When I took my driving test many years ago in Germany we had to be 18 before we could drive, but there have been changes in the last few years. Lower-Saxony started it seven years ago and since January 2011 is has become law in all of Germany: the possibility of driving at 17! However, … Read more
If you are driving to Germany this winter you will need winter tyres. As from Monday 29th November 2010 it is mandatory to use winter tyres (or snow & mud tyres) in Germany. Failure to do so can result in a instant fine of 40 Euros. If you cause a traffic disruption because your car has summer … Read more
All day today I have either read on blogs, heard on the radio, seen on TV or spoken to some of my students about Armistice Day and it made me realise that apart from my post about St Martin’s Day there should be another blog today: about living with guilt. You see, as a German living in … Read more
In many areas of Germany children will go out tonight with their lanterns and sing this song. But why? The 11 November is St Martin’s Day (Martinstag). Martin was a Roman soldier who was always very kind and helpful. One legend tells the story of Martin meeting a beggar in a snowstorm. Martin cut his … Read more
Luckily not literally! You’ve heard these holiday stories: holiday makers go to the beach and find all good places have been taken by the Germans who got up early and put towels on favourite spaces in order to claim them 😉 This habit has moved to university libraries. Students arrive early and leave their books … Read more
When I still lived in Germany there was no Halloween. The only time we heard about it was when we watched American horror films or any other American films which happened around Halloween. I didn’t really know anything about Halloween until I moved to England and the first children came knocking on my door calling … Read more
This post contains affiliate links to Amazon. It means I might get a few pence if you buy anything – at no extra cost to you. When Germans like a songs so much that they can’t get it out of their head they call it ‘Ohrwurm’ which means ‘earworm’.So when I was followed by somebody … Read more
Surely not, you may think! I’m not so sure, so let me explain: I love walking. For the last ten or so years I have been walking as much as possible. I try to do 10,000 steps a day (don’t always achieve that) and at weekends we go for long walks. Twice I have managed to … Read more
I read an interesting article on the Deutsche Welle website this morning (if you want to read it – it is in English) Soon you will be able to see internet addresses with the letter ‘ß’ in it. Until now the only choice was ‘ss’. This reminded me of a question I get asked a … Read more
Yesterday, while listening to the radio, I heard about a recipe for a refrigerator cake. It reminded me about a German recipe called “Kalte Hundeschnauze”.This is what you need: Melt the coconut fat (‘Palmin’ in German) in a saucepan and leave to cool a bit. Mix it with the icing sugar (‘Puderzucker’), cocoa (‘Kakaopulver’), eggs … Read more
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