End of school year in Berlin.

[admylin]

Thank goodness, today we broke up in Berlin for the school holidays and only 2 days to go till we are back in England for 4 glorious weeks of civilization.
I got a list handed from both ds and dd's teachers with all the books we have to buy for the new term, 85 Euro for ds and 80 Euro for dd - then all note books, pens, even drawing paper. Most kids brought a bunch of flowers for the teacher, the school was filled with flowers on all the window sills. Can't wait to get out of here! MN has really helped keep me going when I felt homesick for England .

Do you know that they have a kind of dance/singing/acting school for those kids after school. Don't know if yours have time, but dd or even ds might love it. They do have to perform in those CHristmas shows though.

I have to find some activities for us in the october holiday as my parents are coming over and they don't speak german so that rules out theatre style stuff, any ideas ?
What do you do with family when they visit? I will have to find a couple of nice places to eat out as that is a hobby of my parents and we rarely eat out as we prefer our own indian food and don't like german style but maybe my parents would like to try it I don't know. Anyway if you have an idea pass it on!

My dad loved the Museum für Verkehr und Technik. I don't think you really need to organise English speaking activities , since they're really only coming to see you and your family and you'll all be chatting in English anyway, don't you think?

I like the planes/space travel, dd loves the trains.

I do like German food.

I like it more than is good for me :-)

I will think about places you could go. Have to go off and bake a cake for the school fair tomorrow. I am not motivated but I should get on with it otherwise it won't be cooked by the time I have to leave and pick up dd.

Don't you just love all the school activities for mums?!

damn! Just seen that although I went shopping this morning I bought 1 packet of ground almonds when in fact I need 2, so won't make it this morning after all. Another long night baking and decorating cakes I suppose!

Just had, as an ex- and soon-to-be-again-Berliner, to drop by.

SSSandy, thanks for asking after me on my sad thread. I'm pretty OK now.

Admylin, there are loads of Indian places on and around Oranienburger Str.

oops, that was suppsed to be a - Freudian slip?

Good to "see" you FIT.

Berlin is lovely at the moment, don't you think so Admylin? 27 degrees, lots of sun and so many pretty trees lining the streets, cafes full of people drinking coffee. Passed by the library on the way home from dd's school and saw lots of little bunny rabbits hopping about (dodging the Dobermans). Feeling pretty cheerful today all in all.

How do you think ds will cope with the move, FIT, when the time comes?

I think he should be OK. We spent a few weeks in winter and again in summer in Berlin and are quite often away for one reason and another, and he's usually quite relaxed about he change. More worried about how we'll cope - I love Berlin but loathe and detest the actual process of moving.

[cheeky request emoticon] Can both of you keep your ears open for flats becoming vacant? We'll be looking for 2.5-3.5 rooms, with garden access or a protected yard for ds to play in if at all possible (more important to us than size of flat), in a Nice Area. We'll advertise in Zitty etc in a couple of months.

Are you planning on sending ds to a bilingual school? Do you know where they all are etc? I would look for a flat near the school you want.

So are you looking at East or West Berlin? We got our flat via the Berliner Morgenpost which is also online (flats on Saturdays), you could check it online if you want to get an idea of what's available. I'll keep my ears open for you.

Don't envy you the hassle of moving!

FIT we had a real horror trip to Berlin searching for flats and ended up looking in all the wrong areas, but as SSSandy said teh Morgenpost seemed the best place to look (found that out too late) and you definately need a certificate of how much money you earn (real proof or bank slip) and a form to say you always payed your rent in the last place you rented, also some people asked us to show a SHUFA form which we didn't know how to do but has something to do with prior debts and bank stuff, we found nice flats and wanted tosign contracts straight away but we couldn't because we didn't havethe stupid papers- we tried explaining what dh's jobwas and his boss even rang up for us but they always take the candidates who give all the stuff they want and have no time for sympathy. I could go on for ages so if you want to hear any of the other things that went wrong so you can do it better just ask!Yes I know the indian places but it isn't real indian food for us, we cook the real stuff with our own spices, how we like it and the restaurant food is too creamy and fake! No, if we go out I like to go to the italian style or american diner for fun!
By the way what price range are you looking to rent for? In our street there are some flats but quite expensive - others are abit cheaper but no lift for example .?
SSSandy that is a good tip, my dad would also love the museum für verkehr thanks!

Sandy, we may not even be in Berlin that long 8ds is only 16 months now), but if I can avoid it I'd rather not have him in the German school system, so it would be the BBS or an international one.

We're looking in Prenzlauer Berg, Kreuzberg, Charlottenburg, Wilmersdorf, Steglitz, Mitte, and some parts of Pankow (the 'old' part is very green and lovely).

Admylin, we don't really mind not having a lift, most Altbauten (which we'd prefer) don't have them. The main thing is really the outdoor space. Price is a bit difficult as we're changing jobs completely and at this stage we're not sure how much we'll actually be earning (which is another problem when flathunting! Hopefully by the time we start in earnest we'll have proof of income). Schufa's not a worry for us, thank goodness.

Outdoor space is going to be a real problem TBH

I know Just a house full of kids where the yard has been appropriated as a mini-playground would do (hence the plan to look in Prenzlauer Berg).

