New GA Series: Bonn International "I'm surprised that Germans still pay with cash"

Bonn · As Chief Media Officer of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC), Craig Spence travels a lot around the world. In the meantime, Bonn has become home for the Briton. What the 43-year-old particularly appreciates about the city and what still surprises him after twelve years.

 Craig Spence is Chief Brand and Communications Officer at the Bonn-based International Paralympic Committee. The Briton has lived in the city for twelve years.

Craig Spence is Chief Brand and Communications Officer at the Bonn-based International Paralympic Committee. The Briton has lived in the city for twelve years.

Foto: Benjamin Westhoff

Craig Spence has had an exhausting few months. The Briton is head of media for the International Paralympic Committee (IPC), which organises the Paralympic Games and has its headquarters in Bonn. With twelve years in this position, he is used to stress and crises, but the recent Winter Games in Beijing were a new experience for him, he says. The reason is the war in Ukraine. The day before the Games began, the IPC excluded Russian and Belarusian athletes from the competitions. "The Beijing Games were by far the most stressful work experience in my life," says the 43-year-old, who wrote the opening speech, among other things. The night before the opening ceremony, he slept for three-quarters of an hour. Things did not get much better in the days that followed. His resolutions on returning to Bonn were therefore clear: sleep and regenerate.

As a staff member of the IPC, Spence is one of many people who live in Bonn but grew up in another country. After the Bundestag decided to move to Berlin in 1991, Bonn was established as a centre for international organisations. The city now boasts 150 non-governmental organisations. More than 60,000 foreigners live in the city, which advertises itself as the "German UN City". Does Bonn live up to this designation? And how international can a city with around 330,000 inhabitants be?

Impressed by the view of the UN logo at Langer Eugen

For Spence, who travelled about 150 days a year before the pandemic, Bonn is an international city. He remembers how impressed he was when he came to Bonn for an IPC job interview in 2010: "From my future office I could see the UN logo on Langer Eugen, the former chancellery and the Post Tower." That's when he realised that Bonn was different from his hometown of Leeds. There is also a vibrant scene of expatriates - people who work temporarily for their company or organisation abroad - in Bonn. This international environment helps a lot in feeling at home as a foreigner.

In addition to the prestigious buildings, there were two basic things that struck him in his early days in Bonn: how beautiful and how small the city is. Above all, the Rhine and the parks make Bonn worth living in, in his view. And the small size compared to international metropolises is not a flaw, on the contrary: "In five minutes you are out of the city and in the countryside," says Spence in English with a recognisable Yorkshire accent. "The city has everything you need for someone who is 43. I don't need nightclubs, I need nice and relaxed bars and restaurants - and Bonn has those. And if you want the other things, you can go to Cologne." The highlight for him in Bonn: cycling to a beer garden on the Rhine to watch football with friends.

The pandemic has further changed his image of the city for the better, he says. Whereas Bonn was previously mainly "base and bed" for him due to the many business trips, he now had time to explore the surroundings. "I went out cycling every day. And I thought to myself: this is really a beautiful part of the world. I feel at home here now - more than in Leeds," says Spence. The Briton has found compensation for his favourite football club Leeds United before. He has had a season ticket for Bayer Leverkusen since 2015. The fact that it didn't become 1. FC Köln or another club was for pragmatic reasons. Spence wanted to see Champions League matches. He regularly goes to the stadium with five colleagues.

So is everything perfect in Bonn? Not quite. The tight housing market makes it difficult for people from abroad to find a flat in the city. Landlords tend to prefer Germans whom they expect to stay for a longer period of time. Something has to be done in this regard if Bonn wants to continue to be attractive for expatriates, Spence said. Improvements are also needed in the area of inclusion. While, in his view, the city society is very progressive in dealing with people with physical disabilities and the LGBTQ community, people with black skin colour still experience exclusion, as colleagues have told him.

And then there are the little things that make him, as a Brit, marvel even after more than a decade in Germany. "I'm amazed that Germans still pay with cash," says Spence. The fact that it is not uncommon in Germany for rented flats often to have no lamp sockets and no built-in kitchen was unusual for him, he says.

It will be more than two years before Spence has to spend another sleepless night at the Paralympic Games. That it will be boring by then is unlikely. "Now we're already planning for Milan, Paris, LA and Brisbane. It never stops."

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