Expat Chatter

The Oktoberfest is synonymous with beer for most people. Yet half of the fairgrounds consists of roller coasters, kiddie cars, and shooting galleries—and what might possibly be the world’s last attraction of its kind: a flea circus.

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Brenda Arnold

You know Fall has arrived when the leaf blowers start blasting through the open window. But whose idea was it anyway to have lawns that need so much upkeep? French culture impacted many countries' languages and cuisine - and even the front yard.

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Brenda Arnold

Munich had a run-in with e-bikes once a few years ago. They successfully battled the bikes—quite literally—and won, leaving mangled two-wheelers strewn all over the city. Some citizens in San Francisco are also unhappy with the city government’s decision to introduce self-driving taxis. They can’t throw them in the river, as residents of the Bavarian capital did with the bikes, but they found an intriguing and humorous way to tackle them all the same.

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Brenda Arnold

Do you speak English? This question is often answered with “Yes” all around the world. Why bother learning another language if everyone speaks yours? Apparently, this is what many U.S. universities are thinking as they eliminate their foreign language programs. But this language hegemony leads to cultural ignorance, perhaps not an ideal state of affairs for a world power such as the U.S.

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Brenda Arnold

People’s identities are tied up closely with their names. But even when you are careful to pronounce it correctly you can still get into trouble. In Germany, some people with doctoral degrees have two “doctors” in front of their names—a doctor to the second power, perhaps. And then some people have “baron” in their name but aren’t royalty, while other royals are six years old and wear sweatpants. But it was the guy with the perfect Italian name that did me in—it turned out to be German. Very German, in fact.

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Brenda Arnold

Those of us who predate GPS know how to get around without using technology. Knowing the points of the compass is helpful for navigating in an American city, but in Europe, the streets often date from the days of footpaths and donkey carts. These willy-nilly labyrinths can dead end, disappear or lead you in a circle. So how does a North American get around a European city?

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Brenda Arnold

Any foreigner in Germany knows all about the country’s love of overengineering. All it takes is trying to fill out a single form to get a residence permit. Less talked about is how German mothers also overengineer. Are they just responding to the system? I found out when my daughters started school.

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Brenda Arnold

Gridlock is a word often used in connection with legislators in the U.S. Congress, but for people who work in the Washington, DC area it brings something else to mind: the terrible traffic situation. But Yankee ingenuity has carried far south enough to inspire commuters to a brilliant solution to allow more cars into the carpool lane.

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Brenda Arnold

The hand of history has done its work on the city of Munich. Named after the monks that founded it, it was disgraced by its role in vaulting the Nazis to power. Many decades later, it has just been chosen as the training site for European rabbis. Munich has not only redeemed itself but become an important center for Jewish culture.

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Brenda Arnold

It is astounding how places can change over time, sometimes transforming from sites of great trauma into parks where people take walks, barbecue, or fly kites in peaceful skies. Berlin is full of such spots, and the old Tempelhof airport is one of the most fraught locations of WWII and intricately interwoven with the start of the Cold War.

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Brenda Arnold