Stories from my life and travels as an American expat in Germany. Awkwardness guaranteed!
A few weeks ago, we took our bikes to a nearby strawberry field where you can pick your own strawberries. All you have to do is bring your own container, which you have weighed before you begin picking. You also have the option to simply buy a container of strawberries from the shirtless man at the stand, but where’s the…Continue Reading
A few weeks ago, we spent a long weekend in Leipzig, Germany. My husband wanted to go to Hamburg, but since we were already there in 2015, I picked Leipzig instead. Don’t get me wrong, Hamburg is great; I think it might be my favorite German city. I want to see as much of Germany as possible, though; so, if…Continue Reading
Father’s Day isn’t a big deal in America. Your average American dad gets a card his wife forced the kids to sign and maybe a tie. In Germany, things are a bit…different. I can’t say for sure if men get gifts here, but I do know one thing they get here: shit-faced. In Germany, Father’s Day (Vatertag) and Ascension Day (Himmelfahrt) are combined.…Continue Reading
A few weeks ago, we visited the Tierpark Essehof in (you guessed it) Essehof, Germany. It’s basically like a petting zoo, if petting zoos were fun. Well, I mean; petting zoos are fun for me, because I will take any opportunity to hang out with animals. They’re better than most people, after all. So, I guess I should say “if…Continue Reading
After a month-long hiatus, I’m ready to continue sharing stories and anecdotes about my life here in Germany. I’ve had plenty to write about over the past month but, if I’m being honest, it was hard to find the motivation. As the saying goes, “if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all.” I didn’t have…Continue Reading
If you’re renting an apartment in Germany, chances are you have neighbors with cats that regularly go outside. While that might seem perfectly normal to your average German, I personally found it to be one of the strangest aspects of life in Germany. In the USA (at least, where I’m from) you only have an outdoor cat if you live…Continue Reading
If you’re preparing yourself for a move to Germany, or even just a visit, you may have come across complaints about customer service. Or, more accurately, the lack of customer service. I certainly did, which led me to dig a little deeper into the subject before our 2015 visit. Sure enough, googling “customer service in Germany” gets you a lot of results saying…Continue Reading
If you’ve done any research into German culture, you’ve likely come across blogs, articles and forum discussions on the subject of German directness. Less politically-correct results may even simply state that Germans are rude. It’s a topic of discussion as old as time; or, at least, as old as the Internet’s mainstream popularity. There is a lot of material on the subject,…Continue Reading
My husband and I are planning to do a bike tour of Bavaria this Summer. It’s not my first choice for a vacation, but it’s a good compromise since I want to see Bavaria and he wants to cycle. So, I’ve been “training” for at least a half hour every day, with the intention of working up to longer rides.…Continue Reading
As many of you with an interest in Germany already know, privacy is a big concern for most Germans. The first time I added one of my husband’s German friends on Facebook, I didn’t realize he was using a fake name. He had split up his first name, so that it appeared on Facebook as Tor Sten. Up until a…Continue Reading