Decades From Home - A Podcast About Germany

On the Show this week:We welcome Dr. Sandra Jansen to the show, just in time to talk about controversial cocktail opinions and the recent takeover of Nic’s favourite football club, Newcastle United.However, we didn’t ask the good doctor on to only talk booze and football. Sandra is a sociolinguist and she has more than a few interesting observations about how Nic and Simon speak. She teaches us how to recognise a Glottal Stop and various other phonetic points about Simon and Nic’s very different accents.Simon introduces us to a language ban in a London school that might be more than simply trying to improve student’s speech and we talk about why German dialects are often more appreciated than in the UK. Finally we look at some Geordie and Southern English phrases that would catch out many Germans travelling in the UK.

On the show this week:Simon takes in some amatuer football and we find a possible official Decades from Home football team, while Nic celebrates a new job. Release day coincides with “Curious events Day”, so Simon questions Nic on the Loch Ness Monster and why the Royal Family are lizard aliens. A wild boar attack in Barcelona gives us a chance to ask whether German Boars are more mild mannered than their Catalonian brethren and ponder: what does all of this have to do with nude sunbathing.Simon goes on a saucy adventure as he looks at a survey on the regional condiment choices in the UK and we ask what British condiment choices would work for our Pommes in Germany. To finish off, Nic looks at two recent stories from Bavaria that suggest what kind of problems we might face at the post-pandemic Oktoberfest.

On the show this week:We’re joined by Marty this week, better known as The Honorable Husband on Twitter, to talk Oktoberfest withdrawal and the pitfalls of living and working in a different language. Simon celebrates the Tag der deutschen Einheit (German Unity Day) and why it’s a little different from other national days around the world.With sausages being used for political promotion and to entice people to get the Covid vaccine in Germany, Nic asks what other countries could offer their populations to improve vaccine uptake and why German politicians seem more “normal” than in the UK.The lads finish up with a discussion on the words and phrases connected with Angela Merkel as she heads for the exit door.

On the show this week: We’re joined by Richard from Ingolstadt, allowing us to form the mighty Bavarian triangle! Simon introduces us to one of his favourite German rappers, we talk Deutschrap, American influences and why different parts of Germany produce better music.   Simon makes Richard feel welcome by bringing us a story from the UK and introducing us to a new term “Beaning”. What is it? Why is it? And why does it make Nic hate humanity? Nic can’t help talking about his favourite topic following a story about the increase in vegan pies, while Richard wonders why pies aren’t as popular in Germany. With the federal elections in Germany only hours away, we take the Wahl-o-mat quiz to find out which political parties we’re aligned with.

On the show this week:We welcome Dilli Algama back to the show and just in time for Simon to reveal his mystery anniversary gift from last week’s show. We kick things off by discussing trips to the zoo, Simon introduces Dilli to the red panda and we marvel at the many places that sell beer in Germany.We talk about Zukunftsangst this week as we look at the supposed top ten German fears. We talk about what apparently scares Germans most about the future and look at some of the ways those fears are mitigated.  In the final segment, we take a tour of the local Apotheke or pharmacy. Nic wonders if they have to look like medieval apothecaries, Dilli tells the lads why it’s sometimes difficult to get medication from the doctor and we all ask why Homeopathy is so prevalent in German medicine. 

On the show this week:We’re welcoming a guest host to the show this week as we’re joined by the writer Courtney Tenz! We discuss whether picking random fruit off trees is worth the risk, Bavarian vegetarian options, wedding anniversary gifts and Simon celebrates the arrival of a new David Hasselhoff album partly inspired by some classic German hits.With the Federal elections only weeks away, Courtney explains the current state of German politics. Having arrived in Germany weeks before Angela Merkel became Chancellor, Courtney discusses the impact of Merkel’s time in office and what the future might hold for Germany.

On this week’s show: Nic learns that like many things in Germany, there are some important rules to remember when ordering a takeaway. Simon talks about his love of currywurst and defends his favourite comfort food from his co-hosts food cynicism. The lads celebrate the upcoming release of Sam Fender’s new album and take some time out from discussing the peculiarities of German life to discuss how mental health is a central part of the Geordie musicians work and why men, especially in the UK find it difficult to talk about their feelings. They also talk about how living in a different country has impacted them.Finally, Simon and Nic ask if Germany has a class system similar to the UK and whether social class is obsessed over in the same way as their former home.

On the show this week: By god it’s Johann Goethe’s birthday! Simon wants to celebrate the birth of one (if not the) greatest Germans of all time, but Nic can’t help insulting the birthday boy.The lad’s enjoy the annual list of Jugendwort des Jahres 2021 (Youth Word of the Year) and ponder whether their young or cool enough to use any of them. They also wonder what they even mean.In an attempt to predict what words might feature on the list next year, Simon and Nic suggest some possible entries from a list of long forgotten English insults, will Breedbate make it or is it all just the work of two Flalpdoodlers?Finally, Nic asks if swearing in German is really such a problem or is it just the English speaking community being oversensitive and over protective of their language in Germany.

On the show this week:We’re back for a full episode baby! Nic has finished laying floor and painting walls in his new home and he’s not entirely sure if DIY is really his thing, does Simon have the DIY DNA or is he as equally underwhelmed with the idea of putting up shelves and playing with power tools?Nic and Simon ask whether there is any real need to buy a house, given that renting is so popular in Germany and we find out if Nic has managed to improve his German as well as his woodworking skills while he’s been away.Since neither of the lads have been on holiday for a while, they finish the show by talking Stadtstrand or city beaches. they ask if the Germans really understand how to have a good beach holiday and whether it’s time to introduce some of the more popular British beach attractions to the city beaches of Germany.

As Nic finishes up his work on the house, we have a chance for a SUMMER REPEAT!!!!Simon & Nic discuss flags and national symbols as we look at different ideas on national flags coming out of Germany, the UK and the US. We discuss new flag rules in the UK, if the US has more rules than Germany when it comes to flag flying, whether flying the German national flag is still an issue in Germany and Nic tests Simon’s knowledge of the flags of the German states.