Best Books from the Commute in 2018

I commute from Dusseldorf to Aachen about three times a week, which is a lot of time spent on a train. Many people are amazed by the length of my commute, but I look at it as a wonderful opportunity to gaze out the window, fall asleep and hope I don't get robbed, and mostly read. Since starting my Aachen gig in March, I've read a few good books that I wanted to share here. 

Berlin Noir Trilogy by Philip Kerr

Our anti-hero is Bernie Gunther is a Philip Marlowe-type detective whose moral code gets him into trouble on the streets of Berlin in Nazi Germany. Hooked yet?

These first three books of a fantastic series take Gunther from 1930s Berlin to the annexation of the Sudetenland to the reckoning in 1946. Along with the way, we meet a few historical figures. Gunther makes choices, some of them are tough in this time and place. As we read the final book of the trilogy, after Berlin is smashed and Germany is occupied, we meet supporting characters from the earlier books who are either facing, or fleeing from, the consequences of their own choices. Highly recommended.

Best Laid Plans by Terry Fallis

The hilarious story of a disenchanted political strategist who agrees to help run a campaign for a candidate with no political ambition in an unwinnable riding before he quits from politics. The candidate has no hope of winning and no desire to win, so he says what he believes is right, even if it's unpopular.

The novel is now ten years old, which were different times in Canada, but it still feels relevant today. It's bitingly funny, yet optimistic, and satirical without being cynical. Beneath all the jokes, the book expresses a hope in the possibility that politicians can follow their principles not polling data, speak unpopular truths, and treat public service like it is actually public service.

Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain

Working at Philty McNasty's in Toronto, I met two cooks who read this book and quoted from it frequently. They wanted to be Bourdain and would've preferred making fancy charcuterie platters to simple chicken wings we were slinging. They also had no interest in kitchen cleanliness – which led to the bar getting shut down for a week over health violations.

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.

Bringing Up a Baby in Germany

Four years ago, I was my way to the Dusseldorf airport from a job interview and started chatting with my cab driver. He had three kids and, in response to my impressed look, he laughed and said, "It's up to us, the Arabs and the Canadians to make the babies here, because the Germans aren't making them!"

So, my son was born earlier this month in a German hospital to a Hungarian mother and a Canadian father, and I did my small part to fulfill Germany's economic goal of replacing the ranks of its aging population with a beautiful hybrid baby boy. And what an international love child! He'll get his mother's command of the Hungarian language and his father's Canadian English, along with a German education, starting out in a Kindergarten.

The country he will grow up in is as international as he is, though it's still different from my own settler state of a homeland. My mother, born in Canada to Dutch immigrants, still remembers attending the ceremony where her parents, brother, and sister were made Canadian citizens.

Those ceremonies are still celebrated by soon-to-be citizens and Canadians like me, who grew accustomed to seeing short clips of these ceremonies on the local evening news – back when people used to get their news from the TV.

You won't find that in Germany, or elsewhere in Europe. There's no Ministry of Multiculturalism and Germany doesn't bill itself as a Promised Land. It's the World's Workshop and it needs skilled workers. This is a transactional relationship, which is why there are so many foreigners in Germany and why so many of them come and go. It's not that they can't hack it – although many will give you an earful about the food, weather, language, or bureaucracy – it's just the way it goes in the European Union. People move where the opportunities are and their host countries accept them, with little pomp or ceremony. My Syrian cab driver wasn't far off, Germany is still a country that relies on its guest workers, even for their babies.

But those Syrian cab drivers, Hungarian designers, and Canadian copywriters who stay have found something beyond the pragmatic benefits for living and working in Germany. Sure, we contribute to, and enjoy the benefits of, a functioning social welfare system. And that system may care little about whether we stick around, but there are times where we have met informal multicultural ministers in Germany. Like the patient government workers who hear our faltering German and reply slowly, clearly, and respectfully for our German-novice ears. Or the helpful colleagues and friends who've offered advice or included us in some local custom, which often involves beer and/or raw meat.

When you stick with it, good things come to you here. It often takes the barest of minimums, like using your lousy German or keeping an open mind. Then, gradually, you lay down some roots. You feel less like a guest worker and the whole thing doesn't feel like a transactional relationship.

As the years go by, as the character of Germany evolves with those of us who stay and make a life here, I'm excited to see what my son will encounter. He will never have experienced this awkward guest worker phase that we endure. He'll be a local kid born in Germany with foreigner parents, like many other kids he'll meet at school. What will his generation bring to their Germany?