Fruehlingszeit in the German Corner - chat continues here

[SSSandy2]

"Deutsch or English
Native speakers, expats, anyone
From Brezeln to Bier

Please don't ask if you join in, everyone is welcome "

I saw your mail, thanks admylin. Keep in mind that finks (the lucky thing) is already enjoying the S holidays so she may not be online much.

Or Russia too admylin, just murder any journalist you want as long as you have oil to sell

Should we look for another planet do you think?!

Oh that's right. Wonder if she's in the UK. I could really do with a trip back for some shoes and clothes!

wouldn't it be great if the h's were more useful and we could leave the dc with them and go over for a shopping spree?

Sigh and drifts off into a day-dream (where she finds clothes that actually fit)

Strange, isn't it, the China games. There is almost nothing on the news or the sports programmes at the moment. Perhaps they are all busy with football. I heard on the radio yesterday that the olympic torch was passing through Tibet.

Possibly a decision has been made to not actively boycott the Olympics but to let them pass without much comment? Certainly hear almost nothing about it.

Lol at h looking after the dc! Men do this on purpose actually, but he lets them eat all the chocolate biscuits, lets them fall asleep on the sofa fully dressed and then falls asleep next to them. This has happened with my BIL too when my sister and I left him in charge of 4 dc. He fell asleep and let them run riot - they even put make up on him while he slept. It was all in his plan and we fell for it and didn't leave the dc with him again.

I know men are so devious about that kind of thing, dh is the same. You can guarantee if I left him with her, he'd have parked her in front of the tv all day and fed her nothing at all or just junk

That's why if I want to leave her with him, so I can do something, I tell her to go and ask him if they can go to a funpark which means driving out to Dresden and taking her round the attractions all day. I can be devious too, you see

My friend's DH burnt her favourite blouse when ironing for the first time. He has not had to iron since. Result for him.

My DH is ok actually, I can leave the DCs with him without wondering if he is parking them infront of the tv. I went to Frankfurt for a weekend with friends last year and it was fine.

Wow, KS you have a rare species there!

Hey I am new to this thread..

I live in the Berlin area and I am interested to know of any english speaking mums who live in Berlin.

I have a 10 month old daughter..and feel that now she is getting older, I need to get out and do more things with her. I need to get to know some other mums too. we cannot just stick around at home all the time. At the moment she attends a german speaking Krabbelgruppe once a week, but I feel it is not enough.

I just need to meet some more people and get her out! Soooo please help me if you can..!

Hi, we live in Berlin but we're moving to Hannover in August. Where abouts are you? There are quiet a few things for English mums with small children and a church runs some things too in Berlin but I have to rush off now to collect my off spring from school and dentist appointments this afternoon. We're always around on the German corner though!

ok well I am over in the East..out in Fürstenwalde Spree..so just outside berlin..but the trains are good, and getting into berlin is no problem...we are only half an hour by train away.

Look forward to hearing what i can do! I am just going spare through not getting her out enough..

Hi Bekkie, glad you found us.

Have you had a look at your local church? They often do mother/toddler groups. And with the weather improving (hopefully) get yourself a bucket and spade and get off down to the local playpark. If you are lucky you will meet some mums there.

Tbh, I really started meeting other people when the DCs started kindergarten.

Oh, there is another idea. Find out if any of the local Kindergartens is a Familienzentrum. Don't know if that is only a thing in NRW though. Ours is a Familienzentrum and they offer lots of things for families in the area. They also do a playgroup once a week.

Hi Bekkie, my dd is a lot older and at school now, so I don't do baby things anymore really and I'm a bit out of touch with that whole scene. I'd suggest you try the toddler group at St. George's Anglican Church on Preussenallee in Neuwestend. If you're on public transport that's SBahnhof Heerstrasse and a short walk from there. It used to be on Mondays at 10 I think but you could call them and check when they do it now. I know they are still running it though. If you go there, other dp will point you in the direction of other English speaking groups and activities.

Hi Bekkie, How are you finding life in Germany? How long have you been here?
If you get on well enough with any of the mums from the Krabbelgruppe maybe you could invite them for Kaffee und Kuchen one day and hopefully have the favour returned. I did a swim course with both of mine when they were about this age which I didn´t particularly enjoy, but it got me out of the house.

I have to say dh is really good at looking after the kids. I get a child free weekend away in England every year which helps keep me sane. Mind you the first time I went away lots of people were really shocked and thought dh would never cope.Some of his patients even brought him meals in case he starved.I really think that in the countryside the idea of Kinder, Küche, Kirche still dominates in many peoples minds.

