I joined a local choir in Leipzig expecting weekly rehearsals and maybe an occasional performance. At the second meeting I was handed the Satzung, asked to vote for a Kassenprüfer, and watched a twenty-minute debate about which version of the club logo could appear on a flyer. Everyone was friendly, but nobody found any of this unusually formal.

Where I’m from, hobby groups are normally run by one organizer or a business. Here even a casual choir has bylaws, a board, meeting minutes, and an annual assembly. I didnt expect that much structure around something people do after work for fun.

I actually like members having a voice. Is traditional Vereinsleben still common among younger Germans, or are people mostly choosing informal groups now?

Every summer road trip feels like this 😂

I have been having severe pain and health issues for several weeks, likely gynecological concerns. Because of my previous “helpful” experiences with doctors, I tried to manage everything at home for as long as possible. Eventually, I gave in and went to my Hausarzt, who referred me to a gynecologist. I also got a second opinion through TeleClinic, and they told me to do the same.
Since no gynecologist was available in my city, I booked an appointment through Doctolib in another city, travelled around 70 kilometres, and took leave from work to go there.
The experience was truly horrible. My German is around B1, so I prepared intensively. I studied medical terms, wrote down my symptoms, and tried to make sure I could explain everything clearly, all while being in pain.
At reception, I was asked to sign a form about the possible costs of some procedures. They looked like normal preventive examinations. I asked whether I could first speak to the doctor and decide afterwards if they were needed, and the receptionist said yes.
When I entered the consultation room, the gynecologist was cold and rude from the beginning. I was taken aback and immediately struggled to find my words, but I still managed to explain my symptoms.
She then performed a very painful speculum examination without explaining what she was going to do, why she was doing it, or asking for my consent. I had to search online afterwards to understand what had been done. The whole consultation and examination took around five minutes, and then I was rushed out.
She did not ask whether I could be pregnant. She did not perform an ultrasound, but still told me that my period had started. Two days later, I still had no period. I asked whether I had cysts, and she simply said no, even though no ultrasound had been done. I do not understand how she could know that.
I left feeling confused, humiliated, and completely unsupported. I had travelled a long distance, taken leave, prepared carefully in another language, and gone there while in pain. I was not asking for special treatment. I was asking for a basic explanation, consent before a painful intimate examination, a chance to ask questions, and some respect.
People usually go to a doctor when they are at their weakest. A little patience and basic human decency should not be too much to expect, especially in a profession like this.
I am highly educated, have worked in different countries, and make an active effort to learn German despite my schedule. I really don’t know what should I do.
This was not my first bad experience with a gynecologist, and I have had several similar experiences with doctors in Germany. I am honestly tired of this system. Experiences like this make people afraid to seek medical help, even when they are in severe pain.

Edit:

Thank you to everyone who commented, who offered their good experiences and gave me hope that I might be lucky next time, to those who gave practical advices and those offered their sympathy. May God bless you all. I will try not to give up. I know there are good doctors in Germany, just that I have been particularly unlucky multiple times. Anyway if any doctor is reading this, I hope you treat your next patient with bit of understanding. Most of us patients are scared of what’s happening to my body when we come to your consultation , so little kindness would be great.

Hello east side neighbours, my partner and I are taking a moped tour through Germany. We’ve Googled a lot about differing traffic rules in the Netherlands and Germany, but there’s one thing we can’t figure out. In the Netherlands, as a moped, you are allowed to enter a street marked with the following sign (but this isn't a very well-known rule). Is this allowed in Germany as well?

My neighbors are moving out of their penthouse soon, and they have a beautiful piano that's worth upwards of €5,000. The place they're moving to can't accommodate it, and they haven't been able to find a buyer.

They asked if I wanted to buy it, and I told them straight up that I don't currently have a job, so I can't afford it. It also means I don't know whether I'll be moving myself. I know I'll be staying until the end of the year, but after that I honestly have no idea.

They then made me another offer: I could keep the piano until they find a buyer, or, if I eventually decide to buy it when I can afford it, they'd be happy to let me pay in installments. If I end up moving before then, they said they'd cover the cost of having it moved—either to the eventual buyer, or into storage.

