From Cherry to Kirsche
From Cherry to Kirsche
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     When we first arrived in Germany, we were so busy trying to figure out the paperwork and finances that I didn't even think social etiquette may be an issue. You may be thinking, is there really such a cultural difference in Germany? Yes, yes there is. I've come across so many expats who struggle socializing with Germans here, and sadly, I had found myself in the same boat. So what follows is my list of social oddities discovered as an American expat living in small town East Germany.



Cultural differences between an American and a German

     

1. Making Friends

     Back home in the States, it's totally normal to ask a few questions to get to know somebody - what they do for work, where they live, relationship status, and so on. But that's not the case here in Germany! Apparently these are personal questions and to ask them right away can be seen as invasive or nosy. It’s simply too much information for your first meeting. Germans tend to be more reserved and aren't so "personal" right away.
     So if these questions are too personal, what do you talk about when first meeting a German? Apparently hobbies are a good first topic. Trying to find common activities or interests are your best bet. If it turns out you have nothing in common, prepare for silence! Rather than filling in the gaps with small talk, many Germans are perfectly comfortable with sitting in silence.
     Another social oddity is to ask, "How are you?" In the US, this is just a light customary practice that can be asked of anybody, but the casualness baffles Germans. Why would you ask me how I'm doing if you don't really want to know? Why would you want to know about my life if we barely know each other? Are you just nosy or really strange? 😂 I can kind of see their point. I think another blogger put it perfectly when they said,
"I think Germans are like coconuts; cold and hard on the outside — soft and sweet on the inside. Americans are more like peaches; soft and sweet on the outside, but inside we’re cold, hard and full of cyanide."
     It's true, American customs can be superficially friendly. Which leads to me something I'm still struggling with here...


2. Smiling!

     Coming from the South, smiling is something expected of everybody - even just strangers walking down the street. Unfortunately, it's expected all the more so from women. So imagine my struggle coming to Europe where smiling at strangers is weird!!! You don't smile at your little old neighbor, your regular bus driver, or even the lady scooping your icecream for you. And don't expect them to ever smile back. If you're smiling at a stranger, they'll assume you're trying to sell them something or you have a loose screw. Or in some instances, that you're flirting! As a married woman, that's the last thing I want 😂 So here I am in Germany, still practicing my 'resting bitch face' as after almost a year here, I still find myself accidentally smiling at everybody in town...



3. Personal Space

     Personal space is definitely a foreign concept to Germans which I never would've expected! For a non-smiling, rule-following, reserved society, you'd expect them to be all about personal bubbles. Nope! My first experience with this was at the grocery store. I had just grabbed a box of something off of the shelf to read the ingredients when somebody passing through chose to squeeze in between me and the shelf instead of going around me. I was so baffled! The rest of the aisle was empty, and as you're probably imagining, I was close to the shelf since I was grabbing stuff right? Well apparently it's enough space for somebody to walk through...

     Imagine yourself standing in line. You usually stand a step back so that you're not breathing down somebody's neck right? Well apparently that small step back is grounds for squeezing in! That little gap of space, the bubble that should always exist between you and another person, is just enough for a German to squeeze in and cut in front of you, as if you weren’t even standing there. So watch out! They're not afraid to rub right up against you...


4. Honesty

     Germans see bluntness as a positive thing. Americans tend to soften their words to avoid offending someone, but Germans think it's more helpful to say the brutal truth than to dance around it. For example, my husband's workplace takes turns baking some form of dessert for birthdays. One colleague made a pudding dessert that didn't turn out too well, and somebody told him that it was terrible and that he shouldn't make it ever again - in front of everybody. You don't really hear that kind of bluntness in the US. 😂 We've also heard some pretty funny flirting/dating stories. For example, if they don't like a gift you got them, they will let you know. Also, if you plan on dating, you won't have to wonder what went wrong in the relationship. Apparently they will let you know what they didn't like about you! (Which I actually think is good point - I appreciate closure).


5. Helping others

     This one's still something that irks us! Germans will NOT help you when they see you struggling unless you explicitly ask for it. They will watch an old lady fall on the bus, and nobody will help her until she asks for help (no joke, we've witnessed this multiple times). One time my husband was struggling to reach the 'stop' button on the tram because it was crowded, and the guy standing right in the front of the button was staring at his struggling hand without a single motion to help press it.
     Our German just isn't good enough to ask for help sometimes so we get frustrated at the lack of what we believe to be common decency. If you see somebody fall, shouldn't you try to help them up or at least ask if they need help? If you see somebody carrying heavy/large boxes trying to open the door, shouldn't you automatically help them open the door? No, they will just stare at you struggle. Some will even get frustrated that you're taking so long...



6. Noisiness

     If you somehow haven't figured it out yet, Americans are loud. We're so much louder than the Germans. You can always pick out the foreigners at a restaurant or bar because they talk so much louder than the Germans do. After several beers, the Germans do catch up, but it's obvious at first. 😂 My father-in-law has definitely received a few dirty looks for talking so loudly in a cafe.
     The Germans appreciate the quiet, and they're very strict about quiet hours. If you're running loud machinery late at night (no more late laundry nights) or on Sundays, you can get fined for disrupting your neighbors. And yes, you read that right - on Sundays! Sundays are days of rest, and excessive noise is not allowed. This means no lawn mowing, hammering nails into the wall/renovating, etc. Even your bbq/grilling time outside is regulated. And if you have young children, some grouchy neighbors may complain that they're playing too loud! Oh boy...



7. Staring

     Man do I hate this one. Apparently Germans aren't taught that staring is rude. Staring is one of my pet peeves so imagine my struggle as an Asian in an old East German town. We live in a neighborhood with what seems mostly elderly so I was constantly stared at when I first arrived. Children are also a problem with their unashamed, big eyes staring up at me. It's completely written on their foreheads, ' Mummy, that lady looks different from us!' 😂 The staring has definitely not helped with assimilating here unfortunately. The worst is when you stare back, and they still don't look away! Quite possibly the most awkward encounters in my life...



8. Following the rules

     Germans are not kidding when they say they enjoy order and rules! Of course this is a generalization and doesn't apply to every single German, but overall, they're pretty "by the book." It will be late at night with no cars in sight, but my neighbors will refuse to cross the street because of the little red man in the light. Don't even think about doing this during the day with children around! They will yell at you for setting a bad example! 😂 We were going to miss our tram one day so we were sprinting across the street, but I felt so guilty listening to people gasp, "In front of the children?!"
     When we first arrived, we were also intrigued by the trust system of public transportation here. You normally have to scan a ticket/metro card to enter the bus/tram back home, but they just trust you to have bought the proper tickets here. We have learned after living here that they do random checks every once in a while, but it's still an overall trustful system. Perhaps it's because the German system relies on contributing to the common good that freeloaders & rule-breakers seem to be heavily discouraged/scorned in German culture?



