3 Americans That are Only Famous in Germany

When it comes to fame, Germany has its own set of rules. The Germans have shot lots of foreign-born singers and bands into international stardom throughout the decades - the most famous example being The Beatles.



Even today, there are Americans that can't walk the streets of Germany without being recognized, yet hardly anyone in the U.S. has ever heard of them.

Here are three of such Americans that are more famous, if not only famous, in Germany:


Bruce Darnell

source

It's hard to turn on German TV nowadays without seeing this American man's face. Bruce Darnell is currently famous for serving as a judge on German reality TV competitions, but he actually started out his career as a paratrooper for the U.S. Army. After leaving the army in the 1980s, he came to Germany as a model. Apparently, Bruce rubbed elbows with the right people over the following decades, because he was soon BFF with Heidi Klum and became nationally famous when he served as a judge on Germany's Next Top Model.

If you live(d) in Germany, you may know him for his grammatically-incorrect catchphrase "Das ist der Wahrheit" (it should be die Wahrheit):

Although I usually hate watching talent competitions, I do really enjoy seeing Bruce and hearing his awesome American accent (which my German fiancé tells me I should practice doing because the Germans seem to love it).

Dana Schweiger

Even if you live in Germany, you may have not heard of Dana Schweiger, but you have definitely heard of her ex-husband, Til Schweiger, and at least one of their children (their daughters Emma, Lilli, and Luna have been in quite a few Til Schweiger films).

If you're American, then let me explain: Til Schweiger is a famous German actor, director, producer... blahblahblah. Basically, he has his own production company and loves making movies for himself and his daughters to star in. Also, his facial expression never changes from what you see in the above photo.

Dana and Til have been divorced since 2014, but Dana is still semi-famous in Germany and is currently on the TV show 6 Mütter, where she talks about raising her celebrity kids.

Since Dana has lived in Germany for decades, she can speak German pretty well. However, as you can hear in the video, she does still have a strong American accent.

David Hasselhoff

This list wouldn't be complete without the Hoff! The rest of the world loves to joke about the Germans' obsession with David Hasselhoff, and I am here to conform that these jokes are based on fact.

David Hasselhoff's fame in Germany all stems from the 1980's TV show Knight Rider, which I had actually never heard of until coming to Germany. However, my German fiancé (who was 3 years old when Knight Rider was cancelled), claims that he was obsessed with the show as a kid. So, that should show how popular it is. Also, I regularly see reruns getting aired on TV even today.

It was because of the show's popularity, and the Germans' yearning to see Kitt (his talking car from the show), that David Hasselhoff was invited to play at the Berlin Wall on New Year's Eve in 1989 - a concert that iconified him in German culture for decades to come.

Just look at the reception he got when he appeared on a German late night talk show a couple years ago!

Do you know any other Americans that are only famous outside of the USA?

How Germany Views the U.S. Elections

The time has finally come. The U.S. presidential elections are tomorrow, and we will soon know who the future President of the United States will be. And if you are an American, you better go vote (I already did)!

Over the past few months, it has been just about impossible to turn on the TV here in Germany without seeing coverage of the U.S. presidential election. I can only imagine what it's like to actually be in the U.S. right now... *shudders*

But if you know anything about Germany, then it should already be pretty obvious that Clinton is favored among Germans. In fact, infratest dimap held a poll last month, which found that 86% of Germans said they would vote for Clinton and only 4% would vote for Trump.

The surprising part of this poll comes from AfD supporters. AfD (Alternative für Deutschland) is a right-wing populist political party whose rhetoric on refugees and immigrants very much mirrors Trump's statements about Mexicans and Muslims. However, it looks like even Trump is too extreme for them, as AfD voters were made up 14% of the poll's respondents. This means that the majority of AfD supporters would support Clinton over Trump.