On paper, it sounds like a win-win for everyone. The thing is, I don't know them very well since I only moved into the building about a year ago, so I'm worried this could turn into a headache later.

Legally speaking, are there any red flags I'm missing? For example, what happens if they can't find a buyer for a long time, or if they later change their mind about paying to move it? Moving a piano is expensive, and I'd be in a difficult position if I ended up being responsible for it.

Would it be unreasonable to ask them for a simple written agreement stating that they remain the owners of the piano and will cover the cost of moving it if I can no longer keep it?

For context, I do play the piano, and I'd genuinely love to have it—even temporarily. I just don't want to make a decision that could come back to bite me.

I see so many people commenting about this case, but they mostly concentrate on Spahn not practicing what he's preaching.

But what is your opinion on the actual issue? Should the legislation be changed or should surrogate motherhood remain illegal?

EDIT: It would be really interesting if everybody wrote their gender, and country (if not from Germany). I am a German man - for those who didn't look at my username 😉

Like there, such a nice place to sit down, İ keep seeing more and more of these in the Frankfurt area

The company owner asked to reduce my salary, so it can cover the yearly costs (I was this year three months without any project assigned).

I have refused it, under the argument that I am an employee. I don't take a part in the company's upside (when they make a profit), and so during the downside (when they lose money).

He didn't like it, which is fine. I would not mind if they fire me, but I am not reducing my salary, out of principle. Unless they adjust the previous years where I was 100% at a project and give me a bonus for that.

Is this the right approach?

Does anything here ever run on time? Today it’s the RE2. Same shit as always. I use this line three times a week, and since it opened, not a single one of my trains has been on time.

Deutsche Bahn clearly doesn’t give a fuck, and I’m beyond fed up with it by now. I’m constantly running because I’m late for important appointments. And yes, I already take an earlier train, but I still regularly end up standing on the platform for ten minutes and coming too late.

The announcements always come far too late as well. When the train is already six minutes late, you idiots don’t need to announce a five-minute delay.

Just now, an ICE came flying through without any announcement, then a FlixTrain, and only afterwards were we told that our train was now ten minutes late because of “damage to the train.” I don’t believe a single thing they say anymore.
And of course, the display inside the train isn’t working either.

Suck my balls, DB. No wonder everyone is so fucking aggressive.

As most "expats" will know, HousingAnywhere has a huge scam problem. Since it is an English first platform that is primarily used by people moving from other countries, it has been a hotbed for scams and shitty companies (looking at you Habyt)

But at least their rating system used to be fair and transparent which gave a good picture of the landlord. Lo and behold, they have started doing automatic ratings. If you moved in successfully and you didnt answer the survey sent by HousingAnywhere to you on your email, they have put a 5 star rating for that landlord on your behalf.

This is obviously very problematic as it does not paint an accurate picture of real experiences.

Thus my PSA to everyone, when looking at a landlord on HousingAnywhere - check how many of their reviews are autorated and how many are user submitted. And as always, especially stay the fuck away from Habyt and Helen - they will scam their own mothers. Recently they've even gone on a cleanup spree and Trustpilot has removed legitimate user reviews left by real people (such as myself) because of German defamation laws. I even tried to fight it but to no avail. So please be sus of everything. Although this post was not triggered due to Habyt, I still cannot go a single day without making sure other people do not fall prey to them like I did.

This post was made because of another "co-living" company called Mietbase / 089 Apartments / Arivon Service gmbh - as another reviewer in the human reviews posted, it will all be good with them till things go wrong, then it'll be unanswered calls, texts, emails, etc.

I moved to Germany in February. I currently speak a B1 in German, but I am in an integration course to improve it even more, and I plan on attending language courses to get to at least a C1 level, but that will be some time.

Yesterday I had an interview with a cafe that I am super excited about working at. It is a short walk from both where I live and where I do my integration course.

The interview was completely in German, and although I feel like I could've done better, they did compliment my German skills and invited me to a trial day next week. I will be there for two hours.

