Decades From Home - A Podcast About Germany

It’s a race against time to record the podcast this week as Nic’s access to the internet could be shut-off at any moment by some well meaning, but rather strange rules dictated by the owners of a Bavarian guest house he’s staying in. No matter, at least the full DfH gang are back together again after last week’s episode. Just in time too, since Dili has some important updates on her adopted pigeon family that’s been living on her balcony. Can she be the mother of pigeons even if birds terrify her? Having survived another Sealed Knot battle reenactment, Nic takes us through his adventures in a field in Wales, and explains why drinking port is a terrible idea, how a 17th century army should make an entrance, and why Wales should be top of every German’s list of holiday destinations.With the fun stuff out of the way, we turn to the recent anti-Semitism scandal engulfing the Bavarian government and wonder why Bavarian voters seem so attracted to de-nothing politicians and mediocre leaders. We also ask whether we should punish people for the terrible things they did at school.Not wishing to leave our lovely listeners on a sour note, we discuss Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s new eye patch and why having a pirate take charge of the Bundestag is an excellent idea.For those of you looking to support Ukraine or the many refugees currently fleeing the conflict, please take a look at these different charities and consider donating if you can.Ukraine Crisis Media Centre - A list of different donation pages to help the Ukrainian military response.Disaster Emergency Committee - Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal Save the ChildrenÄrzte ohne GrenzenTheme tune courtesy of Kloß mit Soß

Nic is absent this week, so for a change of pace, Dili has chosen to have a conversation with Producer Simon, the podcast’s mystery microphone man. Ostensibly a discussion about their individual and collective experiences of moving to Germany, unsurprisingly it heads in other directions too; when the cat’s away, the mice will play!Producer Simon explains how he came to be in Germany, and what it was like changing countries during the Pandemic. Dili also recounts her “moving-to-Germany” story, then details her area of postgraduate study, Sri Lankan English.With Nic out of town, Dili delights in an extended “Dili’s Fruit Corner”, and finds in Producer Simon, a genuine fruit enthusiast. Producer Simon even suggests he may have once taken a job based on the abundance of a certain type of fruit in a particular country.Dili wants to know what had the biggest impact on Producer Simon when he left his native New Zealand and the answer has everything to do with New Zealand being in the Southern Hemisphere.Dili and Simon share their experiences of interacting in Germany with the diasporas of both Sri Lanka and New Zealand, and finally they ponder where they might move to next if they had to leave Germany.For those of you looking to support Ukraine or the many refugees currently fleeing the conflict, please take a look at these different charities and consider donating if you can.Ukraine Crisis Media Centre - A list of different donation pages to help the Ukrainian military response.Disaster Emergency Committee - Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal Save the ChildrenÄrzte ohne GrenzenTheme tune courtesy of Kloß mit Soß

Germany’s late summer heatwave weighs heavily on our hosts, but the mood immediately lifts as Nic details his involvement in another “The Sealed Knot” battle reenactment, but Dili seems more interested in how Nic will pass a pike through airport security. Politics is heating up again after a quiet few weeks, with the topics of cannabis reform and the Self-Identification Law rising to the fore. Dili is also anticipating Germany’s proposed Dual Nationality Law getting the green light by the coalition government. Trigger Warnings are coming to German television, and both Dili and Nic view this as preferable to banning or sanitising older content, but is everything worthy of a second viewing? Finally, it’s that time of the year again as the candidates for Germany’s Youth Word of the Year are presented, leading to the usual hand-wringing about the unstoppable creep of English into the daily German lexicon.For those of you looking to support Ukraine or the many refugees currently fleeing the conflict, please take a look at these different charities and consider donating if you can.Ukraine Crisis Media Centre - A list of different donation pages to help the Ukrainian military response.Disaster Emergency Committee - Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal Save the ChildrenÄrzte ohne GrenzenTheme tune courtesy of Kloß mit Soß

It’s been a tough week for Dili, first Producer Simon axed her favourite segment, then she suddenly became a surrogate mother to a nest full of baby pigeons. Luckily Nic is here to support her, if by support you mean talk about the progress of England in the Women’s World Cup.Sticking with football, the arrival of Harry Kane, England captain and newly minted Bavarian, gives us a chance to ask how the tabloids will react to seeing Kane in Lederhosen. We also suggest some things to see and do for new arrivals to the south of Germany, as well as some things to actively avoid. We also find some time to chat about the importance of rubbish disposal in Germany, and why most arguments between neighbours seem to happen when throwing stuff away.For those of you looking to support Ukraine or the many refugees currently fleeing the conflict, please take a look at these different charities and consider donating if you can.Ukraine Crisis Media Centre - A list of different donation pages to help the Ukrainian military response.Disaster Emergency Committee - Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal Save the ChildrenÄrzte ohne GrenzenTheme tune courtesy of Kloß mit Soß

On the show this week:In a first for the podcast, we have a live audience watching the pod this week, sadly it’s only a family of pigeons that have taken up residence on Dili’s balcony. Avian squatters aside, we talk about dodgy pavements and why the infrastructure in Germany seems so patchy.We bring you an update on the Women’s World Cup, and commiserate with Nic as 50% of his hopes of celebrating a World Cup victory go up in smoke, and try and find a new team for Producer Simon to support. New rules for asylum seekers are being proposed by the German government, we discuss what will change and whether new policing powers are a draconian overstep.One of Europe’s largest music festivals went ahead in Germany last week, despite people having to be dug out of the mud after torrential downpours. We discuss festival toilets and whether we could handle camping in the rain. We finish on the German Foreign Office dealing with parody Twitter accounts.For those of you looking to support Ukraine or the many refugees currently fleeing the conflict, please take a look at these different charities and consider donating if you can.Ukraine Crisis Media Centre - A list of different donation pages to help the Ukrainian military response.Disaster Emergency Committee - Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal Save the ChildrenÄrzte ohne GrenzenTheme tune courtesy of Kloß mit Soß

