The next Regensburg Expat Dinner will be on Sunday, February 17th, starting at 5pm at San Daniele Ristorante in Regensburg (Prüfeninger Schloss Str. 2). There is parking available at the restaurant.
I went ahead and reserved a place for about 25 people and told them I would call back closer to the date with an exact count. Leave a comment or contact me if you’re coming. Look forward to seeing you there!
In attendance were:
- Rainer, Oliver and I
- Tammy and Matthias
- Cliff and Sarah
- David B.
- Peter, Joan, Wolfi and Hannah
- Andrea, Alex and Benjamin
- Kevin and Laura
- Natasha and Tommy
- Lindsey
- Matt
- Paul
- Cynthia, Stephan and Lucille
- John Castle
Update (12 Feb 08): Here’s a map that Cliff made for people taking the bus to the restaurant (Thanks Cliff!) – San Daniele – directions from bus stop
{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }
Sarah and I are in.
I recommend the Carbonara and especially the Insalata Piccante (it’s entree-sized).
I wish I could go… I am feeling very ‘whiney’ this week… only a 4 hour short hop to Munich…mmmmmm
What I never understand about Amis im Ausland is why they always congregate in groups.
How can you assimilate in another culture if you only hang out with just Amis?
Don’t you want to get know the people in the country you live?
Sweeping generalizations aside Klaus, do you really think that we only hang out with just other Americans here in Germany? Or even just other foreigners?
I am sure most of us get plenty of German culture in our jobs, through our neighbors, by casual random public interaction on the bus or at the market, etc. I have not yet met an American in Germany who only hangs out on a military base for years on end, because they would never venture off base to interact with me.
I personally have never been much of a socialite, but I do find these meetups quite pleasant. I don’t do it every week, or even manage to attend every month, but I like the interaction and experience exchange they offer.
I guess to answer your first question on behalf of myself, the answer is: Unanswerable; invalid preimse.
And the answer to your second one is:Sure we do. And we have. And still are. And none of that precludes learning from each other about how to adjust to daily life over here, whether we have a backstory in common or not.
Klaus, I’ve got to back Cliff up on this one. Between my German husband, his family, our friends from work, and other German friends (some of whom we actually met in the U.S.), I’d say my integration into Germany is going quite well. I don’t think I will, however, be assimilated by any culture, not even the American one. I was never very good as assimilation – a bit to Borg like for me.
In addition to Tammy and Cliff’s comments, there’s a couple of things I have to add. First, our expat dinners are attended by not only Americans, but also Australians, Irish, Italians and quite a few German spouses. Second, from my experience, people who don’t integrate don’t seem all that interested hanging out with the folks who do, so they don’t come to expat dinners. Third, I don’t think you’ve read my blog at all if you think I don’t try to integrate (like Tammy, I’m not much into being assimilated). From my German husband, my German-Ami kid, my German dog, to living in a tiny Bavarian village where no one speaks Hochdeutsch, I think my contacts with Germans have been much more varied than even the average German. From happily hanging out daily with unemployed “Sozi”s, to dinners with professors and politicians. And finally, when we lived in North Carolina, I accompanied Rainer EVERY WEEK to a German expat Doppelkopf group. So, yeah, I don’t think Germans living in Ausland behave any differently than we do here. Cheers!
Christina, you can play doppelkopf?!! Matthias and I play with his high school friends every time we go up north to visit. We’ll have to invite you guys for a game! I can’t promise that I will remember all of the rules, but I can usually figure things out enough to play. I often accuse Matthias of making up the rules because new ones seem to pop up every game, but I recently read them all on Wikipedia, and apparently he didn’t make them up.
I can indeed play Doppelkopf, but I haven’t played in about 4 years, so I’ll be a little rusty at first.
hi I spoke to Cynthia. She is coming along with her husband Stephan and 3 year old daughter Lucille. Ok see you tomorrow. An
Thanks for putting on the dinner. I had fun. See ya’ll at the next one.