Cheryl on the Web

Unlike the American conservatives, German conservatives love taxes. As luck would have it, guess who’s in charge of Germany at the moment - the conservatives. And not only do they love taxes, but they seem intent on eliminating what’s left of a middle class here in Germany. Have a look at this Wikipedia entry that shows how the tax brackets have changed in the last 30 years:
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Einkommensteuer_(Deutschland) Whereas in 1975 the top tax bracket started at EUR 66,000 (converted from 130,000 German Mark) and taxed people at 56%, today the top tax bracket starts at EUR 52,152 and taxes people at 42%. And let me tell you, 66000 Euro was a lot more back then than it is now! Germany thinks it’s making real progression in the tax scale area: starting in 2007, it implemented a “rich people” tax that taxes income above EUR 250,000 per year at 45%. A whopping 3% more than the highest tax bracket. By way of comparison, have a look at the US tax brackets for 2007. There, the tax bracket just under the “rich people” bracket doesn’t start until about EUR 125,000.

I couldn’t figure out when we came to Germany why the supermarkets all compete on price and not on quality, atmosphere, or selection. But I’m beginning to form a theory that there is just not a significant middle class out there that is willing “en mass” to spend that additional amount for better selection or quality. And there’s no reason for that middle class to be ambitious about their salary either: a raise will probably just put them into a tax bracket 5-10% higher than the one they’re already in; it’s more advantageous to stay in a lower bracket and get tax cuts and subsidies.

The German economy is facing dropping consumption, and the government has promised .. that it will not lower taxes. Ever. Can you believe it? Of course, the people making the laws are all well above middle class - they’ve got no reason to change anything, they’re getting a break. I guess what I’m driving at is: there should be higher taxes in the top brackets, and the current top bracket here in Germany should be split up.

I grew up in the USA. Believe me, I have an idea of what freedom means. At least I thought I did, until I came to Europe. Then I began to miss a lot of the freedoms I had always taken for granted, like the freedom to drive a car; the freedom to go grocery shopping at any hour of the day or night; the freedom to leave the country or get married; the freedom to work where I want. And then I understood even more what freedom means.

I lost most of these freedoms only temporarily - and in some senses voluntarily, since I was a foreigner living under the rules of a host country - but the point here is not why I lost the freedoms but the effect it had on me. In particular, it wasn’t until this month that I exercised the one freedom I’d lost for over 5 years: (more…)

What a great time of year, Thanksgiving. In two short days one can enjoy some of the best American pasttimes: extravagant Thanksgiving Day dinners, back-to-back American football games, and non-stop shopping outings. Of course, the reason that these pasttimes are so enjoyable is because they’re all done together with family.

Emulating these traditions here in Europe is never the most straightforward of endeavors, and this year my dedication to celebrating Thanksgiving was even less commendable than most years. In general, I try to take Thursday and Friday off work to cook and call the family and just enjoy the Thanksgiving spirit, but this year I was traveling for work until Thursday night so I just never made it into the right Thanksgiving mood. I haven’t even made the pumpkin pie yet that was planned for this year :( I’ve had the precious can of pumpkin sitting in the pantry since March when Mom and Dad brought it over here (can’t buy the stuff in Germany or Holland), and as an American married to a non-American, it’s my duty to instill in my husband the stubborn expectation he should have, that I will make him pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving. When he gets out of bed, I will remind him of his duty to nag me for pie.

I watched re-runs of a couple of the college football games that took place on Thanksgiving Friday, Nebraska v. Colorado and LSU v. Arkansas. Those were good games! The announcers did a nice job of incorporating Thanksgiving references into their commentary, which was especially nice for me, sitting all the way over here in Germany.

Tim tells me that Thanksgiving Friday is called “Black Friday” .. and I have to admit, I can’t remember ever having heard that or why that is. I imagine it has to do with everyone and their children going shopping on Friday? Did any of you dare brave the crowds?

I’ve decided that having a German place of residence doesn’t mean that I really live in Germany, and no amount of German class is going to change that. I mean, apart from the address on my mail, it would be hard to know exactly what country I’m in. You know, saying “Good evening”, “Bye”, and “Can I have a plastic sack with that?” in German in the supermarket on a weekly basis is not enough to convince me that I live in Germany. Even the lack of fresh vegetables in the supermarket, the crazy number of holidays, the mandatory recycling of plastic, and the lack of speed limit on the highway don’t really give me the German feeling. I mean, all these things can be found in various other countries as well, and I can’t really identify any of them with Germany.

That’s the crux of the problem: I can’t identify anything with Germany. And it’s not because I’m a recluse (at least not by choice), it’s just because I have no familiarity with anyone or anything German, with the significant exception of my lovely neighbor who - for good or for bad - speaks better “American” than I do and therefore does not count. At least not at the moment. For the rest, there are no Germans in my department at work; the neighbors above us are also not German; most of the people we socialize with through Tim’s work either aren’t German or the conversation and interaction is always in that multi-culti English mode because of the work connection.

I would find it really handy to speak German 100% fluently (which is really the only reason I’m taking the course) but I admit that I am beginning to feel a sense of futility, because language and integration go hand in hand - it’s hard to get one going without the other. I will learn a lot in my German class, but as with most things: practice makes perfect, and without practice .. well, you know :)

For all those looking for American or British food products in Germany, I ran into this web page that links to a number of websites where you can order the supplies you need:
http://www.gfra.de/usfood/shop.htm

In particular, I noticed right away that one of the sites sells canned pumpkin and will ship up to 30kg of products to Germany for just 5 euro: http://www.foodfromhome.de/index.php?section=2&subsection=0&g1=0

Those who know me will agree, “clubbing” as a social pastime has never been my thing. Yes, it has to do with the smoke; yes, with the people I don’t know running into/over me; yes, with the noise and style of music played. But most of all, it just isn’t as laid back as the house parties that really were my favorite when I was still in the US. And by house parties, I don’t mean the campus fraternity gatherings or anything like that (let’s be clear on that point!); I mean the people who lived in houses and simply invited other people over.
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Tonight Tim and I watched the movie Barcelona with a couple friends sort of on a last-minute impulse. Apart from the fact that it was nice just to casually get together with people at the last minute, I enjoyed the movie which was casual-dialogue-philisophical style .. otherwise classified as alternative .. or independent. You know what I mean. Hopefully.

The movie is about a couple expats in Barcelona, each with their own set of quirks and oddities; and in particular, the European view of Americans seems to come up a lot in the dialogue. At one point, the following analogy was made which I found quite insightful:
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