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Kenyan living in Germany talks about challenges they face as foreigners

Ruth Kimani AKA Ruth Qym is a Kenyan and a you-tuber in Germany where she lives with her Husband, Kelvin. She takes to the online platform to discuss what it means living in Germany as a foreigner and what challenges you should prepare for. In another video she is also joined by Ghanaian you tuber, Maaya’s World, who stays in Poland as they discuss the same topic.

1.Social Life

The you-tuber in Germany talks about having difficulties making friends because the social life in Germany is very different. They talk about the comparison between the Kenyan social setting where even colleagues who you work with become friends but this is not the same in Germany as friendship ties are not easily formed and many people are lonely. Kelvin adds that there is affordable to cheap prices for alcohol and this leads to a lot of people spending time in bars and clubs drinking and becoming alcoholics. “People end up turning to alcohol because they do not have people to socialise with and after a short period of time they become alcoholics.”

2.Time

While many African are used to the social construct of an ‘African timer’ in Germany you are required to keep time. Failure to do so and you end up paying the price by being late. You can end up missing buses, trains and even appointments. Should you be late to an appointment, you end up having to book it again and the person you were scheduled to see can not see you.

3.Contracts

Ruth and Kelvin narrate their experience with a lot of service providers in that there are a lot of contracts. Many people in Germany receive contracts for a lot of the service provided i.e, phone service, cable etc and so all the documents received must be thoroughly looked at or kept safely just in case one needs evidence to state something happened or is happening. She adds that it is important that you read all the terms and conditions and ride the fine print.

4.Finding an apartment or house

Finding a place to live in Germany is a challenge , it really depends on where you want to live, a lot of people are not moving out of their homes and also most cities and towns are over populated so you end up having to ‘fight’ or scramble with a lot of people for a house or apartment. This is very unlike Kenya where there is always available housing that is easily accessible.

5. Adult content on television

Kelvin talks about how rampant it is t come across adult content in Germany as most media houses do not filter their content like it is done back in Kenya. He says that they both experienced shock when they came to Germany and explicit content is aired on television despite the fact that children sometimes can be up when this content is airing.

6. German Language

If you are an English speaker, or any other speaker of a language very different from German, the German language does pose it’s issues in speaking, understanding and hearing.