About Christina Geyer
Welcome to An American Expat in Deutschland, a blog about my thoughts on life, the universe and Germany. I’ve been living in Germany since May 14, 2002, and in a small Bavarian village, just outside of Regensburg, since December 6, 2006.
Who am I?
I grew up in Oak Hill, Virginia, a suburb of Washington, D.C. and attended the local science and math-oriented high school, where I split the majority of my time between programming computers and throwing shotput and discus on the track team (oh yeah, I was quite the hit with the fellows).
I went to college at VCU in Richmond, Virginia, where I got a B.S. and M.S. in Mathematical Sciences. My focus at that point was statistical methods of fraud detection. I became interested in Bayesian statistical methods, so in 1999, I began a PhD in Statistics at Duke University, where I met my husband, Rainer, who was doing a post-doc in the statistics department. I had just started my focus on sequential decision analysis when in 2001, my dad got sick, Rainer moved back to Germany, my dad died, and it was generally a really bad year. Rainer and I spent nine months dating long-distance before I decided to leave school (for various reasons), expatriate, and move to Berlin on May 14, 2002. I got a job at a German pharmaceutical company, we got a posh apartment in Berlin-Mitte, just a couple blocks from the Reichstag, I took six months of intensive German classes at the Goethe-Institut, and worked on planning our wedding. We married on May 24, 2003.
I’m half-Thai (well, Chinese-Thai to be technical), which explains all the Thai recipes on this site. My mom immigrated to the US after marrying my American father, so while she was sad I moved away, she was very supportive of my decision. She has a successful Thai restaurant, Siam Classic, in old town Manassas, Virginia, if you happen to ever be in the area, do stop by.
But back to my expat journey: I left my industry job at the end of 2003 in order to work in research. I figured if I was going to get back into academia, I needed to do it sooner rather than later, and there were no open positions in Berlin. I moved to Rostock, and Rainer and I spent a year and a half in a “weekend marriage” (a surprisingly common thing in Germany), shuttling back and forth between Rostock and Berlin. This wasn’t to either of our likings, so I moved back to the Berlin area in 2005, we settled down in Potsdam, got a Bernese Mountain Dog named Charlie, and an apartment with a garden (which is why we went to Potsdam, gardens are hard to come by in Berlin).
After living in Berlin, Rostock, and Potsdam, we’ve now moved to a tiny Bavarian village near Regensburg in the Oberpfalz region. I gotta say that I love it in Bavaria. Rainer is a professor at the university, and in July of 2007, we had our first child, Oliver. Now I’m a SAHM (stay at home mom) and blogger. Life is good.
What are you like?
Most people who first “meet” me through this blog are pretty surprised when they finally meet me in person. “You’re not at all how I imagined you would be,” is something I hear all the time. Basically, I’m a pretty shy, quiet, reserved person who prefers listening to speaking. Need more insight? My Myers-Briggs type is INTJ. The description from the Wikipedia page on INTJs is pretty spot on:
“INTJs are analytical… They have a low tolerance for spin or rampant emotionalism. They are not generally susceptible to catchphrases and do not recognize authority based on tradition, rank, or title… They generally withhold strong emotion and do not like to waste time with what they consider irrational social rituals. This may cause non-INTJs to perceive them as distant and reserved.”
Where else can you find me?
I founded and write on a parenting blog called Mamas Worldwide. I’ve also got accounts on Twitter and StumbleUpon, and you can become a fan of this site on Facebook to receive updates in your news stream.
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p.s. could you tell Allison about it as we just opened a plant in Australia and HER cards would use the Australian postal rates.
Thanks…..I’m trying to get the word out about this great company.
Hi Christina,
My name is Candy and I’m a Chinese Malaysian who married an American. We had just moved to Weiden, 1 hour north of Regensburg because of the military. I’m having such a hard time adjusting to life in Germany and your website is a great help as we are expecting our first child and are lost trying to shop for maternity and baby stuff.
Also, I was wondering if you are able to help supply me with names and locations of Asian store that you know around the Regensburg area. We can’t seem to find any in this rural area and Regensburg, apart from Nuremberg are the biggest cities close to us. If I’m not wrong, we are living in the Oberpfalz area that you used to live in.
Would greatly appreciate your help. Thanks!
@emilie: Sorry, I don’t have any suggestions, but maybe my readers will. Good luck!
@candy: I still live in the Oberpfalz
There’s a decent Asian shop in Burgweinting (Hartinger Str. 3) that has the best prices. For anything you can’t find there, head to Hong Kong Shop in Regensburg on Obermünsterstrasse.
