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I'm moving to Germany - digit online!
#9

Great move, congratulations!!

So what's the plan, are you scratching the travel? Or travelling first, moving afterwards? Is there any chance you will be staying in Germany long term? What about your wife, is she going with you?

Questions over questions, sorry, here are some facts:

Han-Münden is relatively small, isn't it, if you like living in cities you will be orienting yourself towards the two you mentioned, Hannover and Frankfurt. Actually, Göttingen is not too far, which is an interesting old Town, around 60thousand people now, and a famous University. You can mingle with the students for coffee and hokah's if that suits you, and there is a very good theatre (Deutsches Theater) with their alternative branch the "Junges Theater" (young theatre).

Will you be driving in Germany?

Things, including rent, public transport, health care etc are trememdously expensive in Germany. When you sign your contract, make sure they give you good health care coverage so you are not broke in case you get a cold. They will help you with the paperwork for Germany health insurance, which is mandatory.

Are they providing accomodation for you? At least for the start?
In Han-Münden the property market should not be too tight, and you should find something nice for yourself if you have too. Not to be bragging, but for all I have seen (UK, US....) German building standards must be among the highest in the world, any place you rent should be neat and clean and warm and safe!

I think in the IT field you will be among young, open minded people, they will all speak English - or try to, and they will be nice.
Be aware though that people of our parents generation might seem a little reckless with foreigners, their English will be quite poor and not ALL of them are always friendly. That's not too say all Germans are impolite or careless, but I do think they tend to live in their own little world and generally don't care much about things or people outside their routine.
My advise is definitely to make your own routine, to find your favorite baker's shop and supermarket, and as soon as people start recognising you as a regular, they will be more firendly. You should also learn some German to find your way around, signs and instructions don't tend to be in English at all, especially in a small place like Han-Münden.

There is quite some racism in Germany, which is usually directed towards oriental-looking people like turks (this has a history from loooooooong before 9/11....) and you should not get to feel much of it for yourself, but you will see how things work with "Ausländer" (foreigners).

Actually, I hope you can take your wife with you, or at least that you meet other foreigners in your company, it's easy to become lonely in Germany, as it takes such a long time for Germans to warm up with newcomers.
Make sure you ALWAYs ask someone for help if you feel you need it, don't let them scare you off with a potentially gruffy first reaction!

Finally, I think you will enjoy the food in Germany. There is a big influence from Italy of course, italian restaurants are immensly popular and often quite good. Other than that there is Turkish and Greek as two of the most popular cuisines.
The traditional German food is heavy and saucy, while the more modern places tend to serve light-style life-style food like salads, baguettes and soups. The bread is special in Germany, as while you can get toast and baguette just like anywhere else, the "Graubrot" and "Mehrkornbrot" and "Vollkornbrot" are absolutely unique to Germany. You will either love them or hate them, a lot of people who grew up on white bread are not too fond of our heavy, grainy loafs...
You will love HOW clean Germany is, I think along with Canada we live in one of the cleanest countries, and we keep it clean, too (haven't seen any part of australia for comparison).

Make some time for trips to our neighbour contries, sample some of the fantastic variety of cultur and food (I sound like a travel advertisement....), go to Amsterdam, Brussels, the Alsace, Italy..... great wines, landscape, it's all there, and Europe is so neat and small that you just have to travel. A weekend trip can cover significant ground.

So, that's my quick notes on Germany. Anything I forgot? I will add it later. Feel free to ask!!
Actually I just woke up early myself and will move to Hefei today - a little adventure that, too.
In July I am planning to go to Germany, if you're still there, we'll go out on a shooting together!


Lots of luck with the Germans, I hope you enjoy your time and don't get frustrated with the people, call Irma for some warm-heartedness if you start feeling frosty in Germany!

Uli
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Messages In This Thread
I'm moving to Germany - digit online! - by Irma - Mar 31, 2007, 09:38
I'm moving to Germany - digit online! - by NT73 - Mar 31, 2007, 10:10
I'm moving to Germany - digit online! - by adam - Mar 31, 2007, 10:15
I'm moving to Germany - digit online! - by Toad - Mar 31, 2007, 11:23
I'm moving to Germany - digit online! - by Polly - Mar 31, 2007, 13:27
I'm moving to Germany - digit online! - by wulinka - Mar 31, 2007, 17:56

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