Anyways! This turned out to be so much longer than I thought it'd be! 😂

Hope you've enjoyed my American perspective on German society. Maybe it'll even help some of you newer expats out there. Get ready for an amazing time here in Germany! 🍻


Yay! You should now have all of your residence paperwork set up (if you've been following my steps so far: obtaining a residence, registering your address with the city, & setting up your appointment for your residence permit). Your next priority is probably setting up your apartment. Here's some information that will help you organize everything you'll need.

Furniture

     I would prioritize furniture first, especially if you're on a tight budget, because IKEA (likely your cheapest option) is usually 2 weeks out for delivery. Maybe if you go to the nicer (far more expensive) furniture stores, they would have faster delivery? We also looked at other companies that can deliver your IKEA purchases, but IKEA's service actually had a shorter wait time which meant we would have a bed sooner. This was important because my ridiculous husband couldn't find an air mattress for the first week so we had been sleeping on the floor (Don't worry, I discovered not long after that Rossman had one all along... Note: don't depend on husbands to find things 😤). We had looked at several other furniture stores in our area & any big brand stores' websites, and I can honestly say IKEA was by far the cheapest. Especially if you'll be needing to install a kitchen.
     I've mentioned before that renting apartments usually mean you'll get an empty shell with a toilet and bath. Literally. They won't even come with lightbulbs, let alone light fixtures. You can specifically look for apartments that are furnished with a full kitchen, but they're usually higher in rent or hard to find. In Jena, the difference seemed enough that we'd make up for having to buy a kitchen in 3 months so it wasn't worth it to pay more in rent. If you're worried about the kitchen, here's what we used to build a very basic and cheap one. Hopefully it can help you get a ballpark amount.

Cabinet Shell to hold your sink/stove/oven: KNOXHULT €117
Cheapest stove that had more than one hot spot: LAGAN HGC3K €100
Cheapest oven (I would advise against this oven, it is so weak): LAGAN OV3 €100
I don't remember which sink we purchased but I believe it was around €100
Fridge: LAGAN Kuhl €200
Washing Machine from Saturn.de on sale (8kg Comfee) €270
A couple of shelves from IKEA: depends on how many you want and what kind
Total = around €1000 for a kitchen

     As usual with IKEA items, you will need to build and install everything on your own. Thankfully my husband is a bit handy and only needed to buy a €30 Jigsaw and basic tools to build the kitchen, but if that's not something you're up for, you can always hire IKEA (or whatever company you purchase from) to do so. It can be expensive though so keep this price in mind as well. We were very conscious about the price since we're only planning on staying for a few years.

*Bonus - OBI (Germany's Home Depot-same orange and everything lol) now rents power tools at an hourly rate which they didn't before (thanks OBI...) If you don't need anything fancy, IKEA also sells basic power tools at their locations for very cheap.

A kitchen before we installed our washing machine and some wall shelves
Everything from IKEA as listed


Electricity/Water

     Now you're probably wondering why we weren't freaking out about our water and electricity first. The system seems to be different here as they don't separate utilities by household. Which means the utilities don't get "cut" when you move out, and electricity/water is already available when you move in. BUT you'll still have to set up a contract with a provider. For us, water was "included" in our rent (up to a certain amount/year). And we had to find an electric company to contract. Your landlord should have a company to recommend or a company they have a partnership with to provide you with a discount.
     All you have to do is take your “Anmeldungbescheinigung” (Address Registration Certificate from the Burger Services), bank information (most payments in Germany are set up through automatic withdrawals), and your rental contract which shows your starting electricity meter numbers. The company will also ask how long you want the contract for and the amount per year. You can do month by month, yearly, etc, but it's cheaper to go for longer contracts. We knew we'd be staying for at least 2 years which is what we decided on. As for the amount, they can show you average usage numbers, and it's not a big deal if you go over a little. They will refund you the amount for any unused electricity.
     We were told the system is this way due to one company controlling all of the city's electricity. The companies you contract then request usage from this "mega company" and take charge of your meter usage. Strange, but it's also how the internet works here. Which we'll talk about next~


Internet/Cell Service

     As I was saying, the system for your household internet is similar to getting electricity. There's a "mega company" which, in this case, is Telekom (aka T-Mobile!). Telekom apparently used to have a monopoly on internet/phone services in Germany so they own all of the wiring/system. Now different companies have to request usage of this system to provide you with their own contract/pricing.
     You can choose to sign up with Telekom (fastest set up) or go with other options. Friends have told me that O2 is the cheapest, but customer service is pretty horrible if you ever run into problems. We ended up going with Vodafone because they provide free EU roaming. As avid travelers, we lit up at the offer. I would say pricing is about the same as AT&T back home which is fine, but the slow set up time can really suck. Your cell service is instant, but it'll take around 3 weeks after you sign up with Vodafone for them to gain access to Telekom's internet services and have a service man sent out to your home. They'll try and make up for it by providing you an extra 10GB of data on your cells, but 10GB can go quick if you want to Netflix/Hulu. We just ended up sitting around cafes for the first few weekends...


TV/Radio Tax

     Now this one's a funny one. Every household in Germany is required to pay a TV/Radio Tax (Rundfunkbeitrag). This tax funds the production and broadcasting of Germany's public channels. Because nowadays every household is likely to have a tv/radio or internet (which can access these channels), it is required to pay unless you are blind/deaf. It'll run you €17.50/month, and thankfully, it's per household, not person. You should automatically receive this letter after registering your address with the city, but if you don't, you will have to contact the Beitrag office to make sure & pay. If you don't, you'll have to pay everything you missed along with some hefty late fees. If you refuse to pay, they will take legal actions so it's best to just comply.


Garden Plots

     This one doesn't really have to do with your apartment, but if you love gardening, Germany is quite the place to be. 'Garden plots' (Schrebergärten) are popular to 'purchase' here if you're interested. You might have already noticed a 'Garden Colony' depending on where you live. They look like fields that are squared off with tiny homes on each square. You can "purchase" a plot from a previous owner, but you wouldn't actually own the land, just everything on the land. This is all determined by a government appraiser down to every little herb (predetermined by goverment standards). Do keep in mind that as much as you can enjoy your own garden, there are many rules to managing your garden plot. It's kind of like having an HOA that tells you what you can/can't grow, what kind of house you can build, and so on. Some garden plots actually have an HOA/Management club.


