Children in the United States often write to Santa Claus for Christmas. The US Postal Service even has a website to help them do so. It's the same in Canada. In fact, many countries around the globe have a Santa or Father Christmas letter-writing tradition. That...
The GW Expat Blog
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Tips, advice, suggestions
The Singular/Plural Conundrum in German and English
Nouns That Are Singular in English but Plural in German – and Vice Versa English-speaking students of the German language soon encounter the odd situation of common nouns that are singular in English but plural in German. The opposite also occurs, with singular nouns...
German Influence on the Spanish Island of Mallorca
After 14 years living in Berlin, I joked that our summer vacation plans are the true sign we have fully integrated into German culture. We were finally going to Mallorca. We had never heard of Mallorca before moving to Germany. It is simply not on most North...
Day Trip to Wittenberg, Germany
Coming out of the pandemic, my family limited our long-distance travel and started exploring places closer to home. These day trips from Berlin are some of my favorite places and we have re-visited often. But I am always looking for somewhere new. Enter the...
CATAN: Klaus Teuber’s Pioneering Board Game
New Energies: German Game Designer Klaus Teuber When you hear the term "board games" you may think of typical tabletop games such as chess or checkers/draughts, Go, Monopoly, Pictionary, Risk, Scrabble, Sorry!, and many others. But we're going to talk about a special...
Guide to Vienna
When I was last on the job hunt, I had two interesting opportunities. The jobs had some important differences, including different locations. One was in Cologne, the other in Vienna. This caught my attention as both options were remote so I could happily work from my...
Bike School in Germany
During the pandemic my family would take long walks around our neighborhood in Berlin. As nearly nothing was open, it was our entertainment and we wandered far and wide, through forests and meadows, parks and gardens. As the pandemic-measures wore on, playgrounds...
Weekend in Hamburg
Last November I was in a funk. I had found myself in visa limbo after living in Germany for many years, newly laid off, and facing a big decade birthday. I kept telling myself it would all work out, but the anxiety was eating me alive and an impending birthday...
The Nebra Sky Disc: An Introduction
The World's Oldest Known Representation of the Night Sky I'm not exactly sure when I first became aware of the Nebra Sky Disc, but I do recall being reminded of its existence in late 2021 when the German ESA astronaut Matthias Maurer named his mission to the...
The “New” City of Dresden
It feels like every year at about this time I hear rumbles of dissatisfaction with Berlin. Sometimes they are coming directly from me, but this year I've noticed more online posts than usual complaining about the rising costs of the city, the dismal winter weather,...
My Favorite Berlin Christmas Markets
I am fresh off the high of my favorite Weihnachtsmarkt (Christmas market). After the disaster of the pandemic years, my appreciation for Christmas markets has only grown. My personal favorite only runs for one weekend every Christmas season. I eagerly anticipate its...
Guide to Rostock and Warnemünde
The Deutschlandticket has been an absolute boon to my travel within Germany. With the tantalizing offer of low-cost air travel I have taken to sort jaunts around Europe from London to Naples. But as my family multiplies and travel costs rise, train travel has swung...
The Rising Costs for Tourists in Germany
Room Taxes, Spa Taxes, and ETIAS Traveling in Europe or anywhere else has always involved spending a certain amount of money. But over the past decade or so a new kind of travel expense has arisen in Europe, including the German-speaking countries. And yet another, if...
German Candy
For those that celebrate Halloween, even abroad, the onslaught of candy has already begun. There used to be nary a spooky Hexe (witch) or dancing Skelett (skeleton) to be found in Germany in favor of more somber events like the Reformation. But the Halloween...
Beyond Munich: Germany’s Other Beer and Wine Festivals
As I write this, Oktoberfest in Munich is about to end on October 3rd. Oktoberfest, which begins in September, is by far Germany's largest and most famous folk festival (Volksfest), but there are many other attractive options all across Germany. These other events...
What Not to Do at Oktoberfest
If you missed it, this weekend kicked off Okoberfest in Munich. With the tapping of the keg and the magical words of “O'zapft is” (“It's tapped”), the biggest beer festival in the world has begun. Last year was the first year after the pandemic that the event was held...
Yes, There’s Uber in Germany, but…
Uber and Its Competitors in Germany Ride-hailing and ride-sharing services in Germany and most of Europe have had a far more difficult time than in North America. While Uber plays a limited role in Germany, Lyft can't be found anywhere in Europe. And Uber had to wage...
Weather in Germany
I left a sweltering Berlin for an almost as hot Washington State. People always think of Seattle as rainy, but on the day my family arrived back in our home state it was over 80 degrees F (27 degree C) and clear skies meant the "mountain was out" as the locals say....
Adventures on a First Class ICE to Munich
My last post was about revisiting Berlin after a five-year pandemic-related pause. In that post I promised to later write about Munich, our next destination, and I will. But today my subject is Deutsche Bahn (DB) and the "adventure" of rail travel in Germany these...
Unusual German Sports
After a turbulent couple of months, my husband's 40th birthday was swiftly approaching. As this is one of those big birthdays that end in a zero I wanted to pull out all the stops. I needed a venue that could accomodate a small private party, ideally something with an...
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