Expat Chatter

04/04/2026

The last little Easter chick -

22/03/2026

An amazing, entertaining evening with the legendary Salman Rushdie at the Literaturhaus in Munich. Despite nearly dying from an attack which cost him an eye, he continues to write magnificently and has a surprising sense of humoe for someone who tackles such serious topics. Truly inspiring !

22/03/2026

German retirees don’t retire – they’re more active than ever -

I hope you're enjoying the first signs of spring as much as I am. I've even seen the first butterflies of the season! Listen to the podcast When I first published this story, my father-in-law was still actively hiking and taking dance classes. He's not able to do that anymore, but he's still around...

21/03/2026

Me after discovering an error in the file of my book cover - again

11/03/2026

The things we do when the train is late...can you find the bird? I never realized how well camouflaged these little guys are

02/03/2026

Nostalgia for the pandemic -

It has been six years since the world came to a standstill in the grip of the coronavirus. I wouldn’t want a repeat performance, but there were some positive aspects to it. One of them was how I no longer had to jostle for space. All at once, my American need for personal space – a lot more than...

25/02/2026

Note to self: Next time, don't ask the guy in the warehouse to translate the wording on the boxes

23/02/2026

"Schnee von gestern" in German means literally yesterday's snow but really means "old hat." It takes on a more poignant meaning when looking at the remnants of the neighbot boy's snowman.

21/02/2026

Don't be fooled! It looks like winter but it sounds like spring 🌷

17/02/2026

16/02/2026

Rammed in the tram -

If you live in Munich you'll have a lot of extra time to read this post, as you are surely spending lots of time stuck on trains, buses, or trams. Little did I know when I wrote this blog post a few years ago that the situation was only going to get worse! But as you'll see, being squeezed in tight....

08/02/2026

Bad Bunny at the Super Bowl? ¡Ay caramba!
What’s so strange about singing in Spanish? We all learned the lyrics to “Feliz Navidad” back when the only Spanish speaker around was José Feliciano. Foreign languages are fun, folks, and besides, it’s really about the music. Bad Bunny also sings in Puerto Rican slang, so it could very well be that Latinos don’t understand everything, either. A bit of a cultural adventure never hurt anyone.
https://www.expatchatter.net/en/bad-bunny-sings-at-super-bowl/