Hope this has been helpful! If you have any questions, never hesitate to ask~

@to.unknownthings




*This is simply what I learned from my personal experiences/research. Please always make sure to consult with the proper authorities and take this post with a grain of salt.
     This has been a fairly requested topic: Transit in Germany! Transit here, even in our smaller city, is as great as we were expecting it to be. Buses & trams within the city are usually timely, and the routes are pretty expansive.

Our local bus/tram routes

    The buses are actually quite nice, and they make it really convenient to buy tickets. Every bus has a ticket machine where you can buy a ticket that is valid for the next hour. Or you can buy tickets at the machines present at "major" stops. These tickets don't expire so you can buy multiple tickets, but you have to 'validate' them when you board the bus in the 'orange stamp boxes' (usually located near the doors). You stick the ticket in, and it stamps a time/date stamp. If this kind of ticket doesn't have one of these time stamps, the ticket is invalid and you could get fined when 'officials' come around to check tickets.


     From our personal experience, they do check for tickets fairly often in our city. You will never be able to tell who the 'officials' are because they don't wear uniforms. They'll be riding the bus like normal passengers, wait for the bus to fill up a bit, and then as the bus is moving, start checking everybody's tickets. Our penalty for not having a valid ticket is €60, but I'm sure that depends on your city. €60 is the price of our monthly bus pass so if you're a forgetful person, I'd say just buy the monthly pass to make things easier.

     As for the trains, pricing depends on the distance you're traveling along with how in advance you plan your trips. You can buy tickets online (Deutsche Bahn) in advance or at the stations, and some smaller regional trains also have ticket machines on board. BUT last minute train tickets can be quite expensive so try to plan in advance. There are other cheaper options (such as FlixBus, 'Europe's Megabus'), but the trains are far spacier and faster. Some of the newer trains even have 'family hubs' for group seating (shown below). And if you're traveling with other people, there are also some decent group rates you can find in every city.


     Is transit pet friendly in Germany? Yes it is! Dogs are allowed on on both the buses/trams and the trains. You just have to buy tickets for your dogs. They're €1.60 on our city buses and the ticket is valid for 6 hours. As for the trains, it'll depend on the size of your pet and where you're going. I've included the info for pets on the Deutsche Bahn in the photo below.


     Is transit handicap friendly in Germany? Yes it is! Every bus/train here seems to have a large area for any possible handicap space needed. They're strict about having certain spots for the handicapped/elderly. If you're sitting in these spots when they're needed, the bus driver WILL tell you to get up so don't be a jerk!

     While we're talking about these spaces on transit, because these large areas are present, transit is also very bike and stroller friendly. The regional trains especially seem to be so. Just look for the open space on trains that are marked for bikes/strollers. There are also usually shelves you can put your large luggage on and overhead shelves at your seat that can fit a carry-on size just fine. Very travel friendly!


Hope this has been helpful! If you have any questions, never hesitate to ask~

@to.unknownthings



*This is simply what I learned from my personal experiences/research. Please always make sure to consult with the proper authorities such as your transit authorities and take this post with a grain of salt.
     Here's a quick blip about our 1 day itinerary in Weimar. I won't go into much details about the historical facts of each place since that's the fun of visiting them, but we can walk through the town together. We left out the Buchenwald Memorial for another day along with some of the gardens since we went in February when everything was still cold & grey 😅 But I'll make sure to blog again on our next trip there so you can plan a second day!

What we saw in a day:

Goethe Schiller Monument  (5 min)
Bach Monument  (1 min)
Herzogin Anna Amalia Bibliothek  (1-2 hr)
Schlossmuseum  (2 hr)
Church of St. Peter and St. Paul  (30 min)
Goethe House @ Goethe Nationalmuseum  (1-2 hr)
Weimarer Fürstengruft/Russian Orthodox Chapel @ Historic Cemetery  (1 hr)


     First thing - if you ride the train into town, be aware that the station is about a 15 min walk from the main part of the city (shown below). It's a straight shot so you don't have to worry about getting lost. The walk isn't really scenic, but there were a few cool buildings along the way.
    I'd say Saturdays are far busier than Sundays even though most of the tourist spots here are open both days. You just won't find any stores open on Sundays, other than the restaurants/cafes (as is the norm in Germany). So plan accordingly, Instagrammers 😋


   
Let's review: so far, I've talked about getting to Germany and the first thing you need to do when you arrive (looking for a residence). Well, it gets worse! I only scratched the surface when I talked about apartment hunting to start off simply. But it's so much more complicated than just the circled web of *Apartment VS Bank VS the Bürgerservice*

Welcome to Part 2: the tangled web gets more tangled!



(Hope you enjoyed the Comic Sans 😂)

In Part 1, we talked about the strange circle of obtaining an apartment which is directly linked to obtaining a bank account with a registered address (Anmeldung). Here, we'll talk about a couple of other things you will need for the apartment process, such as the different types of insurance.


1. Insurance

At least two types of insurance will probably be required when obtaining your apartment (depending on the rental agency). We were required to obtain Renter's Insurance (Hausratversicherung) and "Personal Liability Insurance" (Haftpflichtversicherung). You should be familiar with Renter's Insurance as that's also commonly required in the US, but you may be asking, what is "Personal Liability Insurance?"
Personal Liability Insurance will insure you in case of any damage you may cause. For example: if you accidentally damage your neighbor's belonging, the replacement would be covered; if you accidentally cause an accident and hurt somebody, their hospital bill would be covered. Every German seems to have this insurance, and it's very affordable so why not? You can also obtain more insurance such as "Law Protection Insurance" (Rechtsschutzversicherung) which will cover any legal fees in case of court disputes. The Germans seem to love insuring everything possible, down to their windows. You can read all about these crazy insurances in this article I found if you're curious.
Where can you start looking for these insurances? I started shopping for prices on this website. It is in German, but just look on the left for "Hausratversicherung" and "Haftpflichtversicherung" and then use Google Translate for the search fields (Google Chrome will be your best friend in Germany with their built in translation tool).  They also seem to show a rating for each company/policy, but I don't know what that's based on.
After I narrowed down a couple of companies that sounded reliable and affordable, I simply sent out emails asking if any of them spoke English and if they could help us obtain these insurances. We went with the first company to respond, Konzept und Marketing Gruppe. Our Representative, Robert Strüber, wasn't too confident with his English so we just communicated via email, but he was to the point and very responsive so we were happy (if you want, this was our contact: R.strueber@versifair.de). It was all around a pretty quick and easy process- we were able to obtain all necessary insurances with him (including insurance for our pets!). You may just want to work on timing because he will be needing an address. We had contacted him when we were still waiting on the rental agency's decision which was totally ok, he just asked that we let him know as soon as we obtained the address so he could file and send the paperwork.



