Decades From Home - A Podcast About Germany

On the show this week, Nic has a run in with the Bishop of Augsburg as his kids’ Kindergarten is finally opened. We discuss Bavarian flavoured Catholics, the correct kind of wurst, and sermons for 4-year-olds.

Elections are in the air at the moment, and we start with Dili’s optimistic assessment from her former home of Sri Lanka as things seem to be taking a turn for the better after Presidential elections. From the positive, we turn to slightly more negative state election results in Brandenburg, as the SPD retain their position as the largest party, but the AfD also make large gains.

We close out proceedings with a surprise invitation to Oktoberfest and ponder what is the best outfit to wear to the Wiesn that isn’t a Dirndl or Lederhosen.

For those of you looking to support Ukraine or the many refugees fleeing the conflict, please take a look at these different charities and consider donating if you can.

Ukraine Crisis Media Centre - A list of different donation pages to help the Ukrainian military response.

Disaster Emergency Committee - Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal

Save the Children

Ärzte ohne Grenzen

Theme tune courtesy of Kloß mit Soß

On the show this week, we’re joined by translator, Würzburg resident, and all round top Scottish lass Lynn Nothegger! As if to celebrate Lynn’s debut, Producer Simon brings us some exciting news coming out of Frankfurt concerning one of Germany’s premier sporting events, the 11th European Tram Driver Championship. We discuss drag racing on the Straßenbahn, and our own experiences of Germany’s public transport.

It’s not often we have another resident of Bavaria on the show, but we quickly learn why not all Bavarians are the same, and why many in the north of the state don’t actually consider themselves Bavarian at all. We also discuss the different immigrant experiences between Berlin and Bayern, and Lynn offers some tips for dealing with Germany’s labyrinthian bureaucracy.

With Lynn being a translator, we finish things off by finding out how AI is impacting her job, and whether it will replace professional translators in the future.

For those of you looking to support Ukraine or the many refugees fleeing the conflict, please take a look at these different charities and consider donating if you can.

Ukraine Crisis Media Centre - A list of different donation pages to help the Ukrainian military response.

Disaster Emergency Committee - Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal

Save the Children

Ärzte ohne Grenzen

Theme tune courtesy of Kloß mit Soß

On this week’s pod, we inject a little mystery into proceedings as we’re joined by our first unnamed guest, Kinocow! We ask about useful pseudonyms, social media anonymity, and whether cows really do have interesting opinions about Germany.

Perhaps the reason our guest would rather not offer their real name is due to their controversial opinions about mangos, which is enough to bring our resident fruit expert Dili to the boil. Luckily Kinocow has more to say about Germany than exotic fruit, as he explains how he found his way to Germany from India.

We discuss dealing with loneliness, why Germany isn’t a country for beginners, and why Berlin is the only place to live. We also find out why Hanuta and German knives are the most desirable objects to take back when visiting family.

For those of you looking to support Ukraine or the many refugees fleeing the conflict, please take a look at these different charities and consider donating if you can.

Ukraine Crisis Media Centre - A list of different donation pages to help the Ukrainian military response.

Disaster Emergency Committee - Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal

Save the Children

Ärzte ohne Grenzen

Theme tune courtesy of Kloß mit Soß

After three weeks of general calm, we welcome Nic back to the podcast, fresh from some serious holiday adventuring. Before we can get to that though, there’s some admin to cover, and an important question to ask: how come the podcast gets the best reviews when Nic is away? We probably all know, but better not to tell him…

We take some time to pick through the recent and rather depressing results from state elections in Sachsen & Thuringia, and ponder how to form a government from the disparate selection of political parties that have been elected.

On a less serious note, we finish the show on Nic’s time away, and find out whether eating lamb for every meal is a good idea, and find out what it’s like to be 300 meters away from Adele.

For those of you looking to support Ukraine or the many refugees fleeing the conflict, please take a look at these different charities and consider donating if you can.

Ukraine Crisis Media Centre - A list of different donation pages to help the Ukrainian military response.

Disaster Emergency Committee - Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal

Save the Children

Ärzte ohne Grenzen

Theme tune courtesy of Kloß mit Soß

Once again we're "Nic-less" this week (let's hope he still remembers how to pod when he does finally return!), leaving Dili and Kat to helm our way through another episode.

Thankfully, we have a great new guest to welcome the show, Berlin-based writer Jacinda Nandi! Jacinda first came to Berlin in 2000, spending only a year there, but returned in 2002 after completing her degree and has called Berlin home ever since.

Jacinta talks about the pre-Euro days when everything in Germany seemed so affordable, and how the British seem to forget that the UK is not that far away from Germany. As a mother of 2 bilingual sons, she explains that trying to do the right thing by speaking English with them can lead to some odd situations, especially in public spaces.

