Easter in Germany is AMAZING. Bread-land becomes Chocolate-bunny-land for a long weekend and not only that, you have free by law.from Friday to Monday. A beautiful long weekend to get all the chocolate you can 🍫.
As a foreigner, there are some main differences I noticed, compared to Costa Rica. Here you can easily separate the church from the festivities, like in Christmas, so is easy to feel part of the party even if you’re not religious. In Costa Rica is more about going to religious sad and slow parades, watching The passion of the Christ and Ben Hur on repeat and not eating beef.
In Germany of course there is also this if you want, but you get also the fun version of this holidays with bunnies, chocolates and even the lamb-shaped cakes that are supposed to be a representation of Jesus but are also tasty and covered in chocolate. Also, nobody cares really if you have a BBQ on good Friday, as soon as you don’t turn it into a party, cause it’s “Ruhezeit” and you should keep quiet… (or you will get to identify which of your neighbors is the annoying one 😂)
Scary, but super tasty 😋
Of course here you cannot get the gold old empanadas de piña or other traditional Costa Rican treats that I miss, but the local traditions make up extra for it and make you feel at home 🙂
Let’s get real about skin care and weather: I come from Costa Rica, a humid and warm place where all my life I kept retaining liquid and my skin behaved pretty much greasy. I’m not a dermatologist to talk about why or how, I just tell you about my experience 🙂
So all that time I was following the routine of washing my face 2 times a day with a foamy wash, in the morning using a toner of the Face Shop (Chia), then serum, cream of the same line, then sometimes primer, and then whatever makeup I had time for. (Usually a LOT in comparison to my life in Germany)
When I moved to Germany I stopped retaining liquid, as a matter of fact I get easily dehydrated and my skin went from greasy to totally dry and peeling in winter. And by skin I don’t talk only about my face, no, weirdly enough my ankles get specially dry to a point where they are itchy and look like fish scales. My cute usual creams are absorbed in no time and I had to sleep with heavy Nivea cream on my face. I went NUTS with skincare after this changes (tea tree oil, niacinamide, 2 washes a day, full chia treatment and heavy makeup remover) and my face was not so happy about the extreme care and not only got dry but had some random breakouts.
Now what I follow is only washing with water in the morning, ALWAYS using primer before whatever makeup I want to use and only do a full wash before going to bed to remove makeup and any impurities from the outside world 🙂 only then using toner, serum and moisturizer. The niacinamide and tea tree oil are now for using a couple of times a month.
In general, be mindful of having full hydrating cream not only for your face, but for your arms and ankles! Specially in winter but also in summer (and remember always to use sunscreen ☀️)
This is kind of a taboo topic to talk about, specially in an international household, but is part of the reality of being from a “third world country” and moving to a “first world country”, so I think is time we address it
As we know the division between 1st, 2nd and 3rd world was an old definition to mark the west, the east and countries not affiliated to any. Nowadays “3rd world” refers to “less developed” and 1st world to the opposite.
But hear me out…
There’s still some people that believes the 3rd world means living out of coconuts in the jungle hunting jaguars or something, when in reality, some of this countries have better informatic systems (and some of them even technology) than some of the “first world countries”.
Personally I’ve been asked some of this questions (and affirmations) while living in Germany, and some people I know have gotten some others while living in other developed countries:
Do you have cars in Costa Rica?
Do you eat lizards?
You have internet in Costa Rica?!
Costa Rica is a poor country? (here comes the image of the jaguar hunter)
How do you communicate in the jungle?
Is Costa Rica part of the US?
Is Costa Rica in Africa?
Latin America is all an extremely violent and conflictive area… *silently judging you*
It must be super dangerous to live so close to Venezuela…
Oh Cost Rica, so you lived in South America?
*Assuming you cannot speak more than 1 language, when you speak 3+, then getting surprised that you speak good english*
Are you marrying a German to get a visa?
There seems to be little geographic understanding in the rest of the world… while we are taught where Mozambique, Luxembourg, Surinam and Malaysia are, the overall of the french revolution, wars and things like this (just random examples), it seems uncommon in the first world to know much about Central America. Or cars in the tropics, lol. Of course, disclaimer, not everyone is like this, but the people who make themselves more notorious are asking/saying those sort of things.