2. Paperwork for your Apartment Application

A couple of other things your rental agency may require during your application process are:
German Work Contract from your employer showing your income
Letter from your previous landlord stating you were a good renter (paid on time, no problems)
Or if you owned, a copy of your deed or other proof



3. Anmeldung

Registering your residence with your city's Bürgerservice (or Bürgeramt) will get you the “Anmeldungbescheinigung” (Registration Certificate). You will be needing this piece of paper for most accounts you will be opening during your stay (bank account, electricity, internet, etc). As mentioned in Part 1, you should make an appointment ahead of time as sometimes the queue is long. I've read some larger cities don't require an appointment, but that was not the case in Jena. Our small town required you to make an appointment as well as keep all of your paperwork within the city (some forums mentioned doing your immigration paperwork in a city nearby for shorter queues - false). I believe you're required to register your address within 14 days of moving into your new residence. Thus, we made our appointment as soon as we started actually looking at apartments as our city's queue was more than a week out, but I wouldn't stress too much about the deadline. They seem to be understanding about going over these limits if it's due to their long appointment queues since it's not your fault.
Also, as mentioned in Part 1, if you're having real difficulties finding a place but you need things to get going for work/the bank, we've been told you can just register your workplace/hotel address and have your employer/hotel write a letter stating that you're staying there. But this should be a last measure because 1) we're not sure if it would make the process more difficult and 2) after you do find a place, you have to make an appointment and re-register everything again. Yes, you will have to re-register if you want your electricity and internet to go to the right address as they will check your "Registration Certificate."
The process was fairly simple, you make an appointment, show up/check in, they'll call you to head towards a numbered booth, you show them your paperwork, they scan/copy everything in, and then provide you with the "Registration Certificate." They should also let you know when you should be expecting your "Tax ID" (Steuer-ID). You will be needing this to start working so make sure to ask about it if they don't mention it first.
We were required to bring:
Passports, Rental Contract, Meldebestatigung (document from your Landlord proving your residence - yes, they will want both), any documents proving your relation to your family (if you have anybody coming with you - such as marriage certificates, birth certificates, etc and their Passports), and of course, a filled out Anmeldung Form. You should be able to find it on your local Bürgeramt's website. I did not want to provide it here in case your city's form looks different.

To Note:

1) They did hassle us a little about our Marriage Certificate being in English. Thankfully, our official was confident in her English along with her supervisor so they decided to ok it. Be aware that this may be a problem, especially for more complex forms such as your child's Birth Certificate. You may want to ask your local Bürgeramt ahead of time if you will be needing translated forms.
2) Our official asked if we had enrolled in Health Insurance yet and asked to look at our Insurance Cards. We knew it was required later on, but we weren't aware that they'd ask for it during our Anmeldung appointment. I'm not sure if they normally require it or they usually just inform you that you will be needing it for your "Permanent Residence Appointment" later on, but I hadn't seen anywhere that we were required to bring it for this appointment. We just happened to have it on us- luckily, my husband's employer had referred us to a health insurance company with a good English program so that was a quick process.
3) The Bürgeramt will be asking about your religious status. If you so choose to identify with certain religions and attend church in Germany, you will have to pay a "Church Tax" (Kirchensteuer). This tax isn't small, it's a percentage of your salary and I believe the percentage depends on your religion. This tax is collected by the Tax Office (then channeled to your faith) which is why they ask you during this appointment.



4. Now you're ready for the Bank and other accounts

Whoohoo!!! As mentioned in Part 1, you will most likely be needing an appointment to open your bank account. Otherwise, it seemed just like opening a bank account in the States except that they require your work contract/proof of income. They will also be requiring your "Registration Certificate" (Anmeldungbescheinigung), your Rental Contract won't suffice. Be aware you will be providing your SSN (if from the US) and filling out forms for tax history/divulging any German accounts to the US.
Extra tip: ask them about activating "PayDirekt" while you're there. If it's not activated and you don't know how to use it, you may have trouble purchasing items online. We didn't even know about this until we tried to purchase a washing machine from Saturn.de.



5. Don't Forget: Permanent Residency

Don't forget you still have to get your "Permanent Resident Card" (Aufenthaltstitel) after you register your address. You will have to make an appointment for this (depending on what city you're in) at your local "Ausländerbehörde." Your travel visa is only valid for 90 days in Germany so you want to time this right and make your appointment ahead of time, but as mentioned earlier, they seem to be understanding about going over these limits if it's due to their long appointment queues. I believe if the next available appointment is past your 90 day mark, they'll have to provide you a visa extension.
This appointment was very similar to the Anmeldung appointment except that they required more documents along with your biometrics. You can find a list of everything you will be required to bring on your local Ausländerbehörde's website along with the form you will need to complete.
You will also be needing "passport photos" which you can easily obtain here with one of those "passport photo kiosks." It basically looks just like one of those fun photo booths, but they're designed to provide specific instructions for passport requirements along with the proper sized photos. We've found them at several local grocery stores so they seem to be easily accessible!
The whole appointment took about 1.5 hours if I remember right. A lot of it was just copying/scanning/signing and then printing out a temporary residence card for us.
We received our 'Permanent Residence' through my husband's "critical skill," being a Chemist. Apparently being a doctorate means neither he nor I were required to know German to obtain residence in Germany, but that's not the norm. I believe you may be required to take "Assimilation and Language" classes and pass certain level tests for them to grant you full permanent residence.
When I asked if I had permission to work as well (as the spouse), she said yes and implied that the spouse was normally allowed to work during the time frame of the primary spouse's work contract. She stated that if I found employment with a longer work contract than my husband's, then we could come in before the expiration of our 'Permanent Residence' status to renew the card for my new work contract dates.




