Decades From Home - A Podcast About Germany

Always willing to make sacrifices for the podcast, Nic takes the gallant decision to miss his beloved Newcastle United’s first home Champions League game for 20 years in order to sit down with Dili for this week’s record. Of course, he blames Dili for everything, but thankfully he doesn’t go on about it…For her part, Dili has come prepared with questions about Halloween, which like Christmas, seems to be begin earlier and earlier every year. We discuss possible plans, acceptable costumes, and why left handers are clearly evil.It’s not often we get to talk about the wonders of Sri Lankan food, but another trip to Nürnberg gives your hosts a chance to celebrate some of the finest food in the world, and promote the best restaurant in Bavaria. We also find time to discuss Tag der Deutschen Einheit or German Unity Day and why the celebrations in Hamburg were perhaps less unified than you might expect. Finally, we finish on the opening of the lottery for Euro 2024 tickets. With the tournament being hosted in Germany, can Nic convince Dili to join him if he wins his full allocation of tickets?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

After months of fruit based chat, Nic finally takes Dili to task on her fruit obsession. Perhaps talking about kiwi and peaches makes sense, as it does prevent Nic from worrying about bald men driving Porsches. Dili explains how to punish unruly schoolchildren, and we ask the most important question facing educators: does a leather jacket and motorbike equal cool or midlife crisis?A Saturday trip to Augsburg leads to a surprise confrontation with a controversial Bavarian politician, and we ponder whether booing political speeches is the moral thing to do. We also discuss the surprise defeat of the AfD in a mayoral election.As Oktoberfest rumbles on, we discuss Harry Kane’s fantastic set of Lederhosen, whether it’s time Nic bought a pair himself, and whether Dili fancies getting herself a Dirndl. We finish things off with some exciting news about a record-breaking castle. 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

After being out sick last week, Dili is back among the podcast microphones to share her adventures in German healthcare. We also learn how to start a pigeon wellness hotel, which only requires some vinegar and a spare bottle of shampoo, and discover why crows aren’t scaring anyone.While one half of the pod was focused on bird healthcare, Nic was in solitary confinement in his daughter’s Kindergarten. Why was he imprisoned for hours on end, and how does this actually help children adjust to preschool?Oktoberfest is in full flow, meaning Munich’s quota of leather clad drunks is more than fulfilled. Does anything about the annual Bavarian pissup appeal to anyone but Nic, and what would it take to get Dili to drink a litre of beer and queue for hours for the toilet? A trip into Augsburg reminds Nic that the election in Bayern is coming ever closer, while cynical political maneuvers in Thuringia continue to degrade the supposed “firewall” setup against the right-wing. We finish on a recent study into how video games can be used in German classrooms, and ponder whether Super Mario is really going to help children improve their maths skills.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

Sadly Dili is out sick this week, so we once again call upon the sonorous tones of Producer Simon to step up to the mic and join Nic for a discussion on apocalyptic weather and why talking about the weather might have more purpose than simply meaningless small talk.Swiftly moving on from biblical storms, Nic has found a new way to buy cheese, although it does require climbing mountains in order to get it. We talk about cow bells and the best way to teach children about electric fences. With Dili away, it means Producer Simon and Nic can indulge in a discussion about sport, which is convenient given Germany’s success at the basketball world cup. We discuss the popularity of basketball, why it doesn’t get much respect, and whether Germany is capable of enjoying success without also needing a large helping of disaster. 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 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