Is there still a German Thread?

[BeatrixBurgund]

We've moved back to Germany after 8 years in Switzerland and Scotland, and with the kids in school, I just know I'm going to have lots of questions about the Bavarian education system.

And I'd love to catch up with all the folk I used to chat with (even if I can't remember their usernames!). I'm on a namechange - it's MmeLindor here!

[BertieBotts]

Yes I've learned completely in Germany. If I can drive then my employer will give me a car for work which will massively increase my earning potential and make a huge difference to our lives. It's just going very slowly, which is frustrating. I have to wait at least two weeks to re-take.

[doradoo]

Good luck trotz - I have my B1 in about 5 weeks time and like younconcerned over the writing......eeek......

Next week is the Einbürgerung test, but fairly confident on that as have been doing ok on the app tests.

Also, trying to get all the info together to fill in the application form - as an army child my list of addresses and schools is jolly long..... they're going to love me😉

In other news we're having a super herbstferien here in NRW - weather has so far been lovely! Although somewhat blighted by visitors form the U.K. And Brexit chat. My parents are leave voters and we just can't agree on anything at the moment.

[frosch]

Morning - I've been back in the UK for ten days, stuffing my face with Double Deckers and pork pies and stocking up on Zoflora and today is the first day back at the German mine-face, so to speak. Am feeling rather despondent and homesick today.

You have my sympathies, Bertie. I learnt to drive in a UK city but booked to take my test in a tiny Welsh town that had just a handful of roundabouts and a couple pedestrian crossing traffic lights. Much less stressful. Don't know if you could do that in Germany, in a small dorf somewhere?! The carrot of a car and increased earnings sound great, so I understand why you are frustrated.

Trotzdem, I think it's worth investigating, if only to give your DC options when they're older. Both my DC hold British and German passports, one was UK-born, t'other German born...

[LinzerTorte]

Oh no Bertie, I remember being devastated when I failed my first test (wonder if I took it in the same place as you frosch - also in a small Welsh town with just a couple of roundabouts and pedestrian crossings!). I had to take my test again when we were in the USA as the state where we lived only had reciprocal agreements with Germany, France and a couple of other European countries, but it was ridiculously easy - parallel parking aside - compared to the UK one.

frosch I always find the first few days after getting back from the UK the worst for homesickness, although after a couple of weeks there I also find myself looking forward to coming back to Austria.

dora of your Herbstferien weather; it's awful here at the moment (cold and pouring with rain). And our Herbstferien aren't until the end of October/beginning of November, so I doubt the weather will have improved much by then. At least the DDs get a whole week off this year (DS only has three days off) - we don't officially have Herbstferien here but most of the secondary schools have decided to close for an extra three days around the early November bank holidays.

trotzdem According to a woman I spoke to at the British embassy years back, the DC are automatically British citizens through me (or you in your case, of course) and can get a British passport at any time. Ours used to have them, but we switched to Austrian passports a while back as they're quicker, cheaper and easier to get. So if the DC wanted to go and live in the UK, they should be able to get a British passport easily enough. The only issue is them not automatically being able to pass on their British citizenship, although if they go and live in the UK and have children there, then they should be able to.

Littleoakhorn Hello and welcome!

Violet Am very impressed with you being able to get flights for £90. We usually pay at least £200 even if it's just the DC and me flying - in fact, I've just checked our flights for next summer and it's costing the four of us €295 (Ryanair, no luggage) despite me booking as soon as the flights were released, when seats always seem to be cheapest.

Waves to Woolly and everyone else. Anyone else in Austria out there?

[trotzdem]

Linzer that is what I thought, though I can't remember where I got the information from and suspect I only read it on line. I'm wondering whether it will stay the case after Brexit - I don't suppose you know whether that would be the case even if the children's other nationality was non EU?

