Adventures of an Expat in Deutschland

Hallo Zusammen! Hello everyone!  It's been a busy month, and the final steps of our immigration are falling into place. I have been granted an Exception Visa which allows me to stay here for the next three years, and Clarke has been offered a job as a substitute teacher at a private school in the neighborhood (only a 10-minute walk from our apartment). This buys us both the time we need to cement our residency here in Germany, as our current visas were about to expire in the beginning of June. Good news ( Gute Nachrichten ) indeed! Over this past month, Spring has exploded here and the trees are now covered in lush green leaves and there are flowers everywhere. Rhododendrons are very popular here in Hamburg, with their huge clusters of red, pink, and white flowers. Sadly, they aren't very fragrant. We love walking down to the City Park, about 500 meters (546 yards) from our apartment. You can walk for hours along multiple trails and enjoy all the trees, flowers, and critters. I...

Hallo Fruende! Hello Friends! It's been too long since I last wrote. I suppose I was in mental hibernation during the long winter season. When Clarke and I were doing our research on German cities, we learned that the winters in Hamburg are relatively mild compared to other major cities like Berlin, Munich, or Frankfort. So naturally we had the worst winter in 15 years with record snowfall. Go figure! But we survived, and now that Spring ( Frühling ) has arrived, the city is awash in flowers and budding trees. This is my favorite season as it signals the rebirth of nature and the promise of new life. Other than continuing my German classes and Clarke looking for work, we've had a fairly quiet winter. We spent New Year's Eve at home, which was always our tradition when we had dogs in order keep them calm during the loud fireworks. But as we get older, we prefer a quiet night in rather than staying out late partying. On January 17, we visited the Emigrant Museum Hamburg ( Aus...

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...