Tales from Germany

Seldom before in my life have I experienced how from the depths of despair, life can suddenly turn around into pure joy and pleasure and fresh experiences completely wiping away all bad memories that have gone before. The mayor of Florange and our daughter (in white) laying a wreath in France on Remembrance Day 2009 A n ordinary November week started with A., the French exchange pupil we hosted in September , writing to our daughter, saying she would refuse to have anything to do with our daughter Rose once she came to France. It was only days before Rose had to go and stay with this family. The visit was part of a regional Schumann exchange organised by the Education Departments in the four bordering countries and is meant to foster inter-regional understanding. We were aghast by the turn of events . Even more hurtful was watching the toll it took on our daughter. Both we and her French teacher kept on telling her, not all French are like that. So while all her close friends were p...

This week again brought the realisation how we have completely come to accept a Europe without borders and the enormous advantages of such a Europe. In the run up to the NATO Summit, Germany reactivated its border controls with neighbouring countries and those of us living in border areas felt the effect. Yet it is only 14 years ago this month that Schengen came into operation and the border controls between EU countries fell away. The first borders to go were between the Benelux, France and Germany before in the last decade most others followed suit. For me, as a South African, it brought so many advantages and freedom! When I first arrived here in 1995, I needed a visa for Luxembourg – to put in petrol or go to the post office or the cinema. Yes it is true! And every time we drove over to Luxembourg we had to grab the purse with Luxembourg money. And if we drove a bit further to shop in France we needed three purses and three currencies for a day trip. Living only 15 kilo...