I interviewed with two people, one spoke loud and clearly and I could understand everything just fine, but the other one mumbled and spoke very quietly and I had to ask the other for clarification every time. The person who mumbled also had a hard time understanding my German, whereas the other one did not. The one who mumbled is the one who I will be working with for my trial day so I am a bit nervous about that.

I do plan to speak to all of my colleagues in German unless they offer to speak in English. I plan on memorizing the menu items and ingredients in case they want to see my serving skills. I will also touch up on serving language through DW.

I have never been a server before, though, and they know that as well. I do have experience as a barista so I'm not as nervous about my coffee making skills.

What should I expect for my 2 hour trial shift? I cannot find any information about it online other than people saying it's just so companies can get free work - but I don't think that is the case here as it is only 2 hours that I will be there, and it is a super small locally owned coffee shop.

Is there anything else that I should know?

Hello everyone,
My name is Roman, I am 20 years old, and some time ago I fled Ukraine to Germany (I now live in Stuttgart). I am writing this post to share my story, hopefully connect with people who had similar experiences, and get some advice on my future here.
Back in Ukraine, my life was extremely dynamic. Like many young guys in Eastern Europe, my career started early – at just 17, I began working on construction sites. I worked hard and parallel to that, I was working on my studies. Regarding my vocational background, I am a certified tractor driver, harvester operator, truck driver, and agricultural machinery mechanic because I absolutely love agriculture. On the tech and IT side, I taught myself electronics repair for phones, laptops, and PCs, and later transitioned into studying computer engineering. My career grew quickly: at 18, I started working as a warehouse worker for agricultural spare parts, and by 19, I became a Facility Manager. In that role, I was managing operations for three regional branches, which came with a company car and a lot of responsibility. Right before I had to leave the country, I was even offered a job as a Regional Sales Manager.
When I arrived in Stuttgart, the contrast was overwhelming. There were no endless fields like back home, everything was completely foreign, and I didn't speak a word of German. I’ve always been a positive person, but the stress of the relocation threw me into a deep depressive episode. Because of the double burden of finishing my diploma project online (my final exam was on June 23rd) while trying to adapt, I fell behind in my language classes. My integration course moved on to A2, while I got stuck at A1.1. I felt completely isolated and useless because none of my practical skills mattered without communication.
A while ago, the pressure became too much to bear, and I fell into dark crisis thoughts (including thoughts of suicide). I felt completely lost. One evening, I just packed my bags, got on a train to Munich at 8 PM, and ended up sleeping on the street. The next morning, I traveled to the Alps because seeing the mountains had always been my dream. I climbed the Jochberg, and there, looking at the view, I cried for the first time in months. In that moment, I decided that I want to live, fight, and build my future here.
I came back to Stuttgart with a clear mind: I promised myself to master the language no matter what. My diploma is now completely finished, so I can finally focus 100% on learning German. Currently, I volunteer at local Repair Cafés, and they’ve even offered me the opportunity to run my own electronics repair workshop there. My ultimate goal is to start an apprenticeship (Ausbildung) as an electrician or radio electronics technician. I am also very interested in agricultural technology, public service, or the security sector.
Has anyone here gone through a similar journey? How did you manage to jump from A1 to a level where you could actually start an Ausbildung? Are there any businesses or farms in the Stuttgart area known for giving people a chance even if their German is still basic?
Thank you so much for reading. I am incredibly grateful for the safety and opportunities Germany has given me, and I genuinely want to give back to society.
(Note: Translated with Gemini)

I'm not sure if this is the right place for a personal work situation, but since this is a community with many people living and working in Germany, I'd appreciate some opinions and advice.

I've been with my company for over 4 years. Last year I asked for a raise after 3 years with the company. I got a very small increase, and my manager said we'd revisit it in a year.

After one year, the manager moved to another role, and my new Tech Lead told me that if I met a few specific goals over the next 6 months, we'd review my salary again.

The Tech Lead was later laid off, and now the CTO is my manager. I explained the situation to him, and he asked me to write down everything that had been agreed with my previous manager. I did, without mentioning any salary numbers.

