The Local

After a welcome summer break, September is often the time to re-establish a routine that can help simplify your life. Finding the time and energy to prepare tasty and nutritious meals is a real challenge – especially as it starts to get darker and colder. From convenience to culinary variety, we all know the perks of meal kits that bring you all the ready-to-cook ingredients you need straight to your door. But what about the downsides? From expats to locals, plenty of us have reservations about meal kits. Aren’t they expensive? Don’t they produce loads of food waste – not to mention all the packaging? And then there’s the necessary cooking skills. What about those of us who haven’t spent the last decade diligently watching each and every cooking show with a pad and pen, who somehow seem to mess up everything in the kitchen – even a piece of toast? Together with our partners Hello Fresh, The Local have dished up some tasty facts on meal kits. From giving you the low down on just how it works to smashing some persistent myths, this is everything you need to know about the modern meal kit.   Read more about Meal Kits and the special offer for readers of TheLocal from Hello Fresh in Germany – or Switzerland or Austria in our FULL ARTICLE

You’re always on time, you think of Angela Merkel as ‘Mutti’ and you’ve even found yourself craving currywurst (well, some of you). You think you’ve assimilated in Germany. But many expats have failed miserably with a vital ingredient for true integration: private liability insurance. (Haftpflichtversicherung). While not compulsory, it’s widely seen as essential protection against the risk of harming another person or their belongings; almost nine in ten Germans have it.    In partnership with Coya Insurance, The Local presents five pathetic excuses (we were being kind when we said ‘reasons’ in the headline) that explain why so many expats in Germany don’t have private liability insurance. Read the 5 reasons in FULL ARTICLE here.

The restrictions on life due to coronavirus offer the ideal opportunity for self-improvement projects. But life remains busy and social distancing is no fun. Learning German as a new language can not only boost your confidence and social circle but also enhance your career prospects. Research even shows it could help protect against dementia. Here are six reasons why joining an online language school like Lingoda could give you the best chance of learning German or achieving your other linguistic goals. LINK How is your language learning going? Have you changed your in-person classes to online only? Have they been effective in extending your learning? Let us know. 

As Germany this week marks a half century of mass Turkish immigration, The Local's Marc Young explains why it's time to end the country's hypocritical stance towards dual citizenship.   With all immodesty, I'm a perfectly integrated foreigner in Germany.   I speak German without a thick American accent, I voluntarily opted for state health insurance and, unlike many Germans, I even willingly pay my TV licence fees.   I have a German wife and a half-German child. There's just one thing I won't have for the foreseeable future: a German passport.   That's not because I don't want one - just the opposite. After almost 14 years in this country, I'd gladly become a German citizen. I would have eagerly voted in the Berlin state election last month. But I don't care to sacrifice my American passport for the privilege. Fifty years after the first Turks came to Germany, there are millions of people here in a similar situation.   Click to read the full article.

Hollywood actress Sandra Bullock said Monday that she was trying to get German citizenship during a press conference for the premiere of her new film "The Proposal" in Munich.   The 44-year-old daughter of an American and a German opera singer said she is hoping to make her German roots official.   "It would be wonderful if my sister and I could succeed. It is something my mother wished for her children," the actor said.   "Half of my family is German," said Bullock, who was raised in Nuremberg for 12 years and grew up speaking German.   117 words remaining. Click to read the full article.