Over these past few months, however, Germany's political leaders have been relatively quiet on this topic. Trump did claim that Chancellor Merkel "ruined Germany," but Merkel refused to retaliate. However, Germany's foreign minister did call Trump a "hate preacher."¹

If you follow Welcome to Germerica on Facebook, then you know that Germany's comedians have been more vocal about their views on the U.S. elections. Jan Böhmermann, the comedian who became quite famous after criticizing Turkish president Erdogan, covered the U.S. election in the Neo Magazin Royale episode from November 3, 2016. 

If you have the time, I highly suggest watching the entire episode. But if you don't have the time, you will get a gist of his message from the closing song that he created for the episode: 

Ultimately, whether you agree with the majority of Germans' opinion on who would make the best presidential candidate or not, I think we can all agree with the portrayal of both candidates on the current cover of Der Spiegel.

Cashing Checks in Germany vs. USA

No matter how long you live abroad, you still come across little everyday things that will surprise you. Things that you know would be so simple in your home country, but are confusing, over-complicated, or even archaic in our host country.

Today, I am talking about cashing and depositing checks in Germany versus the USA.

As I already bragged about multiple times on my blog, I won an academic prize from the DAAD in July, and this prize included a check for 1,000€. Desperately needing the money to pay for my upcoming semester, I took it to the bank the next day to deposit it in my bank account.

To deposit checks in Germany, you (at least at my bank, Postbank) have to bring it to a teller, who will write down the check number and your account number on a little slip of paper, which you will receive a carbon copy of. Then, you wait for the money to appear in your account 3-5 business days later.

Although you can still deposit checks like this in the U.S., it feels quite archaic for me. In fact, just one week after depositing my prize money, I flew to the U.S., where my wonderful grandmother gave me a check for my birthday. 

To deposit the check, I simply drove to the ATM, feed my check into the machine, and made sure that it read the amount correctly. I could see the pending amount in my account almost immediately.

But who cares? If you have been to Germany, then you know that it's not the most technologically-advanced country in the world. But as long as the system works, it's fine. Right?

Well, after spending 2 weeks in the U.S., I came back to Germany and checked my bank account to see if my 1,000€ check was ever deposited. It wasn't. Cue panic.

I searched for my little carbon copy stub that the bank teller gave me, but I couldn't find it. I stashed it away god-knows-where when I was cleaning out my wallet before traveling to the U.S. Luckily, my proud fiancé had taken pictures of my check on the day of the award ceremony. [Note: I later found the receipt, and all the numbers on it are correctly written.]

So, I called Postbank.

"It's been over 2 weeks and my check still hasn't been deposited."

"Yeah...That's not normal."

I gave the customer service woman the check number and date of deposit. It wasn't in the system. "Just wait for a letter in the mail with more information."

Yeah. I couldn't wait. So, I complained via Twitter.

Die @Postbank hat mein Scheck mit meinem Preisgeld vom @DAAD_Germany verloren. Kein Scherz. pic.twitter.com/uLCDr9RfOI

— Courtney Martin (@courtneydmartin) August 1, 2016

The next day, Postbank calls me to tell me that if the money still isn't on my account. The check disappeared. Of course they don't outright say that they lost it.

Now I have to ask my university if the check was cashed (Postbank did mention that it was possible that the check was stolen or deposited into the wrong account). If it wasn't cashed, then I have to ask them to cancel the original check and issue another one. Too bad I already tried contacting my university, and  they said it would be too difficult for them to do that. It's Postbank's fault, so they have to fix it.

So, here I am stuck in the middle with no money and no idea who to contact at this point.

Moral of the story? Avoiding using checks in Germany. And maybe bank somewhere else than with Postbank.

Germany, this is an area where you can learn a thing or two from the U.S.

Have you experienced any differences when banking in different countries?

Forest Kindergarten in Germany

Would you send your 3-year-old to daycare in the middle of the forest? Even in the middle of winter?  The Germans do.

Although not the most common kind of daycare in Germany, forest kindergarten (Waldkindergarten) is an increasingly popular form of daycare for young children to play, explore, and learn outside before having to start school when they turn 6 years old.