That was about 3 weeks ago.

About 10 days later, I sent a follow-up, but got no response. Since then, he's also ignored a couple of messages about system access that only he could grant.

The only time I got a response was during a daily meeting where he joined specifically to discuss other topics (he normally doesn't attend our dailys). During that meeting, I mentioned that I was blocked because I didn't have access to a platform, and he gave me access immediately.

We've always had a good professional relationship, and I've had no performance issues or conflicts with anyone.

At this point, would you send another follow-up, ask for a 1:1, or start looking for another job?

What would you do?

I arrived at a hotel yesterday in Frankfurt to check in. This wasn't a large chain, so you could say it was an independent/boutique hotel (NOT airbnb).

It was 3pm advertised checkin, so I arrived at 3pm exactly. It was 33°C and I spent the next 30min knocking on the door, looking thru the window, no front desk at all.

I then had to use my foreign phone number to make a call to the hotel, to speak with someone who then was able to give me the code to the lobby and my room. I asked why they couldn't email me the code after I had already checked in online, or why there wasn't a front desk agent there at 3pm. They said "sorry we do things our own way".

And the other day, I had a back ache so I found a massage therapist on Google Maps. Full website with all of their pricing info online. But... Again I had to call to make an appointment.

What in the fucking hell? Is this normal in Germany? We're living in 2026 and I have to get on the phone to do the most basic things?

We are a small family with 2 year kid and rent a house since 2 years. Landlord wants to sell and offered us first to buy which we declined.
I understand new owner will take over the existing contract, but they can also invoke Eigenbedarf and ask us to move.
Once buyer has decided let’s say to buy for self occupancy, what rights do we have and how does the process work? Will they tell us outright or will we probably directly learn via legal notice as maybe it is better for landlord to involve lawyers?

I want to understand what’s coming up and what our rights are. If given a choice, we would continue renting the house (the rent is market standard).

P.S.: I live in Hessen.

For context- i moved to new building 2 months ago. It has glasfaser ID connection already so in theory internet shouldn’t take long. But i got contract from 1&1 and they have telekom as provider to lay fiber optic cable(but think is fiber optic cable is not required since its already laid out) .

What telkom does is they would send me link to book appointment but keep cancelling for last 2 months. But at same time if i decide to go with telekom they would turn internet connection on within a day.

1&1 has send me 400GB modem 5G free of cost until they get me internet. But my question is isn’t this classic case of monopoly where telekom is essentially indirectly asking customers to join their network otherwise they wouldn’t let other providers connect.

Im not even sure if i can cancel my 1&1 contract and go to telekom now.

Hi everyone,
I recently got selected for a part-time cashier job at a supermarket in Germany. I came to Germany with a Chancenkarte and currently have Dr. Walter insurance.
The hiring manager told me that I need to switch to a public health insurance (gesetzliche Krankenversicherung) before I can start working. However, when I contacted public health insurance providers, they said they need my employment contract (Arbeitsvertrag) before they can register me.
Now I’m stuck in a loop:
The employer says I need public insurance before I can start.
The insurance company says they need my employment contract first.
Has anyone been in a similar situation with a Chancenkarte? How did you solve it? Is there a way to get public insurance before starting work, or should my employer provide the employment contract first?
Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

Hello everyone!

I need some honest advice on German car-buying. I live in the Netherlands and found a great car in Germany, but it's a solid 5-hour drive (about 500 km) away from me.

Honestly, I don't want to spend 10 hours on the highway for nothing if the car turns out to be a total lemon. To minimize the risk, my plan is to double-check everything over the phone and then arrange an independent pre-purchase inspection from a distance before I actually make the trip.

Since I don't know the seller, I want to make absolutely sure there is zero local bias. I want to avoid any "favors" or fake positive checks from a friendly neighborhood garage.
I’m currently weighing three options and would love to hear your thoughts:

DEKRA Gebrauchtwagen-Check: I book an appointment online at a DEKRA station close to the seller (about 7 km away) and ask them to drive the car there.

Mobile Kfz-Gutachter (Independent Inspector): I hire an independent, mobile vehicle inspector to go directly to the seller and check the car on-site.

