Shameless Self-promotion

And now, a word from our sponsor—me!

Thank you to all of you who have come along on this journey and sent words of encouragement, comments, questions, etc.

In the past couple of weeks I’ve gained new Twitter followers while promoting the blog there (@mpmellon) and had a couple of users point to my recent post on language. It’s great when what I’m writing resonates with so many people!

So…if you like what you’ve been reading, please take a minute to say so at Expats Blog and boost my listing. ;)

And as always, feel free to comment directly here on the blog or send me your thoughts and questions.

Thanks!

The Little Things: Cost of Living

As part of our pre-move decision-making process I checked a few websites to compare the cost of living in San Francisco with that in Hamburg. In general, Hamburg came out at about 40% less. Yahoo!

Turns out the ouch factor wasn’t in the living in Hamburg, it was in the move to get here and get settled.

Vet visits and passport paperwork, stocking up on weather-appropriate gear, the exchange rate, residency and work fees, transportation, shipping, buying those household things you need for daily living (e.g., ceiling lights, transformers, phone plans, Internet sticks, etc.) all add up. Quickly. And the Germans’ allergy to credit cards meant we used our cash reserves to fund most of it.

Many people relocating to Hamburg left their stuff in storage and rented furnished apartments or bought stuff here. That certainly would have saved money in the short term, but probably not for (what we hope will be) a longer haul. Besides, as homebodies, we felt having our familiar things in unfamiliar surroundings was important.

Those upfront costs and the fact that we would only have one income meant things would be a little tight for a while, but a little budgeting never hurt anyone. J

 Cash is king—keep your change!
This handful of coins will get you
30 small packages of bacon or
20 large loaves of bread or
10-12 nice bottles of wine.

Still, in the beginning I was a bit concerned. Downtown Hamburg shopping is a mix of LA’s Rodeo Drive and strip mall boutiques (with several H&M stores thrown in for the mortals). Restaurant meals rival the costs of those in San Francisco, and if you want certain items that are standard fare in the U.S. you pay a premium. (I’ll say more about shopping in an upcoming post.)

But in short order I discovered the great thing about living in a port town is that everything that comes in by ship is inexpensive. You may have to make some small compromises, but day-to-day normal living is affordable.

Groceries aside, movie tickets are about the same as the U.S., but the seats are reserved and the theater is nicer than your standard U.S. theater. We’ve yet to see any performing arts, but museums and other attractions are a bargain. Utilities are near par with an average month in San Francisco but are only checked and adjusted once a year. So on average, that 40% figure is about right.

There is one commonly lamented expense: housing. Every neighborhood description in the Hamburg Welcome magazine expounded on rent prices, and we’ve heard many stories about the competitive market.

I guess that’s one good thing about being numbed by the San Francisco market. Our place here, though more expensive than the typical Hamburg rental, is 10% larger and 50% cheaper than our SF rental!

There are the little things that add up in any new situation, and it hasn’t all been easy. But with five months behind me it’s much easier to see this as an investment in adventure. And as I meet more people and continue to explore, I’m finding even more ways to enjoy living here.

As one of those old MasterCard ads might say:

Moving to Hamburg: costly. Living in Hamburg: priceless.

The Little Things: Language

Here's me back when I had a firm grasp
on the German language

When we decided to move to Hamburg I had a slight language advantage—I’d learned German as a child while living in Germany for three years, and I’d taken German for a year in junior high and three years in high school.

Despite the 25+ intervening years, the rules were still somewhere in my head, along with words I didn’t even know that I knew. What I do remember is we were taught Hochdeutsch (High German) in school and not Plattdeutsch (Low German). What I didn’t know was that Plattdeutsch is still a regional relic and not extinct, like say, Old English.

The first local lesson came from the movers, who wanted to impart a few key Plattdeutsch phrases. Then there was a page on Plattdeutsch in the Hamburg welcome magazine. With some words the link was obvious, with others it was like looking at a whole other language.

The clincher came when I went to take my placement test for my German class. During the oral portion I was naming things in a picture and used Plattdeutsch for a couple of items (Planten und Blomen, based on the name of a local outdoor attraction). The woman administering the test sighed and corrected me with the proper Hochdeutsch terms (Pflanzen und Blumen).

OK, need to learn how to straddle that line.

In my class I learned that some small things have changed since I last studied German (“oh, we used to write it like that, but now we do it this way”), and that different areas and other German-speaking countries use certain words differently. Not surprising when you think about how most languages evolve, but a bit tough to keep the peculiarities straight.