Forest kindergartens have existed in Germany for nearly 50 years and are a state-recognized form of daycare. Today, there are over 1,000 forest kindergartens throughout Germany.



For the past three years, I have lived across the street from a fairly large piece of forest with a large stream running through it. I regularly walk and jog through this forest, but I was quite surprised one morning, when during my walk, I came across a group of little kids hitting trees with sticks. What the heck is going on here? Where are there parents? Isn't it too cold to be outside?

I'm a cynical American, if you can't tell. It turns out, these kids belonged to the local forest kindergarten called "the forest turnips" (die Waldrüben). And as the name suggests, forest kindergartens are held exclusively outside—no matter the weather. However, this particular group does have a construction trailer...

Here is a translation from the Forest Turnips' bulletin board, which describes how their program is run:

Our group consists of 15 children between 3 and 6 years old, and they are guided by two teachers. The group meets each day at 8:00 a.m. at our construction trailer in the forest.

The day starts with a morning circle at 8:30 a.m., where the kids greet each other, sing, and plan the day. After this, the group goes to one of their many play areas in the forest where they will eat breakfast together and begin an activity such as climbing, building, sawing, whittling, crafting, reading, singing, exploring, and more...

If you are like me, then you are probably thinking, "Sawing? Whittling? What, are they really giving 3-6 year-olds knives?" And the answer is yes. Yes, they are.

I was pretty shocked one of the first times I walked through the forest and saw the forest children with little pocket knives, cutting branches in order to build a bridge. When I later asked Marco about it, though, he acted like it wasn't a big deal. "I always had a knife as a kid so that I could do things like make spears and play with sticks in the forest." Well, okay then.

Don't believe me? Just check out the kids in this video:



My local Waldkindergarten includes this notice on their bulletin board as well:

Experiencing the stillness and noises of the forest promotes inner peace and concentration skills in the children. Unlike traditional day care centers, there is no over-stimulation in the forest. Without prefabricated toys, every child has the possibility to create their own toys and games by using their own creativity and imagination.

Here are some of their play areas that I discovered on my recent walk through the forest. I regularly come across tipis (or is it teepees?) and bridges that the kids have built. You can see that they even have their own hand-made bows and arrows!

I also came across this awesome zip line in the forest, but I don't think it belongs to the forest kindergarten

What do you think? Would you send your child to a Waldkindergarten?

Learning to Drive Stick Shift, Part 2

Back in September 2013, my German fiancé gave me my first stick shift driving lesson. We went from driving circles in the parking lot to driving around a traffic-filled roundabout in about 15 minutes, which was too much too fast. I was terrified the entire time, and I never got back into the driver's seat of a manual transmission car for the next 2.5 years.

Over Easter this year, Marco and I drove 800 km (500 mi) south to spend the week at his childhood home in Ravensburg. As usual, Marco drove the entire way, as I fed and watered him from the passenger seat (I'm a great passenger).

A couple days after arriving, however, Marco started suggesting that I try driving stick shift again. Just the parking lot, he kept saying. We don't have to leave the parking lot.

Well, that boy convinced me to drive circles around the parking lot that afternoon, and it went pretty well. It was especially entertaining for the nearby construction workers, who I think the workers had a fun time watching me sporadically stall the car. 

The parking lot experience went so well, in fact, I asked Marco to take me to some country roads where I can drive faster without encountering many other drivers. And that's exactly what we did. And it went pretty darn well.

A couple days later, Marco and I were invited to his cousin's house for a grilling party. Over dinner, Marco tuns to me and says, "That should probably be your last beer, because you are driving home."

Since he didn't ask me previously, I felt quite anxious at first, but I agreed to the arrangement. And when the party finally died down around 3 AM, I actually ended up driving home Marco, his brother, and his cousin - a car full of drunk German men.

The drive home from Marco's cousin's house was only about 15 minutes, and I don't think I ever saw another car (it was 3 AM on Easter Sunday). And although I did drive well under the speed limit, it went pretty darn well.