And that should conclude any paperwork for your stay here in Germany! Unless you have special circumstances, you don't file your taxes here so that about sums it up. Hope this has been helpful! Please feel free to ask me any questions anytime. If there's ever anything you would like me to add or write about, I always welcome comments~



*This is simply what I learned from my personal experiences/research. Please always make sure to consult with the proper authorities such as your local offices and banks and take this post with a grain of salt.
Hope everybody enjoyed my post on what they may want to bring to Germany! But I know you can't bring all of America over so here's me writing about everything you should enjoy while you can. I never knew I would miss such simple things so much 😭


Steak/Beef

Hands down, the #1 thing I miss. I'm no high class lady. I used to drive right over to a Kroger to buy myself a big cheap steak about once a week to treat myself, but say bye to that my fellow steak lovers! Steak is ridiculously expensive here, even just buying it from the grocery store (beef in general seems to be pricey). I used to be able to get a decent sized steak for around $10 back home, but here, you'll find one small steak in a fancy, vaccuum-sealed packaging for around 25€. That's right, 25€ for a small grocery store steak. It doesn't even tasted good! You might as well eat at your local steakhouse because it's not much more...
Thinking that's not too bad, I can still enjoy a nice burger? Nope. For some reason, the ground beef here tastes different! And burgers at the our local restaurants are thin, expensive, and don't taste the same. Even McDonalds doesn't taste the same. I thought I was crazy until I saw other Americans agreed with me. But there is a silver lining: if you prefer Burger King over McDonalds anyways, Burger King does taste the same here! It's just expensive...



Free water "with no gas"

        If you're like my friend who thinks water is the worst thing to drink in the world, this won't be a problem for you 😂 But I get dehydrated easily so water is my best friend. I think I drink at least two cups of water during any meal. So imagine having free water taken away from you! Now I'm left with expensive mineral water in tiny bottles when I eat out. The worst is when I forget to clarify "no gas" and they give me carbonated water! Germans love their soda water. You can technically just bring a water bottle everywhere you go, but apparently, it can be seen as impolite so you'll want to leave it in your bag when you sit and drink from it discreetly.



Free refills

Do you like to guzzle soda freely without a thought during your meals?
Too bad, say bye to free refills! Soda is not only expensive, you only get one serving for that price! Sometimes they even come in the tiniest bottles so you feel even more ripped off.



Ice in your drinks

At least you won't have a lot of ice taking up space in your one tiny glass of soda? Your drinks will come cold and refrigerated, but never with ice. So if you're craving an ice cold drink during a hot summer, you'll have to get it at home. You might get lucky at some bars that may have ice, but remember to ask for it.



Free public toilets

This one hasn't been that big of a deal for me, but my husband has the smallest bladder in the world! Free restrooms are not a concept anywhere in Germany. Gas stations will charge you to use their restroom even if you purchase anything, any train stations, and much of the malls will as well. Even the restrooms at a public park will charge you. Thankfully, most restaurants will let you use their restroom for free if you're dining in so that's been enough for me.



Air conditioning

Coming from Hotlanta, I don't think we'll sweat about this one (haha...). I grew up with 100°F summers with 100% humidity (yes, it was hell), and I hear the hottest Germany ever gets is 80°F. With some personal fans, it shouldn't be too bad, but if you're from a colder area, there is no A/C here so good luck. I've been told the malls should have A/C, but it's nothing like in the US. Apparently, it will be some weak, sub-par attempt at keeping the mall from being a sauna.



Smoke free air

I never thought I'd say this, but smokers in the US are generally more polite than the smokers in Europe. Of course there are exceptions to these generalizations, but for the most part, smokers in the US would go around corners to smoke and try to stay out of the way. Here? It's free reign as long as you're outside! Smokers seem to be everywhere, and they smoke as they're walking (who cares if somebody's walking behind you!), in cafe/restaurant patios, at the Christmas Markets (even if there are children around!). I miss being able to walk right down the street without a cloud of cigarette smoke. And this is coming from me, who was in the service industry for 6 years and constantly surrounded by smokers!



Ethnic Food

As somebody who loves to eat and comes from a culturally diverse Atlanta, I miss good ethnic food. The Mexican food here is horrible, the good Asian food is hard to find and expensive, and Indian food is okay but very expensive. Somebody save me from the bland food here!!! Especially as a Korean, I need bold flavors and spices!



Coffee

I'm not a frequent coffee drinker, but even I recognize how bad the coffee is here. It all tastes burnt but watery at the same time. It's funny because you see all of the nice espresso machines at every restaurant, but somehow they all produce this horrible mud water. It must be the beans that they use here? What is the point of having these fancy machines if you're just going to use the cheapest beans you can find?



Cheddar Cheese

Don't worry, for the most part, you should be able to find good cheese everywhere of every kind (even if they're called something different in German). But Cheddar cheese isn't common and very expensive here. The only cheddar I've been able to find is Kerrygold Cheddar and it's double/triple the price of any other cheese we buy here 😓



Grocery baggers

I don't mind bagging my own groceries, I even prefer to sometimes because baggers in the US abuse plastic bags as if they need to. But grocery checkout is a sport here. People will frown at you if you don't quickly and efficiently place everything onto the belt and then pack in into your own bags at the speed the lady is scanning all of the items. And you better have your payment ready because the checkout ladies will demand it as soon as they're done scanning everything regardless of whether you're busy packing everything or not.
If you don't finish packing everything by the time you finish paying? Prepare to have the person behind you breathe on your neck as all of their items get scanned and mixed into your items! They will not wait for your slow American efficiency 😂 Makes you miss the good ol' days of leisurely shopping!


Over the counter medicine

Gone are the days where you can simply stroll over to the grocery store for some cold medicine or advil/ibuprofen. Now you have to share with your local pharmacist everything you're feeling and then turn down a bunch of herbal/homeopathic suggestions only to receive a smaller version of what you'd find in the US that's also weaker in dosage and double the price... Also, there's no sudafed here 😭 Seems to be more common to just go to the doctor here since health insurance covers everything, including most of your prescription meds.



Uber

Unfortunately, Uber has not been able to enter Germany! I miss the days of a cheap, quick ride. Don't get me wrong. Public transit is fantastic here! I rarely need a taxi, but I have had to use one a few times and the prices really make you miss Uber, especially when you're out late drinking and the buses have stopped running.



Large Washing Machines/Dryers

Not that big of a deal, but large washing machines are expensive, and you might not have room in your place for a dryer too (or the proper set up). Most people line dry their clothes here. Which has been fine, but I miss just being able to pile up your laundry into a giant load. Now, I have to do laundry frequently with small loads as my washing machine is small and I don't have enough space to dry so many clothes at one time. Things like this make you realize how many silly things you take for granted!



Automatic Cars

We didn't realize that cars here were manuals by default. I talk about whether you should bring your car in this post. But if not, know that the standard for cars here is manual. So if you don't know how to drive stick, you can run into difficulties with renting cars and possibly with getting your German Driver's License.



Microwave Popcorn

This one's just a funny one for my popcorn loving husband. He had a hard time finding the microwave popcorn. Only one of the grocery stores in our city had them. Ultimately, I ended up buying him a popcorn machine to appease him 😂 The regular popcorn kernels are super cheap and much easier to find.



