anyone in dusseldorf?

[beforesunrise]

hi all, dh and i have been talking about leaving london for some time now (i am italian he is austrian, and we have 2 young daughters).

in a nutshell, we basically want a better work life balance and better/cheaper schools.

he has been having preliminary talks with a company based in dusseldorf and i am suddenly slightly panicky. i never wanted to end up in germany, dont speak the language and am scared i wouldnt find a job or make friends. i dont know DUS at all, nor know anyone there...

can anyone here tell me something about it? it may all come to nothing but in the meantime i am stressed...

If he gets a definite offer, couldn't you make a short trip across to Dusseldorf and take a look at it? You might be pleasantly surprised.

Well I don't know Dusseldorf personally but I'd imagine since it is a much smaller place you would get better value for money in terms of accommodation so that should be an improvement in your standard of living. Going out for meals etc is much cheaper here in Germany and there are quite a few nice things for dc to do which don't cost much. London is really very expensive.

I shouldn't think you'd have great difficulty making friends since you speak ENglish. It depends who you mix with. I should think amongst the mums of your dc's friends at kg or school there are bound to be some who'll you'll like and who'll be willing and able to converse with you in England. You won't be totally lost without German but there does come a point when you are living here where you do find you need the language obviously.

Other than teaching Italian (which isn't well paid really), I don't think there is much you could do without a good knowledge of German. German firms do sometimes advertise in ENglish speaking countries for secretarial staff - even those without German since good standards of written English are essential for international business so perhaps that is an option for you? There are a lot of secretaries here though with excellent language skills so not sure what the demand is like. You could try contacting Italian firms with a dependency in Dusseldorf and see if anything comes up. That might be a way in. It depends what your professional background is. There are quite a few foreign researchers here or engineers for instance who get well paid jobs despite not speaking any German.

The health care system is very good here. I've been very happy with that.

I'm not so sure you'll find better schools. It depends what you dislike about the schools you're using/considering in London really. State schools of course are free here and most dc attend those although dp are increasingly looking for alternatives.

Germany did worse than expected in the Pisa tests (international comparison of dc's attainment in education). It has shocked people because I suppose they assumed the German education system was pretty good. This is referred to as the Pisa-Shock here and is discussed a great deal. The govt is trying to improve things but generally the population doesn't think much of the improvements and dp are quite concerned about education here these days. It's in a state of flux really at the moment. Maybe though the German system is more like the Italian system you grew up with, don't know; very different to the UK approach though. You might like it more than I do.

Hope someone comes along with personal experience of Dusseldorf. Anything you'd like to know about experiences in Germany generally though, please go ahead and ask.

Hello,

I'm moving to Dusseldorf in the next few months with my Husband and 11 month old son. I'm really keen to make new Mum friends and find activities for my Son. Can any one help me???

Merissa

bumping bumping...