CaliforniaGermans

All Things German In California

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Happy New Year! Happy 2019!

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fireworks-235813_1920.jpgDear CaliforniaGermans Community!

As we ringing in the new year we wanted to take a moment and thank you , our reader, for your loyalty throughout the year 2018.

We hope you found our articles interesting and entertaining, and ​hope that you ​will be part of our CaliforniaGermans community also in 2019.

What A Year!
​2018 was an exciting year for us. Early in the year, we adopted a new look for our website. ​Hopefully, you’ve enjoy​ed our new layout ​as much as we have and you find it ​much easier now to navigate​​ our site.

In 2018 we​ also​ started our new XPAT ​S​potlight ​I​nterview ​Series, in which we bring you a new interview with a fellow German​-​speaking expat every last Friday of the month. You can read up on the past ones right here.

If you know someone​,​ who you think ​would be a great fit for our XPAT Spotlight, ​please ​let us know! 

​On this last day of 2018, we also want to acknowledge and thank all our sponsors.

Thank you, ​PhoenixClub Anaheim, GASA-German American School Association, ​German Pacific School San Diego, and German School Campus Newport Beach for supporting CaliforniaGermans by advertising with us!

A special thank you goes to ​PKorn Law – GermanAmericanLawyer​, o​ur new special leaderboard advertiser.

Please check out our ​cool ​sponsors, if you look for help with ​either ​your legal matters here in California​, or want to learn German, or would like to hang out with fellow German speakers and enjoy some good old German food! 

​Did You Know about our CaliforniaGermans Job Board​?

​As we leave 2018 behind we wanted to remind you that you can post your job openings for free on the Job Board on our website. You are good-to-go if the job is in any way related to ‘Anything German’, like involving the German language, German speakers, German/Austrian/Swiss businesses in California, etc.  

​Let us Showcase You! Write for us in 2019!​

​Lastly, we are always looking for people, who love to write and who would like to share their expat experience, expertise and California adventures with us ​and CaliforniaGermans. If you feel that’s you, please contact us! 

We look forward to seeing you in 2019!

Happy New Year!

Your CaliforniaGermans Team

Die Uhr – The Clock (A Poem)

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Die Uhr

(Ein Gedicht von Samantha Sam)

.

Kunstvoll geschnitzt das Werk umschließt

Stetes Ticken des Vergehens mahnt

Uraltes Holz die Zeit beschützt

Stumm vom Vergessen verschlungen

.

Auf zarte Zeiger sich Perlmutt ergießt

Den Weg des Augenblicks ins Uhrwerk bahnt

Verborgen, vor der Augen Blick geschützt

Unvergänglich im Innern versunken

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Fortwährend das Dasein verfliegt

Das Jetzt den Augenblick verbannt

Nur uraltes Holz seine Bedeutung noch kennt

Gelegenheit im Vergessen entschwunden

 

©Samantha Sam

 

Image: pexels.com

Samantha Sam – grew up in Mecklenburg Vorpommern. She now lives in a little, enchanting town called Lappersdorf by Regensburg.  Since early childhood, she was devoted to writing, which served her well in her later profession as a communications specialist; even though writing there was business related rather than creative.

In her personal life, she has been writing speeches for weddings as well as birthdays of family and friends; speeches, that are still on everyone’s lips years after. Often family and friends encouraged her to devote more time to writing professionally. So, when her daughter left home, ‘the time was ripe’! Her passion for writing made her engage in her first novel, which she is in the process of putting on the finishing touches. She writes under her pen name “Samantha Sam”.

The Desire for Adventure Across the Pond made Rita Reiff leave Berlin for California (Interview)

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Rita Reiff GASA

XPAT Spotlight – Interview with Rita Reiff, an integral part of the German speaking community of Southern California.

Rita, originally from Berlin, is a well-known member of the German community in Southern California. German speaking families with children especially appreciate her engagement as president of GASA, the local German American School Association. As an indispensable part of the German community in Southern California, Rita Reiff was awarded the Cross of the Order of Merit (Bundesverdienstkreuz) in 2014.

Together with her husband, Rita came to the United States as a young woman. They courageously left everything in Germany behind, ready to live the American Dream! [Read more…] about The Desire for Adventure Across the Pond made Rita Reiff leave Berlin for California (Interview)

Weihnachten – Die wunderbare Kraft *Merry Christmas *

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box-card-celebration-1670559Weihnachten – Die wunderbare Kraft

(Ein Gedicht von Samantha Sam)

 

In der Weihnacht ein Menschenskind die Welt betrat,

in ihm sich der Same für eine besondere Kraft verbarg.

Eine Idee entfaltete eine wunderbare Kraft,

die in Geschichten Jahrtausende überdauert hat.

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Lichter glitzern in den Fenstern und Straßen,

Geschäftiges Treiben herrscht in den Gassen.

Frohsinn und Besinnlichkeit erklingt,

während die Natur die Stille des Winters besingt.

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Überall glitzernde Kugeln und bunte Lichter.

Zuckergebäck erhellen die Kindergesichter. [Read more…] about Weihnachten – Die wunderbare Kraft *Merry Christmas *

Merry Christmas – Frohe Weihnachten

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christmas-1869342_1920“Advent, Advent,
ein Lichtlein brennt.
Erst eins, dann zwei,
dann drei, dann vier,
dann steht das Christkind vor der Tür!”

… and tomorrow it’s finally here, the long awaited date, Christmas Eve!

We wish all our readers and patrons a peaceful and relaxing holiday. Enjoy this special time with your loved ones and dear friends. 

