Susanne Bacon

Have you ever hesitated to call anything you know by its real name? Not as in knowing its name and just not coming up with it for a second – but as in not knowing it at all? It is even stranger to recognize what you see and to know its name in your mother […]

The first time I became aware there was something like Valentine’s Day was when I was six or seven and able to read. I remember entering a flower store decorated all over with red hearts, and I asked my mother what it was all about. She told me that it was a day for lovers […]

My mother country Germany boasts of five seasons – yes, you are reading right. Spring, summer, fall, winter, and – Fasching (pronounce ‘fuh-shing) or Carnival. This fifth season starts on November 11 at 11:11 h and ends on Ash Wednesday, a season beginning and ending with parades in costume, stage shows, parties, and the burning […]

“Where would you want our new home to be?” My husband asked me over the phone. We’d been separated by his reposting to the United States, and I was still in Germany waiting for my visa. I had the anticipation I wouldn’t hold a job immediately after arriving in the US. And I wouldn’t need […]

I have always been one for seafood. Even as a little child in Germany, I loved clams – though nobody else in my family did. But my parents were wonderful about letting me try everything (that is, as long as it was not decidedly dangerous). My first clams were marinated, overcooked, and came out of […]

Getting married is easy, staying married is work. That’s at least what a whole lot of people perceive it to be. Let me tell you – even getting married is not always easy, especially when you are marrying into a different nationality and want to assume that nationality yourself. Almost nine years ago, native German […]