an internat ional woman’s l i fe in düsseldorf autumn 2018

KONNICHIWAsay hello to japan

HEY, SIRIartificial intelligence today

GOING HOMEa chat with the us consul

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www.awcduesseldorf.org

BE R AD!are you interested in writing, editing, or graphic design?If so, please come to our Radschläger Writer’s Circle meetings. We would love to hear your ideas and input on our magazine. If you have a story to tell, please come and see us — we would love to meet you!

QUESTIONS? Contact us at radschlaeger@awcduesseldorf.org.

Don’t forget — all content for the next issue must be submitted by NOVEMBER 5.Any content received after this date may not be included in the magazine, at the discretion of the editing team. It takes time to organize and edit the articles, and to design the magazine. We appreciate your understanding!

WHAT’S INSIDE4 editor

5 president

7 board news

9 fawco

10 charity

12 nominating

13 membership

16 japan

20 repatriation

22 science

26 events

30 calendar

32 food

35 sports

36 humans of düsseldorf

44 learning german

47 dogsInternational School Ruhr EssenEarly, Primary and Secondary Years

Moltkeplatz 1 & 61 · 45138 Essen · www.is-ruhr.de

International School Ruhr, EssenKritisch denken – global handeln

www.is-ruhr.de

Vom englischsprachigen Kindergarten bis zum Internationalen AbiturGanztagsschule von 7.30 bis 17.00 UhrEinstieg im laufenden Schuljahr gegebenFörderung durch Stipendien möglich

ISR_CLP_Flughafen_2017_05_RZ 12.06.17 15:22 Seite 1

Open DaySaturday, 29 September · 10-16h

ISR_Anzeige_A4_U2_Newsletter_25_04.indd 1 25.04.18 16:11

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www.awcduesseldorf.orgkaren van antwerp My husband, three dogs and I moved here in 2013. While my husband is German and from the region, the first few months were tough for both of us as it was very different from being on vacation or visiting the Christmas markets over the holidays.

The first year living here, a college friend contacted me and asked, “what is it that I did here in Germany?” I was clueless as to what to tell them. Back in the USA, I could rattle off my career and volunteering efforts as well as make small talk.

For me, my husband was soon busy working his new position and I found each day an adventure. In the beginning, I wasn’t able to have any kind of small talk with my new neighbors. Now each one waves to me as they drive by.

One day I could not for the life of me figure out how the one knob on the oven worked. Then there was the day I wanted to wash our clothes and tried to read the manual for the machine in German. Thus, for me, I had to get a routine and figure things out with my husband’s help and of course the help from our AIWCD family. All that alone time also challenged me to look inwards to help regain my self-confidence living here. In the USA I always felt invincible. After five years, I enjoy living here and the wonderful people I have met and continue to meet in my village and within the AIWCD.

Both Verena and Jane had different experiences of their time here in Germany. Listed below are few things where my idea was different from the reality.

PRESUMPTION REALITY

I thought all Germans wore bright-colored clothes and so I bought bright orange, red and blue clothes.

Grey is a very popular color here. I now own grey clothes. Rarely do I wear the bright orange clothes.

Everyone in Germany speaks English. They wear t-shirts with English sayings, and on the radio, they play popular English songs.

Where we live, you must speak and understand German. While some Germans do speak English, often they are afraid to speak it.

We can drive as fast as we want on the Autobahn. I have had a few speeding tickets. Lesson learned.

Halloween and St Patrick’s Day are big holidays. St Martin’s Day and Karneval — entirely different perspective on holidays. We still decorate the house for Halloween. No one ever visits us or trick-or-treats.

Care packages of cookies, note cards and aspirin from my parents.

The package of Belgium Chocolates from Costco held at the Zollamt, where I had to pay duty.

Sundays and holidays — mowing the lawn or washing the car. I had no idea Sundays and Holidays had to be quiet days, and no work is to be allowed outside the house. There is always the Netherlands for shopping.

Waving at your neighbors and being friendly. The reality of my neighbor stopping the car and getting out when I first waved to say hello. They thought I needed help and was flagging them down as an emergency.

Taking German language classes would be laid back and fun, no pressure.

I had never heard of the word Prufüng before. I failed my first B1 German language exam. Fortunately, took the class again and passed the exam.

Finding a job, no problem. I am outgoing confident and a go-getter. Right.

The reality for me was to find out what I could do and what I wanted to do here. Finding the right fit for working again in a German language firm is an adventure.

LIVING IN GERMANYthree women's experiences

Within the AIWCD, English is the main language, yet some speak German, some are German, and some of us don’t speak any German at all. However, we all remember what

it was like to be new to the area. To our new members: you are not alone. Moving to a new country or returning to Germany after living abroad has a period of transition.

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www.awcduesseldorf.orgjane joo parkIt’s been more than a decade since I first moved to Germany as well. Because I moved to Essen from the Swabian mountains deep in the provinces of southwest Germany four years ago, I contrast my experience a lot between north and south of this non-monolithic country. Our move to NRW changed a number of the generalisations about Germany that I had originally made while living in the south. I realized that the quality of life is better in the south. The produce often comes from the Mediterranean rather than Dutch hothouses and after having bought and renovated a house in each region I’m able to assume that workmanship is better in the south as well. However, while I do believe that life is easier in Germany when you and your qualifications can fit into neat boxes, the mentality is far more open-minded and relaxed here. Having said that, these are some of the overall preconceptions that were upended when I moved here a decade ago.

