Book Report: Hallelujah Anyway

I'm slowly but surely making my way through this book:

We've got some third culture issues around here. Or maybe it's neurodiversity or maybe it's a combo. In any case, this book feels like work. I listened while getting my nails done as my usual manicure partners were not along for the ride, to varying degrees of disappointment.

That's his "I'm loving this" face.

After an hour of listening and taking notes about third culture kids, I was like, "can I just have something uplifting?" Once again, Anne Lamott delivers.

This chapter hit close to home.

I don't have to look far for my last dose of mercy. Paul looked at me after a week of juggling kids between his parents and declared, "I'm going to take the kids away for a night." What ensued was the best birthday ever.

There was a day of church, leisurely lunching, and frappuccinos with these girls:

POV: The look of moms whose kids are being cared for by spouses.

Followed by an evening of phone calls with some of my favorite people and a magical night of salsa dancing. Before you think I'm a monster who doesn't want to be with my family, I would like to mention there was a special pre-party put together by Bal with the help of some of my favorite little neighbors.

Rainbow cake flex

I was trying to fly a bit more under the radar this birthday as exactly a week later was the ten-year anniversary of loosing my mom to cancer. Nevertheless, celebrating my birthday with two close friends whose mothers are currently terminally ill with cancer felt much more "Hallelujah Anyway". And these people seemed quite ok without me. 

How To: Staatsangehörigkeitangelegenheiten

If you think the news from the US is crazy, can you believe Germany just naturalized these four unemployed people?

And two of them don't even follow the basic instruction to look at the camera in their native language.

A few stars had to align for dual citizenship to even be an option for our family:

• The former traffic light coalition government made it easier to become a German citizen by cutting the residency time from eight to five years.
• Prior to June 2024, only European citizens and a handful of others could be dual citizens of Germany. 
• In January 2024 the city of Berlin digitized and centralized the citizenship process. We have multiple friends who applied years ago by paper and continue to wait.

Our citizenship plan was almost three years in the making. Let's take a walk down memory lane shall we...

January 2023 - Paul took a seven-month, unpaid parental leave with the goal of learning German. Correction - it was my goal that he learn German. I learned that Paul, and some Bigglets who shall remain nameless, can do anything they put their minds to. However, if they aren't truly invested then I need to prepare for battle (for example pushing music for kids) or disappointment (for example German for Paul).

June 2023 - Paul and I dominated the citizenship test - both scoring 29 out of 30. 

June 2024 - I finally take my B1 language test in an effort to distract myself from the upcoming US election. I also had a breif meeting with our relocation consultant to see if she had any hot tips or info. 

December 2024 - We decide to apply without Paul. Paul didn't attain the necessary language proficiency. 

mid-July 2025 - We received an email request for current grades for Crosby, language tests for Hugo and Carmen, and paystubs for me (ahem Paul). I sent everything back in two days.

July 31 2025 - I received an invitation for citizenship with a pre-selected date of August 7th. Luckily we're not fully German yet, so we're in town in August. 

August 7 2025 - learned some new words through this oath 

For my fellow expats wanting to follow suit, the first step is scheduling the citizenship test. I believe this process has changed but is likely still overly complicated. We were so stoked that we managed to get a test date that we even took this commemorative photo in the random community college in Reinickendorf where we returned three months later for the test.

There are a few resources online to explain the process. But generally, the best advice is to submit an entirely complete application instead of following up with test results, etc as they come in. I'd also submit a cover letter if there's anything in your application that you would like to highlight and/or explain. For example, I highlighted that I have a masters degree from the Charité. I then explained why I'm not using it.  I also exhibited some good judgement by not showing-up for the final appointement wearing a dirndl.

It still only comes out on the occasional Halloween.

It's fitting that our citizenship came through in August which is my month of all the feels. It's my birthday month and it's also the month I said goodbye to my mom ten years ago. One of the last things my mom whispered to me as she was dying was, "I'm going to miss you." If my mom was still alive, we never would have moved to Germany. We took this opportunity to have an adventure because we could. But, I think like many people who immigrate, we wish things were better in our home countries. In summary, I'm very thankful to be a dual citizen. Also, now you know why I'm a little melancholy.

Nevertheless, we celebrated our new citizenship in the most logical way possible:

Döners - Immigrants best contribution to Germany?