The Germany Experience

Here's a short update on why there have been no new epsidoes in the last month, and when you can expect the next episodes.

Fadi Gaziri returns to the show to talk about writing a song for the Eurovision song contest. We talk about why we love the Eurovision song contest so much, what makes a good Eurovision song, and how countries select their entries. Listen to the end of the episode to hear Fadi's Eurovision song entry.

Fadi also talks about scoring music for German TV shows and working as a musician on cruises to the Arctic and Antarctic...

It only took 106 episodes, but Shaun finally has a South African guest on the podcast! Rachel is a lawyer (also a first) who has only been in Germany for a few weeks. She discusses her first impressions of Germany, choosing between a corporate and a startup when she was looking for a job, and why she is leaning towards a more rural life in Germany. She also explains why winter jackets are such foreign things to people from the southern hemisphere and we marvel over her very large tea cup...

Laura Osburn is a singer/songwriter from Canada who came to Germany in January 2020 to work on her album and play live shows – and both those plans have been derailed by COVID. We talk about her struggles to get a long-term visa for Germany, how she spent the beginning of the pandemic on an organic farm, and the difficulties she's faced with getting her album recorded...

Getting invited to a German's home for dinner is difficult enough, but if it happens, you're probably nearing the German's "inner circle". But how do you behave? What is good etiquette? Are there unwritten rules you need to know about? For foreigners, being a dinner guest in a German's home can feel like daunting minefield.

But actually, it's really not...

Marina is from Spain and Greta is from Italy, and together they host a podcast called Buongiorno Bitch. They join me to discuss our love for podcasts, and how they can help foreigners. We also talk about how both of them ended up in Germany, and how they made friends in an old-school 2010 way...

The 2021 charity challenge between Nicole of The Expat Cast and I is done, and we have a winner! We were able to raise a combined total of 1065€ for Kinderlachen, a charity that helps children in need. Thank you to everyone who donated for your kindness and generosity.

To find out who won, take a listen to the wrap-up :)

The Germany Experience will now be taking a break over the next few weeks, and will return in the last week of January...

Recorded as an Instagram Live on 21 December 2021. Nicole of The Expat Cast joins me to discuss our low and high points of 2021, and to give an update on our annual charity challenge, this year called ThrEGEPADFO. I also read out the low and high points of some listeners and Instagram followers.

We're also joined at one point by Lawin, host of the Pop Your Cultural Cherry podcast...

Jeanette from the USA moved to Germany to continue her studies, and ended up in a PhD program in Aachen. She discusses her experiences making friends while studying, learning German, and her life as a PhD student in Germany.

The children's book author Jeanette mentioned in her discussion: Janosch

+++Send me your highs and lows of 2021! I'd love to read them on the show with a special guest next week! Send to: info@thegermanyexperience...

DONATE in the ThrEGEPADFO CHARITY CHALLENGE!

It's the 100th episode of The Germany Experience!  To celebrate, I take a look at just a few of the many memorable moments I've had on the show...