Now, living in Germany made me realize that I also underestimated my own country. Here you get 74727485 papers for everything, rarely something is digital, and you will get it via post some day. While in my country you can get information via email, WhatsApp or other digital ways. Like, you can see you medical history in the public healthcare system app. Yes, we have an app for that. In Germany… The healthcare system covers the same but is separated from wherever you’re getting your health checked, is not centralized. You want the epicrisis of a surgery you had? You have to call the hospital at certain times and eventually they will send it to you, printed, via post.
One time I was talking with someone about something of this and was asked “Ah, but then how would it be in your country?” – Digital. It would be digital.
Another thing is credit cards. Or debit cards, any plastic money. Costa Rica is a bit behind in the use of Paypal. A bit too much. But you can pay a coffee in a restaurant by a volcano with a debit or credit card, while in a centric town of Germany (to be understood: not the country side) I tried to pay for breakfast with an EC card (not even a real card, is a card system of Germany that works only inside of Germany) and was told “We only accept cash, you are in Lüneburg”, like saying “where TF do you think you are?”… Well… The first world I thought?
Here when you add money to your bank account on a Friday, it won’t be available for using it until Monday.
You know how we always complain in Costa Rica that you cannot go to the banks on Sundays? Well in Germany you cannot even go to the supermarket on Sunday. Everything is closed.
On the other hand, transportation in Germany is LOVELY. The highways are in good conditions, the trains are fast and there is a schedule for when the bus should be passing by (approximately). You can buy train and bus tickets online or in person, go with the subterranean train and with other transportation systems available different in each region. The buses will even go down with an hydraulic system so old people and wheelchairs can get in easier. In Costa Rica if you use a wheelchair better get a car…
In Costa Rica… well… you don’t know when will the bus arrive. Can be that you know it goes each 20 minutes, but that doesn’t really mean anything. Sometimes you would wait for a bus in the city center and, after waiting some time unsuccessfully, someone tells you the stop was moved to who know where, then you have to walk and find it. Traffic on general is terrible.
The available trains are basically for 2 routes/lines and as slow as driving without traffic. And driving… I remember being in a traffic jam for 2h to go to class, 9km from home. In Germany I can go from Hamburg to Denmark in that time (+-230km).
So yeah. Costa Rica is not the paradise jungle the first world thinks we are, and Germany is not that technologically advanced country the third world thinks they are. In fact if you are a medical doctor or an IT specialist, come to Germany, we need you!.
I realized this year that there are 2 kinds of winter: The dark, cloudy, rainy and extremely boring one… and the snowy, with blue skies and temperatures of under -12°C. BEAUTIFUL. Precisely the kind of winter I always had in mind.
Like 50cm of snow, -12°C and frozen rivers!
Apparently this kind of winter… with this amount of snow, didn’t happen around here since at least 10 years ago. You know the only natural thing to do with some much snow right? RIGHT.
We made a full, big, proper snowman! With his own snowcat and all
I definitely had to use the chance to do all the things I couldn’t while growing in the tropics, like making a snowman (and a snowcat), riding a sled, walking in a frozen lake, making a snow “angel”, and having a snow fight!
For the sled part we had to buy one, thankfully Micha found a place that had a couple and was selling them on the spot so he, thankfully, took the chance!. Is more complicated that it seems, specially when you ride it on a slope with a curve haha. The good thing is that if you roll, the soft-ish snow catches you.
Walking in a lake? Check!
We cannot encourage you to walk in a lake though, is quite dangerous. We did it here cause is the lake in the surroundings of Micha’s family house so he knows it, don’t try this just anywhere.
We also saw a snowy Externsteine!
And of course, we had snowball fights as much as we could, before our fingers started to hurt haha. There I discovered there are 2 kinds of snow: the powdery one that’s super cute but cannot get in any shape, and the “wet” one that’s ideal for snowballs and snowmen. The first kind happens when the temperature is too low and the second when the temperature goes up so a bit of the snow melts and helps the rest merge into any shape you want
Growing up in the tropics I always wondered about this places that have actual snow for Christmas and not that synthetic thing that some people put on the cypress trees to make it look more Christmassy… but my priority was always to finish my studies to a point where I could take care of myself and find this places on my own. Along the way I got a huge interest for Germany, the geography, music and weather, nothing huge.
