Insights about living and working in Germany

Gil Olfarim's gift to anti-semites.

Thoughts and reflections on Germany's elections.

German elections are not just unemotional but are a master class on how to do elections right. When looked at from the prism of my birth country Kenya, one can only describe them as peculiar.

The Querdenker, the German equivalent of Qanon have been encouraging their followers to move to Africa. One of their leading lights, Bodo Schiffmann is at the forefront of encouraging the move to Tanzania. From Africa, they plan to fight to free Germans from Angela Merkel's "Corona dictatorship." What is this about?

A former German national football keeper Jens Lehman, a former professional and national football player Denis Aogo and the current Greens party mayor of the city of Tübingen Boris Palmer and their supporters probably believe that they are victims of cancel culture. But are they really?

This week, German superstar actors like Heike Makatsch, Jan Joseph Liefers, Ulrike Folkerts and 50 of their colleagues published videos mocking the current Covid regulations passed by Angela Merkel’s government. The applause from the far-right party AFD and supporters of fascist hateful movements like Querdenker was prompt and boisterous.

Thoughts and reflections on the toxic parasitic relationship between Britain and Kenya.

Merkel's disastrous week and the complicated relationship between Germans and the catholic church.

This week, the Tanzanian president Dr. Magufuli Pombe, a major Covid-19 skeptic died. As someone who grew up in Kenya, I feel a special connection to Tanzania. My reflections of a man celebrated by many and despised by not so few. Also included are my thoughts on the disastrous performance of Angela Merkel’s CDU party in the elections in Baden-württemberg and Rheinland Pfalz and Merkel's enduring popularity in Germany.

The silent musings of a foreigner in Germany

2020 is finally coming to an end and I could not be more relieved. Yesterday, more than 1000 people lost their lives here in Germany because of Covid-19. To call 2020 tragic would be a huge understatement. Despite this, 2020 has taught me a few lessons that I would like to share.

At the beginning of the year, Germany was hailed as a model of how to contain the corona virus. Watching the current number of infections and deaths from corona virus in Germany, that glorious past seems like a bad joke.

Every country has its own peculiar habits or things that are so commonly done there that no one pauses to wonder about them. For foreigners, this can sometimes be very baffling if not downright hilarious. In this episode, we talk of the peculiar German things or habits or if you like way of life.

Today is the 3rd of October 2020 and it’s a national holiday in Germany. On the 3rd of October 1990, two independent countries East Germany and West Germany reunified to form the current Federal state of Germany. 30 years later, what are the differences?

To call this year a disaster would for many people be a huge understatement. 2020 has been rough. No, it has been a catastrophe. I tried to record a podcast about it but could barely string two words together so I invited my 10 year old son to share his thoughts on the current happenings.

The silent musings of a foreigner in Germany

The silent musings of a foreigner in Germany

It has been 4 weeks since Germany was put in a lockdown because of the highly contagious COVID-19. Schools, business and everything that's not considered essential has been closed. A group of experts suggest that it is about time to ease the lockdown. What are their suggestions?

“When is a crisis reached? When questions arise that can't be answered”. Ryszard Kapuściński

How is school organised in Germany during the coronavirus pandemic?

Europe is now the epicenter of Coronavirus infections according to WHO(World Health Organization). In Germany the numbers are increasing. What's the mood and what is the government doing about it?

What is the cost of living in Germany?

How does Nairobi look like in 2019?

What do people in Germany think of Britain leaving the European Union?

What is the cost of living in Germany?

Trevor Noah celebrated the French team winning the football World Cup as an African win. Shortly after, he received a protest letter from the French ambassador to the United States expressing his displeasure.

For those who are thinking of moving to Germany, it might help to know what to expect. In this episode, I talk about some of the biggest challenges someone who was not born in Germany is likely to experience when they move to Germany.

Germany was knocked out in the group stages for the first time in World Cup history.They are not taking it well.

A conversation with a seven year old on what he has learnt in the previous six years about school, internet, dinosaurs and other things.