Hi there, I am a German expat in Florida and I very much enjoyed reading your blog. My husband is American and we are finally reunited last december. Now I am Tampan and I am so happy you love my home country - Bavaria. We will be visiting Bavaria in Summer maybe we can meet. Paula & Skip
Hi Christina, great blog! I left Germany when I was 20, met my husband in New Jersey (he is German too..) and after spending 10 years in this great country they offer my husband a job in Hamburg! Now we will be moving “back home”. Although I am German I think it will take some time for me to feel “real” German again. And after reading your comments about how to dress like a German I need to seriously reconsider almost everything I have in my closet
We are Americans. We have lived in Germany for about 30 years. I teach for DoDDS. I was in the army my first trip over. We love it here. I love biking. My wife is asian american. My daugher is moving to Thailand next month.
lloyd
Christine I a decendant of Wilber Geyer, Just wanted to conect and maybe fill you in on his family and see if you have found anything about Frank, seeing that you in his homeland.
Love you page Shaking the tree
Gregg
Hi Christina, I just found your blog and enjoyed reading it very much. I’m blogging as well, but it’s the other way around for me: I’m a German girl living in the U.S.(Chicago). Looking forward to reading more about your life in Germany! Kristina
Sorry for the late response to some of you guys, sometimes these things get away from me
@paula: That would be great! Love your blog too.
@anne: I know I would have difficulty moving back to the US and I’ve only been in Germany 7 years. Good luck!
@lloyd: Thanks for commenting! I love hearing from Americans who are happy in Germany. Good luck to your daughter on her move, I hope it goes/went well!
@gregg: I’d love to hear all about your family. I’ve made a little headway with Frank
@Kristina: You’ve got a wonderful blog. Thanks for linking to me, I’ve returned the favor and look forward to reading more about your life as well!
Hello there! Just stumbled across your blog while searching for Cheerios on the internet. I’m also an American living in Germany. I’ve been here for almost 8 years now. My husband is German and we got married in 2003.
I’m in the Allgäu region of Bavaria near the city of Kempten. If there are any other expats in the region, feel free to contact me. I get together once a month with a group of native English speaking women who all live in the area. It#s so nice to speak “real” English!
I’ll be bookmarking this site and checking back often. Looking forward to reading more and possibly making some new friends!
@heidi: Nice to hear from you!
Guten Tag: That’s all I can say after being in Kaiserslautern for a month. We moved from Northampton Massachusetts and today our goods arrive to our new home in Fischbach. I awoke this morning feeling incredibly homesick and I looked on the internet for advice and I found you. Today my daughter turns 8 and in the middle of our stuff arriving I need to go to her school to celebrate. I also have a son who is almost 11 and is hating me right now for “ruining his life”.
Well, any advice would be appreciated—-Renee
PS: We are not a military family so no built-in support happening here.
@renee: I’ve been there, and so have a lot of other expats. It’s a difficult adjustment at first, but eventually it gets better. I’m not sure if this tactic will work for you, but when I came over, I decided on an amount of time I needed to live in Germany before I’d feel like if I went home, I could be proud of having lived that long overseas. I settled on two years. I would live here for two years and if I still wanted to go home, I could do it then with my head held high. After two years, I still missed the US, but felt happy enough in Germany to stay on. That was kind of the turning point. Once I decided to make my life here, things improved a lot. Try looking for other expats in your area. See if there’s an English language book club, or kids group. Check out the German-Way Forum. Read expat blogs, maybe start one yourself! And remember that despite what your kids say, in no time at all they’ll be speaking German and have a much broader view of the world. Good luck and hang in there!
i am moving to potsdam in august and wondered if you know of any good lettig agents i am struggling to find any advertisments for apartments to rent
Hello Christina,
I found this blog through the ‘oak hill virginia online’ website. I live in Oak Hill, so just wanted to say hi! Good luck with your life in Germany; I really enjoy reading your blog.
@cristina: Thanks for reading and leaving a comment! Oak Hill’s a nice place. I’m just trying to plan my next visit now
Hi Christina,
What a great blog! I’m German, living in Germany - quite unusual here
and I really love your blog! It’s as interesting as amusing reading your point of view. I must admit that sometimes it adjusts my own view. We’re obviously not as bad as I thought (except for the Mülltrennung – that’s simply ridiculous and so German).
I’m living in Bergisch Gladbach in the Rhineland, not too far from Cologne. If I can be of any help to somebody, please shout.
