Well...I've been observing niqab for 3 months now!
It's prohibited by law to cover your face on IDs, driver license etc. Those are the exceptions other than that in Germany one isn't allowed to wear it while attending public insitutions such as school or courtrooms or to take part in a protest with it.
I'm constantly insulted and degraded not only by non-Muslims, it's often Muslims who tell me I'm going to extreme who point fingers at me or make stupid remarks...
Today I was at the private tutoring institute and two little boys made fun of me, one called me a "zombie" I don't know why but I simply lost my patience and snapped back at him. I ended up insulting a little kid, later he and his friend(who was a Moroccon Muslim boy) came and apologised and even gave me some of their chocolate...I felt so bad...it's not his fault that he doesn't understand it, of course he is curious about it and it really made me think whether I should continue with it. On top of that my family is not even Muslim, my dad is not aware of the niqab he already gets mad at me for abaya and headscarf. Momentarily I really don't know if it's the right thing to do, as I rarely see any other Niqabi running around. I feel so helpless, I really want to be a strong Muslimah, at the same time I don't want to EVER scream at a little child again for not understanding something so alien to him.
:(
You can be a strong muslimah even without wearing a niqab. The whole purpose of hijab is lost when you wear niqab in a society where everyone is looking at you because of niqab.