ABOUT DIE FRAU

Hello! This is my blog about moving to and living in Berlin.

My family and I relocated here in the summer of 2022 from the United States.

​

When you are introduced to Berlin as an immigrant, you learn that the beautiful, highly coveted apartments in renovated pre-war buildings are known as ‘altbau,’ literally “old build.”

​

The name of my blog is a play on this phrase–meant to convey a certain aesthetic. Maybe call it mature or well, at least, experienced.

​

Unlike the altbau, I am neither trendy nor renovated. Sometimes I question whether, in fact, I am ‘zu alt’ to be pulling up stakes at my age – moving to another country, learning another language – far from friends and relatives and all that is familiar.

​

But like many of us who lived through the pandemic, I learned that many things I thought were certain or sound, were not.

​

The things I counted on as guarantees of safety and comfort can vanish or change overnight.

Now I think: If you want to do something and have the chance - take it.

At least try – you may never get another chance. Later may not be an option.

​

And this may turn out to have been foolish. German may really be too hard. Berlin too edgy. The winter too dark. The rent too high.

But to quote a favorite Monty Python line, ‘I’m not dead, yet!’

​

I hope you will enjoy my somewhat unusual take on our experiences as we write this new life chapter in Germany.