Amanda says:
April 22, 2011 at 9:28 am

Great resources for moving to Geilenkirchen:

pcsgeilenkirchen.blogspot.com

http://www.livingingk.com


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susanna says:
February 13, 2011 at 10:37 pm

Geilenkirchen: Unlike Brunssum and Schinnen, NATO Air Base is on the German side and shares services with the other 2 bases/installations in Netherlands.

There are a few services, laundromats, a NATEX stores. (groceries, clothing, alcohol, gifts, toys, outdoor equipment,) NATEX stores are run in Euros and that in itself gets expensive. It might be time to take a look at the shopping options around you. Aldi in Germany and Lidl
if you have one , are great options for groceries. Germans are frugal ?¢‚Ǩ‚Äú you will find great places to shop. The items you buy might not be always American brands though.
The gas station there can only be used with special gas cards/permits.


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Vanessa Niere says:
July 20, 2010 at 1:30 pm

The Ruhrarea, (on German called ?¢‚Ǩ?ìRuhrgebiet?¢‚Ǩ¬ù, colloquial ?¢‚Ǩ?ìRuhrpott, Kohlenpott, Pott or Revier?¢‚Ǩ¬ù) is an urban area in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. With 4435 km?Ǭ? and a population of 5 million habitants, it is the largest congested urban area in Germany and the fifth largest in Europe.

Named after the river ?¢‚Ǩ?ìRuhr?¢‚Ǩ¬ù, it consists of several large, formerly industrial cities. From west to east, the area includes the city boroughs of Duisburg, Oberhausen, Bottrop, M?ɬºlheim an der Ruhr, Essen, Gelsenkirchen, Bochum, Herne, Hagen, Dortmund, and Hamm, as well as parts of the more ?¢‚Ǩ?ìrural?¢‚Ǩ¬ù districts Wesel, Recklinghausen, Unna and Ennepe-Ruhr-Kreis. These districts have grown together into a large complex with a vast industrial landscape since 19th century.

Historically, the western Ruhr towns, such as Duisburg and Essen, belonged to the historic region of the Rhineland, whereas the eastern part of the Ruhr Area, including Gelsenkirchen, Bochum, Dortmund and Hamm, were part of the region of Westphalia.

The Ruhrarea is bordered by the rivers Ruhr to the south, Rhine to the west, and Lippe to the north. It is furthermore considered part of the larger Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region of more than 10 million people and 7000 km?Ǭ?.

Enough facts?¢‚Ǩ¬¶.time for homesolidarity!

See, it is one thing to read about the Ruhrarea, and a really different to live in. It can?Ǭ¥t be explained by words, it?Ǭ¥s more like a feeling. People always say things like: ?¢‚Ǩ?ìHome is where your heart is!?¢‚Ǩ¬ù

But what does that mean? What is home exactly? Is it where your friends and family are? What does a City have to do, so that you lose your heart to it? I thought about that a long time, sitting on my balcony, smoking a cigarette. Suddenly a door is opened and my neighbor comes out, looking at me sitting there and smiles to me.?¢‚Ǩ¬ùWhat are you doing there, so late at night??¢‚Ǩ¬ù she asks me. I explain my task to her. Now we both sit on the balcony, talking about home?¢‚Ǩ¬¶

In the Ruhrarea solidarity is a really big thing. Everyone tries to help everyone in everything. Coming back to the facts histology?Ǭ¥s would explain that by the migration time during the industrial boom in the year 1850. The progressive Prussian economic policy dismissed the feudalistic structure and introduced the freedom of trade. As an effect a huge part of the rural population immigrated in the booming cities, for decades people come from all over Europe to work in the growing industry. The population rises from round about 400.000 (1850) at the very beginning to over 3.8 Million (1925) at the End of the boom. The Ruhrarea had grown up to an industrial hotspot, moulded by Coal and Steal.

But the huge number of workers had to have a bed to sleep in and a table to eat on. The indigenous people had to support them, without further ado the immigrants also called ?¢‚Ǩ?ìGastarbeiter?¢‚Ǩ¬ù means ?¢‚Ǩ?ìGuestworkers?¢‚Ǩ¬ù where part of the big families of the workers living in the Ruhrarea. From now on they all sit together on one table and eating at the same time with the whole family. The immigrated workers where called ?¢‚Ǩ?ìKostg?ɬ§nger?¢‚Ǩ¬ù there is no translation for that, but it means that someone could live and eat in the house for free, just because the public needs him to stay. Many of the former kids in these families now say they never had a clue there is a stranger in the house they always thought it was a buddy of the family. Time flies and the former stranger became a friend?¢‚Ǩ¬¶you can still see that in the Ruhrarea?¢‚Ǩ¬¶

The marketing slogan of the Ruhrarea is: ?¢‚Ǩ?ìCome as a Guest and leave as a friend!?¢‚Ǩ¬ù so now you know where it comes from.

