Der Lenz ist da (we hope) - the spring edition of the Germany/Austria thread

[LinzerTorte]

A thread for all those living in Germany or Austria or anyone who just wants to chat/ask a question about living in or visiting this part of the world - all welcome.

Previous thread here.

1er Klasse - 6 or 7, 4er Klasse - 9 or 10...

I have an 8 year old in 3er Klasse at atate school, but I really can't advise as I think Berlin is probably about as similar to very rural Bavaria as it is to London :o We have also luved here since the eldest was a toddler, with no plan to move until the youngest finishes school, so have no experience to base any advice on what to do when moving frequently and likely to return to the ukin a year or 2...

My instinct would be as they are already in German Grundschule why not continue, if they are happy, as the language immersion is fairly priceless, esp if you stay 2 years more... depends whether they are happy - that's the key if you are going back to the UK medium term anyway...

oh that's OK, thanks for thinking of me MrsNutella! They're nearly 10, and 7, just for reference… so both in Grundschule next year under the Berlin system.

Ninja there are quite of lot of mini jobs being advertised round here (Baden-Württemberg) (mini jobs being a "thing", no more than 15 hours a week, no more than €450 a month). That's just what's advertised in shops etc, I haven't looked myself for work so haven't seen the proper job situation. A lot of my friends here work part time, or if not part time they work early hours, or compressed hours, or a combination of those, so as to fit with the children's school day. However I'd say it could be harder to find work while you don't have the lingo. I expect you'll learn it quickly though. Is there any chance of your DH's employer paying for a language course since they're moving you abroad? We had that, it was very helpful (an 8 week intensive Goethe course). Best of luck with the move!

sorry drinkingtea I didn't see your post yesterday. Yes I agree, we're a bit ländlich here too, and the girls go to a nice little village Grundschule. I think it's going to be a big change whatever. Mine won't be anything like as fluent as yours, so I do wonder if a bilingual school will help with their overall progress a bit more? Though I think you're right, having that total immersion is brilliant for the language learning. But if it's only 1 year, maybe they will find it particularly hard going back. Hmmmm! Thank you for your thoughts, very useful.

For any of you who remember me asking for info about Hamburg & Squash(!) for my DS last summer and the kind assistance given by ItsMYNutella - he has just completed his contract in France and is back home. Loved teaching and thinks this might be what he'll do after graduating next summer - despite all the negative thoughts re teaching which abound! Alternatively, he is thinking of another year as a language assistant in either Spain (already fluent) or returning to Germany(to improve), which he loved so I could be back for more help next year! Hope you are all well and enjoying life.

I remember you fussy, that's great to hear! Did you get to visit him in France? I'm dreading the day when ds and then a year later probably dd take off into the world.
Hope everyone enjoyed mothers day in germany/Austria on Sunday.

PieTrap, we used to live in Berlin-mitte and the dc went to Grundschule Neues Tor in the German class (as it's a german-portugese Europaschule) www.5-g-mitte.de/.

I'd say at your dc's age another year in the German system shouldn't cause any problems on returning to the UK. My 2dc had a short spell in UK primary and they'd only ever been in German school. They were in year 4 and 5 in Germany and went into year 4 and 6 in the UK and both were miles ahead on maths and didn't have any problems with the rest of the lessons.
Do you have an idea where you might move to so you can look at some of the schools? They'll probably all be Ganztagsschulen by now too, when we left they were introducing it for every school.

Yes we finally landed up going right at the end. We picked him & his girlfriend (American who he met in San Sebastian on one of his trips!), looked round the town which was really lovely and stayed overnight before taking them down to stay with us in the apt we were renting in Spain. It was great to see where he had spent his time.
Has just gone back to France for Another holiday!

Hello Ambling thanks very much for the info! I will PM you if that's ok

Hello all been poking my nose in around here for a while but never posted. I'm British and live in Cologne with my DH and 2 DC. Been in germany for 10 years now but Cologne for 7 . was working but now with 2DC really contemplating on moving back to UK as would really love to change career. Unfortunately not really made many friends here in Cologne although nice have to say its a little mmm "boring" and work wise not very interesting at all. I'm also from London so have the "bright lights,big city" syndrome.
My question is what's Berlin like, living and work wise??
Have visited for work a few times in the past but that was a while ago.
anyone??? Thanks in advance!

Hi ladies - hope you don't mind me joining your thread - am looking for some help. Due on holiday to Kitzbuhel in a few days and the weather is looking colder than I had envisaged for this time of year. Are we still likely to need hats & gloves etc at the top of the mountains? If anyone also has tips for wet days in and around the area (we have no car) I would be v grateful. Thank you!

Hi Juliet, I'm on the other side of Austria and the weather here is dreadful at the moment - we've had heavy rain for days, there was snow up in the mountains yesterday and it's not particularly warm. So as it stands yes, you would definitely need hat and gloves. Having said that, the weather is supposed to start improving on Sunday and it's forecast to be hot (mid-20s) and sunny all next week. I would still take warm clothes just to be on the safe side! I don't know the area at all so can't really make any rainy day recommendations, although I'd imagine there'd be a decent indoor pool or two in the area. (Found this one after a quick google; less info here in English.)

