Welcome to our new YG blogger Jesse! Photo (c) Jesse Woods

According to Wikipedia, the term Military brat “describes people who spend their childhood or adolescence while a parent (or parents) serve full-time in the armed forces.”

I have lived in Germany for most of my life, but I feel like I have really only lived in Germany during the last two years working for a small German Internet company and hosting a weekly talent show at a local German night club.

Many foreigners think about living in Germany after studying an interesting university language course, visiting on a family vacation, discovering a foreign job opportunity,  or even after seeing a movie with scenes of Germany’s beautiful castles and countryside.

The author during her second year in Germany, overlooking Dresden. Photo (c) ClickClackGorilla

I suppose time has always moved at this pace, but with something to measure it by, it always appears to have sped up behind my back. The end of another school year, the celebration of another birthday, the day that marks your six-year anniversary in a country you landed in—in fact, stayed in—completely by accident.

A slightly ambiguous photo of a park sign… "Please BBQ dogs" (Flickr: bleicher)

If I said to you barbeque, you’d say to me: America! After all, it is the land of BBQ sauce, rib and steak cook-outs and, oddly enough, a variety of grilled “dogs” – which, I have to confess, I always had the Koreans down for, but whaddya know?

Anyway, I’m not the only one who’s a little limited in his range of associative thinking when it comes to barbequed food: after all, how many of you would instantly think of Germany when you smell charcoal and singed sausages?

At the end of a six-month stretch of language classes, it was time for the B1 exams. Photo (cc) flickr user Alex France

To complete the B1 level (the halfway point in the language levels), we had a party with a veritable international food buffet from everyone’s contributions. While I’m happy to finally be wrapping up my intensive classes, and I’ve struggled with them from time to time, I felt a bit sad yesterday. We all had to say good-bye to each other, including to our instructor who has worked so hard for the duration of these classes. My routine is changing again. It seems strange to not be returning to class on Monday. And now the big question for me is…what next?

Photo (cc) flickr user Shelley and Dave

When I first arrived in Germany, The Mann said that in six months I would want to go home for a visit and get perspective from both places. He also said from his own expat experience of living in the U.S., it’s the small, daily tasks of life that are the most difficult to manage in another culture. I would agree with that assessment.

Going home made me realize that one place is really not “better” than the other. They are just different. At home, I was happy to be there and it felt strange somehow, like I’d never really left. And yet, when I returned to Germany, I was so happy to be back, and my life also felt “normal” here.

A trip to a movie theater in Germany is a shade different than in the United States. Photo (c) Jen

Watching movies is a favorite pastime of mine. I especially love watching films produced outside the U.S. because they give me a taste of traveling in other countries and provide some insight into other cultures – and I don’t even have to leave my sofa. Whenever I feel homesick, I escape into a theater and I’m “home” for a little while.

One year ago Jen moved to Frankfurt from the Midwestern United States. Photo (cc) flickr user batigolix

Today marks my first anniversary in Germany. I am seriously in awe of how fast this year has flown. In some ways, I feel like I was just on that airplane on the flight over here. I even keep the little Lufthansa ticket stub in my wallet as a reminder of the significance of this move.

I’ve had a life-changing year here, taking the time to explore how it is to live in this culture. I want to stay for a long time. I feel like it just “fits” here, that most everything I’ve ever wanted the last several years has come to fruition. I met a really great and sweet guy and it changed my life. The Mann has been so strongly by my side – I consider myself very blessed.