Expat Chatter

I thought my French was good enough to get me around southern France. But language skills were not enough.

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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

I used to feel sheepish whenever I took an overpacked suitcase home on a trip to the U.S. But when I thought about it more closely, I realized there was a very good reason for doing this.

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Brenda Arnold

I fantasize about taking my kids back to where I grew up to show them the real America. Except when I arrive, it’s often to discover that many things have changed. Shops have disappeared, new restaurants have sprouted up. I may wax nostalgic, but were the old ways really better?

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Brenda Arnold

The real founding father
I just recently overcame my amazement that Alexander Hamilton was not Anglo-American but from the Caribbean island of Nevis, contrary to the lore of America’s Founding Fathers. Thanks to the musical, this has become common knowledge,. 

But now I learn that Chicago was not founded by French fur traders but by Jean Baptiste Point du Sable, a black man from Haiti. Not until 2009 was a memorial erected for this pioneer, sponsored by another Haitian. Contemplating the bust of this man made me aware of how few memorials there are of non-whites. I was glad to see this one.

Windy City
Muttering at the cold wind while dragging a suitcase to my hotel, I kept telling myself not to be surprised. After all, Chicago is nicknamed “the Windy City.” But other cities in the U.S. are even breezier. “Windy” was an insult leveled at the city by its late 19th -century rival, Cincinnati, Ohio, particularly in reference to Chicago’s baseball team, the White Stockings, founded with the express purpose of defeating Cincinnati’s team, the Red Stockings. These names were later shortened to what we now know as the White Sox and Red Sox, to fit better into newspaper headlines. 

The Great Chicago Fire
Every American schoolchild knows about the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 and what caused it: Mrs. O’Leary’s cow. This popular children’s song tells the story:

Late one night, when we were all in bed
Old Lady Leary lit a lantern in the shed
And when the cow kicked it over 
She turned around and said
It’ll be a hot time in the old town tonight
FIRE! FIRE! FIRE!

Such a lovely little ditty. And so much fun to sing at summer camp, as I can attest to from personal experience. The only problem is that it is pure fiction, invented by a journalist desperate to deliver an interesting article, a tactic which has recently gained in popularity.   

But seriously – all he could come up with was a cow? 

If you’re going to make something up, you should plumb the depths of your creative well. I’d like to propose a few alternatives: Two teenagers dared each other to torch the house of the local oddball neighbor. Or: a train was running late and sped up so fast that its wheels caught on fire. Chicago was a rail hub then as now, so this version would track (heh- heh). 

Another theory proposes that the fire was caused by meteorites that fell that night in Chicago and in other towns in neighboring states, where fires also occurred. The area was also suffering from a prolonged drought. Since everything –buildings, sidewalks, and bridges – was made of wood, the fire and a strong wind quickly burned through it all.

Who you callin’ Second City?
Chicago is called the “Second City.” This does not mean second to New York, and at this juncture, I wish to extend my most sincere apologies to New Yorkers; you have a great city and we all love it, but truly, it’s not the only one, and the fact that you refer to it as “the city” won’t make it so. 

“Second City” refers to how Chicago rose from the ashes of the 1871 fire. Afterwards, Chicagoans did what German cities did after being bombed. They took out an old city map, gave it hard look, and said: “Eeehhh…we can do better.” 

The architect Dankmar Adler then redesigned the city with a more generous layout, moving buildings back from the street and creating breathing room between them. This explains why I felt like I was in New York while walking around, but without the need to keep my elbows pinched against my ribs to prevent me from colliding with someone.

First a criminal, then a hero
Chicago’s architecture also profited from WWII in a surprising way. By banning the Bauhaus style of architecture, the Nazis sent the iconic architect Mies van der Rohe fleeing. Their loss was Chicago’s gain. His signature skyscrapers and those of his protégés now grace the banks of t

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Brenda Arnold

France’s national holiday is Bastille Day, July 14th, which sparked a revolution that sent shock waves across Europe. But French culture had already been impacting many countries’ architecture, language, cuisine - and even your backyard – for centuries.

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Brenda Arnold

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Brenda Arnold

It’s been over 200 years since these two broods of cicadas hatched at the same time. Just by chance, I’ll be traveling right through the middle of the swarms. 

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Brenda Arnold

If you are in Munich and see people jostling for a spot in line at a produce stand, you can bet they’re queuing for white asparagus. Don’t bother telling them that the green kind is better, because the white stuff has cult status here.

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Brenda Arnold

If you’re just settling in on the couch, then don’t let any Germans into the room. They’ll open up all the windows to let in fresh air – regardless of the outside temperature.

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Brenda Arnold