Admylin

[SSShakeTheChi]

Recovered and returned. As you can see this is the year I plan to take up Tai Chi (not that I've done anything about it yet).

You told me once that you were working with the English curriculum at home and I was wondering 1) where you get the patience to do that after doing the German homework and 2) which books/materials you've been using

Isn't it a disgrace for the Deutsche Bahn! They build a mega expensive modern station and the roof falls down at the first big storm. Quality work made in Germany! Sounds really like it is going to be a big job to fix it too. On the radio I heard 80 men couldn't move the iron girder that fell down and that should be holding all those glass panels up.

See it's closed again because there's been another storm warning. Stupidly listened to the weather report on the radio this morning and wore my suede coat with the (fake) fur trims this morning. Got absolutely soaking wet on the way back, like a bedraggled rat. Oh I love winter, don't you? Snow this week it seems so dd's expensive snow boots which I bought in September may get some wear after all!

Never made it to the bookstore in the end but I did call. They say they have quite a lot of children's books.

Did you have a nice weekend?

HI again. we didn't move at all the whole weekend, it was very boring but I always have a weekend like that and then 3 or 4 weekend swhere I manage to plan or arrange something for us to do. Ideas run out every now and then!
Dh worked, and the neighbours kids came up to play so I didn't have to do any entertaining.

Dh has just applied for a job in Boston and he's waiting to hear from one in Glasgow - don't know where I would prefer! Otherwise he is talking about us moving to be nearer a better school but I think that will never happen. It's just too difficult to be sure a school will be good for both kids, all depends on the teachers.

Our neighbour said we should go to the Shaolin temple as he says the monks there do great kids courses - have you ever been?

yeah we go there every week. That's where dd does her Kung Fu and I plan to tackle Tai Chi (ha ha sometime this year perhaps!). I like it, sehr gesittet.

Lucky you having a peaceful weekend. Ours are always so stressful it seems to me.

Go for Boston, that way you'll understand people! Glaswegian is miles more difficult than German or Urdu, I'm thoroughly convinced of it.

Dh was in Boston when they have their Indian summer, he says it's gorgeous. I can see you there already, cruising about in a whacking great cadillac...

So what is Kung Fu like then? I might go to visit the temple if there is an open day sometime but I don't thnik it is any good for a weekly trip as we would have go by bus and change once so abit far. I think my neighbour does some meditation of some sort there!
We are enjoying Aikido twice a week, it is very good training and at a walkable distance from home.

Well sort of hand movements and kicks and things you'd see in a Jackie Chan film at a sedate elementary level. I don't watch, just drop dd off and go back home for an hour. They run around first, then stretch their legs, arms, fingers etc, then learn some moves. She likes it and seems to be progressing.

I wouldn't make a trip across town especially to see the place unless they're putting on some kind of a show. It's not a "temple" as such, just two floors in an office building with two big practice halls which both have a golden Buddha statue in them. C'est tout.

Sometimes see the meditation when I'm waiting for dd to get changed. They march about quickly in the dark and the monch walks in the front carrying a big stick.

ahh monk

Look how German I'm becoming, I didn't even notice I'd written Monch!

It happens to me too, I forget a word in english so if I'm talking or writing to someone who speaks german I just mix! I do it with 2 friends who have gone back to the UK, when we talk we use such a mixture!
I don't notice it myself but my family say that the kids sometimes use strange expressions so they must be translating. Has your dd got your accent? Ive got a lake district northern accent (but alot milder over the years abroad as foreigners don't understand me otherwise) and both my kids have got it but when ds was just learning to talk at around 2 years old he spent alot more time with dh than he does now and he sometimes had a little indian accent, it was so cute.

TBH I don't know what accent I have these days! Wonder if it has bent beyond recognition over the years. I don't think dd has my accent really. Can't pinpoint hers exactly. Dad says she does have an accent of sorts. He said last year he thought she had a bit of a German accent! Oops

No doubt she will pick up that odd English accent your ds was complaining about once she has to start learning English at school, I think in Y3.

We were there for Kung Fu last night. I really find the courses good. I do think they do a good job with the dc but I wouldn't fancy trekking about from Mitte once a week to attend. In particular in winter, I find it a major pita travelling about in the afternoons to children's activities and so forth.

Aikido sounds good. Looks impressive, doesn't it? Where do they learn that?

Snow today huh? Dd was thrilled. I can do without winter TBH. Quite fancy moving somewhere like Singapore where you never get temperatures below zero.

No we won't be going that far - it takes us all our energy just to get to aikido twice a week anyway (we go to Aikido Zentrum in Mitte Brunnenstr. very handy as it is right above the library) and in springtime dd has to attend another swimming course as she didn't quite manage her seepferdchen last time so that will be us fully booked.
I don't know it is maybe the fact that we're in a big city but everything seems to take so long. My sister, in a very small town in UK sends her 2 dd to brownies, hockey, piano lessons and judo and they don't get home from school 'till just before 4pm. I wouldn't manage it all especially by Friday we're exhausted. I also have to hang around as Aikido or swimming is walking distance but too far to go home and be back within an hour, just not worth it.
I would have liked to have found a group or a few english speaking kids in their age to play with, I think if there was a club of some sort like that I might try to do that too as we enjoyed our english club in south Germany and made some friends too. I suppose most of them are centered around their international, JFK or state bilingual schools.
DH keeps saying to me to find a good school and then find a flat near the school and we will move but easier said than done. I'd rather wait and see if he gets one of these jobs abroad anyway.

Think you'd be a lot happier if the dc were at Quentin Blake and you were living near there (Zehlendorf) but I'm keeping my fingers crossed for you that the Boston job works out.

