People often ask why I live in Germany and I never really know what to say because the reason I came is not the reason I stay. I came because I received a grant from the Fulbright Association to do research I could have done (less well) in the US. I stay because my husband loves his job designing solar thermal power plants, a job he can’t have (not yet anyway) in the USA.
There are other reasons I stay, too. Like the minimum of 28 days of paid vacation each year, plus fourteen holidays, plus unlimited sick days that each company is mandated to offer employees. Or the government-subsidized health insurance (including – yay! – a special fund for artists like me). Though flawed, this health insurance does wonderful things like paying for traditional medicines like massage and acupuncture and sending “mother’s helpers” to homes with newborns for at least eight hours of week (see the French system highlighted in “Sicko” for an idea of how it works here). Though I don’t have kids yet, I really like this idea. Even better, I like that if I elected to, I could stay home for up to three years with each newborn I have without fear of losing my job; that I could be paid 60% of my salary for staying home that first year; that my husband and I could both have 14 weeks of 100% paid maternity leave in that first year and we could take those weeks separately.
These working conditions are so important to me that I don’t mind paying higher taxes than I would in the States. To me, quality of living is so much more important than money.
I love that I can live here without owning a car. That I have a bike lane just for me (and the thousands of other bikers) on every road and bridge and through every park in the city. That if I wanted to, I could hop on a train and end up in nearly any major city on the continent, and get to most places within the country faster than if I were driving.
I like living in a country that makes guns nearly impossible to come by (and most people uninterested in owning any). I also love living somewhere that banned new construction of nuclear power plants and is taking all the remaining ones offline by the year 2020 (though I do disagree with their recent decision to substitute that energy production with coal-fired plants and do wish they’d rethink). One of my favorite things about living in Germany, though, has to be just how politically and environmentally aware the average citizenry is. How much they’ve learned from their history. How they’re okay with keeping their military for mainly peacekeeping (yes, yes, I do know this was a US-instituted and very necessary policy; but imagine if, 60 years ago, the US was told they couldn’t build up their military… would we have been okay with this generations later?).
Now, of course, this is all debatable and subject 100% to my opinion of the country in which I live. It’s not intended as a diatribe against the USA, my home country, and it’s certainly not a rose-colored view of Germany. We do have our faults over here, too. I could seriously do without the anti-immigration rhetoric that politicians are throwing around and I would love love love it if the automakers industry didn’t have so much clout within the parliament that fuel standards can’t be raised. I hate that just outside Cologne there’s a brown-coal pit deep enough to be seen from space and they won’t stop digging.
I’ll be honest. If the next president (hello Dems, are you listening?) of the US offered some of these incentives, I’d be back in a heartbeat. If my husband could keep his dream job in solar and I could be paid to raise my children and we paying taxes that went straight to military instead of education and health insurance and I got a month of paid holidays, of course I’d move back closer to my friends and family.
But nowhere is perfect and as I grow older, I’m learning that much of life is a give and take. Right now, Germany’s giving my husband a really nice job that could help change how we get our energy. And we’re taking every chance to enjoy the European standard of living.
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Wow, sometimes when I hear about the benefits that new parents get in other countries I’m just in shock. I think it’s really great, and probably results in a much healthier, happier populace who’s way less stressed. I really, truly don’t understand how and way average, everyday Americans put up with financing huge wars when we don’t even have health coverage. I really, really don’t get it.
January 22nd, 2008 at 10:59 amI consider leaving Germany one of my most regretful choices I made.
January 22nd, 2008 at 11:16 amI’m looking to leave the US as my morals aren’t in line with the majority (just look at the current crop of front-runners in the presidential race). I’m still not sure where to go, but Germany is starting to look and sound nice.
January 22nd, 2008 at 11:37 amI live in Germany too! Right now it is a lot better than the US, but hopefully it’ll change. I’m here because my dad’s in the army, and it’s changed me into a Green-machine. I love the recycling and the cleanliness.
January 22nd, 2008 at 1:52 pmI have never visited Germany but have an open invitation to do so from a German couple we met when we moved to Alderney in the Channel Islands. Shall we go?
January 24th, 2008 at 9:31 amhttp://www.organicassistant.com
http://www.alderney.gov.gg/index.php/pid/1
I think European countries offer those incentives to parents of newborns because their elderly population is outnumbering the young and they need new blood. That is not the case in the US at this time, so the government has no (financial) need to offer those incentives. At least that’s what my french teacher said :)
January 25th, 2008 at 3:51 pmHi Courtney,
good to hear that you are living in Germany too …
My name is Christoph and I am eco-blogging. There is an networking date on the world largest organic fair biofach Feb 22th in Nürnberg. It would be great, if we could talk about that via email. Please send me your contact information christoph@karmakonsum.de…
Christoph
January 26th, 2008 at 12:01 pmHi Courtney, My sister and I were both born in Austria 54-60 years ago. My mother has pics of herself on maternity leave provided by the government at a skii resort where she stayed with other women who had given birth. I don’t know how long ago Germany started benefits of that or of a similar nature, but I’m sure it’s not a current provision. We lived in Germany for 3+ years before immigrating to the US and it seemed (I was still very young) we had access to all sorts of services in the 50’s there also. I think here, where the individual states are as large as most countries in Europe, it’s difficult to have umbrella policies nationwide. Seems like nothing works here without making a profit anyway.