We compare various cultures' attitudes to swearing and ask Jacinta to share her experiences of the German health system as an immigrant.

For those of you looking to support Ukraine or the many refugees fleeing the conflict, please take a look at these different charities and consider donating if you can.

Ukraine Crisis Media Centre - A list of different donation pages to help the Ukrainian military response.

Disaster Emergency Committee - Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal

Save the Children

Ärzte ohne Grenzen

This week's show is again hosted by Dili and frequent guest Kat, and they're delighted to be joined by friend-of-the-show, Scandi Tina. Tina was born in Norway but spent her childhood in Africa before moving to the UK as a adult. She and her partner now call the south of Hesse home, having left the UK during the pandemic.

With such an international upbringing, our talk with Tina inevitably turns to the meaning of "home", how we define it and where we locate it.

We also hear about Tina's German-language journey, and how mastering English and Afrikaans were her first challenges beyond Norwegian. Those challenges were necessitated by some complicated family arrangements, which Tina details.

Finally, Frankfurt's newest resident, our very own Dili, wants to know if Tina has any tips and recommendations for newcomers to the nation's financial capital.

For those of you looking to support Ukraine or the many refugees fleeing the conflict, please take a look at these different charities and consider donating if you can.

Ukraine Crisis Media Centre - A list of different donation pages to help the Ukrainian military response.

Disaster Emergency Committee - Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal

Save the Children

Ärzte ohne Grenzen

Theme tune courtesy of Kloß mit Soß

On this week’s show, journalist and Co-host of the BerlinsideOut podcast Aaron Gasch Burnett returns to the pod, and this time he’s come bearing gifts…well not quite gifts, but a promise to buy Nic & Producer Simon a cowboy hat next time he’s in Canada. Speaking of the land of maple syrup and mounties, Aaron tells us about his recent trip back to his homeland, and also why rodeo clowns are more important than you might expect.

Of course, we didn’t invite Aaron on to only talk about his time in Lumberjack country, after all, he’s been at the forefront of reporting on Germany’s new dual citizenship law. We discuss what’s happened since the law passed, as well as some of the other reforms enacted by Germany’s traffic light coalition.

We also learn about why Christopher Street Day in Berlin might be the party to end all parties, the legacy of Angela Merkel’s time as Chancellor, and why comparing British and German politics isn’t always helpful.

For those of you looking to support Ukraine or the many refugees currently fleeing the conflict, please take a look at these different charities and consider donating if you can.

Ukraine Crisis Media Centre - A list of different donation pages to help the Ukrainian military response.

Disaster Emergency Committee - Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal

Save the Children

Ärzte ohne Grenzen

Theme tune courtesy of Kloß mit Soß

This week we are joined by Berlin based game developer Seb Downie-Blackwell! Seb is a partner and Head of Productions at Remote Control Productions, as well as Managing and Creative Director at It Matters Games. Outside of work, Seb was also been instrumental in organising public viewings of all the Scotland games at the Kulturbrauerei in Berlin.

We discuss Seb’s successful efforts to gather his fellow Scottish brethren to celebrate and ultimately commiserate their football journey, and why not all Scotland fans are necessarily the same. We also find out how to get an invite to the British ambassador’s house in Berlin, if only to enjoy the cocktails.

Given Seb’s chosen career, we also find out what it’s like to work in the German games industry, the growth of creative industries in Berlin, and why Germany is quietly becoming a centre of the video games industry.

For those of you looking to support Ukraine or the many refugees currently fleeing the conflict, please take a look at these different charities and consider donating if you can.

Ukraine Crisis Media Centre - A list of different donation pages to help the Ukrainian military response.

Disaster Emergency Committee - Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal

Save the Children

Ärzte ohne Grenzen

Theme tune courtesy of Kloß mit Soß

This Week we’re joined by freelance reporter and broadcaster James Jackson. James is based in Berlin, and he covers a range of topics including news, business and culture in Germany and Central Eastern Europe for publications like the BBC, Sunday Times, Time Magazine and others.

We discuss how a seemingly unimportant decision to study German at school led James to moving to Germany’s capital, and how once he’d arrived, he built up an impressive body of work over the last seven years. James tells us what it’s like to write stories in both English and German, and how culture impacts the editorial focus in the UK and Germany.

We also find time to chat about some of James’ more controversial stories, what happens when journalists become the focus of social media backlash, while also finding time to talk about his new podcast.

For those of you looking to support Ukraine or the many refugees currently fleeing the conflict, please take a look at these different charities and consider donating if you can.

Ukraine Crisis Media Centre - A list of different donation pages to help the Ukrainian military response.

Disaster Emergency Committee - Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal

Save the Children

Ärzte ohne Grenzen

Theme tune courtesy of Kloß mit Soß