So it’s actually almost 13 months since we landed in Germany on the 18 October last year…I am a few weeks late with our Yeariversary but here is our one year update. The time has gone so quickly it is unbelievable to think that we have been living in Germany for over one year already…and what a year it has been –

Has it been hard? YES!

Have I been homesick? YES!

Any regrets? NO!

Would I do it again? ABSOLUTELY YES!

Here is a little update about everyone:

The children are all back at school full time despite Corona and continued restrictions and currently a lockdown light which hasn’t affected school only extra murals currently. I am extremely grateful for this because the thought of having to do homeschooling again in German makes me want to run for the hills.  

Markus and Günther are in there final year of Grundschule (class 4) and will be going to ‘High School’ next year. As I have mentioned in a previous post, the school system works very differently here so we are currently in the process with the help of the school and teachers on figuring out which high school would be the best fit for the twins.  We are leaning towards a more practical high school than an academic one but we still have to investigate some more, it is very frustrating at the moment because all the ‘talks’ and parents evenings about this is one parent only which is not cool because I can’t go by myself cause of the lack of German and Martin isn’t keen to go by himself either – its sucks because this is something we want to do together and Corona is preventing that.  But we will trust the German system and process and work with the recommendations from the teachers and principal and decide from there.  One of the great things is that they can pretty much go to any government school that we choose – there isn’t an issue with zoning or affordability or anything which is awesome – plus if the school isn’t a great fit – they can change schools. They are enjoying school and only have 5 hours of integration class a week and the rest of the time they are with the normal classes so there German is progressing nicely. They are still loving Royal Rangers and still do Karate when there are classes.

Other than school and extra murals the boys are doing well, they enjoy the freedom to ride their bikes or walk to one of the play grounds and go play with their friends there or to take a ride down to the lake, I have gotten better with not worrying so much when they go – it took me a while coming from South Africa to trust that they would be okay. I just tell them what time to be back or to check in and off they go. We haven’t gotten them cell phones yet but will need to look into that sometime so we can be in contact when they are off gallivanting or at least by the new school year because they might be taking the bus to school in the next town.

Chloë is still at the Realschule and has a few more classes in the normal school now, she has joined the Art class – which she absolutely loves and Biology (which is quite hard) but she is also progressing along with her German. She has made a new friend which has made the world of difference so now we experiencing more of what it is like to actually have a teenager in the house who wants to hang out with friends and go out all the time, so although it has had its challenges it has been really good for her and her general well being. Because going out means asking for money every 5 minutes we decided that Chloë needs a job and one of the awesome things about Germany is at the age of 14 you can actually get a job. So she delivers newspapers once a week on a Thursday afternoon. It is awesome; she has a proper work contract with annual leave and sick leave etc. She is even registered with the government that she is working. So it’s like a legit job – she is now realizing that she actually has to work to get the money at the end of the month but the money is all hers. I love this.

Chloë is still dancing and doing Karate when Corona allows and is still going to Royal Rangers as well. She also has new glasses for school, for reading the board etc, she realized she needed them when she couldn’t read the board from the back of the classroom.  The process wasn’t too bad to get glasses. We had to go to an Augenartz (eye doctor) to get her eyes checked (which was free – she can go there as often as she wants for free up to the age of 18) free or covered by state medical actually but adults are not covered only children. We then got a script and went off to the Optometrist where she could select frames which we had to pay for, there were some free ones she could’ve chosen but we let her pick what she wanted. So you pay for frames and any extras to the glasses (hardening, tinting etc) but the lenses were paid for.  I will post a picture of her in her glasses below – they quite cute and she likes them. She is also super amazed that she can see so clearly, she totally didn’t realize that she wasn’t seeing clearly. It’s amazing how you don’t realize that you not seeing properly until you get glasses and see the difference.  

There is not too much going on with Martin and I. Martin is back at work full time. I finally have a date for my German course and will be starting on the 3 December and I am very excited about that. We have renewed my Visa which I now have till September 2022, once my course and integration class is complete and I have done the tests then when I apply next time in Sept 2022 I will get permanent residency and then can start the process of getting my German citizenship. I have made a new friend who actually comes from South African and from the East rand which has been an absolute blessing and so amazing. She lives about 10min away which is great.  It definitely helps with the loneliness having friends and great when you can speak English because you can actually carry out a conversation and be yourself.

The kids were on school holidays again since my last blog…yes they have holidays every 6 weeks in case you were wondering….its super weird but anyways we didn’t do much though because Martin was working, but we did go to the Porsche museum which the boys absolutely loved and they got to sit in a Porsche which was exciting for them. We also carved pumpkins and let the children have like a mini Halloween celebration at home which was quite fun – you got all these Halloween themed foods etc.

We are looking forward to our second Christmas in Germany although this one will look different from last year because all the Christmas markets are closed but it will still be awesome. It has already started getting cold here – this morning’s temperature was -2˚C which I think is unusual for autumn but I think winter is coming early. Speaking of autumn – I absolutely LOVE autumn in Germany – it is such a beautiful time of the year – the colours are amazing – I will see if I can post a picture – I think it is my new favourite time of the year – the only down side is that is pumpkin season so everything is pumpkin flavoured – not a huge fan although carving pumpkins is quite fun. It is also Zwiebelkuchen (Onion cake) time and I am fan of that – yummy! Berliners are also in season, which are like Jam donuts covered in icing sugar but you also get chocolate filled ones covered in icing which the kids and Martin enjoy.  I don’t know if I have mentioned this before but Germany is very seasonal – you only get certain things at certain times of the year – it takes a while to get used to it but I guess makes sense gives you something extra to look forward to every season.

I am busy working on a list of all the things I have done for the first time since living in Germany so keep an eye out that….till next time.

Autumn in our little town in Germany