Discussing expat life in German-speaking Europe


Posts tagged children

KiTa Kids

Feb25
2013 Written by Chloe D

We toy sometimes with the idea of returning to the UK (by that we really mean London). For our careers and old friends and family, it can seem very tempting. Very tempting indeed, until we start talking about childcare. Berlin’s plentiful offering of affordable places for children to spend their time is almost unbeatable and it is one aspect, amongst many, which ties us firmly here for now.

Our children have attended KiTa (Kindertagesstätte - nursery school for pre-school children) since they were eighteen months old. They could have started younger – many children in Berlin are sent at 12 months from 9am to 4pm – but for us that seemed too soon. So we were slower: at first, it was only for a couple of hours each morning, and then progressively more, until we found a rhythm that works for them and for our working patterns: three days a week from 9am to 3pm and two days a week from 9am to 12.15pm. They could stay for longer but we are happy to have them at home as much as work allows. READ MORE »

Posted in Daily life, Expat issues, History and culture, Miscellaneous, Work and employment matters - Tagged , , , , , ,

Freezing days in Berlin

Jan21
2013 Written by Chloe D

It is very cold in Berlin; that sort of startlingly cold that seeps into your bones immediately on being outside and stays there for hours. This being my fourth winter in Berlin, I half-expected on that first frost glistening morning to be acclimatised – not so. For North Americans and many Continental Europeans, my complaints will fall on unsympathetic ears. It’s only minus 6C, they will say mockingly. But being a sensitive English rose, I find the cold makes going outside feel like an arctic mission rather than a free and easy, pleasurable way to break up the day, and this troubles me each year.

Of course, we had snow in my childhood, but it was that mild, wet, English snow which stays only fleetingly on the ground for no more than a day or so – and falls biannually at most. Instead those English winters consisted of short, dark, grey days, smattered with chilly rain and the odd early morning frost. A woollen jacket and closed shoes were guaranteed to see you through winter’s mildest and chilliest moments. And though I do miss those days, for all my chilblains and chapped lips, these real Berlin winters have been an educational experience, making me both wiser, and in a funny way, possibly a more considerate mother. READ MORE »

Posted in Daily life, History and culture, Miscellaneous, Tips, advice, suggestions - Tagged , , , , ,

Laternenfest – Lantern Festival

Nov17
2012 Written by Chloe D

It was during our second winter in Berlin that I first became aware of Laternenfeste (lantern festivals). We had little twin babies and, despite early heavy snows, I spent much of my time traipsing icy streets pushing the pram whilst they slept. There was a period in early winter when afternoon after afternoon I saw lines of young children – pre-school age – muffled up against the cold, swinging pretty coloured lanterns and singing in shrill juvenile voices. I was intrigued, but not enough to find out what it all meant. My reaction was more one of ‘oh, that’s ever so sweet, it must be some sort of German tradition’ and then to forget all about it, as you do when you can’t imagine your own booty-wearing, rattle-shaking babes ever being old enough or robust enough to march the streets wearing boots and singing songs.

But since then, the unimaginable has happened and our children are now old enough and robust enough for their own winter boots and to attend a local nursery pre-school (KiTa). And last week, for the first time, they too joined the lines of young children piping out songs about lanterns and swinging their own homemade contributions. Off we trudged on an almost chilly November afternoon in the gathering gloom, through the streets, round the park and up to the top of a nearby hill, to find a big bonfire waiting and cups of warming Glühwein (mulled wine). Once there, we sang more songs about lanterns, watched sparks leap from the fire, and ran around in the dark until our hands were too cold and it was time to go home. READ MORE »

Posted in Daily life, German language, History and culture, Miscellaneous - Tagged , , , , ,

Das Berliner Modell

Oct22
2012 Written by jjpark

Although he was born in America, my third child is now attending the same daycare or Kindertagestaette (KITA) as my first two children. This boy from day one has never been sensitive about being left with new people. He was at a home daycare in California from age one, where he hardly ever cried when we parted and he always had a great time. In fact, before he started at this daycare, I emailed the provider, Amanda, and asked how we should schedule his first week. Could we perhaps do what I did with my first two kids: that I would stay with him the first day for most of the morning and leave him for an hour to see how he gets on? Then we would slowly increase the increments that he would be left on his own and how long he would stay at the daycare? She politely wrote back that it would probably be easier if we just spoke on the phone. READ MORE »

Posted in Daily life, Expat issues, History and culture - Tagged , , , , , , , , , , ,

Expat children

Oct07
2012 Written by Chloe D

I am struck, watching my two small children grow up in Berlin, how different their childhood is from mine in England’s industrial north in the 1980s. We are very integrated here – most of our friends are German. the nursery the children go to is German, and the places we frequent are almost completely German. Instinctively, my children say “guck guck“ instead of “peepo” and “Aua!“ instead of “ouch!”. They drink fruit tea with their afternoon snack and heavy dark bread is nothing unusual. Yes, for now, it would seem that my children are German, with only a streak of English.

