🥨 Expat Life 海外生活

Nigel
Jun 6
6 min read

Updated: Jun 8

6th June 2025 年6月6日

Let's start with the humble pretzel. But wait....the salami? Yes, they were also made in Germany, along with the tomatoes and the onion. A good combination for a lunchtime snack....

One of the reasons I emigrated to Germany though was not the pretzels, but the cake.. 😄.....like this Mohnkuchen ( poppy seed cake ) from my local bakery.

One evening I was returning hungry from choir and didn't feel like cooking. As the train approached Dreieich-Buchschlag a bell rang in my head. The old railway station. Yes, there's a nice eating house there. They do a decent chili con carne......

...With beer of course....

おいしいドイツビール

Langen is not exactly a magnet for restaurants, but if you are in the mood and want to sit outside, a burger with sweet potato chips is not bad. The Langeners gather there to talk about things like the progress of the SSG* football training, or the condition of the tennis courts.......( * Sport und Sänger Gemeindschaft Langen 1889 e.V. ) . The place is called Gleis 5 ( platform 5 ), and is, obviously, near the station.

My burger was a bit burnt...hmm.

Dreams 💭 are allowed of course, and with me this may mean a table groaning under Sashimi....

Lucky him......he's just enjoying a well-earned beer after a concert......

Sadly I was already back in Germany at the time.....

There is one meal here in Germany which can't really be classified. You could call it the wholesome salad. At Stadt Salad in Frankfurt you can eat your fill of avocado, beans...and, and, and....... I'm fortunate to have a member of the family working there.....

'Tis but a short step from food to opera 🎶.....I was down in Karlsruhe a few days ago to see another member of the family: this time singing.

Now in the "The Wandering Scholar" by Gustav Holst the farmer's wife bakes a cake and tries to hide it for reasons which are too complicated to explain here.......The audience loved it though....

We're not talking about a commercial production here, rather an opera workshop at the Musikhochschule. There were also excerpts from I Capuleti e i Montecchi; Der Freischutz and Polinische Hochzeit. Music Drama students had re-interpreted scenes from these opera's on the theme of Innocence and Guilt. The results were imaginative, funny and outrageous (!).

This was not the only imaginative and outrageous performance I have seen recently. Here we are at NIPPON CONNECTION, which is actually the world's biggest festival of Japanese film 🎥. That's what they claim anyway, and from the sheer quantity and diversity of films put on in one week I have no reason to doubt this. One gorgeous film was "River Returns".

We're in 19thc. Japan. A mysterious wooden bowl is spotted floating down a mountain river. It is an bad omen. So when the young girl from the village falls for the itinerant craftsman - a woodturner, the older people warn of disaster. A suicide in years gone by. With dextrous use of the medium of film, director Mazakazu Kaneko 🎬 has been able to explore how the past can be changed by an act in the present. A theme often seen in Japanese film. It's the connection with your ancestors which is still articulated in Buddhism to this day.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ufqJzFKNprk I was able to personally thank the director afterwards - that's the wonderful thing about film festivals!🙏

But now outside the film hall (NAXOS HALLE) and to the live performances (a sort of "fringe" event if you like). Friend Momo is a singer/songwriter and a highly versatile and talented musician. She had got together a band who, would you believe it, improvised with two rappers - one a Sumo wrestler !....here are some short impressions....ever heard rap in Japanese?....here you go......Nue and Gocchanko in full relax mode....

モモさんのバンドが即興演奏を披露し、二人のラッパーが私たちを楽しませてくれました。

.......Momo violin/guitar/vocals, Lorenzo guitar, Silas 'cello, and Naomi vocals. What a crew. The girls' voices blended beautifully...

Thank you!

👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏

Courage. It seems almost a quaint and old-fashioned word these days. Where do people find it? From fear maybe? The fear of a foreign country invading? the fear of starvation?....deeper down, I feel, it stems from a sense of injustice and a sense of what is right. It keeps the young men in Ukraine fighting for their country. It has prompted smaller countries like South Africa and Ireland to formally call out the Israeli government, Iikewise one of the smaller churches in the UK ( The Religious Society of Friends - the Quakers ). It seems that the bigger the country or religious organisation, the weaker the courage. The US government could have stopped this genocide in Gaza a long time ago. But they didn't care. Where is common humanity? how about an international flotilla of boats to head for the shores of Gaza, laden with aid........ 🍞

Scroll back 85 years......

In the summer of 1940 hundreds of normal people put their fear aside and joined a flottila of boats to cross the English Channel ⛵

We talk and write about history, but when you re-enact it you move onto another plane altogether. In May 1940 the Belgian, British and French army were trapped by the German army in Dunkirk, a port on the north coast of France. In a desperate, last ditch effort, a hastily assembled fleet of 800 commercial and private vessels were dispatched across the channel. They were able to rescue 338.00 soldiers and bring them back to the UK.

So it was that on May 29th, 1940, the barge Pudge was about to take on a cargo of wheat at Millwall Docks, when she was suddenly requisitened by the Royal Navy and towed to Dover. Although she was fitted with an auxilliary diesel engine, this was not strong enough for her to cross the channel, so she was towed across with two other barges. She rescued 160 French and British soldiers.

This picture was taken last week........It was the 85th anniversary of this incredible evacuation.........https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunkirk_evacuation

友人は1940年5月のダンケルク撤退を記念してこの古いはしけで航海した。

All nautical photos: Rachel Darnley-Smith:すべての海事写真

It's a long way in a small boat from Ramsgate in the UK to Dunkirk in France. About 45 miles in fact. Friend Rachel was on board this very barge, which back then had luckily survived the Stuka dive bomber attacks.......

A Thames barge is a huge thing, nearly 25 metres long. So needless to say they had a professional skipper and crew.........

Leaving Ramsgate at 6am with 65 other vessels was an event charged with mixed feelings and strong emotions........

午前 6 時に他の 65 隻の船舶とともにラムズゲート港を出発することは、複雑な気持ちと強い感情に満ちた出来事でした......

A huge irony was to greet them mid-channel. A boat full of migrants in a hopelessly over- filled dinghy. Rachel tells me that the French Navy asked the flotilla to move one nautical mile out of the way whilst they dealt with the matter. As the migrants were still in French waters, they were offered assistance - but few accepted it, wanting to get to the UK. Unfortunately the Daily Mail 📰 got hold of the story and published an apoplectic piece on the lines of "how dare they (migrants) get in the way of a historical occasion!!"

In the end it took Pudge about 10 hours to cross the channel, finally docking in the inner Basin du commerce in the city centre at about 7.30 pm.

Rachel met a few of these French Naval guys afterwards in Dunkirk. Contrary to what I have read in the media, they were all concerned about these migrants. There was a sense of humanity. The unwritten rule of the sea : If you see a vessel in distress you go to help, whatever the circumstances. The mood in Dunkirk was very warm and welcoming, though at the official ceremony British officials were, strangely, notable by their absence. Only Prince Michael of Kent was there to say a word.

Leaving harbour after being storm-bound for several days in Dunkirk.....