Submitted by Susanne Bacon A few weeks ago, the world was following another British Royal Wedding, and US magazine covers were plastered with the happy young couple. As these pictures slowly fade in our memories, the internet is following suit with images of a brand-new duchess traveling with “the” Queen, and social media are overflowing […]
Home from Home: Ice Cream
Submitted by Susanne Bacon Hot summer days in my German 70s childhood are connected with the taste of juicy, tangy peaches and – ice cream. I will never forget the cold strawberry taste on Sunday afternoons when my parents took my brother and me for walks, usually dipping into a tiny corner pub just to […]
Home from Home: Fireworks
Submitted by Susanne Bacon It’s this time of year again – Independence Day firework sales are soon beginning everywhere. Wait, not everywhere – only on native American reservations. And possession is restricted as well. I’m not entirely bewildered by the concept. In my German past, there were restrictions as well.
A long story short
Submitted by Susanne Bacon Have you ever read Thomas Mann in the German original? Did you find that he wrote sentences as long as two large pages, and in the middle of one of those you lost it and had to turn the page back again to start over? The kind of sentences my school […]
Home from Home: Cabbage and Taters
Submitted by Susanne Bacon I have been called some names over here after my arrival. One of them was “sauerkraut” or “Kraut”. There is worse you could be called – still … Actually, I like sauerkraut. When I was a child, my mother always gave me some fresh from the can, and as a grown-up […]
Home from Home: History
Submitted by Susanne Bacon A little while ago, I had a wonderful reading event at a yarn store near Lakewood Town Center. I was reading a chapter from one of my novels to a group of lovely, witty, and very sophisticated listeners. That chapter contained the story of one of my novel characters, including a […]
Home from Home: Kaffeeklatsch
Submitted by Susanne Bacon The German term “Kaffeeklatsch” (pronounce ‘kuffah-klutsh, meaning gossiping over coffee) has made it into the American language. It is usually a thing of the afternoon hours, and it’s something you enjoy at a private home as well as at a café. Unfortunately, the classic café is becoming more and more a […]
Home from Home: Casinos
Submitted by Susanne Bacon Germany is famous for its stylish casinos in Baden-Baden, Wiesbaden, and a few other cities. They used to be part of the Grand Tour rich Americans afforded their children to get a wider knowledge of the Old World in the 1800s and early 1900s. For Europeans who want to experience the […]
Home from Home: Vacations
Germany is the world champion in traveling and has been so for ages. No matter how legendary Japanese traveling groups are around the world, snatching photos of everything, Germans have been there and done that before. Whether individually or in organized groups, whether high-fangled luxury trips to exotic places or eco-friendly social excursions, there’s something […]