***This is simply what I learned from my personal experiences/research. Please take this post with a grain of salt.

If you've been following me, you'll remember my rant about how expensive bedding is in Germany in my last post. I also speculated about why it was so pricey -
" Why is bedding so expensive? One of the main reasons is definitely because we have a 'king' bed (they go by sizes here, we went with the biggest size at IKEA 180x200cm). If you don't need a large bed, I'm sure you'd have more options & cheaper prices!
Also, in some parts of Germany, couples like to have their own duvets and sometimes even beds! We've definitely met some people who say that's not common anymore, but we've also come across hotels, AirBnBs, and people here with separate comforters (the photo shows what I mean). So maybe the demand for larger blankets isn't there?..... "

This was a funny discovery for us. In the US, my husband and I slept on a 'Full' sized bed and always thought it was too small with our two dogs. So when we moved to Germany, we took full advantage of needing a new bed and bought the biggest size available at IKEA! Only to struggle finding affordable bedding. IKEA's cheapest 'King' sized duvet was €80! That didn't even include a cover - it was just the stuffing. We thought it was simply overpriced so I found a TK Maxx (Germany's TJ Maxx) thinking they'd have duvets like they do in the US, but they only had a few jersey fitted sheets that were too small for our bed. So then I went looking on Amazon.de and the cheapest they had was €55! And any cotton sheets are pricey! (Read about that in my previous post) All of the furniture stores we went to didn't have sizes that big either.

Confused, I started asking around. Seems like large sizes aren't in demand here because it isn't unusual for couples to have their own duvets. One of my husband's coworkers said that his parents have always had separate blankets and that some of his neighbors even put smaller beds together so they each have a mattress. Curious, I looked online to see if this was common and looks like it is! This Bielefeld blogger mentions it along with a couple of other blogs I've seen that also state it's popular in Austria and Switzerland. And if you look through TripAdvisor, you'll find plenty of reviewers talking about the separate duvet/bed system at all of the hotels! But some have also said in some areas, this isn't that common anymore and more outdated.


Funny thing is, everybody seems to love it! No more fighting over the sheets! If you like soft mattresses while your partner prefers it firm, they even have bed frames specially meant to put two mattresses in (refer to above photos)! You'll even find products to prevent the bed gap (below). Sounds like the good life to me. Thankfully, my husband and I both prefer firm beds. We decided to buy a 'king sized' flat sheet (which aren't common here) in the end to keep the dog hairs away and layered with some smaller blankets German style to keep us warm! With the larger bed now, my husband seems to 'alligator' less, leaving my blankets intact even with our shared sheet 😂


*This is simply what I learned from my personal experiences/research. Please always make sure to consult with the proper authorities and take this post with a grain of salt.
**This was not an ad; I was not compensated in any way for writing about any of these products/brands in this post.


    My husband and I moved to Germany with just our suitcases and 2 pups! Crazy right? Actually, my husband wanted me to move across the pond with only two suitcases, and I had to tell him he was insane! Thankfully, he ended up giving me more space, but we were just too tight on cash to ship everything else over. I cried a little watching 60% of my belongings given away, but my husband figured it'd be more economical to re-buy everything once he started his new position.
    Three months later, we are still trying to get settled in! Moving to Germany sounds super glamorous and adventurous, but it's been a difficult transition because we weren't compensated relocation costs. So it has been a huge upfront cost that takes time to catch up on.
    Anyways, not everything has been easy to repurchase or find so I thought I could help anybody else planning to move over with their packing decisions. This is not an ad; I was not compensated in any way for writing about any of these products/brands in this post.

*Bonus Tip: We wish we had known a bit more about Amazon.com in Germany
Make sure to read about my post on Amazon.de here before purchasing anything. You want to make sure you're not making mistakes like bringing Amazon.com gift cards over.


Here are some tips on using Amazon in Germany! This is not an ad, I'm actually not happy with the recent news of how Amazon workers are being treated and have no affiliation with them, but I also know how much of a life saver Amazon can be overseas.

Amazon.de is technically different from Amazon.com. So if you get any moving away/congratulations gift cards for Amazon.com, you cannot use them with Amazon.de.

     So you want to move to Germany, but it's too short notice to get the EU Blue Card? (read about that here) What do you do? You have to go through the entangled mess of moving to Germany! Don't worry. You do NOT need the EU Blue Card to move to Germany. It just makes things a lot quicker/easier down the road.

     Germany is open to visit for up to 90 days so if you already have a job lined up, you should be able to settle down within that time. If you don't have a job offer yet, I strongly suggest looking for one before moving over as the process is hard enough as it is with a job.

So why do I say it's such a mess to move here? Because everything you need to get settled in is all linked together in a never-ending circle.
To get a bank account, you need a residence registered with the 'City Hall'
To register your new residence with the 'City Hall', you need an apartment (& to make an appointment which can be several weeks out).
To rent an apartment, you need a bank account (Germany doesn't take checks. Almost everything is set up as an auto-payment from your bank account)

So how did we make this work?


First things first, make the appointments you need to!

1. Stop by the bank you prefer and make an appointment to open an account. There are several large banks here. We chose the Deutsche Bank because A.Volksbank was incredibly rude to us on two separate occasions and B.Deutsche Bank was supposed to be quite accommodating for English speakers/popular choice for foreign students. These just happened to be the first two banks we saw. There are plenty of other options such as Sparkasse, which we have heard good things about. We just happened to see Deutsche Bank first and didn't really have much preference as we only needed a simple checkings account.

Depending on the time of the year, appointments can be several weeks out. We happened to move to a college town during a busy time so our bank appointment was 2.5 weeks out. It may also have been because we needed an English speaker. If the wait is shorter, just go ahead and make an appointment further out to leave you ample time to find an apartment as a registered address is required for all accounts. 2.5 weeks was just enough time for us to look for an apartment and register with the city. Which leads to...

2. Make an appointment with your city's Bürgerservice to register your address with the city. You will need a registered address to open up any kind of account (bank, phone/internet, electricity, etc) in the future. Once again, these appointments can be 1-2 weeks out. If the wait is shorter, just go ahead and make an appointment further out to leave you ample time to find an apartment. Registering your address is necessary because when you open up any services here, they require a form showing that your address is registered with the city (which you get during your appointment).



Now as you wait for these appointments to come up, let's find an apartment!

