Today Jim’s employer announced a layoff (to happen at some point over the next few weeks) of a whopping 350 workers from his site alone. Everyone keeps telling him it’s fine, not to worry, but as an expat there’s a whole extra layer of ‘worry’ that isn’t easily appeased.
I mean, if he’s laid off […]

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Back in the beginning of November we bought a phone set from a company called Top Vision. The phone w/answering machine came in right away, but the additional handset never showed. We emailed. They said it was on backorder and to wait a month. We emailed in a month because it […]

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These adorable little flowering trees are EVIL. I so much as look at one and my eyes swell up, my mucus production goes into overdrive, and I can’t stop sneezing. Right now Benadryl is only thing standing between me and certain death.
Yeah, fuck you Spring…

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Anyone who’s read my blog very long knows there are certain American foods I still crave. Rice-A-Roni being chief among them. So, when I decided to preoccupy myself by learning how to cook during this normally depressing downtime, the first thing I did was look into adapting recipes to mimic lost favorites. […]

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In the past week antisocial little ol me has had two highly entertaining encounters with fellow expats. First we met with Lee & Mark in Hamburg last Friday.  They’re not bloggers but they somehow managed to find my blog anyway, and I’m glad they did.  It really was the highlight of […]

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The second half of our question/answer session:
1. From Mc In Da House: Inspired by “Ask the German guy”, I’ve got a few questions I’d like to ask an American-

Why do - most - Americans think that David Hasselhoff is still a big star over here in Germany?
And why does David Hasselhoff believe, that he’s responsible […]

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Of all the things I miss from America (the list shrinks monthly), I think the thing I miss most of all these days is half-priced bookstores. Or dollar stores that sell dollar books. Or garage sales where I could buy entire Crichton collections for pennies on the dollar. Or libraries where they […]

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For those who asked questions… thanks! Here are answers to the first half, the rest I’ll answer on Wednesday.
1. From G In Berlin: So, once I have a break from my German course, what shall I go to see and do in Berlin?
Hmm, taking into account you live in Berlin (so […]

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We pay 80€ a year for the privilege of owning a mastercard with a balance that’s paid in full at the end of each month via direct-deduction from our bank account. It’s like a glorified debit card by American standards, but very necessary for reserving airline tickets, hotel rooms, or buying things on the […]

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I ran into my bum again today. As I was waiting for the #8 I spied him out of the corner of my eye asking some old lady for cash. For those of you who don’t remember the original post, I gave him money about a month ago only to be chastised for […]

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