Berlin's famous tv tower. Photo (cc) flickr user Robby van Moor

Fernando is a British-Brazilian expatriate living in Berlin, Germany and working for iversity, whose work we’ve featured on Young Germany here.  In today’s guest post he’s here to tell us a little about his experiences in Germany and working for iversity.  Welcome Fernando!

The entrance to the Mainz Christmas market. Photo © Click Clack Gorilla

Though technically winter doesn’t start until the solstice—that is the shortest day and longest night of the year around December 22nd—for me the season is heralded by two things, regardless of the date: snow and Christmas markets.  So now it finally feels official: though the Christmas market has been up and running since the end of November, the first snow arrived on my doorstep yesterday.  The holiday season can begin.

As a word lover I am constantly thrilled by in the ins and outs of foreign languages, picking favorite words and expressions. Do you have a favorite word in German? Photo (cc) flickr user Charlie P Barker

When I was in the eighth grade, our class was told that the time had come to choose a foreign language.  Our high school offered German, French, and Spanish, so we would spend a third of that year studying each one.  That way, our teachers explained, we could make an informed decision about which language we wanted to spend the next couple of years studying in more depth.  At the end of the year I decided for German.

Mock coffins of Egyptians who died in clashes with security forces earlier in the month are placed in the street of the Egyptian Parliament and Prime Minister’s office, as some protesters continue a sit-in there and in Tahrir square one day before the run-off in the first round of the parliamentary elections, Cairo, Egypt, 04 December 2011. Photo: picture alliance / © dpa

Egypt’s Tahrir Square a few weekends ago was not full of scenes of jubilation, but rather those of screams, tears, blood and violent clashes between demonstrators and police. More than 1,800 young Egyptians were injured and the violence claimed 42 people across the country according to Egyptian officials.

Hamburg Weihnachtsmarkt, Photo: (cc) flickr user mawel: Marc Wellekötter

There’s nothing like the German Christmas market atmosphere. I remember the first time I had the chance to experience it back in 2009, when I found myself immersed in the wonderful Christmas market of Hamburg. I remember that evening like it was yesterday because it was then that I really started to fall in love with Germany. After this experience, I tried to spend all my holidays and time in this country, as well as learning more about Germans and their culture.

Thanksgiving is an American holiday that revolves around a large family meal of fall harvest foods. Photo (cc) flickr user Sultry

My first Thanksgiving in Germany was a small ordeal.  I bought some expensive seitan gyro from the organic grocery store and ate it with a big salad at the little white table in my room with my au pairing host family.  No turkey.  No family gathering.  No pumpkin pie.  None of the traditions that I had grown up with in the United States.  One little old flight across the ocean and there I was surrounded by people who didn’t even know what Thanksgiving was all about.  I explained Thanksgiving to my au pair family, they nodded in interest, and life went on.

Language milestones become far more important when you take the language out of the classroom. Photo (cc) flickr user -Georg-

Foreign language milestones during school never seemed particularly important: you pass another vocabulary test, you manage to stumble through another book with a little less dictionary hopping.  Ho-hum, another day of school.  But when that language becomes the currency of your life, those milestones suddenly become monumental.

The first time you manage to order dinner at a restaurant completely in German is so exciting that you e-mail your friends to tell them about it.  The first time the woman behind the counter at the bakery asks you something and your reply doesn’t make her switch automatically over to English you buy an extra celebratory pastry.  And when you finally manage to make a telephone call without breaking into a cold sweat or causing an epic misunderstanding you’re ready to throw a party.