GERMANY is not just a nice place to stay; it’s also a nice place to work. Over the decades, Germany has attracted millions of immigrants coming from Asia and Eastern Europe such as Poland because they work here. Most of them land jobs as blue collar workers although a few artists coming from China and Japan are lucky enough to become celebrities here and they’re doing well euro-wise. They either become acrobats or musicians or magicians or ballet performers or painters; the thing is, they do not become your common street performers. There are various forms of entertainment here from body painting to violin recitals to opera performances to vertigo-inducing daredevil stunts such as walking on tightropes suspended at 50 to 100 feet above the ground.

There are foreigners whose technical skills are direly needed. There are American physicians who have found their calling here rather than taking up residencies in the United States – from trauma surgeons to specialists in infectious diseases such as bird flu and mad cow disease. They are employed not just in hospitals but also in food processing companies such as the Tulip Food Company based in Dusseldorf. Others ultimately work here as electronics and communications engineers and land at DW while some who are mechanical engineers end up working at coal-fired power plants such as those erected by Steag AG. Overall, there are a total of 24,300 foreigners living in Germany to work. They mostly come from the Middle East in such countries as Morocco, Qatar, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

Not only that, there are about 35,000 exchange students here in Germany coming from various countries such as the United States, Canada, Mexico and Israel. Most of them love to take German language studies because as a Romance language, German is not that difficult to acquire. You only need to view movies by Germany’s great filmmaker Wolfgang Petersen such as Das Boot to supplement what you have learned in the language institute. There are three stages in a typical German language course – basic, intermediate and advanced – and if you are planning to work here in the next three years or so, better take all of those. Each stage lasts a semester long and you can take them up during weekends. Or if you are too busy, you may take them as an online course. You can even practise your German in a fun way online - why not try a pokern forum? You can chat to your fellow competitors whilst maybe even winning some money!

Spending the holiday breaks travelling is a really great way to explore new places and meet great new people. And it need not be expensive! By investing in options such as car rental (try car hire Malaga if you are in Spain) and hostels, you really can have a great and economic holiday! Broaden your horizons today!

TODAY is Chinese New Year and this post is dedicated to all the Chinese-Germans and the German-Chinese located here in Germany. I have a friend Rhiner who has a Chinese girlfriend. In fact, they went to the beautiful city of Shanghai together last June where his girlfriend’s parents live. He says that the Chinese are wonderful.

And true enough, there are a few Chinese immigrants living here in Germany without doubt. The more congested Chinese population here is concentrated in Hamburg. The Chinese have been here even before World War I broke out. In fact, many of the Chinese-Germans soon served in the German military during the two global wars at the early part of the previous century. Many of them are already converts to Roman Catholicism and therefore do not anymore adhere to certain Chinese beliefs such as feng shui. But their industriousness is largely still retained thus; we can see the presence of middle-scale businesses in Germany blossoming. In fact, immediately upon the fall of the Berlin wall and the reunification of Germany, a great number of Chinese-Germans went to the eastern side of the country and found themselves a niche in the market there.

However, a large number of them are still adherents to Confucianism. And they all celebrated Chinese New Year 2008 with glee. One of the most important and interesting facts is this – the Chinese are the number two beer drinkers in the world and Germany is the world’s largest exporter of beer. This fact is all the more relevant when you can see that the Beijing Olympics will be happening here this summer. More than a million people will troop there from various continents will troop there this August. The Beijing Olympics is one important market for German beer exporters.

If you happen to be in Germany right now, why not visit a Chinese fastfood restaurant. Whether you’re in Berlin or Dusseldorf, there are certainly lots of Chinese fastfood restaurants everywhere. They even serve rice balls so that Germans are introduced to this Oriental staple. They serve take out food which is stuffed in cardboard boxes with accompanying chopsticks so you can enjoy them fresh and hot at the confines of your condominium suite. Some of the most common delicacies are chop suey which is basically a mix of sautéed beef, pork and vegetables and fortune cookies. Oh, those cute fortune cookies! I used to eat them when I was young and I still savor them to this day occasionally.

There are a lot of Chinese immigrants here in Germany that the Chinese already have their own television network. The Chinese Embassy in the country is likewise touring all around Germany, promoting Chinese cultural awareness. They even have their own language school which is offering both Mandarin and Cantonese short-term programs. What’s more, they organize Chinese excursions for free to qualified scholars! Isn’t that wonderful? But in the end, the ties that bind them are not the sights. It’s the beautiful people of these twin countries.

TO welcome 2008, both the two telecommunications giants in the country, T-Mobile of Deutsche Telekom, and O2 have extended their Christmas holidays up to the end of March. Annual subscriptions of light are still pegged at 195 euros, basic at 295 euros, plus at 475 euros and unlimited at 950 euros.

And as the year unfolds, Germany’s economy is definitely improving as more and more economic analysts have already made bullish predictions for this year in the country. In fact, there are dozens of economic events already scheduled to be held in Germany for the next 30 days or so. For example, the finance ministers of Germany, Britain, France and Italy will meet tomorrow to discuss their economic plans for the next 11 months. Then on January 29, heads of state of these countries will be finalizing what the finance ministers have recommended to them. And dig this – the meeting of the heads of state will be held in Berlin. There will surely be a vibrant discussion among these personalities in Berlin as British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Nicholas Sarkozy and Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi. Also on the same day, there will be a conference on The Creation of Economic and Corporate Wealth in a Dynamic Economy in Frankfurt.

Then by the next day on January 18, International Green Week will be held in Berlin. Of course, the opening rite of this celebration is expected to be graced by Merkel, Brown, Prodi and Sarkozy who have all committed to be environment-friendly after they were reportedly touched by the film of the former vice president of the United States, Al Gore, The Inconvenient Truth. Watch out Michael Crichton! But even before the celebration of the International Green Week was initiated, it has already been a practice in German hotels and beach resorts to be environment-friendly. Even tap water in these establishments can be drunk. And hygiene is definitely a priority especially among the nudist resorts.

It is not about the economy and the environment that the Germans are concerned about though for Berlin will be the host of yet another forum in resolving the deadlock in Kosovo. Of course, any political problem needs a financial solution. Thus, the Kosovo problem will also be discussed in the EuroGroup finance ministers meeting again to be held in Berlin on January 21. Then there will be an energy conference in Berlin the next day, January 22. Topics to be discussed are the financial effects of environmentalism that is sweeping Europe on the coal plant industry of Germany. As everybody knows, Germany is the capital of coal-fired electricity plants all over the world.

On January 28, there will be a convocation among the steel industries in Germany in Berlin. Then on February 7 will be the much-awaited Berlin International Film Festival. The festival will be graced by Wolfgang Petersen himself, the most successful German-born film director in Hollywood.