On Easter Sunday, Marco was anxious for me to practice driving again, so he suggested we go to McDonald's to grab a coffee (yes, we went to McDonald's on Easter Sunday). I quickly agreed, thinking that I could handle anything after the drove home the night before.

Unfortunately, there was one thing I didn't take into consideration when I agreed to drive into town: stop lights. There were five stop lights on the way to McDonald's, and every single one turned red just as I pulled up. The first three were fine, as there was nobody behind me, so I felt comfortable going really slowly. On the fourth, there was a car behind me, and in my attempt to take off quicker, I stalled the car. Luckily, I got it on the second try, and the person behind me didn't seem too perturbed.

When trying to turn left into McDonald's side street, I got caught by my fifth and final red light. And, of course, there were three cars behind me. The light turned green, and I stalled the car. I turned the key again, let my foot off the clutch, and it stalled again. Third times a charm? Nope, it's dead.

Then the light was red again, and as I sat there waiting for the green, I tried my hardest not to look in the rear-view mirror.

I didn't drive home from McDonald's that day.

After that slightly traumatic experience ("Scheiß Anfahren!" - as Marco's father said to me), we headed back to the parking lot, where I practiced stopping and starting again over and over and over.

On the day after Easter, Marco and I were planning to drive the 800 km back north. After strategically building up my driving confidence over the past week, Marco asked if I would like to drive "just the first half hour" of the trip. "Sure," I said, "as long as there aren't too many stop lights."

Well, that half hour quickly turned into four hours. That's right, I drove half of the way home! And I did it with only one minor freak-out when traffic on the Autobahn slowed to a near stand-still for a couple kilometers. Otherwise, Autobahn driving is pretty easy, considering you can just stay in 5th gear and forget that you are driving a car with a manual transmission.

Unfortunately, I am still nervous about driving through city traffic and have not yet taken to the wheel in our city. Hopefully with a little more practice, however, I can reach that level.

Can you drive stick shift? How did you learn?

Top 5 German TV Shows

German-produced TV series suck. Even Germans are quick to admit it. However, if you pay close attention, you can find a diamond in the rough every once in a while.

I love TV. Unfortunately, it seems like 99% of what German TV stations broadcast is either American or British TV series or horrible German reality shows. Over the past few years, however, I have found some favorites.

Here is my list of the top 5 best German TV shows:

1. Tatortreiniger

Der Tatortreinger (crime scene cleaner) is a show all about Heiko Schotte (better known as Schotty), and the interesting situations and people he encounters as he simply tries to go about his job as Tatortreiniger. I love this show for its character-driven plot and dark humor.

I also have to admit that I have a bit of a crush on Schotty, who is a walking German stereotype with his blond hair, blue eyes, love of Hamburg SV, and Tatort (see #3) ring tone. Watch the show, then maybe you will understand.


2. Türkisch für Anfänger

This is the #1 series that always shows up on lists about great German TV shows, and season 1 is definitely a must-see (especially for my fellow immigrants living in Germany). Unfortunately, the show goes downhill from there. Season 2 is pretty good, season 3 is bearable, and season 4 was almost unwatchable (although I did watch it). There is also a movie that was created after the TV series ended, but I never watched it, as I doubt it is worth the time.


3. Tatort

Tatort (crime scene) is the THE German TV series. In fact, I am pretty sure if you do not watch Tatort within the first 90 days of receiving your residence permit, you are deported from the country.

As you can guess from the name, Tatort is a crime show, but it was created with a unique approach: Each of the local public-service TV broadcasters throughout Germany, Austria, and Switzerland contribute episodes. This means that each week, you are treated to a unique story in a different city. This also means that some episodes are amazing while some are pretty bad - regular watchers always have their favorite cities and police commissioners.

The show airs Sunday evenings at 8:15 p.m. and has been since 1970, making it Germany's longest-running TV drama.  