Coming more and more to the conclusion for myself that I will probably leave this year, possibly just dd and I. No particular drastic impulse but it's just a kind of certainty that's been growing on me over the past few months. Bit scared at the prospect TBH with it all it entails and how dd with cope.

Really, what sort of area is Zehlendorf? I never visted many of the other parts of Berlin to be honest, I know Mitte quite well now and I've briefly visited your area and that's it! I do kno wthere are parts of Berlin where we could get a house rather than a flat (3rd floor, no lift!) which would be nice but I can't figure out which areas are nice just be driving through.

Have you thought about where you will move to? It's a big step to take and the hardest part is the decision to actually go isn't it.

Yesterday afternoon we had a parents meeting. The maths teacher admitted she is a few weeks behind schedule because maths falls in the 6th lesson so the last of the day and the kids are only able to do about 10 minutes of "real" work and after that they are just too tired, great news eh! The lesser intelectually orientated parents called for less work and more play which made the rest of us sit there in shock - so it is like a 50/50 class! Our 50% want our kids to learn and do well and the other 50 just don't see the point.

Green leafy area, some very nice houses. Not as expensive as Grunewald. From all accounts QB is a friendly school. Everyone I know with dc there is very happy with it. Just couldn't be bothered commuting there myself. However, if you live nearby, I'd imagine it's a good set-up all round. I like Zehlendorf.

I particularly like the area around Schlachtensee. We have friends who live there. They used to live in Wedding and absolutely hated it but they're very happy in Berlin since they made the change. They're a Greek/Bulgarian family.

You had another parents' meeting? Your school is on the ball. Our school closes today for the winter holidays (1 week). Does yours? Not sure if it is just the Catholic school or all schools. Have to pick dd up at 10.25! So tempted to call and ask whether it would be ok if I got there at 10.26 instead.

This winter holiday thing is bugging me. On the internet I searched for schulferien and got a site which you could click on bundesland and get the holidays so I was quite pleased thinking how organized I was with the whole year holiday plan written on my calender - the winter holiday was from 12th to 16th of Feb. now our school seems to be from 5th to 9th and your school is next week, so why can't Berlin have the same weeks holidays? Now I'm going to have to check all our dates again, good job I didn't book tickets to get out of here! (Being brave this holiday and staying in Berlin!)

Yes, as I said dd has a very nice young male (rare in grundschule)teacher who is extremely organized and motivated. Part of the parents evening was a slide show of all the activities he has done with the kids - he documents everything and walks round with his laptop all the time. In contrast ds will have his Zeugnis handed on the last day and that's it, no feedback nothing. I suppose we have to be happy that his teacher is actually healthy enough to turn up at school.

What are you going to be doing with your week off then?

Wasn't sure if I should admit to this but here goes...

Arrived at the school around 10.23. No other parents about. So I asked the secretary, weren't we supposed to pick them up at 10.25 today? No, she says that's NEXT week! Whacked myself on the head the way Germans do and we had a good laugh but could have kicked myself, making an extra trip with bloody -8 outside.

don't worry, at least it was just you and the secretary so no one needs to know!

I once set off with my shopping bags to do my weekend shop and found all the shopping area was deserted and everything closed, some bank holiday which wasn't on my calender - always have a british one, this year too so I must remember to write all the bank holidays on!

Bet the whole staffroom was creased up, going "oh these eccentric Englishwomen!"

What are we going to do? Well, it's not long enough to go overseas so we'll probably just stay here.

TBH I'm in a real state after reading your and Fink's postings and I've bought some of those workbooks for Deutsch and Mathe. I plan to finish the year 1 maths at home with her so she only has to practice it at school/go over it there. It isn't much anyway, is it? Just addition and subtraction up to 20 as far as I can make out. I find she learns it better from me for some reason although I hate maths but I try to make it fun and I suppose 1-1 works better.

Then I'll do a bit of German every day. Not heaps and heaps but maybe 10-15 minutes twice a day if we can be bothered. Should be a blast altogether

or maybe just lounge about...

Same here, we will be doing maths, I got somegood websites from MN the other day. Haven't got a printer any more so will sit and email the worksheets to dh and he can bring them from his office!

Ds has discovered caligraphy and dh has promised to get him a set to start off with but first he has to produce a few pages of neat handwriting which we are working on.

Isn't the german Schreibschrift AWFUL ? It is so hard to read, have you seen the t? We often have trouble reading notes from dh's boss or even the teachers notes in the Hausaufgabenheft. Both dc are doing the typical german writing of course but I am training them in a seperate book to get it a bit neater. I find americans have nice hand writing and all my nieces went to american schools in Saudi arabia and have lovely writing too. If they write german style in UK it will be frowned upon for sure .

Can't read German handwriting very well. What's with the "t"? So they don't just learn to link up the rounded letters they print in year 1? Don't like the sound of this. So you have to teach them to write in German and then write English style too? Oh yippee....

Wonder how the Europa schools tackle this one..

I'm beginning to think this was a bad idea going down the German school route...

I don't know if this link will work but anyway ther are different sorts of Schreibschrift too so before you can getany books or info you have to find out which type your school uses - our old school did lateinische version and ds learnt in the 1st year but here they do schulausgangschrift which is slightly different so he had to start again as they did it at the end of the 2nd year. Have fun!
If the link thing doesn't work try copy/past : www.grundschulverband.de/fileadmin/grundschulverband/Download/aktuell/GSakt91_Bart_50907.pdf

Ok that didn't work sorry! Try google.de and you will see what I mean, some of the letters are really wierd.