A Hobby For the Whole Family?

It is that time again. Time to start golfing.

No, I don't golf.
No, Fräulein doesn't golf either (yet).
But yes, Herr Welle does golf.

The lovely spring weather means that Herr Welle wants to spend all his free time golfing. So, last Sunday he wanted to visit the driving range of a local golf club.

As all the shops are closed on Sundays, so we usually spend the day outdoors anyway. Thus I don't really mind joining him at the golf club with Fräulein.

Previously, Fräulein has spent the time there sleeping or eating snacks, but now we found many interesting things to do. There was one very friendly cat, one rabbit in the bushes, golf cars, birds, other kids playing and airplanes flying low.

If only I could keep her from running to the greens...

Encounters of an Expat Hausfrau

It is not easy to move to a new place and create new social networks. I have had to do this a couple of times. First, I moved to study in the capital of Finland, several hundreds of kilometers away from home. Then, few years after graduation, I moved again, this time together with Herr Welle.

But what usually makes it easier to adjust, are the groups you automatically fall in to. Like when you start the studies at the university in your twenties, there are a lot of similar people in similar situation. Not to mention all the partying... And when you move to work in another town, you meet all these new faces through your new job. I have been lucky to make some great friends during my studies and in my jobs!

But the start here in Wiesbaden hasn't been all that easy. First of all, there is the language problem. My Deutsch is not strong enough to just casually start chatting with someone. Secondly, there is the problem of being a Hausfrau. Fräulein was born about a month after we moved to Germany, so the first six months went by in a haze and without many contacts with the outside world.

Thankfully, I met the family of Herr Welle's colleague. They are also Finnish and their daughter is 10 months older than Fräulein. Through them, we also found the Finnish church in Frankfurt, which has some activities for families with small children. Last spring, we joined their music group and have been able to spend time with other Finnish families.

In the playroom of the Finnish church,
Fräulein has found some new toys and friends 

Although it is great to meet another Finns, it has bothered me that, due to my poor German, I'm not really able to connect with the locals. When we went to baby swimming, I spoke with the other mums in English. It was great to be able to do that, but quite often the general discussion turned into German and I was not able to follow.

But now I have reached some sort of turning point. Yesterday, Fräulein and I took part in a German playgroup! An hour and a half passed, and I didn't ask anyone 'Sprechen Sie Englisch?'. Although I might not have been very chatty, I managed to follow the conversations and even answer some questions in German. Yay!

I was quite exhausted afterwards and I do admit that my German was faaaaar from perfect, but it was a start. I do believe that it will get easier with some practice. Although I'm not sure what I am going to say there next Monday, as I have already used all the phrases I know in German: "Sie heißt XXX", "Sie ist fünfzehn Monate alt", "Wir kommen aus Finnland"...

Hausfrau's Favourite Hobby: Online Shopping

The world of online shopping has opened up for me since we moved to Germany and had a baby. First of all, the selection in German online stores is so much larger than in Finland. Secondly, shopping is so much cheaper here. The sales are better, plus the delivery is usually free! DHL brings the shopping to your door possibly as fast as the next day.

I'm not a real fan of shopping clothes for myself online, as I'd like to try them on. But for baby clothes as well as other accessories, online shopping is a great option.

I must admit that I have even become a bit of a maniac in finding the cheapest offer. In choosing a product I might visit several 'real' stores, but after that I take the shopping online. For example, after choosing the pushchair I wanted, I spent quite a while online searching where I could get it the cheapest (one year ago Bugaboo Cameleon was cheapest in Dutch Mutti und Ich store, even with the delivery costs).

Another nice thing in online shopping are the Gutscheins (discount coupons). Every time you order something, you are provided with several coupons to other stores. And you would be a fool not to use them, right? ;)

I won't even start to list the online stores, which I visit regularly, but I think there are a couple worth mentioning:

• Baby Markt: for anything baby-related. Very reliable and the delivery is free in Germany for orders over 20€. And if you'd like to order something that costs under 20€, add a Pampers packet to your Warenkorb ('Baby Markt macht den besten Preis!') and your order will be delivered free of charge!
• Buch.de: Good selection of books in English and always free delivery
• myToys.de: good selection of toys always in sale
• There are several nice online stores for baby clothes, but one that I have used a couple of times is Ellerhop. I had thought I'd need to wait until January to get winter clothes with good price, but they already had the lovely Cupcake snowsuit in sale. 

If you still aren't convinced or if you need to explain your hobby to someone, please remember that online shopping is a great way to learn a language!