The fact is, Germany is the fourth largest economy in the world. What is also true is that it is an extremely challenging destination for non- German speaking foreigners. The main reason for this is, with the exception of the IT sector, it can be very difficult to get a well-paying job in most sectors in Germany if you are not fluent in German. The working language in the IT sector in Germany is predominantly English. All the software engineers I personally know are fluent in English. The second reason is, that unlike most sectors with rigid guidelines on qualifications and certifications, there is a lot of flexibility in this sector. I recently talked with a German friend who regularly hires software engineers for his company about the language issue, foreign qualifications and what foreigners who are interested in working in the IT SECTOR in Germany could do to improve their chances of getting jobs. Here is what I learnt: 1. If you are not fluent in German So long as you have the right qualifications, notably a degree in computer science, or you are competent in relevant coding languages like Java, ABBAP, etc., then just go ahead and apply for positions. For many big IT companies, this is not a problem at all since the working language is often English. For smaller companies, this could be problematic because the clientele is local and therefore mostly speaks German. Many companies are however willing to hire foreign nationals who are not fluent in German. They will often give them a chance and time to learn German. The most important thing is a willingness and readiness to do this. 2. If you have qualifications and experience from a foreign university or country Don’t let the fact that you didn’t study in a German university or a university in the European Union hold you back from applying for a job in the IT sector in Germany. He told me he had interviewed people from Asia, Eastern Europe, Russia and many parts of the world. If a candidate has relevant qualifications, he tries to figure out during the interviewing process if their level of competence is comparable and adequate for the position. The fact that they didn’t study in Germany is not the decisive factor but their competence. 3. Don’t overstate your qualifications and experience. It’s extremely important to state your qualifications and experience as they are. Don’t pretend to be an expert in an area you have only worked in for three to six months. This is a big no-no and apparently quite common with applications from foreign nationals. It could be a cultural issue but in his opinion, it makes him doubt and question the whole application and the rest of their qualifications. 4. Don’t send in a ten page CV! In some countries and cultures sending ten page CVs is normal. My guest told me that he often gets such CVs. He personally thinks that it is unnecessary to include every single project you have ever been a part of. His advice? Keep it brief. Consider what’s most relevant for the position you are applying for. 5. Apply directly to companies Even though many companies use professional recruiters, many companies also highly welcome direct applications from candidates. If you are wondering how to apply for IT jobs, just look for openings on the company’s website and apply directly. You can also just apply even when there are no advertised openings. For questions and Feedback: podcast@theforeignersjournal.com

I was not born in Germany and neither did I attend school in Germany. My first interaction with the German education system was at the university level. The German education system especially the elementary, mid-school and high school levels remain a big mystery to me. This is partly because every federal state has a different educational system. What is true in one federal state might not be true in another. We live in the federal state of Baden-Württemberg in the South West of Germany. Our neighbors to the East, Bavaria have a completely different system of education. And so do our neighbors to the north. In this episode, I talk to an expert, my 12 year old daughter who was born here and attends school here about the intricacies of going to school in Germany. What mode of transport do they use to school? What subjects are they taught? How much does lunch cost? Contact: podcast@theforeignersjournal.com

When I first visited Germany for the first time more than fifteen years ago, I got the impression that everyone spoke English: My partner’s family, friends and acquaintances all spoke English. Even though some were not fluent, all of them could express themselves fairly well in English. During that visit, we did a small tour of Germany starting from the small town in Southwest of Germany near Heilbronn where my partner’s family lived and headed to Berlin in the north about 600km away and then to Hamburg to the North-west and back. During this trip, pretty much everyone I encountered spoke English. I also noticed an eagerness of sorts among the many Germans I met to speak English. Strangers would often ask me probably because I looked different whether I spoke French or English. Needless to say, I concluded that one could get by in Germany without speaking German which as I later found out was at best naïve and at worst,very very naïve. Contact: podcast@theforeignersjournal.com Website: https://www.theforeignersjournal.com/

How to get a job in Germany when your German isn't perfect is something many people or rather foreigners wonder about when they move to Germany or plan to move to Germany. And it’s completely understandable. There are not too many countries or places around the world where German is spoken. In fact, almost all the 230 million speakers of the German language live in Europe with small pockets elsewhere. Most foreigners who come to Germany usually have other native languages and have previously only superficially interacted with German. Many of them come into contact with German for the first time. A good percentage of these people are highly qualified and many of them naturally want to work and earn a living. So how do you get a job in Germany when your German isn’t that great? There are 3 strategies that I used and that might help you too.