T̶w̶o̶ One p̶e̶r̶p̶e̶t̶u̶a̶l̶ ̶e̶x̶p̶a̶t̶s̶ immigrant settling into home country number five.
Julie When I lived in Germany in the 90s, I was somewhat bemused to learn the term ‘Black Music’. This basically referred to any and all music performed by African-American artists. The term was used on posters, in advertisements, and in clubs. A ‘Black Music’ party or CD could include everything from Janet Jackson to Naughty … Read more
Does it somehow prevent abortions, you think?
You didn’t really think the city of Munich was going to make us wait until autumn for a beer festival, did you? The Starkbierfest, or Strong Beer Festival, take place every year for a few weeks during Lent. Drinking beer doesn’t count as breaking a fast, you see, so rumor has it that the monks … Read more
German raclette cheese is not the same as Swiss raclette cheese. The German version is much, much stinkier. We did a quick-and-dirty blind taste test of 3 locally-available Weissbiers the other day (why only 3? Because that’s how many Weissbier glasses we have at home. Yes, we need more): both Paulaner and Franziskaner were deemed … Read more
But not really. First of all, I’m sure plenty of you are wondering what Vonage is. Simply put, it’s an awesome service that has allowed us to keep our last US home number through four countries now. Friends, family, and business contacts in the US can call us on our old US number, and a … Read more
Germany’s Merkel suffers blow ahead of 2009 vote Elections in Germany confirm leftward shift Obviously mainstream conservatives in Germany are very different than those in the US, but still I tend to forget which party Merkel is from. Both the fact that she is a woman and that she grew up in the East make … Read more
I won’t claim to know enough about the issue to have an opinion I’d wish to post here, but I do want to share some photos of the anti-Kosovo-secession rally that took place at Marienplatz (the main square in the center of Munich) today. We decided to swing by and check out the rally after … Read more
This afternoon I was going to finally finish putting together our Ikea guest bed. I had plenty of time set aside, so I should have been able to get it done today, right? Except I forgot about the screwing. Or rather, I forgot about how painful non-stop screwing can be. My palms are red and … Read more
Even though Germany has some great home-grown musical acts to offer, rarely does a German artist make it across the Atlantic to the US (as opposed to American music, which makes it over here to Germany far too often). If I had had to bet on which German music was going to make it big … Read more
In an effort to get to know my new home country, I’ve been diligently checking out German TV. On of the shows currently on is The Next Uri Geller, a show in search of Germany’s top mentalist. I can’t bear to watch this show. It’s just too stupid, even for my relatively low standards. All … Read more