But is that really the only reason why I feel home here?

The Ruhrarea was a fallen Angel for a really long time. Because of the industrial past of the Area other county?Ǭ¥s made fun about the ?¢‚Ǩ?ìRuhris?¢‚Ǩ¬ù, the inhabitants of the Ruhrarea also called. Your browser may not support display of this image. Living during the industrial time was very hard, most of the people used to work in the coal mines, or as steal workers there were no doctors or chemists or something else. People used to earn their money with hard work. Other county?Ǭ¥s just saw the smoke other the Ruhrarea, saw the dirty workers in their working clothes and of course it was no nice place?¢‚Ǩ¬¶in the 19th century the Ruhrarea was a really dusty one and because of the funny dialect, spoken in the region other county?Ǭ¥s thought the people there were not so smart.

Is it the dialect I speak that makes me feel home here?

The local dialect of German is commonly called ?¢‚Ǩ?ìRuhrdeutsch?¢‚Ǩ¬ù or ?¢‚Ǩ?ìRuhrpottdeutsch?¢‚Ǩ¬ù, although there is really no uniform dialect that justifies designation as a single dialect. It is rather a working class sociolect with influences from the various dialects found in the area and changing even with the professions of the workers. A major common influence stems from the coal mining tradition of the area. Working in depths of 1.400 meters or more the miners had to simplify the language so that they could exchange information?Ǭ¥s in a short time. The influence of the immigrants working in the region does the rest. And: drums please! A new ?¢‚Ǩ?ìdialect?¢‚Ǩ¬ù was born. The different words we use in the ?¢‚Ǩ?ìpott?¢‚Ǩ¬ù coming from Polish, Jewish or sometimes British influences. Polish because of the immigrants, Jewish because of the east Prussian history and British maybe because of the occupying time after the second world war.

A typical polish influenced word is ?¢‚Ǩ?ìMottek?¢‚Ǩ¬ù for example, which means machine.

Jewish influences were noticed in the word ?¢‚Ǩ?ìPinunsen?¢‚Ǩ¬ù, which means cents/pennys or money itself.

Best example for influences is the word ?¢‚Ǩ?ìpott?¢‚Ǩ¬ù which is a derivate of ?¢‚Ǩ?ìP?ɬºtt?¢‚Ǩ¬ù (Pitmen?Ǭ¥s term for mine) and means the mine but also the region itself. This word, of course comes from the English word ?¢‚Ǩ?ìPit?¢‚Ǩ¬ù.

You see it is a typical Ruhri habit to be opened for the world and its different languages or cultures. We try to learn wherever we are. And this, I guess, is not the habit of stupid people.

It took us a long time to change that thinking about us, and we are still not finished yet. But we are still working on, strong and persistent just like the miners in the past.

Is it the industrial history and it?Ǭ¥s establishers that makes us feel home?

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Maybe, yes. The most important industry between the coal mining, was the Krupp Company, established by Friedrich Krupp in the year 1811 and boomed under the umbrella of Alfred Krupp (Friedrichs son). During the industrial time the Krupp Company was the biggest one in whole Europe. You can still visit the ?¢‚Ǩ?ìVilla H?ɬºgel?¢‚Ǩ¬ù located in Essen at lake Baldeney. This is where Alfred Krupp met Kings and sovereigns of Europe as Customer?Ǭ¥s. He was an interesting man in every way. Alfred refused a title as Sir one day and said: ?¢‚Ǩ?ìI don?Ǭ¥t need a title, my name is Krupp and that?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s enough!?¢‚Ǩ¬ù

More informations: http://www.villahuegel.de (also in English)

That is the typical Ruhri habit to be down to earth we all can identify with. The Krupp Company was the first one which allowed its workers a financial and health safeguarding by the way. So it was an idol for the modern health system we now knowing in Germany.

Since the coalcrisis in the year of 1957 the Ruhrarea experienced a structural changing. Many mines were closed and the workers needed new jobs at the market. The market itself changed from producing to it-business, services etc. Many workers found new jobs in the car factories, the Opel factory in Bochum should named here. In the year of 2009 only 4 Mines left: West, Prosper-Haniel, Auguste-Victoria and Ost. An important step from a producing to a researching location was the establishment of the universities. The first university established in the Ruhrarea was the University of Bochum in 1962. It also was the first university established in the federal republic of Germany by the way.