Independent garage further away: I find a random garage at least 10 to 15 km away from the seller (to guarantee they don't know each other) and have the inspection done there.

My questions for you:
From your experience, what’s the safest and most practical way to handle this when buying from abroad?

Do DEKRA inspectors stay strictly objective, or can they be easily influenced if the seller is standing right next to them?

Is the extra money for a mobile Kfz-Gutachter actually worth it?

Any tips, warnings, or personal stories would be highly appreciated! Thanks! 🙏

Hi everyone,

I opened and funded a Fintiba blocked account for a German visa application. I am applying for the visa from Kenya

My funds have been reflected in my Fintiba blocked account statement since June 19, and I also submitted the requested source-of-funds documents around that time. It has now been a month, but I still have not received my blocking confirmation.

I also purchased the insurance package through Fintiba, but I have not received the insurance documents either. These documents are needed for my visa process.

I have followed up through Fintiba tickets and email, but I have not received a clear substantive response. I also tried calling their support number, but I could not reach an agent. The timer in my Fintiba account also appears to keep changing/resetting without a clear explanation, which makes the process even more confusing.

At this point, I am seriously considering closing the account and trying to recover my funds, because I am worried about continuing with a provider that is already not communicating properly before I have even arrived in Germany or started receiving payouts. However, I am also concerned that closing the account and getting a refund may also take a long time, based on the experiences I have read and the lack of customer support I am already facing.

I put a lot of work into my visa application, and the only documents still missing are the blocking confirmation and insurance documents from Fintiba. The Embassy will not even review my application without them. I have now been waiting for about a month.

My questions are:

1. Has anyone closed a Fintiba blocked account before submitting a visa application?

2. Did Fintiba require a Sperrfreigabe / release document from the German Embassy even if the visa application had not yet been submitted?

3. How long did it take to receive your money back after requesting closure?

4. Were there major deductions, fees, or exchange-rate losses?

5. Did contacting BaFin or the banking partner help?

6. Has anyone applying from Kenya or through the German Embassy in Nairobi gone through this?

I am not asking for legal advice, just practical experiences from people who have gone through this or know how the process works.

Thank you.

Hi there,

I recently got into a serious bike-to-car crash. I was on a bike and the car hit me from behind. Luckily, I survived and recovered. But I am sure I would have been killed if I hadn't worn my helmet.

Since there was no other third-party witness, and I lost my consciousness right after the crash, the police collected only the car driver's statement. Furthermore, they never tried to reach me to get my statement and filed their report without a single statement from me or any other witness. Based on this police report, my lawyer just gave up fighting against the driver's insurance deputy.

It blows my mind that:

1. The police accepted a statement from only one side without any footage or proof of his statement and filed it as an official report.
2. Even my attorney couldn't challenge it.

But, this is my third year since moving to Germany, so I have learnt that this is how it goes here. Therefore, I decided to buy a dashcam for my bike to protect my right to fight back.

But I found that many of the questions about dashcams in Germany are still in a gray zone. I guess that if I buy a dashcam from the domestic market, such as Saturn, and I don't upload the footage to YouTube or something like that, everything is going to be okay. But dashcams for bikes are not common in Germany. Only action cams, such as a GoPro, are applicable products.

Regarding the privacy law of Germany, is the "loop record" function enough to avoid privacy conflicts? In my study, somebody says "loop record is enough even if it's short (<5min) and many videos are saved on the memory card." In contrast, somebody says "No, it is not enough. The short video should be recorded in volatile memory, just like RAM."

Which is right? I guess it is a universal rule not only for bike dashcams, but for car dashcams also. Please let me know how it is defined.

Does anyone here have experience with mock interviews in recruiting?

Hi everyone,

I'm 27(w) years old and currently preparing for several job interviews in German.

I do get invited to interviews, but I often struggle to show my full potential because I get very nervous.

I was wondering if there are any recruiters or HR professionals here who have experience with mock interviews and would be willing to share their insights or help me practice. I'd really appreciate a private message if anyone is interested.

Thank you very much!