Its such a blimin faff getting UK passports compared to German ones, and German ones are so cheap :o You just wander into the Rathaus with a passport photo and wander back and fetch your passport a week later - getting a UK passport is stressful, time consuming and expensive even when you live in the UK, already have a passport and just want it renewed, let alone from abroad! I'll be sorely tempted not to bother renewing my own UK one either once I have (touch wood) a German one, let alone getting the kids British passports without even a UK birth certificate to start from... but a bit of me wonders whether it is worth doing now rather than later...

On the subject of returning to the UK, and of those astoundingly cheap airfares Violet mentioned... My sister has announced her engagement with a vague idea of getting married in the village she lives in (so nowhere near my parents) in August... My mother phoned and "let slip" that DD is going to be asked to be a bridesmaid ... but my mother can be very quite manipulative in the interests of creating her own version of perfect family Kodak moments and it is entirely possible that my sister has said no such thing and that my mother is trying to make it happen by planting the idea in everyone's head that everyone else is expecting it...

I don't care much either way but I've looked flights and accommodation (which we'll need as the wedding is the other end of the country from parents who we could stay with) for a family of 5 are looking so expensive to be there for an August Saturday wedding, and I really, really want the dates confirmed and to know for certain whether DD needs to be there in advance, or whether we can fly in early on the Saturday morning... argh!

Flights are going to be at least €700 so we wondered about booking a cottage and making a holiday of it... but they can only be booked Saturday to Saturday in August which is no good if we have to be there the day before...

I can't ask her can I? We get on OK but aren't really close and she is much more "proper" than I am... I don't know whether it is totally unacceptable to ask someone directly when their wedding will be and whether they want your DD as bridesmad, but I very much suspect it is, and we have to wait for an invite and details to come from her, while we watch flight prices climb and the relatively affordable accommodation get booked up...

Anyone else been in this position? Do you just outright ask or swallow the inconvenience and cost of waiting politely to be informed.

Also Violet I know we don't know one another, but please will you use your magical powers to book our flights? I've never even got one person to and from the UK for under €100 and flights for our whole family are always well over €500 (hence we usually only go once a year).
Any London airport will do :o

[BertieBotts]

Ah, roundabouts and stuff isn't the problem it's other vehicles! I can handle parking (just) and everything, I just hate the narrow streets with so many cars parked and you have to have enough distance but get penalised for driving too far on the left, just general, I find that kind of thing hard, I mean, normally going slowly enough to avoid accidents is enough in those situations, but I got stuck in front of a huge rubbish truck and didn't know what to do, because I couldn't let him through and totally blanked that I could drive around by going through some private garages.

[LinzerTorte]

I would be very tempted to ask your sister if I was in your position trotzdem - even if you can get bargain accommodation and the cheapest flights, an August holiday for a family of 5 in the UK is rarely going to be particularly cheap. I'm currently in a sort of similar position and do feel like I'm being a bit pushy, but it can be frustrating watching flight prices go up, accommodation becoming more expensive or selling out, etc.

Re passports, I don't think it matters what other nationality the DC have - they automatically have British citizenship through having a British parent, and the UK allows dual citizenship regardless of the other nationality (unlike Germany, for example). I can't imagine that being changed retrospectively and our children's right to have British citizenship suddenly being withdrawn.

Incidentally, I had no problems getting British passports for the DC even though they don't have British birth certificates; I did register DD1's birth at the British embassy in Washington, but the woman in Vienna advised against it - she said there was no point as they're automatically British citizens through me. I think the only advantage is that there'll be a record of them in the UK for descendants to trace. (No, I'm sure there must be other advantages - just can't think of them at the moment. )

Getting a German passport sounds very similar to the process here, apart from the fact that we don't even have go back and collect it - it comes in the post. Although IIRC, German passports are slightly cheaper than Austrian ones (which brings me onto one of my bugbears - why is everything in Germany cheaper? DH says economies of scale as it's a larger country...).

[BertieBotts]

Violet forgot to say, thanks for the Stuttgart - Manchester tip. I'm certain that's a new flight and it will be really helpful to us.