4. Doctor's Diary

As Netflix always like to remind me, I am a fan of "TV series with a strong female lead," and this show has just that (kind of). Doctor's Diary is about Margarete Haase (also known as Gretchen), who begins working in a hospital after breaking up with her fiance. There are two male love interests, making it a bit of a stereotypical medical drama. I must also admit that I have only seen a few episodes of this show (there are 3 seasons total). However, I tend to despise German comedy (I am looking at you, Stromberg), and I found this show surprisingly funny. So, it is definitely worth a a watch for any romantic comedy fans out there.


5. Bauer sucht Frau

Yes, this is a reality show. Yes, Bauer sucht Frau does mean "farmer looking for a wife." Yes, this is technically a dating show. But let me explain myself!

Unlike "The Bachelor" or spin-off versions of Bauer sucht Frau from other countries, Germany's Bauer sucht Frau is more like a human interest story than a dating show. There are several candidates (farmers) each season, and each get to choose one partner at the beginning of the show. They can then take this partner back to their farm, where they live and work together, and, just maybe, find love.

Cheesy? Yes. But it is also hilarious and, at times, heart-warming. Best of all, you get to hear all kinds of crazy hillbilly dialects that you probably won't understand a word of  (lucky there are subtitles for most of them). If I haven't convinced you yet, just take a look at the farmers from the 2015 season!

What are your favorite German TV shows?

Marrying Young in Germany

If you didn't already know, my German boyfriend asked me to marry him, thus becoming my German fiancé. Exciting, right?! While I have received nothing but congratulations and excitement from my family and close friends, I have noticed some questionable reactions from some of my German peers.

Marco and I have been together for nearly 5 years. We love each other. We have decided we want to be together for the rest of our lives. So, he asked me to marry him.

But that's not the part the Germans have a problem with. The problem is that I am only 25 years old.

The longer I live in Germany and study at a German university, the more I see how many German students (at least at my university) tend to belong to a kind of liberal hive-mind. And according to the faux-feminist logic that women should marry and have children only after building a successful career, considering marriage in your 20's is taboo.

This reluctance towards marriage is reflected in the average age at first marriage in the U.S. and Germany (shown in the table below).

Country	Women	Men
United States	27 years old	29 years old
Germany	30 years old	33 years old

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Age_at_first_marriage

But statistics are not important here. Marco and I are choosing to get married because we want to. We feel ready. And while there my be a such thing as too young, I wouldn't question anyone's choice to get married as long as they were in a mature and loving relationship (and over 18). Heck, my mother was only 19 years old when she got married, and it lasted!

Now, don't get me wrong. nobody has openly told me that I am crazy or that I should not get married. Rather, I have just grown accustomed to questions such as "Really!?" or "But you're so young!" or "Why don't you wait?" when I tell someone I am engaged. And I am not the only one.

I was actually inspired to write this post after reading an article written by a German student at my university (who got married "young" at 25 years old). For those that know German, you can read the article here: http://www2.leuphana.de/univativ/warum-ich-jung-geheiratet-habe/

But don't worry. Nobody can get me down! Marco and I are hoping to get an appointment at the Standesamt (civil registry office) this week, and the wedding planning will hopefully begin shortly thereafter. So, prepare yourself posts about the beautifully bureaucratic process of marrying a German in Germany.

Do you think that 25 years old is too young to get married? At what age did you/your parents get married?

How German Are You? | The Müller Meter

I was sitting in a 6-hour class last week, when I heard some of my fellow students talking about much "Müller" is in them. For a second, I thought they were talking about genealogy. But no, they were talking about the Müller Meter.

ZDF, a German TV broadcaster, created the "Müller Meter" - a 15-question test to see how people compare to the average German. 

Wie viel Müller steckt in Ihnen?
Sind Sie die/der Durchschnittsdeutsche?

Since I was the only foreigner in the room, everyone thought it would be pretty funny for me to take the test as well. The other students were about 50-60% Müller, so they were all surprised when I told them my result.

