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Germans in California

GASA hosts Maifest at Old World HB

April 2, 2023 by Cornelia Leave a Comment

Come join a German May tradition: “The Maifest”

GASA and the German American League invite you to celebrate this tradition at Old World in Huntington Beach in SoCal on May 7th from 12pm – 5pm.

This celebration generally sees a variety of customs in Germany, from a Maypole decorated so that it shows the particular crafts and history of a region, to a traditional Maypole Dance, or even having the Maypole (Maibaum) stolen by the neighboring villages in an elaborate, sneaky manner. You can read more about this practice in this article from the Schliersee, a town in Southern Bavaria.

You won’t have to worry about any Maypole thefts here in SoCal, but can just enjoy the authentic German fair. Come listen to live music by the German American Brass Band, watch the traditional crowning of the May Queen and Princess, observe Mayfolk dances and have your children work on crafts, and much more.

Details:

What: Maifest/Kinderfest hosted by GASA (German American School Association) and German American League

When: May 7th from 12pm tp 5pm

Where: Old World Huntington Beach, 7561 Center Ave. , Huntington Beach, CA

Images: ©CaliforniaGermans

Filed Under: Attractions & Events, Culture, News Tagged With: CaliforniaGermans, German Traditions, Germans in California, Kinderfest, Maifest, Maypole, Southern California

Tips for Setting Goals in the New Year

January 2, 2023 by Cornelia Leave a Comment

New year resolution - California Germans

A new year has started and I am sure I am not the only one thinking about new year’s resolutions. Too often, however, we don’t spend enough time thinking through what we really want to accomplish or change in this new year and our new year resolutions end up being quite lofty and vague. A better way to see our new year’s resolutions come to fruition might be by setting clear goals.

Setting goals at the start of a new year can be a helpful way to reflect on the past year and think about what we want to achieve in the year ahead. Here are some steps that might help you to set your goals at the start of 2023:

  1. Reflect on the past year: Take some time to think about what you accomplished in 2022 and what you could have done differently. This can help you gain perspective and identify areas for improvement.
  2. Identify your values: Consider what is most important to you and how you want to prioritize your time and energy. Your goals should align with your values.
  3. Set SMART goals: Make sure your goals are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and have a timeline. This will help you stay focused and motivated.
  4. Make a plan: Break your goals down into smaller, actionable steps and create a plan for how you will achieve them.
  5. Be realistic: It’s important to be realistic when setting goals. Don’t set goals that are too ambitious or unattainable, as this can lead to frustration and disappointment.
  6. Review and adjust your goals: Make sure to periodically review and adjust your goals as needed. Things may change throughout the year and it’s important to be flexible and adaptable.

We wish you a healthy and happy 2023!

Filed Under: News Tagged With: Germans in California, New Year, New year resolution

German Christmas Carol Service in SoCal

December 3, 2022 by Cornelia Leave a Comment

Christmas Carol Service 2022

It’s become a California holiday tradition

Christmas Carol Service at St. Luke’s Lutheran

St. Luke’s Lutheran Church in La Mesa is holding a
German Christmas Carol Service on Sunday, 18 December 2022 at 7:00 pm. 
All are invited.

Address:

St. Luke’s Lutheran Church
5150 Wilson Street
La Mesa, CA 92942
www.st-lukes-la-mesa.org

Here is how to get there: Map

Weihnachtsmesse am 18. Dezember um 18:00 Uhr

St. Luke’s Lutheran Church in La Mesa hält am 18. Dezember 2022
(Sonntag) um 19.00 Uhr wieder einen deutschsprachigen
Weihnachtsgottesdienst. Wie in vorigen Jahren besteht die
Gottesdienstordnung hauptsächlich aus Lesungen und Liedern, die die
Weihnachtsgeschichte erzählen.  Nach dem Gottesdienst gibt es kleine
Erfrischungen.

Sie und Ihre Familie, Freunde, Gemeinde- und Vereinsmitglieder,
Studenten/innen, und Schüler/innen, usw. sind herzlich eingeladen.

Die Adresse der Kirche ist:

St. Luke’s Lutheran Church
5150 Wilson Street
La Mesa, CA 92942
www.st-lukes-la-mesa.org

Einen Fahrplan zur Kirche findet man per diesen Link:

http://www.st-lukes-la-mesa.org/maps.php

Filed Under: German Traditions in CA, Life in California, News Tagged With: California, CaliforniaGermans, Christmas, Christmas and holiday season, Christmas carols, German Christmas Carol Service in California, Germans in California, Holiday events, holiday season, Weihnachten

Become a Teacher at the German-American School Association in SoCal

September 13, 2022 by Cornelia

German American School Association at CaliforniaGermans

The German-American School Association of Southern California, also short GASA, was founded in 1954 and has been one of the first organizations to offer German classes to families in Southern California. GASA offers classroom-based German language programs to children ages 4 – 17 years in its Saturday Schools. For children, ages 3 – 5 years, there is Kinderland School. Adult classes are available online.