Fast forward to 2018: I’m financially independent and had traveled already to Germany where I met my husband, this led to the decision that got me to this post. Do we settle in Costa Rica or in Germany.? It was easy for me to chose cause everyone had good health in my family and I had always wanted to live in a place where I could see the 4 season every year and go out at night without fearing for my life. But once you live abroad and you settle, life changes in both places and you can not be everywhere. Your parents get older, your brothers grow, your cats forget you (nah, well, my Piyu didn’t forget me yet haha) and also the scenario changes. Now you notice how living abroad also implies that you might not be there for ALL your loved ones in difficult times. When I was about to leave CR I decided to almost shut the world down and just stay at home the last days I was there watching Netflix and talking with my mom. Lost some friends for this choice but I cannot stress how important was it for me to spend time with my mom, specially since she had recently retired and finally had some free time to just chill and relax. She always worked a lot, she loved her work, but now she had free time and I decided to spend mine with her. Best choice ever. Little did we knew that the pandemic would crush my family’s trip to Germany to meet my German family but also that my mom would get badly sick. That’s why we decided to make an emergency travel and see her properly, cause the last time we saw each other we were not certain of anything. Now we are also not, but this was the last time I saw my mom, the last time we saw a movie together, the last time we hugged, talked about life and waited for the new year to come together. This is the price we pay for living abroad, specially so far away. I understand it and so does my family but it will never be easy. She just died (24.01.2021) and I miss her like breathing. So, you leave your family hoping the best for everyone but you truly never know know when is the last time you see them.
I’m clearly not an expert in this matter as i am not too fond of beaches in general. In Costa Rica they are too hot for me so never took the time to get to like them truly. I’m also not sure of how to clasify them but here we go.
Said this, Germany has more beaches than i originally thought. We all know Germany has borders with basically half of Europe (ok i’m exaggerating, but it’s a lot of countries), but it also have the North Sea and the Baltic Sea around in the north. This might not be enough for germans tho, as you can find a lot of “beaches” also around lakes and rivers (like the Rhin in Düsseldorf or the Elbe and Alster in Hamburg)
I remember the first time i took Micha to a Costa Rican beach, he asked me “Is this a natural white-sand beach or is it man made?. I was confused. Man made? Who would make a whole beach?. Well… Germans do. So this beaches around rivers and lakes are mostly man made. Someone at some point decided to have a beach there and put a lot of sand. It works!.
So far we have visited the Elbstrand Oevelgönne in Hamburg and the Baltic Sea in Mecklenburg-Vornpommern
Elbstrand Oevelgönne, Hamburg. You have to be careful when a big ship is passing close.
The best for me is Elbstrand Oevelgönne, cause it’s close to the city so you can run away from the heat anytime and go back to a normal environment. It is literally in the Elbe so probably not a good one to get into the water, but the rest is really pretty and you can just throw your blanket and chill while you see all the ships passing by in the Elbe.
Baltic Sea, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern
The Baltic Sea is also really pretty and the water is (i think) cleaner than the Elbe so is “safe”to go in. I say “safe” cause i saw several germans inside, but i also saw a lot of jellyfish so i’m not sure. Apparently this jellyfishes are non-poisonous but i don’t know them so i didn’t risk it. This one is also way more relax than the beaches in Hamburg, as there is normal to see people drinkking or listening to music, but in the Baltic Sea is more about getting in the water and making LOTS of sand castles.
So this summer in Germany is not as hot as last year’s (thankfully) but still hot enough to want some cold drinks other than water. And we were definitely not into going under the sun to the supermarket to buy drinks (and even less to get into the hot car to do so) so we took normal things we already had at home to make some nice – experimental beverages.
1. Watermelon – Orange – Basil
This one might sound odd but stay with me, it’s our favorite. The original version here was only Orange + Basil, which i know from my country and i kinda missed, unfortunately it was not enough to fill a glass and i added some watrmelon juice. NO.REGRETS ♥
We used no sugar but you can also add. Here the sugar for us was brought by the oranges. Also, the final color following this recipe is of a beatiful summer sunset.
Recipe: 2 Oranges 5 Big basil leafs As much watermelon juice as you want. 1 cup of water
2. Watermelon – Cucumber
Another not-so-common mix but believe me it’s worth it. For this one we used only Cucumber and Watermelon cause we wanted something refreshing and not so sweet. This one might also taste great with honey, but the following recipe was ust perfect for a picnic by the beach on a really sunny day.
Recipe for a 500ml bottle:
1/6 of a watermelon 5 cucumber slices 1 cup of water
3. Watermelon – Lemon
Now a more safe mix: Watermelon lemonade with honey. Every time we use lemon on a watery mix we try to use a bit of honey to avoid it being over acidic. This one is the easiest mix as you only need watermelon, lemon and some water, but let’s go to the recipe:
For this and the past 2 recipes literally mix everything in a blender and enjoy!
