germany

Rotting ballroom and roadside inn, for decades she was one of the main social venues in Gärtitz, Germany. Demolished around 2022.

Every two weeks I go to an Interkulturelles Haus in Berlin for something simple: cooking and speaking German with a group of mostly retired locals and other immigrants. It’s become one of my favourite ways to learn German.

Today I talked with an older man who had studied chemistry. He told me that learning quantum mechanics had changed how he saw life. From there we drifted into philosophy and Bertrand Russell, all in German.

At other tables, people talk about Italy, Brazil, Argentina, Syria, or growing up somewhere completely different.

What I like is that it doesn’t feel like Germans helping immigrants practise. Curiosity goes both ways. I learn German, and we learn about each other.

After almost ten years in Germany, I’m convinced these small, regular encounters are one of the most meaningful forms of integration I know.

Integration isn’t only learning enough German to get by and do your daily work. Sometimes it’s discussing Bertrand Russell with an 80-year-old over dinner while he shares his life with you.

P.S. Writing this post in German would have taken more time than I have right now.

Russia Boosts the German Far Right — Again

Just days after the populist right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD) registered its largest-ever election showing in a German state election, NewsGuard has identified a new Russian influence effort that appears to be trying to boost the AfD ahead of Germany’s next state election.

newsguardrealitycheck.com/p/…

On the right:

Oh no! They moved the Overton window with their radical actions and normalised extreme discourse!

On the left:

Don’t do radical stuff, you’ll alienate the middle; you have to be pragmatic!

Why does only the right get to move overtons window…?

10.000 Menschen waren heute bei der Lübeck Pride. Sexuelle Orientierung, geschlechtliche Identität und Liebe sind unverhandelbar. ❤️🌈