For the current school year, GASA is looking for spirited teachers for their various schools in Southern California. If you speak native German, love children, and want to teach kids not only the German language but also share your German Culture, connect with GASA. Find more details on their website under employment opportunities.

If you like to learn more about Rita Reiff, president of the German-American School Association, you can check out our interview with her in 2018.

GASA Job posted on CaliforniaGermans

Images ©GASA

.

Filed Under: News Tagged With: California, GASA German American School Association, German Schools in California, Germans in California, learn german

My Life During the Covid-19 Pandemic

May 9, 2020 by Cornelia Leave a Comment

In times of Social Distancing & Sheltering in Place!

How have you been holding up during these weeks of sheltering in place?

I have to admit, it wasn’t such an easy transition for me at first, even though I thought I had the least of changes compared to anyone else in my family. Finally, after a few weeks in, I realized that what was slowly getting to me was the lack of a routine that would keep me sane and rooted. 

At the start of the Covid-19 restrictions around the second week of March when sheltering in place became the new normal, I found myself in the kitchen almost 24/7. It was overwhelming perhaps also frustrating, but someone in my family was almost always on the edge of starvation!

When I wasn’t cooking, I was ‘hunting’ for food and toilet paper (!) at the local stores – an activity that could easily cause mere anxiety given the feeling of scarcity it emitted when looking at empty shelves that used to be full of pasta, rice, beans, flour and more. It was a picture I had never imagined I would encounter in the United States.

Back at home, apart from being the cook on call, I also turned into the family hairstylist, accidental school counselor, and I tried my luck at Ayurvedic cooking, since the family decided that vegan is the way to go now.

And…at the end of the day, I just longed for the now seemingly simple days of pre-Covid-19 that had regular hours for work and school and daily school drop off and pick up times were planned for ahead of time. Even spending hours at soccer training and driving to all kinds of other school events, and the fact of never really being home just sounded so inviting now!

Battling to turn into a somewhat exhausted, tense superwoman overnight, I realized I needed to reclaim some balance in my life. So I implemented some changes to bring order into this whole new chaos and the benefits and results have been rewarding, not only for myself but for the whole family.

Now my new routine includes daily yoga sessions, happening online, that even induce my husband sometimes to participate, although reluctantly. Meditation practice is as much part of the new routine as some scheduled family time, where we all try to meet up together once a day after working, learning, and socializing on Zoom all day long. (You need to give these eyes a break sometimes!). And, I managed that everyone in the family understood that the restaurant called “kitchen” is not always open. That was challenging!  

But, what can I say, I’ve started to like my new day’s schedule now. I see new possibilities in situations that before just made me feel stressed out. Therefore, our family is more relaxed and laughter finds its way even into some tense situations.

Needless to say… the sudden change of lifestyle introduced by the Covid-19 pandemic had been a bit more challenging than I initially anticipated. In fact, I am still in the midst of fully comprehending and coming to terms with how the world around us has changed so suddenly from one day to the other.

However, this new situation has also opened up a path of immense appreciation, of witnessing life around me with much more gratitude. It opened up paths for positive changes in my life that I was too busy to see before or felt I had no time to implement.

Well, now there is plenty of time! For contemplation, self-reflection, working on future dreams, and generally becoming a better human being.

I hope we all find a way to embrace the changes that these unprecedented times have brought upon us; changes not only among our families, and communities but also to humanity as a whole. 

If nothing at all, I wish for us to have become more tolerant and hope that- as we are experiencing and living through this pandemic together as one humankind – we internalize that “we are all in this together”, no matter what skin color, religion or what country we are from. 

To celebrate life, human diversity, and our beautiful planet earth that stands up for us every day, I invite you to get inspired by the incredibly beautiful and meditative footage of the movie “BARAKA”, a movie that has a special place in our home.

Enjoy. Stay healthy! We are all in this together!

