The Expat Cast

Season 1, Episode 22. What is it like to be an Asian woman in Germany? This week, we hear one woman's perspective. April is from China, and she's lived in Canada, Austria, the United States, and now Germany. Through her time in North America, Europe, and Asia, April has been able to compare people's reactions to her across cultures. 

We discuss if/when it's acceptable to ask someone about their home country's politics, how to differentiate between a different cultural approach to getting to know someone and an offensive affront, and what to do when confronted by an act of racism or a micro-aggression. In our conversation, we share our own experiences, and we do not intend to speak for any group of people.

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Season 1, Episode 21. What do you call someone who moves to a new country because the person they're in a relationship with got a job offer abroad? A trailing spouse? Bitte nicht! They're an expat partner.

This nuance is vitally important, says our guest, Katharina, of the Share the Love blog. When Katharina agreed to move from Munich to Chicago for her husband's job, she was excited to continue her thriving career in a new country. She was shocked and devastated to realize that getting a job wasn't that easy. Worse still: she was hardly alone.

She interviewed dozens of expat partners, read the research on the topic, and evaluated the statistic. She launched her website and blog to share what she found, and she became a life coach so that she could personally mentor others to regain their confidence in their new life abroad.

FIND KATHARINA

Online

Instagram @sharethelove.blog

Read her Expat Partner Career Workbook

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Season 1, Episode 20. It should be no surprise that our conversation with Friederike Schulte, the director of a German-American cultural institution, had us ping-ponging across the Atlantic. Pennsylvania Quakers! Stuttgart! Silicon Valley! Berlin in the '40s! The Midwest Goodbye! The trans-Atlantic dialogue doesn't hold back on geography.

We chat over-assimilation, American heroism, and "that whole hanging out concept." (I'm still chuckling about that.) Plus, Friederike tells us what a German-American cultural center actually does, why these places exist, and where you can find them around Germany.

GERMAN-AMERICAN CENTERS 

• Carl-Schurz-Haus in Freiburg

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Season 1, Episode 19. Have you ever felt completely fatigued, your energy fully spent, not because of anything in your personal life but rather because of the world at large? Welcome to the feeling of Weltschmerz, one of those wonderfully untranslatable German words, which combines the words Welt, or world, with schmerz, or pain, to create: worldpain.

Many of us, expat or not, have felt this over the last couple of years, and in honor of recent violent attacks in America & the US Midterm Election 2018, The Expat Cast sits down with Tanya Dantus, fellow expat and therapist. We chat about how current events effect us as expats and how psychotherapy can be hugely helpful in dealing with tough situations, political or otherwise. 

Tanya has a ton of helpful tips for finding a therapist in Germany, which can be found here.

FIND TANYA

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Instagram @TanyaDantus

Facebook @TanyaDantus

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Season 1, Episode 18. Christin decided to take a break from her life in Germany to do a study abroad year in Charleston, South Carolina, in the hopes of improving her English. Little did she know, she'd meet the love of her life on her first day of classes, launching a whirlwind couple of years, including an engagement, a long-distance relationship, a wedding, and a permanent move to America.

Now, she's settled into her life in US and runs the blog This German American Life. She joins host Nicole to swap impressions about her new home. The two share which aspects of daily life give them culture shock, from ice cubes to air conditioning to banking to garbage to cars.

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Season 1, Episode 17. It's hard enough to find a job in Germany, but the process of getting all the paperwork needed to finalize a job offer can be an unexpected headache and financial strain. Nicole shares her experience with what paperwork she needed to get a full-time job in her field in Germany.

For a full list of resources, check out the blog post here.

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Season 1, Episode 16. Finding an apartment or house in Germany can feel impossible, and it can be incredibly confusing. Some homes are listed without kitchens. What Germany calls a 3-room house is called a 2-bedroom house in America. You might need a resume to apply for an apartment.

What?!

No fear! Shanon and Nicole break it all down. You can get a full list of resources they recommend here.

Plus, Nicole shares how she ended up on House Hunters International!

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Season 1, Episode 15. Did you know that American citizens, no matter where they are in the world, are eligible to vote? With the upcoming November 6 election in the United States in mind, The Expat Cast sits down with Duncan, an American voting rights enthusiast in Freiburg, Germany. We learn how register to vote and how to vote from abroad.

Starting at  22:20, Duncan talks about the non-profit Wahlkreis 100%, which advocates for non-EU citizens' right to vote in local elections in Germany. Duncan shares why he's involved with this group and believes in their mission, how others can get involved, and what impact a non-EU citizen vote would have on local matters.

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Season 1, Episode 14. Five years ago, Rebecca decided to cut alcohol out of her life. Just weeks after embarking on a sober life, she and her husband moved to Germany, a country famous for their beer and drinking culture.

Rebecca shares her experience as one of pleasant surprise, what with Germany's lesser-known strong love for non-alcoholic drinks and with the European cafe culture. The harder part of the move was dealing with the resurgence of her depression. Rebecca talks us through her process of admitting she needed help, realizing how common expat depression is, and navigating the therapy system in Germany.

RESOURCES

• There's a Good Chance That Today Will Suck: Dealing with Depression Abroad

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Season 1, Episode 13. In the second half of our interview with Reggie, we dig deeper into how his background in rap and hip hop influenced his expectations for Germany.

Why are there kids mindlessly dancing, backs to each other, to Usher in a Freiburg club, when Reggie knew from working with Usher that the whole point of his music was to bring people together? What's the point of going to a club if there's no chance that Destiny's Child might show up?

And, in an Expat Cast first, Reggie helps us wrap up the episode with some original freestyle rapping!

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