GERMANS KNOW EVERYTHING: The aforementioned male friends as well as my female German friends seemed to know the specifics about a number of subjects, particularly of European history and how cars operate. Compared to my more dilettante broader general knowledge, my friends’ in-depth matter-of-fact expertise led me to believe that the German school system provided a more solid education. What I didn’t realise is that that system has changed a lot since those of us with German spouses were educated.

THERE IS MORE THAN ONE AUTOBAHN: I thought that being able to drive as fast as you wanted on the Autobahn referred to a single, famous road – like the notorious Reeperbahn in Hamburg. Like Karen (and I know Verena too), I have the grainy black and white pictures to prove that it is the Autobahn refers to a Bundes-wide sprawl of highways with various speed limits.

EVERYTHING IS 50-50: My preconceived notion was that Germany was just as egalitarian as Sweden. During my student days, I had had several male friends and flatmates who had much more wherewithal than I did on how to clean, cook, sew on buttons and fix the cupboard doors. But I learned after I started having children that Germany’s infrastructure is based on “traditional” assumptions, namely that a parent (guess which one) is staying home. Again, I found this assumption to be more apparent in the south, but the fact that all-day schools are a relatively new concept here backs me up on this.

I know I’ve made many more observations while expatriating and immigrating to Germany, but I’ve gotten to the point of not seeing the differences so much anymore. It’s just the way things are now and anyone who has seen the zeal in which I’ve used my label maker knows that I’ve always been a stickler for “Ordnung muss sein”!

verena evansAs a Brit and therefore European, living ‘just across’ the sea from Germany for 40 or so years I had no real preconceived ideas about what life in Germany would be like, not that I’d ever been to Germany before the decision was made that we would move here. The Brits as a whole don’t have strong feelings towards the Germans (despite the war, but that’s a whole other story) unlike the feelings we have towards the French (also a whole other story) although we do enjoy poking fun, but then again we poke fun at anyone who sits still long enough. That said, life here is very different to life in Britain and after 11 years here the differences remain, although hopefully we’ve become more acclimated to them.

BREAD: OMG the bread selection here is unreal, always fresh and always available (there’s maybe 2/3 days in the year when the bakeries are shut, I think everyone who moves here and isn’t gluten intolerant gains weight! And bread to the locals is treated like a divine right. No bread? The world must be about to end.

FOOD SHOPPING seems to be a daily practice, daring to be the one person in the checkout queue with an overflowing trolley takes balls of steel and I always have to remind myself to shop the day before the last day when a bank holiday is looming, because the locals descend like locusts and strip the shelves.

BACON: I miss British bacon, thick cut, back bacon. The stuff here just doesn’t come close.

HEATING: Our central heating system was brand sparkling new when we moved here and gets serviced every single year and yet still the damn thing has a hissy fit and requires TLC every single year. The most that ever went wrong with the old British one was that the pilot light went out and had to be relit. On the upside at least we can write off the labour part of the bill to taxes!

CLOTHES: I love colour, not a fan of black (and white just makes me look as though I’m dying) so the German predilection with wearing black in winter and white in summer just encourages me to seek out more colour, but at least the black/white wardrobe enables me to tell when the season has officially changed!

DOG OWNERS: Scoop the damn poop, you lazy dog owners! It’s nasty!

CARS: The majority of BMW drivers are as moronic as those back in Britain, but why aren’t there more colourful cars here? Black is by far the most popular, followed by grey, seriously lacking in imagination, although that said, they are all bright and shiny and clean ALL the time, unlike my racing green (with white go faster stripes obviously) dust bucket.

GREEN MAN: Have you been tutted at yet for crossing on the red man when the road is empty as far as the eye can see? How to wind up a local!

BREAKFAST: I love a German brekkie, so must choice and variety (although rubbish bacon) but why do people seem to have a breakfast at home and then another one at work around 9-10am? I don’t understand.

TEA: Being British I love tea, but I’m talking proper tea, brewed from tea leaves that came off a tea bush grown in Asia. If it didn’t come off a tea bush then it isn’t tea so stop pretending that a pile of mint leaves and a scoop of organic honey in tepid water is tea, it isn’t, it’s water with leaves in it.

ICE CREAM: I find it funny that Germans will eat ice cream no matter the season, sitting outside the Eiscafe with a blanket wrapped around them in the middle of winter just so they can enjoy a cigarette with their ice cream. Although what’s more amusing is that the majority of the Eiscafes are owned by Italians who were invited here by the Germans post war to help rebuild the country, and fortunately they stayed.

SCHOOL: Where to start…the fact they only start “full time” schooling at six, walk to school unsupervised and are often sent home with no notification to possibly an empty house. Lessons are cancelled with no substitute teacher. During our time here they changed from 13 years of schooling to 12 (the “turbo ABI”) and have now decided to change it back. They still use blackboards and OHPs (when we moved, my daughter’s primary school in a little country village had interactive whiteboards in every classroom).

DRUGS: The one shop I really miss from Britain is Boots, with its shelves laden with paracetamol, ibuprofen, aspirin etc. alongside the nail varnishes and all the shampoos and soaps (and that’s just the small, run of the mill store). We always bulk buy in England (especially stocking up on cold remedies which don’t seem to have been invented here) just to avoid the staff in the apotheke going full on stasi in their interrogation of why you can’t get rid of your headache with a glass of herbal infusion.

RADIO: There are radio edits available, use them, no one needs to be subjected to such vile language at 8am while taking the kids to school.

That said, we love it here, and as the years go by there are less and less things that we absolutely have to have brought back from England (although gravy, custard and Cadbury chocolate will forever be on the list).