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Expat Life in Germany

Useful info & resources from 3 years in Germany | Banking, housing, immigration, transportation, pets, taxes & more

Timeline of Insanity: Registering A Non-EU Car In Germany

Expat Life in Germany

Deciphering German Curtain Terminology

Expat Life in Germany
Shopping for our German EBK

The Oddity of the German Einbauküche

Expat Life in Germany
Our number at the German Immigration office

German Immigration Says, “Ja, You Can Stay.”

Expat Life in Germany
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Castle for rent in Germany

German Apartment Hunting 101

Expat Life in Germany
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Celebrating Cinco de Mayo in Germany

Expat Life in Germany
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Almost every year, Travis and I celebrate Cinco de Mayo on May 5th.  Neither of us is of Mexican descent, but like so many holidays we have in the States, it's one that grew from our large immigrant population and one that many Americans celebrate.  In Mexico,...

How scary is a trip to a German dentist?

Expat Life in Germany
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One of the hardest things we've discovered about moving to a new country, particularly one in which we don't speak the language, is finding new medical professionals.  Since we rarely go to the doctor and haven't had dental insurance since we left the US, we w...

Drawing Pysanky for Ukrainian Easter

Expat Life in Germany
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As Americans, we've always celebrated our Easter holiday toward the end of March or some time before April 24th. This year, the holiday arrived quite early, on March 27th.  It was a long weekend, so we headed to the Czech Republic and spent Easter getting span...

Misadventures in German Underwear Shopping

Expat Life in Germany
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Does anyone else hate shopping for clothes?  It can't just be me... To be fair, it isn't Germany's fault.  This all started a long time ago in a country thousands of miles away.  I realized today while digging around in old photo albums to send one to a f...

American vs German Culture: To Eat or Not To Eat

Expat Life in Germany
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One of the things we've been learning lately is how to make friends in Germany.  It turns out, it's not as easy as we thought it would be.  Ask any German what they notice first and foremost about Americans, and one thing that always tops the list is how frien...

St. Paddy’s Day Shenanigans

Expat Life in Germany
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Apparently a love of Ireland is alive and well in Göttingen.  On St. Patrick's Day in Germany, folks come out in droves to celebrate all things Irish.  Not ones to miss the holiday festivities, Travis and I joined a group of folks from his lab to see what the ...

Deciphering German Curtain Terminology

Expat Life in Germany
Eureka!  We've done it!  We've cracked the top-secret code of German curtain terminology.  I am not a kiddin' when I tell you that figuring out how to buy curtains and make them fit our plain old standard windows has been one of the hardest tasks as expats in ...

The Plissee Project

Expat Life in Germany
Now that we've finished putting in an entire kitchen in our German apartment, we've moved on to another exasperating home improvement project - window coverings.  It might not be a very exciting topic, but just like with cupboard handles, you realize how impor...

Our Einbauküche Is Finished!

Expat Life in Germany
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Hey, you guys remember that funny little notion of the German Einbauküche?   By "funny," I don't mean funny haha. I mean funny peculiar. Well, last night Travis and I put the finishing touches on our brand spankin' new kitchen.  It's now 100% complete - fully...

Our 2-Week eBay Shopping Spree

Expat Life in Germany
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Well folks, it's impossible not to laugh a bit in irony when we look back at our household purchases for the last couple of years.  Nineteen months ago, we sold almost everything we owned in the United States to move to Switzerland.  We found a gorgeous three-...