(Video of the trailer below or try https://documentarylovers.com/film/baraka/ )

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZs0gQed9tMTIRxubXYPy-eDlvWQBKo-d

Images: ©CaliforniaGermans – grocery store, ©Pixabay – Yoga image, Calm image

Filed Under: Life in California, News Tagged With: Covid-19, Expatlife, Expats, Germans in California, Life in California, Pandemic, shelter in place, social distancing

Pit Stop in Malta

August 23, 2019 by Anne-Kathrin Leave a Comment

IMG_9715.jpg

PIT STOP IN MALTA

Those of you who had the chance to listen to my journey on audio on my friend’s podcast know that I had a pit stop before my final destination Germany.  When I made the decision at the beginning of 2018 to leave the US, I already had a destination in mind: the Mediterranean island of Malta. [Read more…] about Pit Stop in Malta

Filed Under: Expat Stories, News Tagged With: Germans in California, Leaving California, Life in California, Moving from California to Europe

My Story of Life as an Expat in a Nutshell

July 5, 2019 by Anne-Kathrin 1 Comment

Unbenannt

MY STORY OF LIFE AS AN EXPAT IN A NUTSHELL

Now that the cat is out of the bag, I would like to offer you a deeper look into why I left the United States and reveal where I first ended up before moving back to Germany.  But instead of writing you a novel, I would like to switch things up this time and present my story in a nutshell to you in the form of audio.

A few months ago, while I was already living in Europe but not in Germany yet, one of my dear friends, who has visited me twice while living in the States,  asked me if I would like to be a guest on his podcast and talk about my experience as an expat. I loved the idea and agreed to record an episode together with him.   [Read more…] about My Story of Life as an Expat in a Nutshell

Filed Under: Expat Stories, News Tagged With: Expats in California, Germans in California, Germans in Los Angeles, Germans in Orange County, Life in the United States

It’s Time to Flip the Script…

June 7, 2019 by Anne-Kathrin Leave a Comment

IMG_8961

IT’S TIME TO FLIP THE SCRIPT…

My dear readers, yet again I owe you an apology and explanation.  A lot has happened over the past eight months, but things are finally starting to settle down.  I usually don’t describe myself as a person who is willing to settle easily. But at some point, even I need a break and feel home at one place. At least for a little while.

So today, I am sharing some news with you.  Not sure if I should call them news though since that entails the word ‘new’, which doesn’t quite fit my situation anymore.  I have to admit, I lived in hiding from you the past several months. Not because I am ashamed of my actions, but because I needed time to process.   [Read more…] about It’s Time to Flip the Script…

Filed Under: Expat Stories, News Tagged With: Expats in the US, Germans in California, Germans in Los Angeles, Germans in Orange County, Goodbye California

Finding Her Muse in the City of Angels – Maria Loewenstein, Austrian born Artist & Author (Interview)

April 26, 2019 by Cornelia Leave a Comment

This month’s XPAT Spotlight Interview features multitalented artist Maria Loewenstein, who was born into the household of two music and art lovers in Vienna, Austria. After her parents built a house on a property they had bought in Klosterneuburg, the family of six exchanged busy city life for a quieter one in the outskirts of Vienna. Appreciation for art in all its forms and variations established then has remained an integral part of her life since childhood. Little did she know then, that she would become a multimedia artist in a city that’s full of inspiration: Los Angeles.

Maria, how has your childhood in Austria impacted your life, now far away from your original home?

Being raised in a suburb always left me wanting more, even though there was no lack of culture and diversity in our lives. Every weekend our parents bribed us with a promised McDonalds happy meal, which included a toy, to join them for Sunday mass followed by an art exhibit in Vienna and the occasional classical concert or play for children. It goes without saying that this might have been the main reason that turned the four of us into artists/musicians and awakened our adventurous side. [Read more…] about Finding Her Muse in the City of Angels – Maria Loewenstein, Austrian born Artist & Author (Interview)

Filed Under: News, XPAT Spotlight Tagged With: California Germans, Expat interview, Expatlife, Expats in California, Germans in California, LA artist, Life in California, Maria Loewenstein, Xpat Spotlight

Bringing the Purity of German Sausage Making to California – Carina & David of YouBite (Interview)

March 29, 2019 by Cornelia Leave a Comment

XPAT Spotlight interview with Carina and David Mohr, owners of the German butcher shop YouBite in Camarillo. Their traditional German Bratwursts and a variety of smoked products are all handcrafted and made according to German family recipes. Produced with the help of German machinery, which they imported to the USA – it can’t get more German than that!

Carina and David, both settled in California after having traveled the world. For Carina, life abroad is nothing new. Born and mostly raised in Cologne, she got already an early taste of living abroad when she was ten years old. Her parents moved the family for 5 years to Pune in India, where they opened a Turkey Farm. For David, however, who was born in Bonn and later lived between Cologne and Bonn, settling abroad is a new, exciting adventure.

What made you decide to leave Germany and move to California?  [Read more…] about Bringing the Purity of German Sausage Making to California – Carina & David of YouBite (Interview)

Filed Under: News, XPAT Spotlight Tagged With: Carina Mohr, David Mohr, Expat interview, Expats in California, food, Germans in California, Life in California, Xpat Spotlight, YouBite

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GASA hosts Maifest at Old World HB

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