Then there are regional accents. I was reading an article that noted how police caught a criminal because of his “identifiable” accent. In this case it was someone from southern Germany who had committed his crime in the north.

If that weren’t enough, there are words in German adopted from other languages (just like in English). But in some instances new words have been created that are the “Germanization” of words from another country. These do not show up in my translation app.

And on many restaurant menus you’ll find words in German, English, and the native language of that cuisine—not in side-by-side translations, but all mixed up in some sort of polyglot stew.

The most important thing I’ve learned, however, reinforces the idea that most of our communication isn’t even through the words we use. Time and time again I’ve gotten someone’s meaning through their gestures or the context of the situation. In fact, if you look at this list of German idioms and think about some of the things we say in English, a word-by-word translation would just leave you confused.

I’m still working on expanding my vocabulary (bumper stickers, posters, and scrolling ads at public transit stops have been great for that) and improving my pronunciation, but I’m watching just as much as I’m listening. Because in many instances I might not be able to repeat or reconstruct what someone said, but I still understand what they mean and am able to reply.

And in the end that’s what it’s all about.

Introduction to The Little Things

I had this grand vision that after 6, 9, or 12 months in Hamburg I would compose some sort of “Everything You Need to Know” guide for visitors and potential expats. A compendium of sorts, including my experiences and some of the topics I’ve seen on other blogs, guide sites, and forums.

But just before I left for Christmas I saw this list and it reminded me of the What I Will Miss and What I Won’t Miss lists I wrote early on in this blog. Probably good to circle back on those, right?

Also, I got back after the holiday and read Larry’s Secret Santa gift from work - German Secrets: Achtung to Zeitgeist by Paul Smith and Ken Taylor. The book humorously covers observations by the two authors over 30 years living in Germany; things echoed in my experience of just four months.

So instead of trying to reinvent the wheel, I thought it would be good to keep sharing personal anecdotes.

On one of my city tours our guide said there are three seasons in Hamburg: spring, construction, and rain. While I’m spending most of my time inside during “rain/snow,” I thought I’d flesh out my notes and share them out over the next little while.

Check back for my experiences with:

• German– in Hamburg it’s like learning two languages at once
• Money– cash is king and port goods are cheap
• Food– I thought everybody loved pie?
• The Internet– the ongoing saga: 4+ months and no home connection

and more!

Happy New Year--Hamburg Style

What do you call a situation where the entire city of Hamburg loses its mind at the same time?

New Year’s Eve.

To be fair, New Year’s Eve coincides with Silvester, which I understand to be a celebration of the saint of the same name. I’ve just never known a saintly feast to inspire such fervor. ;)

The revelry began Wednesday night. Soon after it started getting dark (around 4 pm), the booming began. Random fireworks here and there increased to an uncoordinated but unceasing barrage. I woke up on New Year’s Eve to the sound of church bells and fireworks. During the day. All day.

By nightfall it was a siege. The sky was a massive thunderstorm with lightning of various colors. Instead of rain, there was a layer of smoke and the smell of burnt powder.

On our walk to meet up with some of Larry’s colleagues for drinks and gaming, we saw a group of adults standing on the sidewalk watching a small boy (2-3 years old), who had just been given a sparkler and was lighting a circle of fireworks that had been set up in the middle of the street.

We picked up the pace.

After the first stop our group jumped on the train and headed over to another coworker’s new place; an adorable apartment in a high rise overlooking the Elbe. We arrived about 10 minutes before midnight to the sight of 50 people waiting in the lobby for the tiny elevator, so we hit the stairs for the 7-story climb. 

By this time the official fireworks were mingling with the everyday revelers to create an incredible sight. From the balcony we could see the harbor to our right and then across the entire downtown area to the Alster lakes on our left.

Unlike the fireworks I was used to in the U.S., the show did not build to a crescendo with a finale. It kept up an unrelenting sensory overload, complete with horns blowing from the ships in the harbor. (In the first video you can hear the horns starting as we hit midnight. The second video gives you an idea of the intensity of the show--imagine 45+ straight minutes of this).

Around 1 am we all went up the building’s roof for a 360-degree view of the city and the continued merriment. Although the fireworks weren’t fading, Larry and I were--we stumbled back into our apartment around 3:30 am, exhausted but still excited about our entry into the new year.

I hope each of you had a safe and wonderful beginning to 2016, and are looking forward to the adventures ahead!