Germany + Australia + Culture + Motherhood + Home
German Culture, Travel: Germany
I was most surprised, when I spent my first Christmas with the northerner I’d eventually marry, to find out that in the glorious Schleswig-Holstein, children get visited by der Weichnachtsmann. Quite literally,… Continue Reading
I heard the loveliest expression the other day, and, despite others chiming in certain it wasn’t a Sprichwort in their region, and perhaps not a Sprichwort at all, it is so exquisite… Continue Reading
Summer solstice was a few weeks ago. We are deep in summer, barefoot and high on daily ice blocks and the smell of sunscreen. I find it strange how the… Continue Reading
There has never been a longer stretch of time, in which I have not complained about the weather in Germany. It is becoming almost discomfiting. I am not used to… Continue Reading
We had family in town last weekend. As always, when Aussie family comes, it feels like another link is put in the chain that stretches halfway around the globe. I… Continue Reading
May in Germany is an entirely disorienting month, not because the weather can either be the most joyful weather in the world or subject to frozen winds whistling in from… Continue Reading
German Culture, Travel: Germany
For five years running now, Schleswig-Holstein has come out on top in the Glücksatlas polls, which means it is home to the happiest Germans in the country. I get it; I live… Continue Reading
German Culture, Travel: Germany
One of the more useful fundaments of the German language is the general rule that you pronounce everything you see. Every single letter in every single word is voiced. For… Continue Reading
In the eight weeks since coming home this time, we have, essentially, been sick. Kindergarten has lovingly supplied a stream of bugs and viruses, many of which die Lüdde has… Continue Reading
During my first Elternabend (Parent and Teacher Night, and yes I made a fool of myself by mixing up my sentence structure during the ‘hold the ball and introduce yourself’ game)… Continue Reading
This month has been the snowiest I have spent in Deutschland. I think. Apart from a freak showing of snow in December 2010, my first winter spent in Münster for… Continue Reading
Phew, it has been cold. It began snowing shortly after we arrived home and for once, it actually stuck. Snow rarely sticks around here because our temps are rarely cold… Continue Reading
Travelling long-haul with small children is quite like childbirth. (I contemplated expanding on that analogy for a while, standing in the bathroom typing so as not to wake the baby… Continue Reading
It seems our corner of the world submitted to the snow, and after it fell and all was white, it felt right. I don’t like snow at all, but for… Continue Reading
It is a truth universally acknowledged, that the months October through May in Germany are spent sneezing, sniffing, coughing, snotting, rasping, wheezing, drinking 800 litres of herbal tea and complaining…. Continue Reading
Germany and I really first got to know each other in autumn. It was a cold and drizzly September when I arrived from a summer in Santorini. I was brown,… Continue Reading
Life in Kiel, Schleswig-Holstein
September has been kind, apologising perhaps for the months that preceded her. We have managed to squeeze in a couple of truly glorious beach visits and even just a few… Continue Reading
There is an approaching postal vote in Australia (regarding marriage equality, because no, Australia hasn’t quite been able to gather its shit on that issue). I can’t vote in it,… Continue Reading
I wrote this for a writing course on identity and social issues I took part in a couple of months ago. In the original, the names are printed in full…. Continue Reading
I swapped the north of Germany for the north of England last week, in a trip that was the first time I got on a plane by myself in …… Continue Reading