Recipe for a 500ml bottle:
1/6 of a watermelon 2 lemons (or limes) 1 cup of water 1 full tablespoon of raw honey
4. Classic Iced Tea
Another safe one! Here we made a tiny mistake and left the tea too long in hot water, so we reccomend that you leave it for just a couple of minutes (instead of like 10 as we did). For this we used just hot water, one black tea bag and lemon so we think is one of the easiest to do as you might have all ingredients already. Also it might taste better if you add honey or sugar.
Recipe: 1 black tea bag 1.5 cups of water (a cup is about 235ml) 1 lemon Optional: 1 big tablespoon of sugar or honey
5. Green Tea + Honey
For green tea + honey the best is to add extra honey. Here we reccomend not going with sugar so all the mix remais as natural as possible (and so you get the best flavor out of the green tea). Truth is we are not into sweet green tea much, but the honey flavor here makes you feel like everything will be alright ♥
Recipe for 500ml:
1 green tea bag (with the possibility of chosing flavoured green tea if you need) 2 full tablespoons of honey 1.5 cups of water (1 cup is about 235ml) you can also spice it up with a little ginger
6. Rose Hip – Lemon – Honey
This is probably the most difficult in ingredients to get so you can change the main the into any other red-fruit tea. Rose hip has different names in different languages. In German it is Hagebutte, in Spanish Escaramujo, Rosa Mosqueta or Rosa Canina. It is made with the buds, not with the flowers and gives a nice sweet taste to the mix.
Recipe:
1 tea bag of Rose Hip or any red fruit you can find 1 lemon 1.5 cups of water 1 big tablespoon of raw honey
For the tea mixes every time we speak of water it is the water you need to make the tea, not extra water 🙂
One of the many struggles of living in Germany is to move around the country. You have a lot of options! there are even some trains that take you near the country side… but germans are OBSESSED with cars.
Sometimes it gets confusing
So here i am trying to get my driving license. I already had a Costa Rican one but here in Germany it’s only valid for 6 months, after that you have to make the theory test and you even have to take driving lessons.
Driving in Germany is a whole new experience… it is normal to drive 130km/h in the highway and, when there is no speed limit sign, there is literally no speed limit. Of course there are recomendations, like not driving at +200km/h or something like that, but tell that to the cars driving on the left lane…
In my driving lessons i have learned that sometimes when you want to turn left even if it’s green for you there might be cars coming from the opposite direction that want to continue straight ahead, for which you have to wait in the middle of the crossroad and look for a chance to pass… if you stay in the middle of the street in my country i can only think of death lol. Also the roundabouts… thankfully those are easier here. they are usually one lane only so everything is tiny, cute and clear… not like in Costa Rica that there are up to 3 lanes and you have to be EXTRA careful when changing lanes depending which exit you want to take.
But the main difference of them all… you HAVE to turn your head back every time you want to enter a road/ change lanes/ go backwards/ turn left or right… i don’t know how is it that there are not so many accidents. Maybe cause most of the people driving seem to have forgotten everything about the driving lessons after passing the test. The difference in Costa Rica? You are literally not allowed to use anything that doesn’t come with the car. You have mirrors, why would you risk your life and look back while on the highway at 100km/h?
Also… the signs are totally different. Also in Denmark. I guess is an european standard? most of the signs have no letters and some of them are so confusing even people who currently drives has problems remembering what they are. Like the pretty picture up there
Arriving a bit late to the subject here… We did not have a “quarantine” per se here but more of a reccomendation to stay home, which we did. Thankfully Micha’s employer let them work from home so i had (have) him here with me.
I also saw my first snow during quarantine
Since we were not into going out we started a podcast! It is a project we wanted to do anyways and now we have the time. Currently we have already 14 episodes 😀 where we talk about the quarantine, and about living in germany in general. We even have one about gardening, cause Micha’s mom was sharing a lot of knowledge with us and it seems important to pass it on.
For us all this started in the end of winter, by March 13th and until around April 15th we started going out a bit more (other than just going to the supermarket). There is a river close from home so we sent there and to a cute lake full of duckies, swans and geese. This quarantine kinda increased my fascination with birds.
Duckies are really friendly, specially when you bring them oats 😛
We also learned new things and started a few new projects. We want to dedicate whole new posts for each so keep visiting us and make sure to also listen to our podcast (Marz & Micha in Spotify 😉 )