     I want to first specify that we moved to a small town called Jena so there wasn't as much help online for renting apartments to expats as you may find in the big cities like Berlin. Just 'Ebay'. Yup, that's right, I said Ebay. Apparently Ebay has a far better reputation here in Germany and many people use it to find apartments to rent! If you are moving to Berlin, this blog has a great post on finding an apartment there. Anyways, we didn't see many options lined up before coming to Germany so we decided to stay in an AirBnB while apartment hunting. Thus, we didn't have much time, and it was expensive to keep staying in an AirBnB/hotel so we felt finding an apartment was the first priority! We'd figure out later how to pay.

     Expat groups suggested that the fastest way to find an apartment is to find a real estate agent (some charge a fee, avoid this; as of 2015, the owner of the flat has to pay any agency fees when renting out a flat, not the other way around), and all of the listings on Ebay pointed to agents anyways so we figured that was true. We found out after going to a couple of real estate agents in town that we were looking in the wrong place. One agent was finally kind enough to tell us that we should be looking for specific rental agents (instead of going to agents that handle purchasing homes). He let us know that most of them were over the phone and only one had a physical location in town. Since we didn't speak German and couldn't get through the phone prompts, we chose to go to the one physical rental agent, Jena Wohnen!

     Thankfully they were very accommodating. Their English wasn't perfect, but it was enough to find us an apartment. We simply let them know what we were looking for, our budget, and that we had dogs. From that, they let us know we only have a few options, but they had somewhere in mind if we wanted to look. She said she was free the next day so we went to look at it first thing the next morning. Apparently, they only show you one apartment at a time. If you don't like the first one, then they'll look for another one instead of having a list of places for you to look at. Which makes me want to think they try to find you your best option the first time? Thankfully, we really liked the first apartment she showed us and snapped it up!

     The first one she showed us was a 57 sq meter apartment with 2 bedrooms (you have to specify bedrooms, Germans count the living room as one so technically we have a 3 room + KB - kitchen/bath). It was surprisingly roomy, more than enough for a couple with two dogs. We had heard of some horror stories of apartments not coming with toilets/furnished bathrooms, but that is rare nowadays, ours came with a full bathroom. FYI bathtubs seem to be the norm over showers though...

     But, it is definitely true that apartments do NOT come with equipped kitchens (I'll write about that later). You can find some newer, more modern apartments that now come with appliances (they're called something specific so you'll have to request), but obviously, your rent would be higher. The one we viewed (without an equipped kitchen) was only 500 Euros/mo including all utilities except electricity. Oh, it also came with a storage cellar (which seems to be a norm). It was 5min from the bus/8min from the train, the bus ride into the city center was only 15min, and the nearest grocery store was a 10min walk. That is about as good as you can get when you move from Atlanta! Rent in Atlanta can double that, won't include utilities, and we were a commuter state with horrible, horrible traffic. So, I liked it right away! (attached photos at the end of the post) My husband wanted to think about it for a night which was fine because our agent let us know we had till the end of the week to decide and what we'd need with the application (work contract, a recommendation letter from your previous landlord, pay history, and some insurance which I'll about write about later).

     My husband ended up agreeing that this was cheaper than we expected and the location was great so we decided to act quick and let her know the next day that we were interested. This is where things get interesting. She was happy that we liked the apartment and asked us if we brought all of the paperwork needed and a completed application. She just checked to make sure they were the right things and gave it back to us without even taking copies! Then she let us know what she'd decide on by the end of the week when the other 2 interested parties turn in their paperwork. We were very confused at this point. We asked her what that meant. She said that their process allows up to 3 interested parties to turn in applications for an apartment and then from there she decides who gets it. A little appalled, we asked her what factors played a part in her decision. She said it depended on our pay/reliability/work and who she felt necessary to have the apartment. She then let us know she would email us on a certain date with her decision. 

     If you're an American, you can see why this would leave us confused. It was such a different system. This kind of system would get you sued in the US for discrimination. We weren't mad, just extremely taken aback. My husband scratched his head and asked me if we were supposed to bribe our agent!!! I had a good laugh and let him know I hadn't seen anything of that sort online so probably not? We then figured it was fair game to email our agent with a sad story about how we really needed this apartment and without it, my husband couldn't start work without a registered address (which was true). We're not sure if the email affected the agent in anyway, but she decided to give us the apartment! You have no idea, we were pretty nervous because our AirBnB booking was just ending.

     We met up with her at the apartment to grab the keys where we thought we'd be signing the contract. She let us know there was no leasing period, it was month to month and to just give them a notice. She went over the apartment to make sure everything was working, how to read all of our meters, who to contact for what issues, how to throw things away, etc. Then she had us sign a form stating that she went over all of this and what numbers all of the meters started at. She was about to leave when we asked her, what about the down payment? We don't have a bank account yet, is that a problem? Don't we need to sign the contract? Then she casually told us, we could take care of all of that later. To stop by the office whenever we had time in the next couple of days. We were once again, taken aback! We couldn't believe she'd leave us the keys and let us move in before she got any payment information or a signed contract. We don't know if this is the German way or just the small town way! We had never felt more trusted before!

     So we started to move in and thankfully, our appointment for registering our address and bank account fell only a couple of days later and we were able to sign the contract and provide them with our bank information by the end of the week. If your rental agency is not as relaxed as ours was and your timing doesn't work out, my husband's boss had told him to register his workplace address with the city and from there open the bank account to acquire the apartment. Then you can change your address with the city later on. This option honestly doesn't seem foolproof so try and get your agency to be understanding about your expat situation.

     It was overall a pretty weird experience! But we're glad everything worked out. We did end up finding out later that having connections with the agencies gets you all of the best apartments/deals so we probably didn't get the best deal for the area, but I'd like to believe we didn't have many options due to the dogs anyways and it's still a great deal compared Atlanta!

     Here are some snaps my husband had taken before we moved in! They don't bother painting the walls nicely because I think Germans usually use wallpaper (or at least that's what our agent suggested).  They just simply rip off the previous tenant's wallpaper off for you so you can apply a new one. Also, if you're OCD, prepare for these old German buildings to be your worst nightmares because nothing is level here. That includes BOTH the walls and floor. Our AirBnB was the same. I am learning to cope with it!!! 😂 You'll have to wedge stuff underneath your furniture and deal with the fact that your bookshelves aren't perfectly flush against your walls.




>>>PART TWO>>>: The tangled web gets more tangled - Insurance, Anmeldung, Banks


*This is simply what I learned from my personal experiences/research. Please always make sure to consult with the proper authorities such as your rental agency and banks and take this post with a grain of salt.


After reading Part 1 and Part 2, you should be completely prepared now for your pups' arrival in Germany. But, you may still have nerves about how it's actually going to go at the airport. So, I thought you'd like to know how our experience went, what we did to prepare, and how our dogs fared.



