Monthly Archives: July 2012

Wanderlust: Traveling Through Germany

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Photo (cc) flickr user Neil Krug

“Life is a book and those who have not travelled have read only a page.” I couldn’t unfold this saying of Saint Augustine unless I stepped out to the foreign soil. I knew my country and my culture—it was a part of my life—but I never really knew how enormous and diverse the cultures in the world are!

We travel these days mostly for business, family events, or to relax. And what do we do? Visit famous spots/landmarks and tell others that we have been to such historic, beautiful places. This is not the kind of traveling that I am talking about here. Real traveling in my opinion is all about Wanderlust.

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Wordless Wednesday: Berlin Mauerpark

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This week’s photos come from the Berlin Mauerpark, a favorite weekend flea market destination in the capital city.  Have you ever been there?

Berlin Mauerpark karaoke, 2011. Photo (cc) flickr user lampenlee

Taken during a stroll through the Mauerpark. Photo (cc) flickr user Matteo De Felice

Photo (cc) flickr user Oh-Berlin.com

 

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Learning German: 15 More Fun Words and Expressions

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Reason to improve your German skills #1 – Not mistaking a clothing store (Passion for Fashion) for a sex shop.

So, you think you want to keep on learning German? Well then you’ve progressed a lot further than many expats living in Germany (I won’t tell you how much…or how little German I’ve studied the past few weeks…) Yes, it takes courage, determination, much intelligence, and some very very patient and slow speaking Germans to keep you going, but don’t give up. One day…..maybe thirty years from now, you will be able to order your meal using the right articles. Anything is possible.

This is a preview of Learning German: 15 More Fun Words and Expressions.

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the au pair chronicles: frankfurt’s sachsenhausen

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The Frankfurt skyline. Sachsenhausen is a part of the banking capital. Photo (cc) flickr user Moe_

This is part 18 in a series about the year I spent au pairing in Frankfurt am Main, Germany.  If you’d like to catch up on the rest of the series, check out the index here.  Cross published on Click Clack Gorilla.

Frankfurt’s Sachsenhausen is a curious place. Though the moniker technically applies to an entire city section—residents, shopping, and everything in between—when you hear people talking about Frankfurt Sachsenhausen, they’re usually talking about the pub district, a concentrated city block of often touristy bars and clubs, a micro city with no permanent residents. It is a place full of trays of bright green shots and hair gel and fake tan, full of spilled apple wine and loud conversation and lost earrings. It is the kind of place you go knowing you’re going to be doing the walk of shame home later/aren’t going to remember most of the evening.

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Wordless Wednesday: Germany’s Beaches

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Summer is here!  This week’s Wordless Wednesday photos showcase Germany’s beaches.  Enjoy.

Büsum, Germany on the North Sea. Photo (cc) flickr user Acheron333

Lighthouse Westerhever I, on the North Sea in Germany. Photo (cc) flickr user planetina

Kitesurf Worldcup 2011 at St. Peter-Ording, Germany. Photo (cc) flickr user Zanthia

 

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Top 10 Ways to Deal With Culture Shock

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A good friend introduced me to one of her sacred places in Hamburg, inside the Rathaus courtyard. It is a little oasis right in the middle of the chaos of downtown and one of my new sacred places now too.

Anyone who has lived abroad knows there is one inevitable condition that you’ll face—culture shock. This is my third time living abroad, and each time I hope I will avoid it, but it always manages to come back to bite me in the butt. But the good news is—it’s normal! And with any luck, you get through it and adjust. Just in time for reverse culture shock to set in when you get home! Here are a few thoroughly researched and tested (by yours truly) ways to deal with it.

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Expat Life: Fahrenheit versus Celsius

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Photo (cc) flickr user sneaka

I bet you didn’t know that becoming an expat endows you with magical powers.  Yup.  I’m here to tell you: become an expat, and you’ll find yourself performing conversational acts you never thought possible.  Because the grass is, if not greener, at least a lot more interesting on the other side, you’ll suddenly find yourself able to make descriptions of the most banal, commonplace daily activities interesting.  Your friends at home will listen intently to stories that, when enacted in their home country, would put them to sleep.  But because you went grocery shopping/used the toilet/bought bread on foreign soil, your life is suddenly full of conversational masterpieces.  You could base an entire hour-long conversation around the design of toilet bowls that both you and your conversational partner will find fascinating.  And if that’s not magic, I don’t know what is.

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