Category: The Americas
Do You Know about St. Nicolas Day in Germany? Do You Know the History & Origin of Santa Claus vs. Saint Nicolas?
As a child and even today, my favorite image of Christmas is "Santa Claus". Who would not love a figure that brings you gifts, right? Before moving to Germany, I never really gave much thought into the origin of Santa Claus, or why he had so many names (e.g., St. Nick, St. Nicolas, Kris Kringle, ...
See the Differences of Celebrating Birthdays between US & Germany
So, with October 3rd being my birthday, I thought it would interesting to post the differences in traditions associated with birthdays between the US and Germany. Obviously this post provides general differences, but these can vary depending on the region of each country as well as the origin of the people involved. In other words, ...
I Have Learned Why in America that Sometimes It Is Necessary to Press #2 for Spanish
This is a follow-up post to my earlier one regarding the challenges of learning German. I wanted to have a separate post that related to that topic, as this topic warrants its own preaching moment from my soap box....so, here it goes.... There is a famous quote by Mark Twain that goes like this: “Travel ...
Learn the 10 Things to Know about Shopping in Germany
As Americans, we take so many things for granted. One of these is the super convenience of shopping in the US. Of course, the trade-off of this convenience is the bombardment of commercials and advertising as companies vie for the ever decreasing share of Americans' disposable income. However, with that being said, in Germany, we ...
Show Me Your Papers – See What Is Involved in Getting a Work Permit, Residence Permit, and City Registration in Germany
Moving to another country is challenging from the aspect of all the required documentation needed. You can't just simply show up and expect to stay indefinitely without the proper paperwork. Well, okay, you can, but we're talking about entering a country legally 🙂 I'm sure each country is different, but these were our experiences becoming ...
Flying with Our Dog from the US to Germany – the first time ever we have flown with our dog
Since May of 2012, when our move to Germany began to become a reality for us, neither Amanda or I were concerned about where we were going to live, our jobs, moving to Germany, etc. Our single, biggest concern was how will our dog Barney do flying over, considering he gets extremely nervous simply riding ...
Packing Up & Moving Out – THE Move from New Jersey to Germany
For ten years, I swear I have moved the same boxes from one place to another. But, since we need to pare down our stuff to move internationally, we finally opened up some of those boxes. After a few of "Oh, so that's where that was!" or "Oh, we kept that?" -- it was time ...
International House Hunters – Apartment Hunting in Germany
One constant that Amanda & I have shared over our past ten years together is that we have moved quite a bit. We have moved between apartments, between cities, between States, between houses, and now between Countries. With websites like Rent.com or various Realtor sites in the US, we had tools available to us to ...
The metric system…it’s not that complicated! Easy Cheats to Convert English Measurements to Metric
For anyone that has ever traveled outside of the United States, you quickly realize that the metric system can be a bit confusing. It still amazes me that the US is the only country that still uses only the English system of measurements. Heck, even in England, both units of measure are used. Luckily, as ...
We Have an Announcement – Germany, Here We Come!!
So, this travel blog that I started a few months ago is about to become VERY different!! Amanda & I (oh, and let me not forget our Barney) are officially moving to Germany the first of January due to at least a 3 year job rotation. It's a fantastic opportunity both professionally and personally. Since ...
WorldThruOurEyes 