[KimmySchmidtsSmile]

Hallo zusammen

This is gemütlich. I have kid(s) in the Bavarian school system OP. It is one of the hardest out the Bundesländer so I keep being told.
We are surviving. What made you move back? I love Scotland. trotzdem have you tried Ryan air on a Saturday morning to Stansted? Can I ask some of you some annoying questions? More bribe

1. Those of you applying for German citizenship now are you going to end up with dual citizenship as in pre Brexit or are you being asked to relinquish Brit citizenship?
   
2. Those of you who teach, are you freelance and how many hours do you have to work for it to make sense if have to pay your own health insurance? Do you all pay 19% into the pension system? (What will you get back for that?)
   
3. Are any of you minijobbers and if so, do you have a Riesterrente?
   
4. Are any of you paying voluntarily nat insurance into the UK pension scheme?
   

Thanks in advance. Sorry, I am having a wobble today. I am looking to the future and am ill-prepared for it

[5moreminutes]

Kimmy thanks for the idea - always worth a try, but comes out at €798 for the 5 of us.

People really should get married at cheaper times of year! :o

[BertieBotts]

Try airBNB for accommodation instead of holiday cottages.

Which German airports can you fly from? What ages are the DC? I can sometimes find a bargain, and August seems far enough ahead.

[MaryWortleyMontagu]

Mirabelle I think I remember you from a previous thread about applying for German passports (I was making dh renew his german passport which had expired over 25 years ago and applying for dd's first german passport - both passports now thankfully received!) I'm sorry to hear that the embassy are still being difficult about your passport and I hope you get it sorted soon!

[VioletWillow]

Linzer and Trotzdem, I would be happy to help! I suspect that DP got very lucky with the post Brexit wobble, normally we don't get quite as good flights as that. Certainly we're paying more than that at Christmas but I don't think its a ridiculous price. I think no more than £100 per person both ways. Ryanair is a pain to fly with though, lots of queuing and being stuck in corridors.
We have a similar dilemma about passports for DD, she's got a British passport but has her German citizenship as well, when her British passport runs out we may just get her the German one but keep her British baby one so she can use that as proof for later. Plus she has her British birth certificate anyway. I'm currently expecting our second (my third DC) and this one will be born in Germany so we shall have it the other way round, they can have a British passport but can't pass on their Britishness unless they have kids in the UK or marry a British person. Funny concept for me that.
Bertie no problem at all! Happy to help. Manchester isn't a bad airport to land at, unless you listen to DP who tells everyone that no airport is as good as a German airport...

[VioletWillow]

Trotzdem on the subject of the wedding - I always ring and ask, because I need to know how much its going to cost me, like you say its not just a case of rocking up but paying for the flight, airport parking, a taxi, a hotel, on top of the normal costs of present and dresses! So yes I swallow the inconvenience and say if you want me there, I need to know asap so I can work out if I can go. We turned down a step-brother's wedding invite as they didn't get round to inviting us till 3 months before and we said no sorry we aren't paying through the nose for flights... But we fly usually three times a year to see the family so an extra flight has to be cheap, and worthwhile.

[frosch]

Linzer test town was on the Pembrokeshire/Ceredigion border...

[LinzerTorte]

Violet Did the £90 include a seat for your two year old? (IIRC two year olds need their own seats so am assuming it did.) £100 per person - or even less - is quite doable if I book early enough but I'd never manage to get three flights for that amount. Plus there's all the added extras that come with Ryanair - bags (usually one on the way out, 2-4 on the way back ), overnight airport stays thanks to inconvenient flight times (Novotel wanted over £250 for one room next summer - so going for a cheaper alternative, although they're only ever max. 3 per room so when you have to book two rooms, it's not really all that cheap...), not to mention onward train tickets. Agree that Ryanair is a pain, but we don't have much of a choice; flybe, BA and duo (think they went bust) have all stopped flying to Birmingham (other than flybe's one flight a week in winter for the skiiers). If only we could fly to London, it would be so much easier!

frosch Ah, can't be the same town as mine was further north. Tbf it's actually quite a large town for Ceredigion.