Berlin has some great green spaces but it's the DOGS, and the DOG SH*T. If only bloody dog owners would be more considerate wouldn't be worrying

Well if they even just stuck to the wide open spaces, but they do it the length and breath of our street. It's so disgusting

Yes, it is awful with the dogs here, I hate it , can't go to a park and just let the kids run - they have to dodge piles of poo. We often have a pile plonked right next to the door to our Hof, it is unbelieveable how people can even let their dog do that.
Some doctor colleagues of dh live in Pankow, you can get flats with big gardens apparantly and they say it has village atmosphere (never been myself) but you have to think about all the distances too depends where you work and do you want to drive a car to get to work (mega traffic jams due to building sites everywhere) We don't have a car as we live in Mitte and we wouldn't be able to get it parked anyway also everything is in walking distance or the tram nearby. www.immobilienscout.de often has good offers with photos of the flats which you don't get in Morgenpost.

Admylin, a friend just told me she'd thought about (English) Brownies for her dd, called up last year some time and found out it was on a weekday at 1.30 pm in Steglitz! So VERY convenient. Perhaps things have changed since, otherwise I don't know how anyone manages to get their dc there on time.

I found the info about the police verkehrsschulen, if you are interested - sorry I can't do any link thingys so youwould have to try to copy and paste this link:

www.berlin.de/polizei/verkehr/jugendverkehrsschulen.html

I got a bik etoday by the way and they were so cheap dh got one too, now I am going to get a "tour berlin by bike" book and hope the weather holds a few more weeks!

well done getting the bikes organised! Watch out for the buses though. Whenever I'm on a bus, I get the impression the driver is trying to mow down any cyclists. Think I'd stick to the pavements, I'm such a wimp, even if you do risk a fine.

A friend of mine is going to the Vekehrsschule today, thanks for the link. Something else to do!

I know, the roads scare me too, I always see people ride on the pavement around here and I thought it must be allowed but the other day after dropping kids off at school I saw 4 men from Ordnungsamt at a cross road stopping cyclists on the pavement but it is the first time I've seen them and when I'm with the kids we will definately be on the pavement anyway!
On Monday I'll get one of those berlin by bike books with routes to folow so we will start there to practise!

I see there is a Vekehrschule in Wilmersdorf which is quite handy. What do they actually do there? Do you have to call up and book a course or something or just turn up and practice driving around roads? I've heard you can do go-karting there as well but I'm not sure if that is right. Please come back and report on it if you do go.

By the way, if you like Coltrane style jazz, this restaurant in Wilmersdorf sounds interesting. Plan to try it out soon, gets rave reviews in the papers:
VietnameseRestaurant

Mostly we go to restaurants near here. There is a lovely Thai restaurant in the Meierottostrasse near Fasanenplatz but last time we were there dd threw up and left a trail of vomit all the way to the toilets. Haven't been back since, lovely food, lovely waitresses though. There's a nice Thai in Mitte too I remember near Kathe Kollwitz Platz.

For German food, you could try the Hunting Lodge (Jagdschloss) in Grunewald. They have venison, wild boar, things like that. Maybe your parents would like it there. There is a (cheaper more laid back) nice restaurant in Schöneberg near Eisenacher Strasse called der Storch. Do you know it? They have big wooden tables and you just sit with whoever else is there, i.e. you don't have a table for yourself. Food is Alsation (Alsace-Lorraine) sort of Franco-German.

I'm not sure about the verkehrsschule either, I sort of hope there will be a policeman there to expalain things and then let them go round and practise but I know in Germany there is official road safety on bikes lessons in the 4th year with school so I'm not sure. I will try and get in touch with the place by phone for the opening hours anyway - won't manage it this week though, seem to be pushed for time at the moment getting used to longer school hours and more homework and the english work on top, some days the kids only get an hour to chill out inbetween it all and that's without any clubs, sport or swimming or whatever.
Have to get organized, did your extremely active friend not have any tips for doing so many activities and feeding the family, shopping and keping the place tidy aswell?

Thanks for the eating out tips I will have to start a plan so we know where we will be every day and which restaurants are in the areas. Will haveto visit the botanical garden too, dad wanted to go there last time but we were new to Berlin and it was hard going just finding nearby things let alone venture into the SBahn!

I have no intention of even ATTEMPTING to compete with her, admylin. I just wouldn't get any joy out of a life that is so stressed. I don't think TBH she bothers much with keeping the house tidy. She cleans but she isn't on top of the housework (mind you neither am I!)

She gets up at 5.30 am, takes the kids to school, goes to work, finishes around lunchtime. The kids are at a Ganztagsschule so she has time to do shopping etc after lunch before she picks them up. They go straight from school to their activities and then just home for an evening meal.

I think it's too much TBH. Her ds is a handful and I sometimes wonder if he wouldn't benefit from a bit more peace and quiet.

StateBalletSchool

Admylin, I don't know if I asked you already but do you think your dd would like ballet? They offer courses which are very reasonable 7 Euros a time at the Staatliche Ballettschule in Prenzlauer Berg. Dd got a place in the first year course but we couldn't attend because it's on Mondays and I couldn't change her music lessons. (I have to deal with this hopelessly dithery other mum and in the end I just gave up on it). The secretary there is very nice, they have these Kindertanzklassen for schoolkids up to grade 4. You call up and ask the secretary if dd (or even ds) could attend a Probestunde.

Dd goes to a private ballet school anyway (more for fun) but I would have sent her there to get a good grounding too if I could have organised it timetable-wise.