Adventures of an Expat in Deutschland

Frohe Feiertage! Happy Holidays! I can't believe it's been over a month since my last post. It's definitely been a busy time for the Coopdorfs. Clarke's birthday was November 24, but since that was a Monday, we chose to celebrate the following Sunday, November 30. It's considered bad taste/luck to wish someone happy birthday before their actual birthday here, so we couldn't hold a party the previous weekend. We had a number of our friends here for a luncheon featuring a spread of various items one usually finds at such gatherings - multiple types of bread (of course), cheeses, vegan sandwich meats, potato salad, veggies and dips, fruit, chips, etc. We also served a cake that I made which includes egg liqueur (yes, that's a thing here). It was quite tasty. A couple of gifts Clarke received were perfect for people like us who are still adjusting to life on Hamburg. Both books will be very valuable to us as we explore the city in the coming year. I also started...

Hallo und willkommen zurück! Hello and welcome back! It's been a busy couple of weeks, filled with several cultural activities as well as making progress toward my visa. On Sunday, November 9, we attended a benefit convert at the beautifully restored St. Catherine Church ( Hauptkirche St. Katharinen ). This church was first built in the 13th century and is one of the five main Lutheran churches in Hamburg. It was severely damaged during WWII, and the exterior was reconstructed in the 1950s according to original plans. It was completed in 2012 and is an amazing structure with massive columns and vaulted ceilings. It houses a historic organ that was originally built in the 16th century after the Reformation, expanded to 58 stops in the 17th century, and became one of the finest organs in the region during the Baroque era. Sadly, it was destroyed during the 1943 firestorm that wiped out much of Hamburg. Fortunately, the church leaders had safely stored the organ's pipes before tha...

Hallo Freunden! Hello Friends! It's been a busy couple of weeks, so I've been remiss in making my posts here. I can't believe I've been in Hamburg now for two months. Sometimes it seems like a lot longer, and other times it feels like I just got here. Relocating to a foreign country can be simultaneously overwhelming and exhilarating. I finished my second Intensive Deutsch Course last Thursday. Since then, I've been busy studying for my German A1 Language Certificate, which will prove useful for my visa process. I've also been attending a program that the Hamburg Library system hosts called "Dialog in Deutsch". It's a free program that allows German language learners the opportunity to speak with each other and practice their language skills. While I don't yet understand a lot of what people are saying, even though I've been going to "Beginner's" sessions, I'm still learning and getting more opportunities to practice my Ge...

Hallo und willkommen zurück! Hello and welcome back! I had a busy week all the way through last night, thus the delayed post. The last thing I wanted to do when I got here was just sit around the apartment. We were both sick the previous week and went nowhere and did nothing, so we made up for it this week. On Monday we had the pleasure of attending a performance of "The Hunchback Variations" at The English Theater with our friend David. This absurdist play was an absolute delight. After the show, the two actors came on stage to discuss the play and answer questions from the audience. One of the things they noted was that the play resonates differently with British and German audiences (ours was a mix of both, along with a lot of Americans). The Brits/Americans tend to enjoy the absurd humor, while the Germans tend to read a lot more into the dialog and the existential questions posed by the characters. The English Theater  was founded in 1976 by two Americans, and is the old...

Hallo Freunde! Hello friends! It's been a month since I arrived in Hamburg, and what a month it's been! It feels like I've been here longer due to all the things we've crammed into these last 30 days. I've taken my first 4-week intensive German course. I learned how to navigate the grocery stores, how to recycle properly (the German way), how to order take-out, how to ride the trains by myself (I only got lost once for a brief moment), and how to properly eat a sandwich (open face, of course). 😁 Of course, this past month has also been spent reuniting with Clarke and helping to set up our apartment. It took over three weeks to finally receive the four boxes I shipped from Baltimore, after many frustrating conversations with German Customs. Once I was able to unpack those, it started to feel more like home as we were able to surround ourselves with some familiar keepsakes (and my winter coats, which I've already used multiple times). It is quite a change downsiz...

Grüße, Freunde! Greetings, Friends! I have now been in Hamburg for three and a half weeks. It's been a whirlwind since I got here. The first couple of days were spent recovering from the flight over here from Baltimore. After that, Clarke began showing me around our neighborhood. We visited all of the stores he had been shopping at prior to my arrival so I could become familiar with them and start to learn how shopping in Germany works. One of the differences that I appreciate here is that the grocery stores sell alcohol, something unheard of in Baltimore. Even when we lived in Houston, we could only buy beer and wine at the grocery stores. For anything else, we had to go to a liquor store. One of the differences here which I'm still getting used to is that there are drug stores ( Drogerien ), and there are pharmacies ( Apotheken ). You can't buy drugs at the drug store - those are only sold at an Apotheka. The "drug" stores are more like variety stores (think of ...