Because of the fast structure changing and the high level of unemployed people, the government of North Rhine Westphalia hadn?Ǭ¥t enough money to break off the former mines. So they decayed during the years. The Ruhri now was a student not a worker. But the Ruhri still was faithful to his roots, the mining tradition were never forgotten. The following generations still were interested in the ?¢‚Ǩ?ìart of mining?¢‚Ǩ¬ù, so the decayed mines were restored and reopened. Some were restored to a museum and others to party locations.

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The most popular is the German mining museum located in Bochum where you can slip to depths of 1000 meters. It is one of the most visited museums in Germany and applies to the most significant mining museum and mining industry research center in the world.

An Opencast exhibition and an original underground mine demonstrate the daily routine of mining to the visitors. Additional to that the shaft tower offers an amazing overview to Bochum and the entire Ruhrarea!

More information: http://www.bergbaumuseum.de (Unfortunately just available in German)

The Zeche Zollverein in Essen, also a former mine, was turned into a visitor centre and museum. Zollverein can look back on a turbulent history. At the same time it is creating a new future for itself. The old mining complex in the north of Essen is the most prominent example of the structural change in the whole region. Since 2001 it is on the UNESCO World Culture Heritage List. You can follow the roots of the Ruhrarea from that location through the region. It was the biggest and most modern mine of the world. The architects Fritz Schupp and Martin Kremmer, who?Ǭ¥s created the cross formed building after the principles of symmetry and geometry, created with ?¢‚Ǩ?æZollverein Schacht XII?¢‚Ǩ¬ù an unique role model. In 1986 the mine was closed. But instead of breaking it down the government of North Rhine Westphalia decided to buy it from the mining company and put a preservation order on to restore it. Visitors of ?¢‚Ǩ?ìMuseum Zollverein?¢‚Ǩ¬ù can follow the way of the black gold now. The coal road ?¢‚Ǩ‚Äú in original condition ?¢‚Ǩ‚Äú leads through the coal wash, passes huge machines and conveyor belts and tells from the dusty loud history.

More information: http://www.zollverein.de

For 2010, Essen is representative for the Ruhrarea, the European Capital of Culture!

So what is it that makes me feel home now? I still don?Ǭ¥t know. I guess it is something between the roots of my family, my friends (who can?Ǭ¥t be found somewhere else), the solidarity we all live for. This is the only place on earth, where people telling you the truth (sometimes a little bit irritating, when the shop guy tells you, he just watched during you tipping in your credit card number into the Terminal ). It is the typical Ruhri humor, yes Germans have one, that makes me feel home. I was in Hamburg one day, making fun?¢‚Ǩ¬¶they don?Ǭ¥t got it?¢‚Ǩ¬¶

It is the nature, which is beautiful here.

I guess it is a mixture of all that factors?¢‚Ǩ¬¶

Nordrhein-Westfalen

Bielefeld

* Catterick Barracks (GB)

* Rochdale Barracks (GB)



D?ɬºlmen

* Tower Barracks (GB) (werden 2014 geschlo?É??en)

Geilenkirchen * NATO Air Base Geilenkirchen (USAFE) G?ɬºtersloh

* Mansergh Barracks (GB)
* Princess Royal Barracks (GB)


Herford

* BFBS Radio Germany
* Hammersmith Barracks (GB)
* Wentworth Barrack (GB)
* Harewood Barracks (GB)


M?ɬ?nchengladbach

* Joint Headquarters (JHQ) Rheindahlen (GB) (werden 2014 geschlo?É??en)

M?ɬºnster

* Oxford Barracks (GB)
* York Barracks (GB)
* Prins-Claus-Kaserne (NL)
* Bl?ɬºcher Kaserne (NL)
o Niederl?ɬ§ndische Elemente des Deutsch-Niederl?ɬ§ndischen Korps

Niederkr?ɬºchten-Elmpt

* Elmpt Station (GB), bis 2002 RAF Br?ɬºggen
(werden 2014 geschlo?É??en)
Paderborn
* Antwerp Barracks (GB) (Sennelager)
* Barker Barracks (GB)
* Dempsey Barracks (GB) (Sennelager)
* Normandy Barracks (GB) (Sennelager)
* Alanbrooke Barracks (GB)
* Athlone Barracks (GB) (Sennelager)
* Talbot Barracks (GB) (Sennelager)



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