I don’t really mind this, though I sometimes feel nostalgic for the things they can’t know: the jangling bells of the ice-cream van on a long summer’s evening; the feeling of a school uniform tie tight around a buttoned up shirt neck; grubbing around the back garden in a private kingdom. They will be city children, who remember going to public spaces to play out their fantasy games (parks and playgrounds), who slouch around grandiose nineteenth century city school buildings in jeans and the latest trainers, and only think of ice-cream as being from the organic ice-cream parlour across the road – if we stay here, that is. READ MORE »

Posted in Daily life, Expat issues, German language, Miscellaneous - Tagged , , , ,

Meet Freude: More Korean Food in Leipzig

Jun04
2012 Written by jjpark

I know that you’ve waited over a month for this follow-up post on Korean food in Leipzig so let’s jump right in.

The family and I went to Meet Freude in the Suedvorstadt neighborhood of Leipzig. This part of town is a quick Strassenbahn ride or ten-minute walk from the city center. With universities in close proximity, it has a fun vibe and this stretch of the Karl Liebknecht Strasse boasts a long row of specialty food shops and restaurants such as vegetarian, Italian, Spanish, and Indian.

When we first drove by Meet Freude, we weren’t quite sure what to make of it. As mentioned in my previous post, it was a cafe and had a tiny menu. With interior colors of light green and white, this place was cute. Little trees and hearts here and there along with two large stuffed animals sitting in the Ikea high chairs waiting for us as we walked in, it reminded us of a cafe that could be in the university quarter of a Korean city.

The streetview of Meet Freude.

READ MORE »

Posted in Expat issues, Miscellaneous, Tips, advice, suggestions - Tagged , , , ,

Dealing with Differences in a Multi-Culti Family

Apr02
2012 Written by Ruth

Not long ago, a German friend gave me a stern warning that I was in danger of teaching my children that all things German are bad. I was perplexed at this perspective, for it certainly doesn’t reflect how I feel.
“If you tell them negative things about Germany, you will eventually build a mindset in them which is negative to their own culture,” she explained.
My only response was to laugh, because not two weeks prior to this conversation, my mother had accused me of having an anti-American household.
“I feel as though you are rejecting your culture, and your family along with it,” she had said.

Almost the entirety of my adulthood has been spent abroad. It may well be that I have rejected parts of my own, American, culture and it may also well be that I am occasionally critical of my host culture. In fact, I’m sure both of those are the case. How is a bi-cultural, bilingual family expected to deal with cultural differences? With humor! READ MORE »

Posted in Daily life, Expat issues, History and culture, Miscellaneous, Tips, advice, suggestions - Tagged , , , , ,

The First Twelve Months

Aug16
2011 Written by jjpark

I’ve been enjoying getting to know my new baby during these first three months of his life. I organized a Mommy & Me Yoga/Baby Massage class at our local yoga studio here in San Diego to give myself that regular undistracted one-on-one time with baby Lenny. During the massage portion, I enjoy warm memories of taking a baby massage class with my first born while we were still living in southern Germany.

One of the side benefits to taking a baby class is getting to know some of the other mothers. After each class we find ourselves at the local cafe exchanging stories about our same aged babies and getting to know each other better. This aspect of motherhood is pretty critical to my own well-being as a mother. On one of these recent occasions, I was enjoying the conversation of one of these fellow mothers and was suddenly struck with a pang of guilt as I thought of a mutual friend of ours who would be going back to work soon, three-months postpartum. It was a new feeling, a new world feeling. READ MORE »

Posted in Expat issues - Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Go Forth and Reproduce

Aug03
2011 Written by Ruth

It’s a fact: Germany needs babies. The generous welfare system of this social democracy needs young people to work hard and pay enough taxes to support the rest of society. One problem: young people are too busy working to bother with raising the next generation of workers. How to solve it? Pay them to reproduce!

Ok, it sounds like really tacky social engineering when I put it that way. Let me try again. READ MORE »

Posted in Expat issues, Miscellaneous, Red tape and bureaucracy, Tips, advice, suggestions, Work and employment matters - Tagged , , , , ,

Transatlantic with the Toddler

Jan17
2011 Written by Ruth

There are so many horror stories I could share involving transatlantic travel. I entertained my babysitter the other day by regaling my worst memories of flights between Europe and North America, some of which involve being sandwiched between an overweight, unhappy married couple, or missing my connection due to the deranged older woman who caused the plane to turn around mid-ocean. I was used to the long-haul flight, the hours of boredom and unrest, the painful itching in your legs to get up and move when there are still three hours to go, but that was all paradise compared to international travel with children.

READ MORE »

Posted in Expat issues, learning German, Miscellaneous, Tips, advice, suggestions - Tagged , , , ,
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