Random Blogs of 2018

I wrote fewer blog post this year then in previous years, but I had plenty of notes and rough drafts of ideas that didn't grow into full blogs. So, here are the best ideas that never became blogs in 2018.

Getting my Permanent Residence in Germany

It was certainly a year of turning points. A new era in the career. A new marital status. A new dependent. In this flurry of life-changing status changes, I never got around to writing about how I became a permanent resident in Germany.

And no, this won't turn into a rant about Germany's Kafkeaucracy. There was actually nothing absurd about it. I got an email asking me to prepare my documents. I went in prepared for an EU Blue Card (a work permit) and was told that with my German language level and contributions to the national pension scheme – the stuff that really matters here – I qualified for permanent residency.

It was simple and not the slog I intended it to be. An American colleague can't believe I got mine so quickly. An old roommate took the German language proficiency test that I never took several times and didn't get his permanent residence. Another Canadian acquaintance is scrambling to get hers before her Blue Card expires.

What makes me so different? I'd like to think it's because I'm special. In reality it's probably because I was over prepared. I had all my required documents and then some, and I was punctual. That matters if you want results from the German bureaucracy.

That Hungarian Election

Viktor Orban and his ruling Fidesz party cruised to another super-majority over a right-wing Jobbik party struggling to be less like its traditional far right self and a divided opposition that couldn't agree on whose local candidates should step down to unite behind one anti-Fidesz candidate.

The Fidesz campaign was less about fresh ideas or new policies and more about protecting Hungary from hordes of Muslim migrants that have slowed to a trickle in recent years and a interfering European Union that contributes about 5% to Hungary's GDP in subsidies. Both foreign menaces, according to Fidesz, were paid for by the nefarious financier George Soros and his various non-governmental organizations, like Open Society and the soon-to-be-closed Budapest-based Central European University.

So, yeah, the campaign was ugly. What was pretty about the election?

I met a Hungarian friend for lunch on Election Day in front of the hotel that served as Dusseldorf's polling center for the Hungarian election. He figured he'd be in and out and then we'd get lunch, but we waited an hour for him to vote because Hungarian voters were lined up out of the hotel's meeting room where votes were being cast, into the lobby, out the front door, and onto the street.

I was hungry, but it's a lovely sight to see so many people taking the time to vote.

World Cup 2018

We didn't have an internet connection for the first few weeks of this year's World Cup – because this is Germany. But it's not like we cared, Hungary, Canada, and the Netherlands weren't in this year's tournament. We just had no patriotic skin in the games and were completely oblivious to the unfolding drama.

One night, we went for an evening walk in the park and wondered why the park was deserted. The streets were empty. No traffic. When we saw people, they were huddled around a laptop at a kiosk or crowded onto bar patios in front of wide-screen televisions.

We found out later that Germany was playing some other team and the entire country was either at home or their local pub, watching the game. Except for us, the only people who thought it was a lovely evening for a stroll in the park. 

Ok, so there was almost no one at the park.