I believe that speaking German is the biggest hurdle that one faces when looking for a job. The second hurdle is being at the right place at the right time. What do I mean by...
When the Swiss Invite You to a “Panorama”
Having grown up on the flat Canadian prairies, not a clear and sunny day goes by that I don’t step out onto my balcony here in Switzerland, look over the bright blue Zurich Sea, toward the glowing green foothills of the Alps, and say out loud, "Wow!" Brandon, my...
Birthdays and Friends in Germany
This year is a momentous one in the eyes of some people, because I am turning forty. I'm turning forty in a new country, and all of my oldest and closest friends live in other ones. But I am not despairing, and I am not ignoring this runden Geburtstag. (A runder...
Adventures in the Ämter
Last week I achieved a milestone in my life as an expat. I finally received a permanent residence permit. You might think that after 10.5 years in Germany, I would have done this long ago. Alas, it seems I’m not very good with this kind of bureaucracy. There were a...
Farewell, for now…
As usual, I am late for my blog post. So much for German punctuality. It has been a busy period around our house since we moved to Ireland. What with working full time and taking care of the four kids together with my husband, I am not finding enough inspiration to...
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