Molly
Hi Christina,
I just found your blog and think it’s great and well-written! Thank you! I’m an American, married to an American who works for a German company that is based in Berlin. They just offered him a position in Berlin with the understanding that it would be at least a 2-year commitment, though they would hope 3-4 years. We have a daughter only a few months older than yours, and I think this opportunity is hard to pass up, especially for her sake. I have never been to Germany (hubby spends 1wk/year in the office there, 5 years strong) and we all 3 would need to learn German from scratch, but I was a French major in college and lived 6 months with a family in France, so I think I have a rough idea of the culture shock I would experience. I also moved 3000 miles from home after college with a one-way ticket and no job and no place to stay, and have no regrets.
Nevertheless, my husband is hesitating; he is worried that it will be hard for me since I will have to suspend my career here (residential real estate broker) though I think I am capable of figuring something out to keep me occupied when our daughter is in school (probably 3 days/week). Perhaps the bigger hesitation comes from his concern that his parents will completely freak out. They have never traveled internationally, and though they are retired and financially very comfortable, have no desire to start. (I should mention that big trips are not easy for them - she suffers from MS, and they have an adult son who works but has disabilities, living with them.) The irony is that we already live 2000+ miles away from them - a plane trip that is only a couple hours shorter than it would be from Berlin - but nevertheless his mother is likely to get very, very upset. (btw, I told my parents about the opportunity 2 weeks ago, and they were totally psyched!) How did your family take the news? Do you know anyone who was in this kind of situation I could query for advice on how to present this in the most positive light? We have a week or two more to decide, and the move would not be until June 2010.
I was thinking that a blog like yours (also I found one called “50% of my DNA” - not sure how to email her, though) with lots of photos and frequent posts started ahead of time might pacify them a bit. I email her photos of our daughter at least once/month and chat via Facebook, but she doesn’t seem satisfied with that.
Any ideas, advice, recommendations would be appreciated! Thanks!
You look a lot like Sonia Sotomayor
@molly: Thanks for commenting, and thanks for your offer of help!
@chylese: I don’t really have any advice, but I think having her read blogs is a good start. If you’re not working, and you can swing it, saying you’ll be back for long visits might help. We visit my inlaws in Germany 3-4 times a year for about 4 days a visit (so maybe 16 days max a year). I go home to see my mother once a year, but for 5-6 weeks usually (sometimes just 2.5 weeks). So actually, my mom gets to spend more time with us than my husband’s parents, who live closer.
You might also check on the German-Way forum for advice (http://www.german-way.com/gwlist.html).
@captain: Uh, random, and oh so flattering to be visually compared to a woman old enough to be my mother.
Totally stumbled upon your website a couple minutes ago. As a fellow American living here in Germany (for the past 8 months and most likely permanently as I’m married to a German), I can’t wait to read your blog! Time for bed now, however.
Hi Christina,
Last week I returned from a two-week vacation in Germany with my significant other. I actually grew up there. My dad was an officer in the Army, and my family moved to Germany when I was 3. I left when I was 18 to go to college. I actually returned to study at a German university, just so that I could get back to Germany. I lived in Zweibruecken, Frankfurt, and Tuebingen. According to the local populace, I seem to be one of a handful of Americans who were affiliated with the military and learned to speak German fluently.
I stumbled upon your site while researching apple strudel recipes (I’m trying to perfect my own). The apple strudel and sauerbraten recipes are my two challenges to perfecting.
James
Hi Cristina, I found your blog when I was searching for Laaber. I want to ask you about living in Laaber during the Winter..I am brazilian and I want to visit a friend in Laaber during my vacation in Dezember. Can you tell me if it easy to found a “bedandbreakfast”. a Familar Pension in Laaber ? I was looking for this on Internet but I could’nt found anything nice. Can you give me some hints about it? I will appreciate your help.
Susi
Christina… I found your blog while looking for recipes for German cooking. My husband’s mother was German (actually from Bavaria) and cooked WONDERFUL food that he misses terribly. Sadly we lost Mom to cancer about 10 years ago. She was a great lady and I’m always looking for ways to remember great times with her. I find food to be a fabulous trigger to great memories. I love your recipe section. While food is what got me in, I love your sense of humor and unique way of looking at the world. Thanks… I will be back.
Hi Christine,
Your blog is so interesting…and I don’t even live in Germany! Well…almost actually. I live in Alsace in a village literally 10 minutes away from Germany and Switzerland. Almost everyone speaks French and German…and Swiss German and Alsatian…yes..a linguistic workout it is!
I’m coming up on my 5th anniversary now. And I think I’m going to celebrate it this time! Every tongue-tied minute of it ; ) which btw was VERY frustrating the first few years and now it’s a lot of fun…
I don’t know why I said all that when I just wanted to thank you for writing such a great blog.
Suzanne aka “Suzele”
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