Integration to my mind means mixing of groups of people. As I learned during the integration course which I attended this is not how it works here. Attending was not compulsory for me but it is a requirement for german citizenship. I am as yet undecided if this would be …

A newish experience here is is getting a haircut. I have shoulder length hair and a fringe. Fancy hairstyles are totally beyond me, I have two left hands for anything like that. The last haircut started off totally normally, chat about how I wanted it cut, just trim and fringe …

It's been a year of huge change and upheaval. This year is going to be no different. Leaving and arriving were the defining moments of 2022. Although feeling a mix of sadness and guilt at leaving my home country Scotland has changed since I left. New monarch, two PM's and …

Humour and storytelling can be found in most cultures. being funny in german is both difficult and easy. Humour and what makes people laugh is different here. Scotland is very aware of and mostly accepting of difference. Certain kind of jokes have become tabu in Scotland for example mysogenisitc or …

Beurocracy is everything ohne stempel gehts nicht/nothing works without being stamped Healthcare is excellent even though you have to wait efficiency is a myth to sell flashy cars Berlin is a series of small towns which are joined together by the S and U bahn Scotland and Ireland are …

are hard. The articles, which the you have to use use changes depneding on the gender of the thing you are trying to talk about. As most new learners don't do you have to learn a new word with its article as a whole thing otherwise there are problms later …

I recently attended an online webinar to celebrate the publication of a new pamphlet by the Froebel trust. Promoting outdoor play was the topic of this pamphlet. I agree that the outdoor environment can provide a range of interesting experiences and opportunites for learning and developing curiosity in young children …

are strange times. We are both foreign but familiar which creates a unique state to be in. Being in Gerany and speaking the lanaguge are not new to us. There are things that I am becoming aware of now that I live here that I had only heard about before …

are filled with forms, paperwork and Termine. We are slowly starting to find out way around out local area. Each day we venture further and futher both to attend to every day tasks but also to get a better sense of where we are and how the places join toegether …

are spent coaxing our British tech to speak German. Life as we knew in Scotland has been turned on its head and we now have to make sense of a new everyday where everything is new. We are fumbling about trying to make sense of the onslaught of new experiences …