Hello to everyone else. Sorry, am not much help on Berlin - it's a great place to live in your late teens/early twenties, but I don't really have any experience of living there as a family (other than as an au pair decades years ago).

Linzer - that's great thank you. Sounds like typical mountain holiday packing for me i.e. nearly everything and the kitchen sink!! Let's hope the warm weather holds on for another week! Thanks again.

hello. I have namechanged, but am the one who nearly killed the thread a while ago . Kept the language though.

diamond berlin is great. I lived there 12 years ago, pre-children though, I would live there again. DH is from just outside Cologne so know that too. Berlin is closer in terms of excitement and opportunities to London than Cologne is.

juliet how was the weather? It's been really hot here in the east of Austria. I hope the hats and scarves stayed in the suitcase, though of course one needs spring or summer hats and scarves too, if one is to fit in with the locals.

Still a bit traumatised from nearly killing the thread so will leave it here.

Don't worry, I won't let you kill the thread this time, suenan.

Lovely sunny morning here - in fact, we've enjoyed a lovely sunny week (hope you didn't need your hat and gloves Juliet, although it would have been quite a bit cooler up in the mountains of course). School is starting to wind down now; with all the bank holidays, we only have one full five-day week left and the DC have quite a few school trips coming up. DD2 went to the airport with her class yesterday; they went onto a plane and got to slide down the escape slide, which was great fun apparently (although DD2 did say she could imagine that it wouldn't be quite as much fun in a real emergency...).

Ambling Has your DH had his interview? How did it go? Wow, that's a long time since you left the UK; I'm about 10 years behind you, although this is the longest I've lived in any one place.

Hello, hello! It's been so long since I've checked in here. Looks like everyone has been busy and lots of new participants.

Life has been interesting lately, some good, some not so good.

Our older son is 21 now and moved out into a WG in April. His room mates seem nice and they have two cats to look after as well. Much to his chagrin, Ds now lives only a few blocks away from his Oma. Very central and only a few minutes away from the Hannover city center.

Younger son is 18 and in the middle of his Abitur exams. The oral exam in politics is the last one on June 3. He's still deciding what he wants to be when he grows up.

My dad (who lives in Canada) was diagnosed with esophogeal cancer in July of 2013. We expected the worst but after many chemo and radiation sessions he was declared cancer-free this spring. We are so grateful to still have him around. He celebrated his 85th birthday on Wednesday.

On a sad note, my father-in-law passed away suddenly in hospital on May 5 at the age of 84. He had been in a nursing home for the past 6 years but was doing all right until he took a bad turn about a week before he passed. It was quite a shock.

I have started getting serious about losing weight and gaining some muscle and have lost 6 lbs so far. Whoo. Many, many pounds to go but it's a start.

It's my birthday tomorrow. Must go bake my own cake now!

Hi Westvan. Sorry to hear about your FIL.
It must be strange not having ds1 at home anymore. Does he come home often?

My ds just turned 16 last week and he's all set to start on his two year Abitur ordeal after the summer holiday. He's lucky to get good grades and - so he says - 5 subjects where he doesn't have to lift a finger now until summer break! He's having a really relaxing time and making the most of it.

Linzer sounds abit like here, we have a lot of days off in June too and both dc have Klassenfahrten and I expect July will be busy with day trips and the dc hope for alot of Hitzefrei!

Yes, dh had his interview and is waiting to hear. He thinks he messed up because at the end he told them that Oxford was very expensive and he'd need them to atleast match his present salary (they were offereing a few thousand less a year) and now all his work colleagues are saying he's mad, no one turns down Oxford just for money !

Ambling Would your DH still want the job even it meant he would be earning significantly less? Oxford isn't a cheap place to live, although you can get more for your money slightly further out of the centre (probably the case everywhere, of course). We lived about four miles north of the city, although it probably wouldn't be the most exciting of places for teenagers.

westvan Good to see you again! Sorry to hear about your FIL. You must have had such a worrying time with your dad too - glad to hear he's doing well now.

I'll be teaching DD2's class for the last ever time tomorrow; it's quite strange to think they'll all be going their separate ways in September (I think they're going to seven different secondary schools). It only seems like a couple of years ago since they all started school!

Linzer at first dh said he wouldn't go if they don't match his salary from here but then we looked at rightmove and saw the prices for decent looking houses and in reality we'd need a pay increase to live comfortably.
Then, dh's boss from Berlin said it would be great for his career to have Oxford on his cv and he'd be mad to turn it down.
What was the transport like when you lived there? We're used to German public transport and here it'd be no problem living out of the city but I'd be worried about being stranded with 2 teens. Evan petrol is more expensive in the UK so living further out of town wouldn't be cheaper in the end.
Arghh, suddenly I've been feeling so at home in Germany and the dc are settled! BUT dh is applying for a job at Cardiff University this week too. I've never been there but I like the look of it!

