One chilly Friday evening a few weeks ago I found myself sitting in the middle of fifty British teenagers giving a talk. This was a group of students from my old school, over from Yorkshire on a school trip to Berlin, and my former teacher had asked me to talk to them...
The GW Expat Blog
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Days Off
I assume our family is not unusual in using the few days of peace and quiet between Christmas and New Year to start planning our holidays for the coming year. In this uniquely pleasurable endeavour, our predictable starting point, as for many working parents, is...
Short Trousers
One of the most interesting aspects of being an expat is when you find yourself in the eye of a culture clash storm. Last winter my, then seven-year-old, son was determined to wear shorts, whatever the weather. His avoidance of long trousers evolved gradually during...
Zeugnistag (Report Card Day)
School was out for the summer last week in Berlin. For most school children and their parents the very last day of the school term was much anticipated not just because of the ensuing weeks of freedom but also because it was Zeugnistag (report card day). The process...
Der Handwerkerbaum – or how traditions travel
My first experience of May 1st (Erste Mai) celebrations was as a student in Berlin in 2002 drinking beer in a park Kreuzberg. I don’t much like beer - not then and not now - but that was what everyone else was drinking and it felt like the right thing to do. Along the...
Winterferien (already!)
The timing of most German school holidays match my British expectations. Two weeks at Christmas, two weeks at Easter, six weeks in the summer, plus the odd week somewhere in the middle of these blocks. This is not so different from home and behind each is a clear...
On the campaign trail
In case you missed it, there was a general election last week in Germany. Receiving most of the international media coverage was, understandably, the fact that the AfD (Alternativ für Deutschland) won just under 13% of the popular vote, making them the third strongest...
Summer holidays: a postcard from England
As every summer, we are holidaying in the north of England, where compared to Berlin the days are cooler and the evenings longer. I should be used to it because this is where I grew up and it has the unpredictable (or all too predictable) summer climate of my...
Summer: an ongoing Berlin love affair
It always comes upon you suddenly, the Berlin summer. One day you’re shivering in your down coat at the playground, lamenting with friends how it is already May but barely 10 degrees celsius. The next day you’re sweating in your shirtsleeves, the powerful sun beating...
Guten Tag, Frau Schmidt
In the office the other day my colleague was in a quandary. “But I don’t know whether to write ‘Du’ or ‘Sie’”, she said, brow furrowed, “I’ll have to text my friend and find out what she says to her.” The "Du" / "Sie" under discussion was a cleaner, recommended by a...
An Afternoon in Berlin’s Botanic Garden
An impossibly high greenhouse, all glass and steel arches, rises up against the first blue sky we’ve seen in February. Surrounding it, the vast landscaped garden seems austere with its winter branches but a few proud evergreens scatter touches of dark green at least....
It’s not all about the fireworks – 4 other New Year’s traditions in Germany
I’ve written about the German obsession at New Year’s with pyrotechnics for this blog before. This year Berlin was the same as always - air thick with smoke, sky alight with brilliant explosions of colour, and our ears filled with the constant cracking of bangers....
Picking the Right Äpfel
Apples are one of those marvellous foods which fulfil all requirements – at once delicious, nutritious, versatile, and practical in form. Boiled eggs, though slightly more fragile, are similar. It is unsurprising then that apples form and have formed a staple part of...
A week on the farm
Like many expat families, we think we fly too much. Though some of these trips - for work - are unavoidable, the rest we do gladly to keep in touch with family and friends, whether for weddings, birthdays, or general catching up. There is, however, our annual summer...
Brexit – notes from a Brit in Germany
We found out the Brexit result at the top of mountain in Italy, the alpine hotel’s shaky internet connection making it almost impossible to read more than the headlines. Our reaction was disbelief. Like me, most people, whether Remainers or Leavers, couldn’t have...
7 books which will help you get to know Berlin
Alongside relishing delicious tapas, sunbathing, and swimming in the sea, I spent our two-week summer holiday in Andalusia last year reading “Tales of the Alhambra” by Washington Irving. Reading relevant books for the location is something I like to do - Henry James...
Expats at the playground – the fun of combining cultural observations
This blog post could start like a silly joke. A Yorkshire lass, a Scot, a Brazilian, and a New Yorker go with their children to the playground … But, given I'm still working on the punchline, let me provide the context. Today was beautifully sunny. The advent of...
Becoming seahorses: otherwise known as swimming lessons
Yesterday our children - both aged five and a half - had their first swimming lesson. That is more than I ever had: I love to swim but have little recollection of ever having learned how to do it. Until now we have relied on holidays to sunny places with nearby pools...
5 points of etiquette for sledging in Berlin
Snow, glorious snow. At last, winter arrived in Berlin and the streets were paved with white. That was two weeks ago - after an unseasonably warm December, the temperatures dropped and it snowed - for a day or two at least. Then it warmed up again and everything...
Changing places: 3 great Berlin buildings that used to be something very different (and more)
The stained glass in the grand foyer of the building where I work depicts factories and space travel, alongside striking workers and their families. On the wall in the second grandest conference room is a vast hammer and sickle mosaic. Next door, in the grandest room...
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