About us

Truegerman

For the last 20 years I have written about business, markets and prices. Now I want to write about people, traditions and everyday life.

In this blog I will tell stories about life in Germany, the traditions I grew up with and the way times are changing. I invite you to share my view of the world—a truly German view.

Through my parents and grandparents, my memory spans a century of German history. My own experiences cover the last 40 years of the millenium and the beginning of the 21st century. I know rural life, as I grew up in a remote mountain village and worked in the agricultural sector for a decade. I know business life, as I worked as an economic editor for  two decades.  After years of moving, I finally settled down in Frankfurt.

Here I met Francesca, the Euro-American who grew up in Germany. In writing, we explore  the similarites and differences of our cultures. We ask you to join us on this blog and to share your memories and your view of the world.

Francesca

I read an article by a lady who had decided to stop shopping for a year. It struck me, that while I tend to keep or buy many objects, I do not remember why I keep them or why I bought them. They have neither a sentimental or objective value and are accumulated like a hoard on which the infamous dragon sits in her airless cave. What are the real riches I am looking for? Maybe they are not in objects, but in my untapped memories?

 

So I decided that it was time for the dragon to stick her nose out of the cave, spring-clean her memories, unclutter, hang them out to air to be examined and exposed to the world beyond her cave and the land of her mind. I blink (I am the dragon of course) into the sun fly across my mind. I come across places at once strange and familiar. I might have to stop a while to restore the colors of some moments to their old glory; too long have they lain ignored, forgotten due to a cluttered life. I promise myself never to lock myself into that cave again, never to forget who I am: the dragon master of my dreams, imagination and my mind.

 

One corner of my dragon mind is inhabited by my parents. My mother is an Italian from “Roma” and my father is from Oak Harbor in the United States. To make the mix truly confusing, my parents raised their four children (most of the time) in Germany. I will share the memory bytes of raising Francesca in 70`s Germany and how it is to live here today. Please join me as I explore our common German ancestry, history and language or when I cross the borders of Europe in search of moments to remember.

 

And the dragon with one majestic swoop of wings and blink of giant eye, removes herself to her new outlook on a ledge on the mountaintop and remembers (while I write).