[MirabelleTree]

MaryWortley I remember you too and am relieved to hear it was straightforward for you all.

I'm midway through reading a letter from my Aunt and just thinking she is 81 now and I really need to get on a plane and get over to Germany and visit her . She's the last of her generation and I have so much to ask.

I think on the wedding front I would ask outright but maybe say that are having ti book work holiday for next year more in advance or something like that? Not sure about the Bridesmaid bit -just say DD is excited to go to a wedding maybe ?

[Katedotness1963]

Hello all. I'm on the outskirts of Stuttgart too.

[TheKitchenWitch]

Oooh, there's quite a few of us near Stuttgart! Sounds like a Weihnachtsmarkt meetup waiting to happen.....

[VioletWillow]

Linzer yep a seat for DD, but it wasn't as much as my DS who is 14 so when he comes we have to pay for an adult seat for him. We normally only check in one bag and squeeze everything else into hand luggage, MIL is very good for washing stuff for us and she always gets nappies etc in for us so we can squeeze by cheaper there. But when you add in airport parking at Manchester or a taxi each way it still becomes a dear do!
How exciting on so many near Stuttgart! I can't make a Weihnachtsmarkt meet this year (we fly on the 23rd December) I will look forward to meeting you all in the spring 😊

[BertieBotts]

Yes KitchenWitch! Sounds great! :) (Assuming, of course, that I'm not bankrupt at that point...)

[trotzdem]

Thanks Bertie - airbnb does throw up some interesting options, though nothing under 700 pounds for the week... it's all so expensive, they are getting married in the South East...

Still the airbnb options are a lot cheaper than the holiday cottages that a google search throws up, some are possible Friday to Friday unlike standard holiday cottages, and it makes it more of a holiday of it than juggling 3 kids in a Premier inn, which is guaranteed to be fairly miserable, or a youth hostel which was another option I suggested...

Ideally we'd fly from Munich, Nürnberg is possible and Stuttgart not impossible but it would have to be a bargain (like *Violet's €70 for 3 people!) It would be best to fly to Heathrow but any London airport would do if it made it a lot cheaper.

3 kids are all still child price by the skin of their teeth - eldest will still just be 11 (and 11 months) and youngest 6. I noticed that when I put the details into Ryan Air that makes no difference - children of 2+ threw up the same price as adults.

Family are actually up north normally and we used to use the Singapore Airlines leg from Munich to Manchester which was such a good deal - long haul service (big baggage allowance, seat back TV, food etc) for barely any more than Easy Jet price as it was just seats freed up by people who got off in Munich... but they have now cancelled the route (sob). Easy Jet is absolutely awful on your own with 3 kids and barely any cheaper once you've paid for reserved seats and a hold bag... puts me off going any more!

[trotzdem]

Thanks for the wedding etiquette / logistics advice - I tried to call and of course no answer so have left a vague message. Hmm.

[LinzerTorte]

trotzdem Children between 2 and 11 should be cheaper than adults when flying back from the UK as they don't have to pay air passenger duty any more; teenagers (12-15, IIRC) pay the same price as adults, though. We had to apply for a refund for the younger two when it was first introduced as we'd booked the flights before the date that APD for children was abolished but flew after that date IYSWIM, but it's taken off automatically now.

Do you still need to reserve seats with Easyjet? I always used to reserve with Ryanair before they introduced allocated seating, but now I just check in 7 days beforehand and we've always got seats together (I forgot to set a reminder once and only checked in 4 days beforehand, but we were still seated together).

[trotzdem]

Linzer reserved seating in the cheap seats isn't that much and I booked it because sods law would spread the kids all around the plane and I can imagine the dead fish stare of staff and other passengers if you wanted help with that and hadn't paid for allocated seating... the payment has to be made to allow you to choose your seats on EasyJet I think, though I may be misremembering. We did do early check in...