Expat Women - Helping Women Living Overseas

Want to get our gossip first?

ExpatWomen: Cathy, congratulations on a book that manages to combine the many quirks of being an expatriate, the intricacies of German culture and your own witty take on your surroundings. What made you decide to write the book, and how did it fit in to your bustling schedule?

Cathy: Living in another culture is a fabulous and unique experience. Unique in the sense that nobody else experiences it quite the way you do. Writing, for me, is a way of processing all these bizarre experiences and capturing the sheer idiocy of situations. I have always written accounts of the strange goings on around me - whether in the form of letters home, emails to friends or posts on forums. I have a compulsive urge to tell all these stories and I love to make people laugh. Writing a book was a way of moving from telling just one person about the latest lunatic episode of my life, to reaching a wider audience.

Of course when I started writing, I found out that there's a lot more work involved than I'd thought. Also, having announced to my friends and family that I was writing a book, they all expected it to be finished in a matter of weeks. So for the next three years, while I wrote in sporadic fits and starts, I was bombarded with phone calls and emails asking whether it was nearly finished.

In the end I took to getting up early in the morning (usually around 5am) and writing for a couple of hours before getting the kids ready for school. I also did a lot on weekends. Any shortages of coffee on the global commodities market over the last three years are entirely my fault. I drank vats of it while writing.

ExpatWomen: Some of the stories in your book are enough to make anyone laugh out loud. You seem to take everything that comes along in your stride. How long did it take you to settle into your German life and to see the funny side of the new and strange situation?

Cathy: The whole experience of living in another culture is a bit like finding yourself cast in the lead role in a slapstick comedy. Hilarious, baffling and downright stupid things happen to you when you least expect it. You are an odd sock tossed around in the tumble dryer of life.

I have been in Germany now for over sixteen years and the place never ceases to throw up new situations to amaze and delight me. I do not expect this is something that will ever change. There are other expats who insist to me that Germany is boring. Boring? I do not think so! I do not think I have ever been to a boring place in my life. It is just a question of how you look at a new culture.

ExpatWomen: Of all the episodes you recount, which one is your favourite?

Cathy: Most of my readers rave about the episodes with Birgit – my Anglo-phobic colleague. Her total conviction that the Brits are somehow incompetent, under-nourished and dysfunctional as a race makes nearly everything she says incredibly insulting or comical.

But my favourite is a different one. It’s the oily cat episode. Of all the culture shocks I have had… being told by a vet to restrain a cat while he performs a sunflower-oil enema on it has to be the most mind-bogglingly, forehead-slappingly incredible. This truly could only happen in Germany. I mean, I know Germans have a (none too secret) penchant for colonic irrigation. But, excuse me… on cats?

Without wanting to give too much away, I shall only say that the cat was – understandably – a reluctant participant in the entire episode and used every possible means at its disposal to get away (and believe me – this is a resourceful cat!).

ExpatWomen: You seem to truly enjoy your German lifestyle. Would you ever consider moving from Germany, either back home to the UK or to any other location?

Cathy: I could not possibly go back to the UK yet, because then the adventure would be over! Moving somewhere else would be a possibility though. I fancy somewhere with better weather than Germany. Italy or France would be lovely. Of course it would mean starting from scratch again… but that is all part of the fun.

ExpatWomen: What would you consider the biggest lesson you have learnt from your time abroad, and do you think this could transfer to other expat women out there in a similar situation?

Cathy: What I do hope people take away from reading Planet Germany is that wherever you are in the world, the place is interesting and funny and you, in that place, are the funniest thing of all.

Many people believe Germany to be fundamentally dull. Well, if you look at it through dull eyes, then it will be tedious. If you look at Germany through my eyes, it is an odd, quirky and fascinating place. The key to living abroad is developing your senses. You need to see below the surface, listen to more than just the spoken words, delve for the underlying meaning and subtleties.

And most of all, you need to be able to laugh. As an ex-pat, you will always be the fish out of water. The butt of the jokes. The one who is helpless and baffled while the people all around you seem to know what they are doing —however stupid it may appear. Laugh at the situation, laugh at them and most of all laugh at yourself.

ExpatWomen: And finally – what do you believe to be the biggest perk of being an English woman living in Germany?

Cathy: I think the biggest perk of being an English woman is having a different sense of humour to the Germans. Of course it may land you the odd black-eye…in fact some of my neighbours probably want to stuff my head with Sauerkraut and feed me to their Dachshunds. But the ability to find stressful situations hilariously funny definitely enables you to survive life with a wide grin on your face.

ExpatWomen: Thanks, Cathy. Let’s hope that you continue to enjoy and make the most of your German life!


FAQ	Site Map	Contact Us	Privacy Policy	Terms of Use
© 2008 ExpatWomen.com. All rights reserved. No part of this electronic publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, recording or otherwise, without the written permission of the authors.