Showing results by narrator "Michèle Allaire-Rowan" in All Categories

Crossing Borders and Cultural Divides is set in Europe in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s, a time when it became easier to cross European borders and settle in another country. It is based on my life growing up in a French village, then working in England, and finally discovering Germany. Tradition, wine, and oysters? Rock ’n’ roll, tea, and fish and chips? Or politics, beer, and sausages? That is a testing choice and conundrum for Mimi. Can she settle for a traditional teacher’s fate, absorbed by her native culture?

My Berlin Koffer is a time capsule of West Berlin between 1976 and 1986, a time when the city was literally an island of freedom in the middle of Eastern Europe, restricted by the Iron Curtain and the Berlin Wall. After a few years of teaching in England and in France, Mimi is looking for a change in her life. West Berlin in the 1970s offers affordable rents, a good university, part-time jobs, and an abundance of cultural events.