That's right, I am 70% Müller! And people always worry about foreigners integrating. I fit the German stereotype more than many of my friends.

The funniest part of the quiz for me was the German living room. Did you know the average German has a coffee table, a floor lamp, a shelving unit (or entertainment center? I'm not sure how to translate Schrankwand), an orchid, curtains, and woodchip wallpaper in their living room?

We have four of the six items, including the horrible woodchip wallpaper (Raufasertapete), but I think it's next to impossible to find an apartment in Germany without it.

The day after my class, I was hanging out with my friend from Lithuania, who moved to Germany around the same time I did (we actually met in German class). Curious about how a fellow foreigner would do, I had her take the test as well.

She is even more Müller than me! Crazy to think that a country's population can be so heterogeneous, that a 15-question quiz isn't an accurate representation of all its citizens (/sarcasm). Still, it's fun to try :)

If you know a little German, you can take the test here: http://muellermeter.zdf.de/

And make sure to tell me how much Müller is in you in the comments below!

My New Year's Eve in Germany

Now that 2016 is here (YAY!), the holiday season is officially over (BOO!). Although this was my second time spending Christmas and New Year's in Germany, I was still able to experience a few traditions that I missed out on the first time around.

Just like New Year's Eve 2013, our final evening of 2015 started with Raclette and a bottle of Prosecco.

Beginning on December 29th, just about every store in Germany sells fireworks for Silvester (New Year's Eve). Being from Illinois, it still shocks me to see everything that is legal to buy here (even if it is only allowed to be sold for 3 days per year). 

When buying fireworks, the German fiancé told me he also wanted to do Bleigießen with me. I had no idea what he was talking about, but we bought a little set anyways. 

Bleigießen technically translates to "lead pouring." However, upon looking it up on Wikipedia, I found that it is actually known as Molybdomancy in English, which is a "technique of divination using molten metal."

Our Bleigießen set had 6 lead figures, so Marco and I each used 3 to make our shapes.

I started by melting the 3 lead pieces in a spoon over a candle flame.

Once the lead is completely melted, I quickly poured the metal into a jar of water.

The person that poured the metal then has to interpret the resulting shape. This interpretation then serves as a prediction for the new year. What do you think my lead figure looks like?

I saw a sword, which (according to www.bleigiessen.de) means "perseverance is necessary" (Schwert= Durchhaltevermögen ist nötig).

Next, it was Marco's turn.

Here is his resulting figure. What do you think it looks like?

I claimed it was a feather, but Marco said he saw a whale. Well, (at least according to www.bleigiessen.de) Marco needs to go on a diet (Wal = Diät machen). If he had picked feather, like I said, his divination would have been to "remain steadfast" (Feder = Standhaft bleiben). 

Both of our predictions were pretty lame and general, basically like reading a horoscope. I think the action of pouring the metal and interpreting the shape is way more fun than actually finding out what it supposedly means.

Shortly before midnight, Marco and I headed outside with arms full of fireworks. There were already several groups in the street, shooting off fireworks in every direction. After setting ours off, we danced around in the street for a while, enjoying the sounds of explosions and ambulance sirens.

Afterwards, we went back inside to shoot some bottle rockets off of our 3rd floor balcony. The first few went great!

Then Marco accidentally shot one off horizontally, and it exploded directly in front of a window on the neighboring building. Oops. We took that as our sign to go back inside and call it a night.

Happy New Year's!

German Apprenticeships (and why the USA needs them too)

Did you know that student loan debt is the second largest source of debt for Americans (mortgages are the #1)? Excuse my German, aber das ist für'n Arsch.

I have student loans. In fact, I graduated with the average amount of student loan debt for someone with a Bachelor's degree: $30,000. Luckily, this number is not increasing since college education is free in Germany. However, it is still waiting for me when I graduate and cannot keep it under deferral any longer.

But what choice do Americans have? Due to the recent trend of "up-credentialing," jobs that traditionally required only a high school education (e.g. secretary/administrative assistant) are now only accepting college graduates. But hell, who blames them? You may as well take advantage of all the unemployed graduates willing to work $12/hour in order to keep up with the minimum payments on their student loan.

