Even the title - "Buschgirl - wie ich unter die Deutschen geriet" ("Bush Girl - How I got Stuck with the Germans") - gives some indication as to the tone Rose-Anne Clermont's book takes. An account of her experiences as a black woman coming to Germany in the late 1990s, it may well make you smile or even laugh out loud, but sometimes the stories are heartbreaking.

Born in the United States to Haitian immigrants (both of whom were doctors), Rose-Anne was always aware of her skin color while growing up in suburban Maryland. After moving to New York to study dance at Sarah Lawrence College and making her first forays into the world of journalism, she found herself in a city where she was simply Rose-Anne and not Rose-Anne, the black girl.

However, upon re-locating to Germany in the late 90s as a Fulbright scholar, first in Bremen and then in Berlin, she was aware that suddenly her skin color was important again.

Deutsche Welle's Gavin Blackburn recently met Rose-Anne Clermont at her Berlin home and the author began the encounter by reading a passage from "Buschgirl." The story is one of the more shocking in the book.

"Hanover, 1998. I finally found another bathroom but discovered the line was moving so slowly because there were only two stalls inside. I took a spot in the line and tried not to moan when I was nearly knocked over by an overpowering stench. A combination of stale sweat and body odor. My nostrils flared and followed the funk path to a skinny, 20-something blonde woman. Her frail body was lost in a flurry of brown and purple material. Not only did she smell, she used her odor to intimidate us as she squeezed herself into the bathroom's tiny entrance and cut off the rest of us in line. It was finally my turn. I sprinted into the stall and chanted a steady stream of "Thank you Gods" under my breath. When I got out, I noticed the woman next in line didn't go in after me. She looked me up and down and didn't move. I shrugged and moved past her to wash my hands. She didn't budge, even when the person behind her asked if she hadn't noticed the empty stall. She shook her head and let the person behind her go ahead of her. At that moment the stinky dread-headed girl barged out of her stall. Then, as if everything had been switched into slow motion, the older woman took three steps forward and closed the door to the stall that had been occupied by the putrid hippy."

Deutsche Welle: That probably wasn't the best welcome to Germany - that someone would refuse to use a toilet cubicle because a black woman had just been in there.

Rose-Anne Clermont: I think that's one of the big shockers in the book that that woman didn't want to go in the toilet stall after me. That was just ba-dam! Welcome to Germany! But it's written in a funny way. Other things that stand out are the every day silliness, like when I went to the dentist and he just kept saying: "But you must be used to hot weather coming from Africa." Meanwhile, I'm sweating profusely and had to say, "Well, actually we've got four seasons in New York as well!" [laughs]

What inspired you to write down all of these stories in a book?

I just wanted to tell my story because I think it's a funny one. A lot of shocking things have happened to me here. But the reason why I wrote in this funny tone is that I wanted people to laugh because laughter is such an ice-breaker, so I think if you approach difficult topics like race and integration, they listen more closely if it's funny. You can still give them the big shebang at the end. So maybe there's a hidden agenda. I didn't intend to do it but I certainly see how that could happen.

Surely trying to get the Germans to laugh is a bigger challenge than getting them to change their ideas about immigration!

Getting Germans to laugh is not as hard as I thought it would be! I think Germans want to laugh and I think they do have a good sense of humor and I think they can laugh at themselves but I had to be ready to tease myself as well.

Why do you think there was such interest and curiosity about your skin color?

When I first came to Berlin, there just were not a lot of black people. That was strange because I expected something different. If I went into certain places I would definitely get stares and I thought "this is really weird for such a big city." That was disconcerting. That was in 2001 and maybe a couple of years later suddenly you started seeing black people. But they were very clearly African. We were black and we would acknowledge each other, but clearly there was a cultural gap. It's like a German and someone from Serbia; there are cultural differences even though they're both white.

Did you find it difficult to integrate in Berlin?

I did have some problems integrating into Berlin society. It's funny because people might think you're integrated because you've achieved a certain level of education or a language ability, but you don't feel integrated when people keep asking you why do you speak German so well. There was this constant questioning, so it never felt like I was integrated because it always felt like I was being set apart.

So integration goes beyond simply learning the language?

I feel like I've done everything I possibly can to integrate; I speak the language, I've worked in German, I've written articles in German, I learned German songs and nursery rhymes to sing to my kids. I think what has to happen on the German side is a sort of an acceptance of people who are willing to integrate. I think it's about not fearing change. Change is scary for everyone, but there is such an inherent fear or resistance to things changing. If they want people to learn their language, they also have to accept that their culture is going to shift.

Do you feel completely at ease now in Germany or are you always going to be Rose-Anne, the black woman?

I'm always going to be a black woman in Germany. Maybe it will be different for my children's generation. Berlin is unique because it's becoming very diverse, but if you leave Berlin, you see very quickly that Germany's not really a very diverse place and I think it's going to take time and people mixing and people moving in and out for skin color not to play as big of a role.

Text: Gavin Blackburn
Editor: Louisa Schaefer