Naomi's & Hokuto's Allgäu Experience Report

Our experiences in the Allgäu
 

We have been in Germany since December 2014. Luckily I got a job quite by chance in the beautiful Allgäu and we moved to Kempten. I am a software engineer and my wife teaches Japanese at the adult education centers. It was a dream for me to work in Germany. My wife also enjoys doing language and culture courses in the Allgäu. Mastering German is not easy like other languages. At work I mostly speak English for technical things and German for general conversation. I find it very helpful to learn German from other German learners. They can show slightly better expressions, which I can adopt immediately. Getting to know new people is not difficult in the Allgäu without being able to speak German well. But basic language skills make it much easier. I also enjoy getting to know different foreigners in the Allgäu, who we would not meet in Japan. The people here are friendly and trusting. Besides beer, the lakes, the mountains with the snow, the green grass, the blue sky and the clear air with the smell of cows are what we like best about the Allgäu. I always find the events of the LiA-Club a good idea. We have already participated in the conversation evening and the theatre visit. At the conversation evening you can meet many international people in the Allgäu. I was surprised how international the Allgäu actually is. It opens your eyes that there are many different backgrounds in the Allgäu, too. I think it is different from the big international cities. The theatre visit to Hohenschwangau Castle was really great. We watched Tempest by William Shakespeare together. The English was a bit difficult, but the atmosphere and the play were very good. Thanks Eva for the invitation. We would not know that we can experience such great artistic things in the Allgäu!