But why hasn't this problem manifested itself in German culture?

Public universities in Germany are free, yes. However, only about 25% of Germans in the same age group go to university. Compare this with 66% in the U.S. The American job market may be over-saturated with college graduates, but what other choice did those graduates have? Of those that don't go to college, only 50% are able to find a job within a year.

In Germany, there are 342 trades that offer an apprenticeship, and about two-thirds of young people choose to enter into an apprenticeship after high school (i.e. Hauptschule/Realschule/Gymnasium). 

This means that if you want to be a banker, you do an apprenticeship in a bank. You do not waste tens of thousands of dollars to get a Bachelor's degree in finance. If you want to work in radio, you do an apprenticeship with a radio station. You don't waste your time and money on a Bachelor's in communication.

Nevertheless, apprenticeships do consist of both practical and theoretical training. This usually means that apprentices spend 50% of their time training for their desired job at a specific business and 50% of their time taking relevant classes at a vocational school. 

Of course, it is an investment for a company to offer an apprenticeship. Apprentices typically receive a small wage as they train for the job and take classes. These wages are paid by the business where the apprentice is working, making many apprenticeships very competitive. 

Unfortunately, U.S. companies are not in the business of trickling down profits to employees. Even the most profitable companies often have interns working for free. So, I think it is pretty unlikely that American companies will be willing to invest in young people by offering paid apprenticeships.

Currently, apprenticeships in the U.S. only really exist for a small number of trades such as construction, plumbing, and electric - just check out the U.S. Department of Labor's website, where you can also find this great quote:

Source: http://www.dol.gov/apprenticeship/find-opportunities.htm

Sometimes I wonder if I would still go to college if I could do it all over again. Although I am almost done with my Master's degree, I am not exactly a passionate academic. During my Bachelor's (which I was not always pleased with), I often thought that if I were a man, I would have just done an apprenticeship in construction. So, maybe if I had grown up in Germany, I would have done an apprenticeship at a bank, doctor's office, media company, anything.  Then again, maybe not, but I would have at least liked to have the option.

Until something changes in the U.S., I guess we will just have to wait for the day when the Baby Boomer generation dies out, my generation (i.e. the new "middle class") cannot afford homes, and student loan debt overtakes mortgages for the #1 spot.

Do you think an apprenticeship system is lacking in the U.S.? Am I being too pessimistic?

On Paid Vacation

Unfortunately, my contract for the part-time job I have had for the past year came to an end. In fact, today was my very last day. I'm not too sad, though, because I will still be paid until the end of September. How? Germany!

I have been working a part-time job at my university since October 2014. The job is great, the pay is great, everything is great. Learning that I had paid vacation days made it even more great.

At just 15 hours per week, I never expected I would have any kind of benefits. Heck, I worked full-time jobs in the U.S., but since I was paid hourly, I never received any vacation days (unless I just wanted to take unpaid time off). So, when I first approached my boss about taking vacation for Christmas 2014, I explained to him that I would work extra hours the weeks prior to and after my time off to make up for the lost hours.

"You could also just use some vacation days," he explained.

"I have vacation days?!" I asked, confused as to how a part-time student worker could possibly have earned vacation days.

"Welcome to Germany, where workers actually have rights," he replied with a smile.

Calling HR that afternoon, I was shocked to find out that I had 6 vacation days to use during my first 6 months at my job. After my 6-month probation period, I would earn 24 more days to use within the next year.

Yep, that's right, 30 paid vacation days!!! Since my time off is calculated at 6 days per week, that is 5 weeks of paid time off! Working 15 hours per week, that's 75 paid hours!

Unfortunately, my job contract ends on September 30th. However, I won't be working a day of September. Why? Because I still have 24 days of vacation to use! So, I will be sitting back and sipping mojitos at home as the paychecks continue to roll in for one more month (in reality I will be crying at the computer as I write term papers, but whatever).

