Alice in Germany

Schon wieder nach Berlin

2010-09-15T21:48:00.004+02:00

Schon WIEDER in Berlin.The 2oth century city (die STADT): from cabaret to catastrophe. And back.The grotesquely ugly healing heart of Germany scabbily punctuated by overgrown vacant lots. INDUSTRIEROMANTIK? A favorite concept of mine.To old to be free, too new to be confident. Too new to be.Flatened. Divided. Neaded outwards into unnatural forms. Without a center (kein STADT MITTE).Side note: my

Germany and the World Cup

2006-07-12T12:02:00.000+02:00

As the number of German flags on the streets increases so does the explanatory, almost apologetic tone running through the German press, always with a weary eye on international opinion. What does this mean? At home, in Frankfurt, Thomas roles his eyes when it is raised in the news: ‘this again’. He like many Germans of his generation are sick of living under the shadow of their grandparents

Just don't do it

2006-07-12T11:57:00.000+02:00

My German mitfahrgelegenheit driver the other week was quite friendly and chatted about his occasional business trips to America.He said he found Americans to be “everything that Germans are not: they are proud of their country and they just ‘do things’”.The first statement I have heard so often I could virtually feel it flow over me and I wondered if perhaps Germans are taught to say this in

Goodbye to Kirchenstadt

2006-05-05T15:11:00.000+02:00

The Aasee frozen at sunsetWhen I first moved to Kirchenstadt I did not think I would be able to stand it. I always viewed myself as a city girl and I was not sure I would be able to adjust to the quieter life. Sure it has its benefits: clean air, beautiful parks, peacefulness and all that stuff. But were they not outweighed by the cons? Conformity enforced by people whose bored gossip breed fear

The Second Job Interview

2006-03-09T08:20:00.000+01:00

Like Heidi coming from the mountains to visit poorly cousin Clara I too, descended from a feeble village (although a little more vertically challenged) into the ‘alpha world city’ of Frankfurt.The highlight of the train trip was the Rhein: one of the great rivers of Europe, so much history, so many castles, if I could see the things it’s seen….“Ein sehr famous Fluss” I espoused dreamily, and no

The First Job Interview

2006-03-09T08:18:00.000+01:00

I wore a pair of brown trousers and a black pinstripe suit jacket to my first job interview in Germany, because I did not want to pay for a suit. My interviewer was impossibly German chic.I understood two words in the job advertisement before I applied: ‘English’ and ‘web’. It was more words that I normally understood so I applied. I was very enthusiastic back then.“Don’t bother” said Bruno, who

The funny side

2006-02-26T22:19:00.000+01:00

I love current affair comedy! I found this really funny.Take Baden-Württemberg's New Citizenship Test: are you worthy?

The week of Valentine

2006-02-16T15:20:00.000+01:00

On Monday the unthinkable happened - I lost my wallet. Or if you are my insurance company ‘my wallet was stolen’ – Hey! Calm down, how am I to know whether my wallet fell out of my pocket or was pushed? All I know is I arrived on the bus grasping a carton of eggs in one hand and my open wallet in the

Bruno discovers Denmark: that's the small country north of Germany right honey?

2006-02-09T14:08:00.000+01:00

Last week I received an urgent phone call from Bruno: “Honey I have something important for you to Blog!!!” “What??” Was the hijab now allowed in German state schools? Had the German Government started collecting taxes on behalf of all religious groups not just Christians? Had Baden Württemberg’s Muslim immigration test been abolished? Were crosses going to come off government buildings as a

Silly little exercise

2006-02-09T13:33:00.000+01:00

Try not to look at the answers below!Think of a number between 1 and 10.Times it by 9If it is a 2 digit number add the digits togetherSubtract 5Now we are going to apply a letter to your number. If you have number 1 then your letter is A, if 2 then B, 3 is C and so on.Think of a country starting with your letter.Take the last letter of your countries name and think

Australia Day

2006-02-02T15:07:00.000+01:00

“In America there is no need for campaigns to tell us to be proud to be American, we are taught that from birth”.Kristy and I are discussing the ‘du bist Deutschland’ campaign.January 26th was the ‘Australia day’ national holiday, when we are told to ‘celebrate what's great about Australia and being Australian’, and it has got me thinking about nationality and identity.January 26th commemorates

International party at the Volkshochschule

2006-01-19T17:10:00.000+01:00

I eagerly looked forward to the International Party at the Volkshochschule. I now had opportunity to cook Pavlova and share my favourite Australian dessert with my fellow classmates, not to mention the other German classes at the Volkshochschule. The memory of my friend Matt lamenting that he had ‘accepted the fact that no Australian girl from his generation would ever know how to cook’ was but a

The mice: a disruption to a civilised society

2006-01-12T23:01:00.000+01:00

Jakob once told me that in Germany you could walk for days and never leave civilisation. The opposite from Australia. We however live in the middle of a farm. At first glance it is really special: a dirt track through the trees, over the lake filled with water birds, past the horse stables, not a house in site. A pause from the factories 300 metres away. Then Liana pointed out it is the perfect

The week before Christmas: the law dinner

2006-01-02T14:08:00.000+01:00

However you feel about Christmas it is one of those certainties of life we cannot escape, much like table manners. The week before Christmas, Bruno, due to a swollen eye which he self-diagnoses as cancer, ‘misses out on’ a number of pre-Christmas events including: getting a tad tipsy with Liana and Kirsty at the Irish pub on Monday night, going to the Christmas markets with his best

To complain or not to complain?

2006-01-02T14:05:00.000+01:00

In our ‘German for foreigners’ class break, Liana, a sarcastic British lass, Kristy, an Au Pair from the States, and I retire to the usual local cafe. Liana is a tad stressed today, her lovely, sweet, understanding (‘he’s just like a woman really’) German boyfriend has ever so tactfully suggested that he ‘might not be making enough money’ to support them both and pay off her ‘debts from England’

I speak English

2006-01-02T14:01:00.000+01:00

I arrive in Europe days before bird flu, but as I am escaping the new ‘every school must have a working flag pole and teach values’ Australia I figure I’ll take my chances. Patriotism and dictated values have never really been my thing. Time to broaden my horizons, embrace another culture etc etc. All very well and good in theory, in practise the first thing I do on arrival in Germany is track

2005-12-02T22:04:00.000+01:00

Christmas in Münster

2005-12-02T21:41:00.001+01:00

Our house through the trees

2005-12-02T21:41:00.000+01:00

Where the creek used to be

2005-12-02T21:28:00.001+01:00

My Shoe Biz shoes doing the best they can

2005-12-02T21:28:00.000+01:00

My footprints

2005-12-02T21:27:00.000+01:00

A path at last :-)

2005-12-02T21:26:00.000+01:00

Bikes: the lifeline of M�nster grinds to a halt

2005-12-02T21:14:00.000+01:00

Heritage house: taken from our window, please note the car!