5 Little Victories of Expat Life in Germany
Well y’all, it’s official. Germany is headed back into a lockdown, or as Merkel and Co. are calling it, “Lockdown Light” which I imagine is like those “Lite” Oreo thins they used to put in 100 calorie packets, and tasted like absolute cardboard. In essence, they’re trying to make this lockdown sound less grim in an effort to “save Christmas” (their actual words) so as far as branding and messaging go, I’m 100% on board. As far as the being home alone with minimal socializing part goes? Yeah, that part I’m not soooo much on board with, but I know it has to happen and, gosh darn it, I really like living in Germany so I’ve already started making my plans to not only survive, but hopefully thrive during this lockdown.
(Stay tuned to see if thriving is indeed possible… you know I’ll be honest.)
So with that being said, now seems like the perfect time to post a little something I’ve been wanting to do for ages, and celebrate the little victories that come with life in Deutschland (Germany) that the average non-German might not think about. These are the things that, going into lockdown, make me chuckle, bow down, or stand up and applaud this complex society that I’m praying to God will adopt me in time to issue my visa so that I can go home for Christmas… (I feel like this intro has been a small window into my mental state, so welcome y’all! It’s been a freakin’ trip of a week!)
Without further ado, welcome to my 5 little victories about life in Germany:
1. Public Transportation
Public Transportation in Germany is, simply put, awesome. Buses are incredibly punctual (listen, coming from NYC this BLEW MY MIND) and make getting around the cities a breeze. The bigger cities, like Hamburg, have clean and bright subway stations with... wait for it… trains that are ALSO ON TIME! Getting on and off the trains is quick and easy, as there’s a ticketless entry and exit system that completely relies on the honor code (and a few dedicated employees walking on to select trains and asking to check everyone’s ticket). Even better, you can purchase a ticket on your phone for almost all trains, in the HVV app (for Hamburg) or online.
*P.S. don’t be “that guy” who walks on to the train without paying for a ticket. Americans in Germany always do this. It’s not cute.* (Cue “This is why we can’t have nice things!”)
Just to fill you in, the average cost of a train ticket to zip around Hamburg is €2.15 (or $2.90)
Oh, and in case you’d rather be a bit more active, most major cities have awesome public bike rental systems. For Hamburg’s bike system, called StadtRad, you pay about $5.00 for the year and can then take an unlimited number of bike trips from designated STadtRad stands, as long as they’re 30 minutes or less. Seeing as most things in Hamburg can be accessed within a 30 minute bike ride, this means of transportation is incredibly convenient (and virtually FREE!). In fact, I loved biking around the city so much that I paid to rent my own personal bike with Swapfiets, to the tune of €15.00/ month ($17.52).
2. Affordable Groceries
This is something that crops up time and time again in the expat Facebook group in Hamburg: Groceries in Germany are incredibly affordable. And we’re not talking only in Aldi or Lidl (cheap and good German staples). My go-to grocery store is Rewe, which strikes the perfect balance between local, organic products and generic brand pretzels, which are conveniently my go-to snack food. My weekly grocery bill is around €40 ($46), and this includes items like smoked tofu, organic dark grain bread, good cheese (my weakness), lots of fruits and veggies, soy yogurt, and wine! Basically, I’m not skimping on the products and totally winning at the cash register! Based on the 4 minutes of Googling I did, this is significantly less than the average weekly cost of groceries for a “thrifty” American on a budget.
(Note- this is only for one person, and includes a decent wine. Fancy wine for special occasions would set me back a bit more ;))
3. Insurances
Holy moly, I have never met folks who love insurance as much as Germans. Americans like to sue people. Germans like to be insured. When I looked at moving into my new flat, on the application I had to verify that I had TWO different insurances that would cover my belongings if something happened to them and would also cover other people if something happened to them under my watch.
What is Haftpflichtversicherung (Besides a tongue twister and a cruel joke for my German pronunciation)? German liability insurance and literally everybody has it.
What is Rechtsschutzversicherung (Besides an ode to every letter someone could fit into a word)? Legal insurance and it will totally cover access to a lawyer and all of your legal fees if you ever need to use it! (... from what I understand. Kind of amazing, if you ask me.)
What is the cost of all of these German insurances? Well, my liability insurance in Germany costs about €40 for the entire year ($46.60) and legal insurance starts at about €13 per month, from what I can see online. (But based on the experience of a friend who recently needed it, it’s safe to say it’s worth every penny!) In addition to this. you have the basics like car insurance, health insurance, life insurance, etc. Basically, I imagine if you go on a first date in Germany you could really impress the person across the table by displaying a variety of colorful insurance cards…
4. Vacation
RIP… ok, all pandemic-kids aside, Germans love to travel. Europeans in general have much healthier vacation day benefits than Americans, but Germans take this to a whole other level. The minimum amount of vacation days a German employer can give you is about 4 weeks. When I got offered my new working contract, I was over the moon to see I received 25 vacation days. That is, until I gleefully went to my German friends and was met with “... that’s all?” Like, where is everyone going? How many trips do y’all have planned? How do you afford all of this? Well, Germans don’t just pop over to a city for two days and check it off their bucket list. They seem to take long, immersive vacations and soak up as many days of sun as possible, before returning to rainy Germany. Typically, this includes more apartment-style rentals to keep costs down, but don’t get me wrong, there are also plenty of Germans living it up at all-inclusive resorts, like my personal favorite, Robinson Club (Kris works here and I’ve been so stinkin’ lucky to visit a few of their clubs, with Thailand being the highlight thus far).
Note to self: Ask for more vacation days next year. For what? Well, I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it!
5. Feierabend
[Fire (-r) Ah-Bend ]: The best German word with zero English equivalent.
If you nip into any German office or shop around 4 or 5pm on a weekday, you’ll hear folks wishing each other a “Nice Feierabend!” on their way out. At first, I thought Feierabend was synonymous with happy hour, because it’s the only English equivalent my pea brain could muster. It took me a bit longer to understand that Feierabend is an incredibly specific, lovely German word referring to that carefree, after-work feeling when you get to leave the office and do… whatever! It doesn’t necessarily refer to drinking, which is what I originally thought, as that’s how most New Yorkers celebrate the end of a work day. But rather, it’s the feeling of leaving work behind and celebrating that post-work glow (at least, this is my spin on it!). As I mentioned, there’s no English equivalent of this word it’s just a good ol’ German-ism, and a German-isn that I very much look forward to hearing at the end of a long work day!
For more great info on where the word Feierabend comes from, peep this article from Your Daily German.
Solid Staycation Choice: The Schloss Hotel in Fleesensee
A few choice things that didn’t make the list above are: the obsessive breakfast culture in Germany, top-notch bread, kaffee und kuchen, and a few others that might honestly warrant a part two of this post. But besides the vacation days, all of these are little, everyday nuggets that remind me of how happy I am to live in this quirky land. And best of all, they all exist with or without a lockdown. My Feierabend might look different these days, but I’ll sure as heck still bask in that post-work glow. And my grocery bill might start to slowly increase as I spring for nicer wine, but in general, I can count on my trips to Rewe to not break the bank. And you bet your bottom dollar I’ll be hopping on my bike for some fresh air adventures or take the squeaky clean U Bahn (Subway) across town for a wine night with a good friend. Not everything about living in Germany is perfect (HELLO antiquated systems and paperwork!), but going into four weeks of forced “me time” I’m choosing to celebrate the little things that I love here, and I hope you’ll do the same! Have a look around, wherever you live, and share your favorite quirks and daily nuggets in the comments below!