I can’t believe we have been in Germany for 3 months, at times it feels like we have been here for longer than that and other days it feels like we have just arrived. So much has changed for us as a family in 3 months. Things that were scary 3 months ago are now normal and we have settled into our daily lives. I get lots of questions about how we are doing, how the kids doing etc so I thought I would take this blog to let everyone know what is going on in each of our lives currently and where we are all at.

Markus and Günther

Markus and Günther are enrolled in a German public school and are in Klasse 3 – it is a small school that only goes up to Klasse 4. It is called a Grundschule. The school has an integration class which they both attend in which they learn German. They are both however in the normal school classes too for some lessons – they are in separate classes and are only together for the integration class. They are both doing well at school and learning German quickly. The work itself is a bit easy for them being in a lower grade than in South Africa but we feel this is best for them at the moment cause they can concentrate more on learning German. They both have had the opportunity to join the Blasseklas which is the brass band and are learning instruments. Markus is learning to play the trumpet and Günther is learning to play the Baritone. They both love this opportunity and although my ears take a bit of strain in the afternoon when they are practicing it has been good for them and they have even already had a little Christmas concert in which they played.  They have also joined the Royal Rangers which is like scouts which they are also enjoying and as of last week they have joined Karate.  I currently take and fetch them from school as their school is in the next little town. There is an opportunity for them to take the bus but we will look at that in the future.  The twins have made a few friends at school and often go play with the children in our area in the road and at the playgrounds.

Chloë

Chloë also attends a Germany public school but she is enrolled at the Realschule which is the equivalent of High School in South Africa. Germany however has 3 different types of ‘high school’ so if Chloë wants to go to University she will need to change schools once her German is advanced enough. Chloë is in the integration class in which they teach German and she does some other subjects in that class too like Math, Geography and Ethics.  She received a new timetable last week in which she now attends the English (which is taught as a second language here) and Sports classes with the ‘normal’ German students.  In her integration class there are children from all over Europe like Bosnia, Bulgaria, and Hungary etc. Many of these children arrive in class and can’t speak German like Chloë but also don’t speak English. Speaking English is an advantage because most of the teachers can speak at least a little bit of English so that does help Chloë.  Chloë is slowly making friends with some of the girls in her classes. We have found a dancing school for her and she is only doing Ballet at the moment because the other dance form is Hip Hop and she is not keen on that. They are hopefully going to start a Contempary/Modern class soon which she will then join.  She is also doing Karate, it is a different form to the one in SA but already after one class they are saying she is good.  Her school is very close to home so she can walk to and from school.

Martin and Bronwyn

We have settled into our little home in Kleinglattbach. The house is smaller than we had in South Africa but we have more than enough space for our family and are enjoying the house and getting lots of exercise up and down stairs. Martin’s job is going well – he still has to get used to the slower pace of work – but he is enjoying the company and the people.  We have one car so I currently take and fetch him from work but his work is 5 minutes down the road. We are still exploring our new town and country and we are enjoying doing that. We can’t wait for summer – the winter takes a bit of getting used to.  My turn – I have to complete an integration course and language course up to B1 level in order for me to get extended permanent residence and to eventually become a German citizen. I am enrolled in a course from June 2020 as this is when they morning classes begin. We decided that I won’t be working until after I have finished all my required courses that I have to complete so I can focus on one thing at a time. So I am currently a stay at home mom which is keeping me busy enough cooking, cleaning, washing, shopping, mommying and driving everyone around. The children finish school really early here some days Chloe comes home at 11am and the latest they stay is 1pm.  I have decided to focus on my writing for the next 6 months and hopefully publish another children’s book and finish my other books I started writing many moons ago or at least attempt too. The children also have a lot more school holidays here than we have in South Africa so I get to do a lot more mommying. It does explain why children in Germany are so self-sufficient because they have to be because they seem to never be at school and obviously parents work.  Parents do get way more leave here than in South Africa though.

I think that about sums up life at the moment…Till next time.