Woman in a gilded Cage

Now this was an unusual take on the debate of working women. “Stop the government from forcing our women to abandon their children during the first three years of their childhood by making them go back to work.” Huh, are these people in Germany?
In Germany you can receive up to three years financial government support [...]

German Health Care through my Window

I might have mentioned before that I grew up in Germany.  I live german style.
One way of german life is to always have health insurance. I left my parents insurance when I became a student and immediately signed up to a german “public” insurance. I walked into the nearest office, showed them a passport and my student [...]

I like to ride my bicycle, I like to ride my bike

Last week was the first time in two months that I met my writing friends. I was pleasantly surprised, as usual, how easy it is to get back into the routine of writing on command, during our freewriting exercise. Afterwards I declared, “You never forget how, just like riding your bicycle.”
Well my Truegerman, before I [...]

On health insurance and bicycles

We wanted to write about cycling. Now I see the head of Francesca´s post — obviously she wants to write about health insurance.
Hmmm.
I know there was thunder and lightening in the US about Barack Obamas proposals for a new health insurance system. When we last met, Francesca got excited, too. I couldn´t. Health insurance isn´t [...]

Queue – yes, we do

Yesterday I wanted to  buy a railway ticket. I put on comfortable shoes, expecting to have to wait in line for a long time.  Then, the big surprise at the station. I had to wait, but I could sit on cushioned red sofas. The queueing was done by a number system: push the button, get [...]

If Castles were made of Sand and my Home is my Castle

Yep, I wish my castle/home were made of sand. Then I wouldn´t have to have nightmares about asbestos, that we found in the floors of our new house and which can only be removed once a “real” expert makes a report. Oh, we did have a so-called expert come in before we bought, but he was [...]

My home is my sandcastle

“Castles? Castles  … I don´t know .. I´ll write about sandcastles!”
Children all over the world build their fantasy worlds in sand, but only the Germans make the beach a construction site for temporary homes.  A ring of sand, fortified with stones and decorated with shells, tells everybody who owns the place. Invariably the family will [...]

Turnfest or Where to look for the Real Fun

 ”Today, the Internationale Deutsches Turnfest starts” I said to Francesca. “Let´s write about Turnen (gymnastics)”. 
“Okay” Francesca said “I have done gymnastics in a Turnverein as a child. Where does the Turnfest take place?”
Sometimes it shows that Francesca´s children don´t attend a public school in Frankfurt. I first heard about the Turnfest six month ago when the [...]

The story of …. Tanz in den Mai

 
“Now that I start to pay attention, I realize that Germans find a lot of reasons to party”, I said when Francesca proposed to write  about Tanz in den Mai-Dance into 1st of May”. 
This night resembles those Christian churches you find all over Europe, which were erected on former pagan sacred sites. When I grew up, [...]

Know your Easter Egg

They have been around for months now and that is probably why, when Easter finally comes around, I am surprised.
I mean all the Easter chocolates in their various shapes and sizes, such as Easter Bunnies, Eggs or Chickens. I have whined about this before (it´s my blog and I whine if I want to, whine if [...]