Before the airport


Timing your dog's food and water right

Our flight was in the evening so we fed the dogs early in the morning and gave them plenty of water until it was time to leave for the airport. We made sure to take them out right before we left.

Deciding whether you have room for the assembled crates or not

Our rental wasn't large enough to fit all of our suitcases along with two assembled dog crates so we just decided to leave them unassembled/stacked and to assemble them once we got to the airport. Remember to factor this into how you'll be getting to the airport and leave time!

Letting your dogs potty adequately at the airport

We fed them far before they'd be on the flight, let them potty twice before we left for the airport, and then let them potty again right before we checked in for our flight.



At the airport


Assembling the dogs crates

Assembling our 'Sky Kennels' didn't take long, it was quite easy to simply align the top and bottom pieces together and screw the metal bolts/nuts together. Bring a wrench to make sure everything is tight! Wouldn't want your pups getting loose for any reason during this process. I would say about 15 minutes to assemble each crate with two people is plenty. *Oh also, if your pup gets cold easily, buy them a little sweater to wear. I hear it can get cold in the cargo. Both of our pups like the cold so we let them be.

Checking in

After you have your dogs in the crates, walk over to the check-in counter for your airline and check-in as usual. They'll do all of the usual first (like checking in luggage and such) before getting to the dogs. *Not dog related but... - We flew with Lufthansa who surprisingly, weighed our carry-on luggage. My husband has flown overseas plenty of times before, and he said he had never had his carry-on weighed before. So watch out!

Overviewing the paperwork

Now they'll ask for the paperwork. The airline didn't take too long to look over it. They simply called over their supervisor who made sure that we had all of the forms and that it matched the APHIS Form 7001.

Paying for the dogs

After checking you and the luggage in and looking over your paperwork, they'll ask you to go down to the end of the counter where they'll make sure that your kennels meet IATA requirements. They'll put a bunch of stickers on the kennel like a flight tag and some arrows/live animal stickers. Once they clear that your dogs are ready for the flight, they'll ask you to pay for the dogs. I think they mentioned normally, we would pay after TSA approved us, but that TSA may take a while to arrive and it looked like we would be fine.

Your airline should post the prices of your dog's flight (by size) online so you should already be aware of how much it will cost, but we were surprised that Lufthansa charged us $400 for our Husky and $300 for our Bluetick. Our Bluetick was too big for the small size ($200) and too small for the medium ($400) which may be why they charged us an intermedian price (or it may have been that TSA kept us waiting so long they felt bad?). We're not sure, but you can always ask nicely about a possible discount if your dog seems to fit between sizes. ***Key word: nicely. I worked in customer service for years. Reps are much more likely to help you if you're nice. They're not required to offer you a discount like they did with us.

Waiting for TSA

Now this is what may take awhile. This should all depend on when your flight is/the airport. We had to wait for a little longer than 30 minutes for the TSA to arrive. As you can imagine, this made us a little bit nervous with a flight to catch, but Lufthansa was very politely apologetic about the situation and assured us that the flight would be held for us if TSA were to take longer. Thankfully, they didn't. Once TSA arrived, they checked that the crate met IATA regulations again and that all openings were secure. They also had to pat down the puppies (are they checking for drugs?) and check that there was nothing in the crate other than absorbent paper. They then asked us if they would be needing food. We said no as the flight isn't very long (8 hours), and it was direct so there would be no worries of something going wrong. They advised us to leave the hanging water bowl (came with the kennel) latched onto the inside of the door just in case there was a delay, and somebody needed to provide them with water. Then, they ziptied the kennel door to the plastic for extra security and were carried off on a large trolley.



Arriving in Germany


YOU MADE IT TO GERMANY! Worried about the pups? Run to pick up your luggage! You will find your puppies where you pick up 'Oversized Luggage' (usually off to the side from where you normally pick up the rest of your luggage). Our puppies seemed surprisingly relaxed, and they had not pottied in their crates!

Got all of your luggage? Now you can just follow the signs to Customs/Border Control. It was my first time in the EU and outside of the US since very little so it was really cool to see the Customs here. Got to see some APC (Automated Passport Control) kiosks! As Non-EU Passport holders, we went to the right through a normal line to talk to the Customs officer.

The APC kiosks for EU Passport Holders!

He asked us the usual questions like why we were here and how long we'd be staying, etc, but not one question about the dogs. It being my first experience, I expected going through Customs to be much more of an ordeal, but it was just a couple of questions, showing him a form or two, and then being cleared to enter. Nothing about the dogs! Puzzled when he said we were clear, my husband and I asked him if we needed to do anything additional for the dogs. He mumbled something about maybe later on, just that he doesn't handle that. So we assumed there was somewhere we'd have to stop by later to 'check in' the dogs.

We kept walking and it just spit us out into the pickup/dropoff lobbies. Nobody stopped us for the dogs nor were there signs anywhere on what to do for the dogs. We didn't see anybody around that we could ask either. As you can imagine, we were quite confused! My husband found a little kiosk window that said Customs so he went to ask about the dogs there, and she said no, they were just the parcel at the airport. So after looking around and seeing nothing, we decided that we could probably just go!

First thing we did was let the pups out for some water and then took them outside for a walk. I found an area that was quiet with a small patch of grass/gravel, and they were able to potty. Then we were waiting around for our rental car when somebody who appeared to be security stopped to ask us if we needed water for our dogs. We said we had already given them some, but he seemed to be fond of dogs so he struck up a conversation. We finally happened to just ask, "Are we supposed to stop by anywhere for the dogs? Customs didn't check their paperwork when we entered." He then asked us if we came from the US, we said yes, and he said that was why they didn't check the dogs. He asked if we had our paperwork checked before coming to Germany, and let us know that's all they do for dogs coming from the US. If we had been from some other country known for their issues with vaccinations, their vetting probably would have been much more thorough.

Relieved that there was nothing more to do at the airport, we finally started our journey into Germany! Overall, it was nowhere near as complicated as we thought the airport process would be. Now, you're not completely finished with the pups. You'll have to register them with the city once you find a residence, but that's for a later post! Subscribe so you don't miss this information!



*This is simply what I learned from my personal experiences/research. Please always make sure to consult with the proper authorities such as your Airline, TSA, IATA. I wish this blog was big enough to have a post sponsored by Lufthansa, but it is not. They just happened to be the best economically at the time ;)
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HI! I'M CHERRY

I'm a Korean-American who moved to Germany without ever having been abroad before! I started this blog then (read more here), but I'm now back in the US. Now based in Wilmington, NC living a sunny beach life. Please feel free to reach out anytime with any questions!

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