Thank you for being part of our CaliforniaGermans Family!

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Images: Pixabay.com

Xmas Gift Book Tip #5 – Kurt Tucholsky’s Whimsical Stories About the Afterlife

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Tucholsky-HereafterOur last book tip for Christmas 2018 makes us indulge in famous German literature. It’s a book that is not only a must for all Tucholsky fans but also for everyone, who loves Berlin and its history.

“Hereafter. We Were Sitting on a Cloud, Dangling Our Legs.” is a collection of humorous short stories by Tucholsky that for the first time appear as a collection in a book as well as being published in English.

“Hereafter”, Kurt Tucholsky’s Whimsical Stories About the Afterlife 

(by Dr. Eva C. Schweitzer )

Kurt Tucholsky is known for his political and satirical stories in the Weimar era, but the famed author also had a whimsical, spiritual side, and we experience it in this book, Hereafter. We Were Sitting on a Cloud, Dangling Our Legs.

Tucholsky ImageBerlinicaHereafter was originally a loose series of humorous short stories. Tucholsky wrote them between 1925 and 1928, while he was on assignment in Paris for his paper, Die Weltbühne (The World Stage). This is the first time these stories are collected in a book — adorned with pictures of little angels from Berlin’s cemeteries —, and also the first time they are translated into English. [Read more…] about Xmas Gift Book Tip #5 – Kurt Tucholsky’s Whimsical Stories About the Afterlife

Xmas Gift Book Tip #4 – A Book for Children, “Tesha Discovers The World”

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Our 4th XMAS gift book tip is a book for children!

Tesha Discovers The World by Claudia Tichy, was written, “for the tender children’s souls, keeping in mind the healing power over disease, fears, and other burdens.”

If you follow our monthly XPAT Spotlight interviews, you might remember our November interview with Claudia, where she tells us about the various healing therapies she’s specialized in. They are much sought after in Europe, and now are available here in California.

In fact, the idea for the book “Tesha Discovers The World” came about through Claudia’s work with children in Family Constellations, established in this particular form by Bert Hellinger.

CAG: You mention the stories in Tesha are about healing and go beyond the regular storytelling.  Can you explain this more in detail? [Read more…] about Xmas Gift Book Tip #4 – A Book for Children, “Tesha Discovers The World”

Xmas Gift Book Tip #3 – Historical Fiction Novel “1918 – Wilhelm und Wilson”

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Magnus Buch 012 (1)100 Years Ago the First World War Ended in 1918. What if…?

What if the world had emerged out of devastating World War I with peace negotiations that had helped restore world order, create balance among world powers, and had called for cooperation among nations?

Hitler, Stalin, and WW II might never have happened!

On the basis of real history, Magnus Dellwig is creating a fictional world in his novel “1918 – Wilhelm und Wilson” and imagines a different outcome in the fateful peace negotiations among the world powers at that time. Follow the account of foreign minister Gustav Stresemann and witness through his eyes how (a different) history unfolds…

Magnus Dellwig’s historical fiction novel is packed with the suspense of diplomatic and political drama. As of now, “1918 – Wilhelm und Wilson” is only available in German. Get a taste of the book with the following German synopsis. [Read more…] about Xmas Gift Book Tip #3 – Historical Fiction Novel “1918 – Wilhelm und Wilson”

Following her Husband’s Love for California – Claudia Tichy, Writer & Therapist (Interview)

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Claudia Tichy, Martin, Hollywood

XPAT Spotlight – Interview with Claudia Tichy, a writer and therapist bringing European therapeutic techniques to Southern California

Claudia Tichy is originally from Steyr in Austria, a small town between Salzburg and Vienna. After deciding to move to California she settled first in Calabasas before finding her final home in Oak Park. She shares her life and home with her husband and their two cats from Austria: Funny and Fipsy. Fridolin, a Golden Retriever just recently joined them as well in the Agoura Hills Area and he instantly inspired Claudia to a new book that will be coming out soon: Fridolin, the Cuddlemonster.

What made you move to California? [Read more…] about Following her Husband’s Love for California – Claudia Tichy, Writer & Therapist (Interview)

Xmas Gift Book Tip #2 -“Die Insel der Weissen Affen” (Science Fiction)

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Science Fiction Novel – Die Insel der Weissen Affen by Dieter Kermas

How about a spooky science fiction novel for Christmas? Some of us can’t get enough of this kind of stories no matter what the occasion. We just love the suspense of the real or unreal dangers that could possibly expose our planet earth or mankind at large. 

So, there you go. Here is the take of Dieter Kermas, long time author for CaliforniaGermans, who has delighted us with his stories and poems over the years and has shared his childhood war memories with us in a series we started posting in 2013. In his new novel, he is taking us on a journey into the unknown future of mankind. Find out for yourself where humankind will end up in his newly published book: “Die Insel der weissen Affen” available on amazon.de 

We Asked Him, What Inspired Him to try himself on a science fiction story, after he had just published his historical fiction in 2016 about a WWII romance happening between the enemy lines of Germany and Russia, “Kolja: “Liebe Im Feindesland”.

Dieter Kermas: My ending up writing a science fiction novel was more or less accidental I have to admit. I initially had planned for an adventure novel, that would play out on a South Sea island, but the storytelling suddenly played a trick on me. It seems it almost ‘came alive’ and pulled me into a completely different direction. It took unexpected and unplanned turns and suddenly I was writing a science fiction novel.

CaliforniaGermans: Did you read science fiction as a child? [Read more…] about Xmas Gift Book Tip #2 -“Die Insel der Weissen Affen” (Science Fiction)