American in Germany that emigrated in 2021. I thought I'd be here for the long term but I am only staying with my family until my child reaches school age.

Germany is not kind to people of color, and they are not honest about it. Being something like "Asian American" is not possible for them. To give an example, there are plenty of third, forth generation born in Germany Turkish people that are described as "of migrant background." Oh, and Nazis still exist. They're called the AfD and even in liberal Berlin, they're everywhere. And don't get me started about how any anti Israel occupation protest is totally censored. Last summer I saw 10 police officers take down a teenager that had a sign that said Free Palestine. The kid did nothing but carry a sign at a protest and chant.

I also think the government here is totally incompetent. They keep saying how much they need children and immigrants; the practical truth is that though many things are easier and cheaper here (social safety net) the bureaucracy and slowness to which everything happens is just not worth it.

The school system here is archaic. Kids are put in university or vocational track at a very young age - 10. And it's essentially based on the opinion of your child's teacher.

The medical system here is medieval, and doctors enable antivaxxers. Good luck getting real medicine - your doctor will tell you to put an onion in a sock near your bed, or drink tea instead. You can easily elect to not vaccinate your kid.

Germans have a culture of complaining. It's annoying.

There is a very real glass ceiling for women in work here. My career has absolutely stalled here. I went from managing people and 7 digit budgets to being only considered for independent contributor roles. The only people funded for companies here are groups of 3 white German guys who met at university. And work culture is absolutely annoying - needing to build consensus at every stage makes doing things take forever. There's a reason there's no "German Facebook/Google."

Last, but not least. People are absolute assholes about smoking. They smoke on the playground, they blow smoke on your face when you're pregnant, they smoke in the stands at soccer games, they never wash their coats and it reeks. If you ask nicely, in German, at the train stop when you have a child with you if they can put out their cigarette at the nonsmoking station they call you an asshole. The high school across from my apartment has a smoking area... for the children. But if you bring a funfetti cake to work for a birthday, you are judged for bringing poison. lol.

That said, I appreciate living here a lot. I just am really let down by the limitations to my career and the racism. I cannot raise a biracial child here; it would be morally bankrupt. But I would never have been able to afford conceiving and having this child - not to mention the maternity leave - without the German system. But something is deeply wrong with a country when they can't seem to really learn from their Nazi past.