We´ve had a great time the last two weekends in München und Düsseldorf. I really am a city girl at heart. The countrside is fine in the summer, but in the winter there´s just nothing to do.

I´m really enjoying the football, but do find the constant horn blowing after the matches a bit wearing after a while. Dd did seem to take great pleasure in shouting "Germany are losers," in dh´s face when they lost to Croatia. Needless to say, he wasn´t impressed.

Hupa
I know what you mean, MIL insists that DH should be given a good square meal every day. If she knew that we sometimes just eat fruit and a joghurt for tea she would be worried her DS was likely to starve.

lol at your DH having Care-Pakete dropped off for him from his patients. My friend's boyfriend was a doc in a small town in Bavaria and when she went into the bakers she was referred to as "Frau Doktor"

Thanks for the tips folks...I may look into the churches either in Berlin or out here.

The Krabbelgruppe is ok..but the Germans do not have quite the english way..the mums kind of keep themselves to themselves there. In an english group everyone would be chatting away to eachother and I would not think twice about inviting someone for coffee. But here in Germany it is difficult to take that kind of approach. Maybe it is different actually in Berlin and they are more talkative but out here in the east everyone just keeps themeselves to themselves?!

I have heard of an english speaking mother and toddler place. It is called "The centre". Not far from Alexander Platz..I think I may look into going to that..but it is quite expensive. My little girl will be starting some physio soon to boost her muscles up for crawling (she is quite behind on her motor skills) so that will get ne out too..and I think the lady who does the physio also does baby swimming.. Its just driving me mad seeing too much of 4 walls day in day out..but I guess we will busier soon once she starts physio. She starts Kindergarten in December.

Fortunately, I´ve only been called Frau Doktor a couple of times. The first time it happened I was in the supermarket and someone was saying Frau Doktor repeatedly - it was only after about the fifth repetiton that I realised she was talking to me. I was so shocked I didn´t even correct her.

Bekkie's enquiry got me thinking. How many of you have mainly English speaking friends in Germany? I would say we are very integrated here (partly because DH is German) and I have very few British friends.

Is it a help or a hinderance longterm to have lots of expat friends? Do you settle easier in a new country? What do you think?

DD and DS woke us this morning with their giggling. DS was in DD's bed, hanging off the bed. DD was the Schlaue Maus and DS the Rübe that DD was trying to harvest. He was holding on to the side of the bed while she pulled his legs singing, "Hau ruck! Hau ruck! Und noch ein Stuck!"

Bekkie, here are a few websites for you to look through. I know what you mean about German groups, I went to a few when mine were little but the best one was my English on a Friday afternoon one where we would all drink tea and chat, everyone in the same boat sort of thing! Hope you find some thing. when I first moved to Berlin I thought I'd be able to find loads of things, big city etc but infact it was really hard to find my way around and where things were running and then the distances too, some things just didn't fit into our timetable because it would have taken too long to get there and back. I suppose you are abit more flexible, once they start school that's the end of their childhood anyway! Mine are 8 and 10 years old (DO NOT go and read our German school thread until you really have to tackle that problem!)

and stories for children in English
sure about this!
church might have something for you
American school in Berlin
playgroup

Grrr, don't know what happened with some of those links, try again:

www.storytime-books.com/
www.stgeorges.de/
www.connectberlin.de
www.jfkfriendshipcenter.org/

Hi Bekkie and welcome! We are past the baby stage too and were when we moved here so I don't have any experience of Krabbelgruppen or similar. I think the others have made good suggestions and I would say that now is definitely the time to get out and meet other mums. My ds is still at kindergarten so I do meet some people that way but mainly I see them only when I drop him off in the morning. (He walks home by himself). Once children start school here it's much more difficult to make friends with other parents because most kids walk to and from school on their own so there is no school run to speak of.

Kindersurprise, I have no English-speaking friends here. We live in a small town where there are not many expats. When I lived in Germany in the past I tended to stick to other Brits and Americans and not make much effort to make friends with the locals. Now I have a German dh and dc are at German schools I am more conscious of the need to integrate. Dc will definitely be supporting Germany on Wednesday. Maybe I will too....

Thanks...I also found Tobamo.de, which also runs events..it sounds a bit like connectberlin.de. I will look through the links you posted too.

I do not just want to make friends with english speakers..it is more to have a bit of both. To know a couple of german and english mums. DD will be bilingual (well that is the plan).

Will let you know how I get on..and what I decide to join.