It's been years since I lived there (although I've been back to visit quite a few times) and I don't have any experience of commuting into Oxford - although have a friend I could ask - but the bus service seems pretty good. The park & ride system is very efficient (that's how we used to get into the city centre, and we caught the same P&R bus when we were back there last summer); I think they have four or five P&R sites now. The other thing I like about Oxford is how central it is, especially compared to where my parents moved to. But houses in the nicer parts of Oxford are not cheap by any means.
I don't know as much about Cardiff as I've only been there on a couple of day trips; outnumbered is probably the person to ask!

My turn to rescue you from threadkilling linzer ! My dc's schools are also winding down. DD2 (in the 4.Klasse) has not had homework for days - I could get used to this. The teacher is taking them to an evening visit to the zoo, and then they are all sleeping in the school. Teacher will need her long holiday after that. It's great that she is so engaged though.

ambling have you heard anything from Oxford or Cardiff? I can only imagine how strange it must be to contemplate a move after such a long time abroad and in Germany. I did roll my eyes at the comments from your dh's colleagues - I bet they have no idea what the salary on offer can get you in Oxford. I can only say that German and Austrian academics are rather shocked when dh says what he earnt in the UK and what living standard that got him. I think one does turn down Oxford if it doesn't equal your living standard in Germany.

westvan Sorry to hear about your FIL. I am glad your father is better, that must have been a shock. Happy belated birthday. Well done on the weight loss and exercise. I hope somebody helped you eat the cake!

We are struggling here through dh's never ending tooth pain and operations. He has had 4 operations in as many weeks (I think, I have lost track), and is still in pain. He is normally a positive person but this is beginning to wear him down. I am trying my very best to be supportive, but feel frustrated because there is little I can do. Except peel potatoes to mash - the only thing he can eat at the moment.

Hello everyone else. Hope all the bumps are doing well, and toddlers are letting you rest and sleep.

hello everyone, been lurking on these threads for a long time - we are also in Cologne, hello to Diamondsandpearls. have been in Germany for nearly 7 years. great place to live with kids I think.

Thank you suenan; I was beginning to worry that I had well and truly killed it! How awful for your DH to have to live with almost constant tooth pain; are the operations helping at all? I had toothache for about a week a year or two ago and, while the pain wasn't horrendous, it felt like the toothache was taking over my life - what your DH is going through must be a thousand times worse.

Hi efes - we could do with some new posters as the thread has been so quiet recently! How old are your DC?

DD1 has her last Schularbeit this morning, after which we may - with any luck - finally be able to relax. Then again, now that the Schularbeiten are out of the way, they may decide that the children have even more time for tests. She has an English test coming up next week, but hopefully not too many others. DH also informed me last night that, now she has no more Schularbeiten to revise for, I can start doing Spanish with her (she's going to start learning it in September). Are you available for extra tuition, suenan?

DS's latest school trip was, excitingly, to the dentist's. He came home with a sheet informing us of his poor dental hygiene and the need for a Zahnkorrektur. Helpfully, there was no indication of which teeth need correcting; it's only about a month since our last check-up and the dentist didn't say anything at all then so I'll just take the letter along to our next appointment in the autumn and leave her to ignore deal with it.

Suenan and linzer - sorry for late reply. Weather was variable - couple of scorchers, snow at top grossglockner road (hats & gloves v useful and then overcast! However Austria was as beautiful as we'd hoped it would be. Thanks again linzer for your help

Glad you enjoyed your holiday, Juliet - I did wonder whether you'd need your hat and gloves after the weather suddenly got much warmer! It's continued to be very mixed but the next few days are forecast to be very hot (30° plus).

In other news, DD2 apparently also needs a brace and I have discovered that midges can bite through leggings. Ouch.

Hello! Thanks for all your help a couple of weeks back when I was having the Berlin Stress I'm still having Berlin stress tbh, but we did at least settle on a school we liked, should here whether the DDs have places in the next week of so

Are the rest of you being gently baked as well? We've had fab weather the last few days, AND on a bank holiday weekend as well - now I know I don't live in the UK any more Girls are off school for the next 2 weeks so hoping for lots more of the same, and we can get good use from our swimming pool cards.

Ambling sounds like you're not totally ready for a move back to the UK, is that fair? We did live in Oxford for a bit, but in a broom cupboard for ££££s, so I can only echo what you and DH are saying. Perhaps his colleagues are a bit starry eyed about it, I wonder is it really such a CV enhancer? I wouldn't really know of course! But we were there sans car, and getting the public transport to "join up" was a bit of a nightmare. I have never set foot in Cardiff...

Hello efeslight what's it like living in Cologne? I agree, my two absolutely love it here, and that's from living in a pretty nice place in the UK previously.

suenan the tooth pain for your poor DH sounds dreadful, hope that gets sorted out. Nothing like constant pain to wear you down.