Lilian
January 28th, 2008 at 11:06 amThanks for all the nice comments. I wrote this as a reminder to myself about the positive things I feel living in Germany… though do note, it’s taken me three years to get to this place so I don’t necessarily advocate pulling roots. And though you’re right, Steph, Germany’s got a low low birth rate (1.3 babies/couple compared to 2.something for Americans), they also have funny rules about what constitutes a “German” baby (including German blood) that are currently undergoing revision. There’s been a lot of backlash from these policies, including discrimination in hiring against young married women; still, this works out a lot better for me than getting back to the grind six weeks after junior/juniorette’s made his/her first world appearance. I just don’t get how work can be more important than human beings. But that’s why I live in a social democracy, I guess.
January 29th, 2008 at 10:13 amI was loving everything you were saying up until you rejoiced at the fact that nuclear power plants were being taken offline. That told me you hadn’t actually done your homework.
February 17th, 2008 at 7:30 amRichard,
I appreciate your thoughts, though I’m uncertain what you mean by not actually doing my homework. In fact, the pros and cons of nuclear energy are ones I’m quite familiar with - both from a consumer’s standpoint and from an engineer’s. Though the lack of carbon emissions is a serious positive to the use of nuclear power over, say, coal, the consequences of fallout and waste are too great for me to advocate the use of it. I do have friends who work in nuclear (my husband works in solar - specializing in both photovoltaics and parabolic trough collection - but has also studied at a PhD level a comparison of all types of energy usage so the innerworkings of the various power plants aren’t news to me) and I understand the small likelihood of another catastrophe like Chernobyl occurring. I also understand the German reluctance to forget Chernobyl, considering that many living in the old East are suffering from thyroid cancer as a consequence of that disaster, and understand why they would be advocating for the closure of the nuclear power plants.
Nonetheless, I believe that the solution to the “world energy crisis” is, first, to consume less energy (just by living in Germany, I’ve quartered my personal usage; by purchasing less goods, I’ve also limited my share of industrial usage), then to pull from renewable sources (a nomenclature that doesn’t and shouldn’t include nuclear). I prefer my energy to come from wind and solar because it is regenerative without being destructive in the way that coal and oil-fired plants are. Not to mention that if Green party advocates here hadn’t been pushing to rid Germany of nuclear energy as they had done, solar technology for the rest of the world would still remain in the dark ages. Say what you will about the effectivity of solar vs. nuclear, for the average consumer, photovoltaics and solar thermal fit the bill in a much healthier way, one that doesn’t include lethal uranium mining and potentially lethal transports of hazardous waste.
Finally, nuclear energy is used as a political playing card in a way that makes me extremely uncomfortable. But solar - well, solar can go anywhere… and in fact, it’s all over the “axis of evil” and other non-allies of the US, ensuring those in developing countries can have electricity just like everyone else.
February 18th, 2008 at 10:36 amCourtney,
I completely agree. It is gerat to see another American that is aware of the world that we are living in. Thank you for being a voice of reason and understanding. I have lived here in Germany for almost 6 years and just had a child last week. Everything that you said about Germany is exactly why we decided to stay. Too bad Hillary won’t get the chance to run for president. If people would look at European countries(not as a standard) but as an example to go by, I believe that our nation would be in much better shape. If all of these countries (Spain, France, UK, Germany, Switzerland, Austia, etc…) can be right next to each other and live in complete peace and we are only connected to Mexico and Canada and the whole world hates us we must be doing something wrong. Like you said, I love my country and I miss my family but if my daughter can receive a better education and live in an almost crime free environment then I have to take the side of family over country.
It hurts me to know that I can receive better health care as an injured stranger in Germany than my mother can after working hard her whole life in the states. Anyway, I will get off my soap box but thanks for posting your thoughts and hopefully we can help to make a difference in the states. Vote, Vote, Vote!!! It is the only way to influence change!!!
Gary
February 20th, 2008 at 10:30 amCourtney,
you missed a good networking event at biofach.
http://karmakonsum.de/index.php?s=biofach&searchbutton=Go%21
Next opportunity to meet other germen eco-blogger is may 30th / 31th in frankfurt.
we organize a conference and a green barcamp: http://karmakonsum.de/konferenz.
Mayby you make it out there …
Christoph
March 17th, 2008 at 7:19 am[...] Written by: Courtney A few months ago, I posted here a compendium of reasons why I live in Germany. Though I’d intended the post as an answer to all those who’ve asked in the past, [...]
April 1st, 2008 at 4:47 amMy young son and I will be visiting Germany in July, and I have tried to do some research to prepare for my trip. Specifically, I would like to find a list of eco-friendly grocers (preferably not chains), and other responsible retailers. Unfortunately, I have found very little information.
Can you suggest any resources - online or otherwise - that offer good directories and information?
Thanks!
June 4th, 2008 at 11:00 amDear friend,
July 6th, 2008 at 2:07 amI am Chami.My country is Sri Lanka.I am 29 years old.By this time i have been working in a company as an Auto CAD Draughtsman in Qatar for 10 months.I have a hope to do a job and live in Germany.But i don’t have any support to succsess my idea.If some body can help me to do it, i appreciate you in my life.Please concern regarding this and help me.
Thank you,
cpathinayaka@yahoo.com is my E mail address.If it is possible help me.
July 6th, 2008 at 2:11 amThanks,