On the show this week:Some recent listener feedback at Nic’s expense delights Dili no end, as does the return of her Fruit Corner, where she once again puts her co-host to the ultimate test. We discuss a weekend spent wandering botanical gardens and visiting museums, and we ask what’s the best way to spend your summer holidays.The truth behind one of Germany’s favorite banana brands shocks Dili, but she’s quickly distracted by Nic’s update on the Women’s World Cup as we commiserate with producer Simon on the recent exit of New Zealand. On the topic of football and Producer Simon’s homeland, we discuss the story of the Spanish team leaving their training camp due to boredom, and ask whether we felt the creep of ennui when we first arrived in Germany. We finish the show with an initiative by one of Germany’s discount supermarkets to educate customers on the environmental impact of their favourite products. For those of you looking to support Ukraine or the many refugees currently fleeing the conflict, please take a look at these different charities and consider donating if you can.Ukraine Crisis Media Centre - A list of different donation pages to help the Ukrainian military response.Disaster Emergency Committee - Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal Save the ChildrenÄrzte ohne GrenzenTheme tune courtesy of Kloß mit Soß

On the show this week:After a weekend of fun at Nürnberg’s annual Badentreffen open air festival, Nic is still recovering from too many pints of…fun? We talk about one of Germany’s best festivals, and some weird interactions with the locals. We also recap the opening games of the Women’s World Cup, especially the goal bonanza for Germany, and ask whether anyone can really tell the difference between a lioness and a wild pig. The arrival of the Sommerloch in Germany means there’s very little news coming out of Berlin as Germany’s politicians all go on holiday, but where do government ministers go on holiday? We discuss the potential for a political holiday house share in France, Chancellors raving at the Ballermann, and why making bold political decisions during summer is a bad idea. We also find some time to discuss low-fi solutions to posting on social media, and a potential ban on junk food advertising that could be introduced by the end of the year. Articles mentioned on the show:Majority of Germans support planned advertising restrictions for sweetsFor those of you looking to support Ukraine or the many refugees currently fleeing the conflict, please take a look at these different charities and consider donating if you can.Ukraine Crisis Media Centre - A list of different donation pages to help the Ukrainian military response.Disaster Emergency Committee - Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal Save the ChildrenÄrzte ohne GrenzenTheme tune courtesy of Kloß mit Soß

On the show this week:After challenging Nic to expand his horizons, we introduce a new segment to the show: Dili’s Fruit Corner! Finally Dili can force Nic to eat a variety of fruit under the pretence of making a podcast, and maybe, just maybe, he might enjoy it….probably.Since Dili is on summer holidays, and Nic is nearing his own, we bring you some recommendations with our first DFH Summer Reading List. Dili takes us through some of her finds in a famous second hand bookshop in Frankfurt, while Nic shares his favourite books from the last few months. We also discuss the vitriol faced by the first Trans politicians in the Bundestag, and we finish with a preview of the Women’s World Cup in Australia & New Zealand. For those of you looking to support Ukraine or the many refugees currently fleeing the conflict, please take a look at these different charities and consider donating if you can.Ukraine Crisis Media Centre - A list of different donation pages to help the Ukrainian military response.Disaster Emergency Committee - Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal Save the ChildrenÄrzte ohne GrenzenTheme tune courtesy of Kloß mit Soß

On the show this week:We sweat through this week’s show, and consider relocating the recording to the basement, where Nic can spend some quality time with his spider friends. We’re hot under the collar not only because of the summer sun, but also from discussing the average German propensity for public nudity at the swimming pool. Is this the final step on the path to integration?Dili continues her quest to make Nic eat fruit, and she kicks off by challenging him to eat gooseberries, and also pronounce the word correctly. We discuss a German joke on Twitter that got out of hand very quickly, and why German sarcasm can be dryer than your average desert. We discuss the curious word “Hammelsprung” and what jumping sheep have to do with the inner workings of the Bundestag, and we finish on a story about warring neighbours at the Tegernsee.For those of you looking to support Ukraine or the many refugees currently fleeing the conflict, please take a look at these different charities and consider donating if you can.Ukraine Crisis Media Centre - A list of different donation pages to help the Ukrainian military response.Disaster Emergency Committee - Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal Save the ChildrenÄrzte ohne GrenzenTheme tune courtesy of Kloß mit Soß

On the show this week:We kick things off with a discussion on the changes to Elterngeld in Germany which will see couples earning over €150,000 become ineligible for state support. Is this progress or regression, should we really feel bad about excluding wealthy people from tax-funded benefits, and how might it affect gender roles?A social media post from a husband leaving his wife to look after four children while he holidays in Tenerife leads us to a debate on parental responsibility, and whether we can judge people’s ability to parent from social media posts. How should parenting be balanced between partners?We finish on an initiative in Berlin to test illegal drugs without involving law enforcement in the hopes of protecting people from overdoses and dangerous additives. Is this promoting the use of drugs or pragmatic thinking? Articles MentionedParenting at a distance Was ist wirklich in den Drogen?For those of you looking to support Ukraine or the many refugees currently fleeing the conflict, please take a look at these different charities and consider donating if you can.Ukraine Crisis Media Centre - A list of different donation pages to help the Ukrainian military response.Disaster Emergency Committee - Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal Save the ChildrenÄrzte ohne GrenzenTheme tune courtesy of Kloß mit Soß