One More Sleep
I thought I was very organised this year, when I started putting together little gift parcels for Australian family in November. How merrily I selected little chocolates and decorations, how… Continue Reading
Browsing Category: Essays
German Culture, Travel: Germany
The Cast of Christmas
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
Remember What Was & Who Went Before
I have never really given much thought to Totensonntag, Sunday of the Dead, which falls every year on the Sunday between the 20th and 26th of November. It seems like there are… Continue Reading
A Mother’s Country
I wrote this as part of a chapter for the non-fiction project I am writing (and will probably finish in 2025). It was the second half of something and it… Continue Reading
Apples & Acorns
We are swimming in apples. The trees in the neighbourhood are all groaning with rosy fruit, including the tree that straddles our neighbour’s garden and ours. Apparently, years ago, they… Continue Reading
Late August
Finally it’s raining. I used to hate the rain, but then I inherited a garden full of hydrangeas. I remember, when I was a kid, Mum would always sigh with relief… Continue Reading
Coexist
This extraordinary summer continues abated. The entire country seems to be in agreement that this is the best summer ever, even though Greece and Sweden are on fire and these… Continue Reading
The Sixth Stage
I’m working on a book. Heimat covered the first five years of living here in Germany and finding contentment, a feeling of Wohl, in a country I never expected to marry, have… Continue Reading
German Culture, Travel: Germany
The Happy German
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
Buffet
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
Ausgepustete Eier
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
Unearthed
Even with the long flight and time it took to settle the kids, even with some truly magnificent toddler meltdowns as we all grappled with time change, climate change, living… Continue Reading
Pa.
Back in the summer, when Mum and Dad were over helping us get settled in the new place, planting trees and watching the kids, Pa took his tumble while trying… Continue Reading
Thread
I’ve not been home in three years. Life, here, has continued apace – another baby, a new house, a new job – and Australia has remained patiently in my heart,… Continue Reading
A Cup of Tea
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
Clusters of Intensely Coloured Years
I have been wondering if homesickness is nostalgia in another guise. When I miss home, home as the place in which I was born, the place which holds most of… Continue Reading
Easter & the Common German
We tend to do our weekly shop on a Thursday afternoon. It is a pocket of time during which things generally aren’t too chaotic; the older citizens of Kiel aren’t… Continue Reading
Proud
Daily, I find myself getting all worked up over the smallest things. They are good things, and it is a good working up, like when my daughter does three levels… Continue Reading
Erosion
As time passes and I find my answer to ‘seit wann sind Sie in Deutschland?’ changing to a number of years that seems heavy to me, a strange, uncomfortable thing… Continue Reading
German Culture, Travel: Germany
What I Know About North Germans
Let’s open with this: to a real north German, north Germany is essentially Schleswig-Holstein (der echte Norden) and, at a pinch, Hansestadt Hamburg. The Schleswig-Holsteiners say Meck-Pomm is east Germany, and anything… Continue Reading