My medication kicked in while writing this and it shows. TLDR: in Germany, there are various social clubs including international cultural exchange groups (generally composed of immigrants/children of immigrants and Germans in a roughly 2:1 ratio) and clubs based around specific countries open only or mostly to immigrants from those or neighboring countries (whether openly or simply through convention, selection bias, and social pressure). The former are fun and the latter tend to be toxic unless there’s currently a large wave of immigration/refugees from the country they represent in Germany, in which case they can help coordinate resources and support, as well as help people deal with culture shock and the trauma of needing to flee their home country.

I’m an American immigrant in Germany. I love international groups and being able to bond with people about dealing with German bureaucracy as a non-native. I have zero interest in American emigrant groups.

In international groups, we do make fun of Germany, but it’s not mean spirited. We also commiserate about the actively negative aspects of living in Germany as an immigrant. In American groups, I suspect it would turn into U-S-A chants or something similar.

International groups here welcome Germans as a rule, whereas for groups for specific nationalities, it tends to be limited to people who can speak the language.

There’s a real need served by national groups for brand new immigrants who are overwhelmed by everything being different (often significantly more different than Germany is for an American), and they’re great for creating a sense of community that can be helpful for short term immigrants (though they can hamper long term integration).

I suspect I’ll warm up to American groups as a way to give new immigrants a crash course on German culture if we get a wave of American refugees in the next couple of years, because those are the demographics (large groups of people temporarily displaced from the same country who all come at once) that tend to benefit from these type of groups.

I’ve been told that national groups for Arab countries tend to be full of either bitter, unpleasant people and/or gay people and blatant alcohol drinkers, because everyone else just meets at the mosque. Although given that I have no first hand experience and the person telling me about it only has experience with a handful of cities, it may not be accurate for the rest of the country.

2d ago

What was the last instance where you struggled to explain something to someone because they belong to a different generation to you?

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idiomaddict @lemmy.world 2d ago

I think this comes down to a quirk of personality.

I have always charmed parents even though I’m somewhat rough around the edges (probably partially because my mom died when I was young and older women still see me as a little lost lamb who needs mothering in my thirties), but my best friend near universally turns parents off, even though we’re pretty similar.

When we were younger, everyone thought she was a bad influence on me, though it was probably the other way around.

3d ago

YSK that radishes are fucking amazing. They contain vitamin C, improve blood pressure, and are full of Sulforaphene, a powerful anti-cancer substance. Radishes contain almost no calories

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idiomaddict @lemmy.world 3d ago

They’re easier than zucchini? Does that make keeping radishes from taking over their entire plots actually kind of difficult or do they just grow perfectly only where you plant them?

4d ago

Im curious what they will come up with

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idiomaddict @lemmy.world 4d ago

I recognize that that type of comment is supposed to be a joke (and I’ll react accordingly, because I’m not a buzzkill), but it absolutely isn’t actually funny (ha-ha) for me.

6d ago

ICE is 30 minutes late again. I'm really pissed about that.

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idiomaddict @lemmy.world 6d ago

Hmm. Maybe ICE deserves to be in Nuremberg right now

6d ago

Me_irl

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idiomaddict @lemmy.world 6d ago

Why not? I don’t have trouble swallowing the pills, but remembering swallowing them.

6d ago

What’s a food you hated as a kid but now love?

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idiomaddict @lemmy.world 6d ago

Rye bread.

I hate caraway seed, and all of the rye where I grew up had caraway in it. I now live in Germany where caraway is much more generally prevalent, but it’s not automatically included in all rye bread, and it turns out that rye is a really nice grain for sturdier bread that keeps way longer than wheat. Dinkel/spelt/farro is also great.

6d ago

We will never know the name of a human that lived 50,000 years ago

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idiomaddict @lemmy.world 6d ago

I like to think that historical humans prefer it that way, if it helps.

I want my name known to people who loved me and whose life I directly impacted. I like the concept of getting to know the larger human community, but I don’t think I’ll have failed if nobody remembers my name a hundred years after my death. If the choice is between my diary being found and read by people or my name forgotten, I’d prefer the latter.

6d ago

There should be a 'Political Showerthoughts': so there's a place for such thoughts (Edit: 'Political Showerthoughts' is now live for just that)

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idiomaddict @lemmy.world 6d ago

Holy shit, is that a variation on an existing icon or did you just spitball a neat visual metaphor from scratch on the spot?

7d ago

Epstein Files Jan 30, 2026 Release - Archived from Justice.gov

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idiomaddict @lemmy.world 7d ago

This is it, encoded in base 64 format, according to the comment:

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

7d ago

Ah, customer service

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idiomaddict @lemmy.world 7d ago

Sure it is. We used to have crimped laundromat coins and if you put it in backwards, it wouldn’t work. This was baffling to people.

You’ve already made a significantly healthier assumption than that strangers seeing you in need want to lie to you.

I say “used to,” because we switched to a combination you enter on the door handle and they still can’t figure it out. Now they tell me there aren’t any buttons on the door handle.

1w ago

Ah, customer service

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idiomaddict @lemmy.world 1w ago

I’ve been accused by multiple customers of lying to them about how to access our bathrooms. I have no idea what their lives are like that they assume strangers would just do that to them for no reason.

1w ago

Would the United States actually risk a Tiananmen Square incident?

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idiomaddict @lemmy.world 1w ago

It wouldn’t be the first time we’ve bombed Americans in the US.

1w ago

Does anyone else get phrases stuck in their head the same way songs do?

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idiomaddict @lemmy.world 1w ago

I’m going to use that on my husband and it’s going to work, so at least it’s done some good?

1w ago

The fuck did I do

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idiomaddict @lemmy.world 1w ago

There are better antibiotics, which work with less frequent doses, but they’re only given out when medically necessary. I assume having bill gates’ wealth (and control of a whole bunch of anti malaria initiatives) means you have access to the kind of antibiotic you choose, you can even justify it by saying that you’re bill gates and you have a sixty hour workweek with the foundation, even in retirement, and you simply cannot take more than two days off, but antibiotics make you feel too weird to work, if you want.

1w ago

PSA

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idiomaddict @lemmy.world 1w ago

I’m probably an egg (by which I mean I’m pretty sure I’m trans and would love to take a pill right now to make it so that I had always been a dude, but I don’t know that I’d take one that turned me into a man now, because I don’t know if it’s worth it to explain it to everyone. I also don’t think I’m actually experiencing dysphoria, just aware that I’m probably a man. I think that counts as an egg for some people, trans and closeted for others, and probably cis [lol] for transmedicalists).

If I ever do come out, it’s probably going to seem sudden as fuck to a bunch of people, because I’ve already thought about it for years, so I’ll have everything planned out as efficiently as possible and ready to go the second I decide to transition. I’ll come out to people after I’ve started hormones and right before it becomes noticeable, which I’ll time to coincide with a top surgery (my mother died young of breast cancer that was diagnosed when she was within a few years of my age, and I’m medically eligible for a full mastectomy). That might be wishful thinking, but at least from here, I think I can be patient about it.