How many paid vacation days do you receive per year?

Germany's Obsession with Titles

Recently, I saw a poster on campus for a lecture called Warum ich als Wissenschaftler der Bibel glaube (Why I believe the bible as a scientist). However, it was not topic that caught my attention. Rather, it was the man's name.

Here is a picture of the bottom half of the poster:

The name of the man who is giving the lecture is "Dir. U. Prof. A. D. Dr. Werner Gitt." His titles take up more space on the poster than his actual name! What the heck do these letters even mean?!

Well, let's take a look...

Dir. = Director
U. = Und (and - why is this necessary!?)

Prof. = Professor

A. D. = Außer Dienst (meaning that he doesn't currently work as a professor)

Dr. = Doctor

Really?! Are all of those letters really necessary? Do we need to tell the world our entire life stories via letters before our names? I mean, after all of that, I feel like I certainly do not need to see this man's resume. I already know his entire academic background: He got a PhD, worked as a professor, stopped working as a professor to become the director (of a university, I suppose?), and now he goes around giving speeches about why he believes the bible. Got it.

Coincidentally, I got an email invitation just a few days later to another lecture, but this time given by a woman. Her name was listed as:

Frau Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Eveline Goodman

Although not quite as long as Gitt's, it is the fact that Dr. is written two times here that really confused me. So, let's take a look at what this one means:

Frau = Mrs. (it kills me that Germans write this before "Dr." or "Prof." -- could you imagine going to the doctor and saying "Hi Mr. Dr. Smith!"? The Germans actually do that!)

Prof. = Professor

Dr. = Doctor

Dr. h.c.= Doctor honoris causa, which is an honorary doctor title

So, although it is not quite as telling as the man above's, Frau Goodman's title still gives us an insight into her academic and professional background. Curious about the honorary title, I looked up her Wikipedia page, which says that she was an Austrian Jew that survived the holocaust by fleeing to the Netherlands and went on to become the first female Rabbi in Austria. Amazing! But still, that is one long string of letters in front of her name.

What do you think about all these titles? Are they necessary?

German Dialects vs. American Dialects

Dialects are a controversial topic in Germany. When raising a child, many parents are confronted with the dilemma of whether or not they should raise their child with dialect or raise them speaking Hochdeutsch (standard or "high" German). Although Marco must speak Hochdeutsch daily (both at work and home), he is still a big proponent of keeping dialects alive.

And I have to say that I am too.

So, one weekend, Marco and I decided to test our German dialects by taking an online German dialect quiz from the German news outlet Spiegel. Here are our results:

Marco

Marco comes from Baden-Württemberg, so you can already see that his results were pretty darn accurate. He placed the pin with the white dot in the middle on his hometown, and result #4, which the quiz guessed from Marco's answers, was less than 20 km away. Not bad!

Courtney

Although I am obviously not German, here are my results from the quiz. Since foreigners are always taught Hochdeutsch, it makes since that the quiz guessed I lived somewhere in the northwest, where Hochdeutsch is also the regional dialect.

Impressed with the results of this survey, I decided to search for something similar, but for Americans. Turns out, the New York Times offers an online American dialect quiz. I was pretty skeptical, since I do not think that dialects in the U.S. vary as strongly as dialects within Germany, but I decided to give it a shot anyways (and Marco did too). Here are those results:

Marco

English is Marco's second language, so it makes sense that his results are a little all over the place (except the South, thankfully). What was particularly weird, was that his #1 result was Honolulu.

Courtney

I grew up in the suburbs of Chicago and went to college in the city, so this turned out to be incredibly accurate. You can see some of the answers that best showed my Chicago-ness in the bottom picture (who pronounces cot and caught the same?!).

So although Marco and I both live away from our hometowns, away from where our native dialects are spoken, we have both been able to hold on to those dialects pretty well thus far. I hope it stays like that.

 If you take the quiz(zes) yourself, let me know your results in the comments below!